In this episode, I sit down with Kate Musler, Chief Financial Officer of Highmark Health Plan, to talk about the incredibly complex puzzle of modern healthcare—where affordability, access, and quality must all coexist. Kate walks us through her path into the field and what has kept her here: the challenge of finding real solutions in a system that impacts every one of us.

We dig into the pressures of rising costs, the tough negotiations between payers and providers, and how Highmark approaches these conversations with patients at the center. Kate highlights the financial balancing act she oversees: keeping the organization stable and sustainable while ensuring people get the care they need when they need it. It’s a candid, eye-opening look at what it means to manage health insurance in a world where even small changes have massive ripple effects.

We also dive into the shift toward value-based care, where providers are paid for outcomes instead of volume. Kate explains why this model is essential—not just for reducing unnecessary treatments and lowering costs, but for building healthier communities over the long term.

But as she points out, transitioning to VBC isn’t easy; it requires visionary leadership, true partnership between payers and providers, and the financial flexibility to support those changes without sacrificing quality.

We explore how technology, community programs, and reinvestment strategies are helping bridge the gap between financial responsibility and compassionate care. And through it all, Kate shares her hope that collaboration, transparency, and innovation will move healthcare toward a future where both patients and providers can thrive.

About

In March 2025, Kate Musler was promoted to the C-suite of Highmark Health Plan, the health insurance arm of Highmark Health. In this role, Kate is responsible for providing strategic financial leadership for the Highmark Health Plan. She is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining targeted efforts to ensure the economic stability and viability of the Highmark Health Plan, including the transformation necessary to operate as a successful integrated delivery and financing system.

She first joined Highmark in 2019 as senior vice president of underwriting and swiftly moved up the ranks. During her tenure at Highmark, Kate has overseen various functions and ensured the financial stability of the health plan. In her previous role, she oversaw actuarial, underwriting, and provider network functions covering 7 million members. She was also responsible for efforts to create an advance payment program following the Change Healthcare cybersecurity breach that rocked the sector in 2024.

Her areas of expertise include underwriting, actuarial services, medical cost analysis, networking contracting and operations, and regulatory advocacy.

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In my recent discussion with Christina Lopes, founder of FidoCure and fellow Young Global Leader, we examined a troubling but under-discussed reality: cancer incidence in companion animals is rising sharply. The trend mirrors human oncology—rooted in extended lifespans, environmental exposures, and improved detection—and raises critical questions for both veterinary and human medicine.

The epidemiological data are compelling:

• 1 in 4 dogs will develop neoplasia during their lifetime.
• Nearly 50% of dogs over 10 years old receive a cancer diagnosis.
• An estimated 6 million canine cancer cases are identified annually in the U.S.
• Breed-specific predisposition is pronounced; purebred dogs are almost twice as likely as mixed breeds to develop certain cancers, with high-risk breeds showing onset as early as 5–7 years, compared to a median of 9 years in mixed breeds.

Christina’s work at FidoCure is predicated on a big-data, precision-medicine model for veterinary oncology. By aggregating and analyzing genomic, clinical, and longitudinal health data from thousands of dogs, her team is building predictive algorithms capable of identifying at-risk individuals before symptomatic disease emerges. The vision is a transparent, owner-facing platform—one that transforms the “four-legged life course” into a navigable, data-informed journey that prioritizes prevention over reaction.

From a translational science perspective, this work has profound implications. Comparative oncology—the study of naturally occurring cancers in animals to inform human health—benefits enormously from canine genomic data.

Recent research underscores the potential:

• The largest canine tumor sequencing study to date (671 dogs, across over 20 tumor types) identified dozens of mutation hotspots that parallel human oncogenic drivers.
• Comparative genomic analyses have demonstrated high concordance in mutations such as TP53, PIK3CA, and BRAF, opening the door for cross-species therapeutic strategies.
• Clinical trials in dogs using targeted therapies (originally developed for humans) have yielded response patterns that closely predict human outcomes—accelerating drug validation timelines.

Christina’s mission exemplifies a systems-level approach: build robust datasets in veterinary health, leverage machine learning to forecast disease risk, and allow those insights to cycle back into both animal and human oncology. In our conversation, it became clear that advancing predictive and preventive medicine in dogs is not a niche pursuit—it is an accelerant for innovation in global cancer care.

About

Christina Lopes is the CEO and co-founder of FidoCure, a platform that utilises artificial intelligence and genomic sequencing to deliver personalised treatments for pet dogs with cancer, while also accelerating the development of lifesaving cancer therapies for humans. Under her leadership, FidoCure has expanded to over 1,350 veterinary clinics worldwide and has treated nearly 6,000 dogs afflicted with cancer.

In collaboration with the AI Health leadership at Stanford University, Christina has developed the world’s largest and most comprehensive canine cancer dataset, comprising over two billion data points collected from patients in real-world clinical settings. She has co-authored peer-reviewed research published in leading scientific journals, including Nature Precision Oncology.

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In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Edgar Engleman, a pioneering Pathologist and physician-scientist at Stanford University whose work has shaped the very foundation of cancer immunotherapy. As we face rising global cancer rates, Dr. Engleman shares his insights into the evolving landscape of cancer research and what the numbers really mean—scientifically and socially.

We dive deep into his groundbreaking research on erythropoietin (EPO) and its surprising implications in cancer biology, as well as his continued innovations in using the immune system to fight tumors. Dr. Engleman also opens up about his involvement with vee-vo Capital and offers candid thoughts on the role of venture capital in bridging science and real-world impact.

No conversation about the future of medicine is complete without exploring AI. Dr. Engleman shares his perspective on how artificial intelligence is beginning to transform cancer detection and prediction, and how it might reshape diagnostics, treatment decisions, and even drug development.

But what strikes me most is Dr. Engleman’s enduring optimism—rooted in decades of scientific rigor. Despite the challenges, he remains steadfast in his belief that with a science-backed, collaborative approach, curing cancer is not just a dream—it’s a destination. This episode is a masterclass in science, hope, and what it means to pursue truth in medicine.

About

Dr. Edgar G. Engleman, MD, PhD, is a renowned pathologist and physician-scientist who serves as Professor of Pathology and of Medicine (Immunology & Rheumatology) at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his BA magna cum laude from Harvard in 1967 and his MD from Columbia University in 1971. Following postdoctoral training in biochemistry at the NIH and immunogenetics at Stanford, he joined the Stanford faculty in 1978 and earned tenure in 1990. Dr. Engleman founded the Stanford Blood Center in 1980 and continues to serve as its Medical Director. He also co-directs the Tumor Immunology & Immunotherapy Program at the Stanford Cancer Institute and is affiliated with several interdisciplinary research centers, including Bio-X, the Diabetes Research Center, and the Neurosciences Institute.

Dr. Engleman’s research has made pioneering contributions to the field of cancer immunotherapy. His laboratory was the first to isolate and engineer dendritic cells to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses, work that led to the development of Sipuleucel-T (Provenge), the first FDA-approved active immunotherapy for cancer. His recent work focuses on reprogramming tumor-associated myeloid cells to trigger T-cell responses against cancer, with these approaches now in clinical trials. Beyond oncology, his research explores immune mechanisms in metabolic diseases, neurodegeneration, and transplantation, influencing innovative strategies like radiation-based tolerance induction. Dr. Engleman has mentored over 150 trainees, published more than 300 scientific papers, and teaches a popular course on tumor immunology at Stanford.

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In this compelling episode, I sit down with Matteo Franceschetti, the Italian-born Co-Founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, to explore how his journey from competitive ski racing to legal practice to clean-tech entrepreneurship led him to revolutionize the $500 million sleep optimization industry. Franceschetti shares his unique perspective on performance optimization, drawing powerful parallels between the recovery routines of elite athletes and the overlooked sleep needs of frontline healthcare workers. His company’s AI-powered platform is pushing boundaries by shifting the conversation from generic sleep hygiene to hyper-personalized, biometric-driven solutions designed for real-world impact.

As a healthcare technology expert, I’ve long witnessed the gaps in digital health solutions when it comes to addressing burnout and well-being at scale. What struck me in this conversation is Franceschetti’s bold assertion: sleep is not just a wellness perk, it is a foundational form of preventive care. In a field where clinicians are constantly on call, managing life-or-death decisions, and working under relentless pressure, sleep should not be optional—it should be engineered and protected like any other critical health asset.

We take a deeper dive into the data—statistics that are as concerning as they are compelling. One in three physicians report burnout. Healthcare workers sleeping less than seven hours per night face significantly higher rates of emotional exhaustion and clinical error. Franceschetti and I align on this point: the status quo isn’t just insufficient—it’s dangerous. Traditional wellness programs and sleep advice often ignore the deeply individualized nature of sleep, failing to account for how factors like genetics, shift work, stress hormones, and environmental disruption shape sleep architecture.

Eight Sleep’s approach is different. By leveraging real-time bio-signals—like heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and temperature—their platform continuously adapts to the sleeper’s unique physiology, effectively becoming a dynamic sleep coach embedded in your bed. This is the kind of precision health tool that healthcare has been missing.

From my vantage point in digital health innovation, Franceschetti’s work represents a promising shift toward preventive infrastructure rather than reactive treatment. As our system grapples with workforce shortages—only 70% of nurses remaining in practice, rising physician dropout rates—sleep tech could be a quiet but powerful lever. It’s not just about better rest; it’s about clinical accuracy, mental resilience, patient outcomes, and system-wide efficiency.

We close the conversation by exploring how sleep optimization could become a strategic pillar in the healthcare system of the future. Franceschetti argues—and I agree—that investing in personalized sleep technology could yield downstream benefits: fewer medical errors, improved staff retention, better patient satisfaction scores, and lower long-term care costs.

In an era where burnout threatens the very sustainability of care delivery, Eight Sleep’s technology isn’t just a consumer innovation—it’s a potential public health intervention.

About

Matteo Franceschetti is the Co-Founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, the sleep fitness company he established in 2014 in San Francisco. A native of Italy who was obsessed with performance from a young age as a competitive ski racer, tennis player, and car racer, Franceschetti transitioned from working in the top tier of the international legal world and founding two clean-tech companies before age 30 to revolutionizing sleep technology. Under his leadership, Eight Sleep has developed proprietary technology that uses cutting-edge AI and machine learning models to track bio signals during the night and o

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I’ve always been fascinated by the mystery behind our choices — why we hit snooze instead of going for a walk, why we reach for comfort food even when we know better, and why some people seem to have the willpower to make healthier decisions with ease. This week on HLTH Forward, I had the absolute privilege of diving deep into those questions with Dr. Michael Platt, a renowned neuroscientist who’s reshaping how we understand decision-making and the human brain.

Dr. Platt holds joint appointments in neuroscience, psychology, and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania and leads the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative. His work isn’t just academic — it’s deeply human, grounded in the belief that understanding how our brains work can help us live healthier, more connected, and more intentional lives.

We talked about what really goes on inside our brains when we face health choices — whether it's picking between a salad or fast food, deciding to work out or stay on the couch, or even choosing to trust a physician. Dr. Platt broke down how our brains weigh risks and rewards, and how subtle shifts in awareness and intention can lead to profound changes in behavior.

Some of my favorite insights:

• A decision is a decision is a decision. Whether it’s about health, love, or leadership — the same brain circuits are at play.
• Intentionality is key. Slowing down gives your brain time to override impulsive behaviors and choose long-term rewards.
• Trust matters. The people and environments around us dramatically shape our health decisions.
• Habit > willpower. Make good decisions easier by reducing friction and turning them into routines.
• Healthier brains make healthier lives. Dr. Platt’s three keys? Move your body, connect with others, and keep your mind active.

He also shared the story behind his neuroscience startup, Cogwear, which is bringing clinical-grade brain data to the real world — helping individuals, teams, and even couples better understand how they think, feel, and connect.

What I loved most about this conversation was how practical it was. Dr. Platt doesn’t just study the brain — he gives us tools to work with it. If you’ve ever felt stuck in unhealthy patterns or wondered why you know better but don’t do better, this episode is for you.

About

Michael L. Platt is a neuroscientist, psychologist, and anthropologist whose work focuses on what makes us human. His mission is to use these insights to help us achieve our best selves—at work, at home, and in the community. His principal questions focus on the biological mechanisms that underlie decision-making in social environments, the grasp of which has broad-scale implications for improving human performance, mental health, and wellbeing in societies worldwide.

He is the James S. Riepe University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with appointments in the Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Arts & Sciences, and the Wharton School. Platt works at the intersection of economics, psychology, and neuroscience.

As the Director of the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, Platt leads efforts to connect brain science and business. He is also the founder of Cogwear, a neurotechnology company developing wearable devices that provide clinical-grade cognitive feedback.

Platt has authored over 170 peer-reviewed papers and over 60 review and opinion papers. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Klingenstein Foundation, the McDonnell Foundation, and the Department of Defense, among others. He has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, the Guardian, and National Geographic, as well as on ABC’s Goo

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In this episode I had the opportunity to interview a fascinating behavioral scientist and former CEO of Four Day Week Global about the concept of reduced working hours- Dr. Dale Whelehan. He explained how his interest in this field began when observing surgeons suffering from impaired decision-making and emotional regulation due to excessive working hours. What struck me most was his insight that today's workforce has fundamentally changed since the five-day workweek was introduced – we've shifted from physical, repetitive labor to highly cognitive work, yet human attention spans remain limited to about 3.5 hours of optimal performance daily. He emphasized that a four-day workweek isn't merely about cutting hours but redesigning work to eliminate unproductive time, with pilot studies across multiple countries showing reduced stress, better recovery, increased productivity, and improved business outcomes.

During our conversation, I was particularly moved by his observations about the broader personal and societal impacts of reduced working time. People report sleeping more, exercising more, and having greater time for family, friends, and community engagement. Women especially report higher levels of wellbeing, helping close persistent gender gaps. He shared a compelling perspective on how work has become a "de facto religion" in our society as we worship productivity at the expense of human connection. When I asked about the future of healthcare, his response was thought-provoking: AI will transform knowledge requirements for healthcare professionals, creating an opportunity to refocus on interpersonal connections and compassionate care. He cautioned that we must address systemic issues of recruitment and retention rather than simply attracting healthcare workers from countries that need them most – a perspective that left me contemplating the global ethics of our current healthcare systems.

About

Dr. Dale Whelehan is a behaviour scientist with a diverse range of experience comprising human capital, culture, change management, workforce experience, performance consulting, organisational behaviour, and representation and rights.

Having originally trained as a physiotherapist, Dale completed a PhD exploring the impact of fatigue and sleep deprivation in healthcare workers, particularly surgeons, and has published extensively in this field. More recently, Dale was a senior human capital consultant for Deloitte Ireland where he specialised in behavioural science implementation to enable large scale organisational change.

Considered an expert in the field of wellbeing, Dale is passionate about the intrinsic role work plays in fatigue and performance - and how shorter working hours can bring about radical transformation for people's health and happiness.

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In this episode I am in conversation with Othman Laraki, co-founder and CEO of Color. Othman shared his fascinating journey from tech to healthcare, driven by personal cancer experiences in his family. He and his mother are carriers of the BRCA2 gene mutation, which predisposes them to certain cancers.

Color began as a cancer genetics company focused on making testing more affordable and accessible. Over time, they evolved into a full-spectrum cancer solution with a virtual cancer clinic model in partnership with the American Cancer Society. Their innovative approach brings healthcare to people where they are, rather than requiring patients to seek it out.

Key highlights from our conversation:

• Color has served over 7 million people across the US and expects to reach 2 million through their virtual cancer clinic by the end of 2025
• They're addressing the critical issue of early detection, as early-stage cancers now have survivorship rates in the high 90% range
• The company runs a 50-state medical group, combining testing with clinical services and logistics
• They've pioneered a novel AI approach combining OpenAI's frontier models with "large language expert" systems that transform clinical guidelines into programmatic frameworks

Othman shared that cancer rates are increasing among younger populations, making preventive screening and early detection more crucial than ever. He emphasized how friction in healthcare disproportionately impacts less affluent populations, and how Color works to reduce these barriers.

His three key takeaways for the future of healthcare:

1. We need a "warp speed mindset" to tackle specific health challenges directly
2. Employer-driven, vertical-focused solutions are showing real impact on outcomes and costs
3. AI has the potential to transform healthcare more than any other industry by democratizing expertise

Our discussion revealed how technology can make healthcare more accessible while maintaining human connection - Color has operated over 14,000 physical sites in communities across America, bringing services directly to people's lives.

About

Othman Laraki, Chief Executive Officer

Othman Laraki a technology entrepreneur and investor and is CEO of Color Health. Othman was an early Product leader at Google, where he worked on performance infrastructure and client-side software, including the Google Chrome browser. After leaving Google, he co-founded MixerLabs, which was one of Twitter's first acquisitions. At Twitter, Othman was the Vice President of Product, helping create the company's first revenue products and grow the user base from 50 to 200 million users. After leaving Twitter, Othman co-founded Color Health, which he has been leading for the past ten years. Color is a platform for healthcare delivery, providing the technology, infrastructure, and logistics required to distribute large-scale health initiatives to diverse populations. Color works with employers, unions, and government agencies to provide equitable, accessible healthcare services. Color has served tens of millions of people across its programs and most recently has partnered with the American Cancer Society to provide a comprehensive cancer solution for large populations. Othman holds degrees in computer science and management from Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a long-time investor and advisor to leading companies such as Pinterest, AngelList, Slack, Instacart, Gitlab, and others.

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In this episode, I’m sitting down with Jason Carter — grandson of President Jimmy Carter and a force in global health and justice in his own right. As we talk, Jason reflects on the unique balance of carrying a legacy while forging his own path. He shares how his work — from the Georgia Senate to chairing the Carter Center — is rooted in impact, not just identity. He’s thoughtful, grounded, and refreshingly open as he walks us through the shifts he sees in global public health, especially in a post-Covid world, where our interconnectedness is more real than ever.

Throughout the conversation, Jason keeps bringing us back to what truly matters: people. Whether we’re talking about eradicating Guinea worm in Uganda or building trust with communities in Mali, he makes it clear that real change comes from deep relationships, not surface-level aid. We dive into how the Carter Center’s “boots and roots” approach — building long-term, locally led partnerships — is creating powerful, sustainable change. He opens up about the role of trust, technology, and even business in shaping the future of health equity, reminding us that solutions don’t just live in labs — they live in people.

And as we wrap, the energy is still buzzing. Jason drops insights about purpose, legacy, and the surprising value of simplicity — stories that make you pause, reflect, and rethink what it means to make a difference. This isn’t just a conversation; it’s a moment. One that, as the Japanese phrase goes — ichigo ichie — happens only once in a lifetime.

About

Jason Carter is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Georgia State Senate from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he gained prominence as a candidate for governor of Georgia in 2014, where he challenged incumbent Republican Nathan Deal. Carter is also the grandson of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the son of former Georgia Governor and U.S. Senator Jason Carter Sr. Throughout his career, he has focused on issues such as education, healthcare, and economic equality. Known for his advocacy on behalf of working families and his commitment to public service, Carter has also worked as a civil rights attorney and a community leader.

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