The Heart of Healthcare | A Digital Health Podcast

Breakthrough blood tests that can flag dozens of cancers before symptoms appear are gaining momentum, yet questions remain about accuracy, equity, and how these tools will fit into routine care.
In this episode, Steve talks with Helmy Eltoukhy, co-founder and co-CEO of Guardant Health, a $14 billion publicly-traded precision oncology company. The conversation explores the science behind cell-free DNA, the rise of blood-based cancer screening, and the broader shift toward data-driven diagnostics.
We cover:
How liquid biopsy works and why cell-free DNA became such a powerful tool
The path from late-stage applications to large-scale early detection
What Medicare coverage of blood-based colorectal cancer screening signals for adoption
The operational and regulatory hurdles that shape diagnostics businesses
Lessons from Helmy’s entrepreneurial path across sequencing, diagnostics, and company-building
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About our guest:
Helmy Eltoukhy is the chairman and co-CEO of Guardant Health, a leading precision oncology company he co-founded in 2012. He is also an active investor and is involved in over 30 startup companies across the technology and healthcare sectors. In December 2024, Eltoukhy expanded his ventures into sports ownership by co-leading the acquisition of Sheffield United Football Club through COH Sports of which he is currently co-chairman.
Last year, he was named by TIME100 Health as one of the most influential people in global health. He was also on Time Magazine’s inaugural list of the 50 Most Influential People in Health Care and has been recognized by Fortune (40 under 40), the World Economic Forum (Technology Pioneer), and on the list of the Top 50 Healthcare CEOs in 2021.
Beyond his entrepreneurial endeavors, Eltoukhy is deeply committed to various philanthropic efforts and serves on the boards of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), and the UCSF Cancer Leadership Council. Prior to founding Guardant Health, Eltoukhy co-founded Avantome in 2007 to commercialize semiconductor sequencing, which was later acquired by Illumina. Eltoukhy is a named inventor on over 100 patents and holds PhD, MS, and BS degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
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Learn more about the Rock Health CEO Summit at the New York Stock Exchange on March 27th.
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Pharma ads, biotech IPOs, $1M longevity programs, oh my!
This month's Digital Health Download skews towards biotech, which is having a moment. Tune in to hear Halle and Michael cover the latest headlines.
We cover:
Why pharma ads are surging and the growing push for restrictions on D2C drug advertising
Hims & Hers’ $1.15B acquisition of Eucalyptus, its global expansion strategy, and the FDA crackdown on compounded GLP‑1 drugs
The return of biotech IPOs, with Eikon Therapeutics and Generate Biomedicines signaling investor interest in platform‑based drug discovery
Vaccine makers scaling back research amid policy uncertainty, declining uptake, and tighter funding
TrumpRx’s “most favored nation” drug pricing approach, and what one STAT analysis found
Bryan Johnson’s $1M per year “Immortals” longevity program
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Show notes:
Should drug companies be advertising to consumers? (The New York Times)
Hims & Hers Enters $1.15 Billion Agreement to Acquire Eucalyptus (PharmExec.com)
A sign biotech is back? Four drugmakers go public, raising nearly $1 billion in all (STAT)
Vaccine Makers Curtail Research and Cut Jobs (The New York Times)
TrumpRx claims to offer the lowest prices. But many drugs have cheaper generics (STAT)
Bryan Johnson's Immortals: $1M to try longevity regimen (Axios)
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"Halle Tecco wanted to see tech used for better medical services and getting people engaged in their own health. Now, she’s written a book on how she went about it." - The WSJ
Massively Better Healthcare is out now!
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Rock Health's annual CEO Summit is returning to the New York Stock Exchange on March 27th! Learn more and nominate a CEO to join this invite-only event here.
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When Eric Lefkofsky’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, it exposed how little technology and data were shaping cancer care, pushing the serial entrepreneur to build a different model.
Lefkofsky is the founder and CEO of Tempus, now a $10B publicy traded health tech company, and previously founded Groupon. At Tempus, he’s building a tech-first company applying multimodal data and AI to make diagnostics smarter and treatment decisions more tailored, starting in oncology and expanding across disease areas.
We cover:
What Tempus does in plain English
Why Tempus built its own lab, and how it became one of the largest sequencers of cancer patients in the U.S.
The hard part: extracting usable clinical data from EHRs and scaling to thousands of hospital connections and hundreds of petabytes of data
How AI changes the patient-physician relationship, and why patients will increasingly arrive highly informed
What Eric would change at CMS and HHS to responsibly pay for AI
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About our guest:
Eric Lefkofsky is the founder and CEO at Tempus, a leader in artificial intelligence and precision medicine. He is the co-founder and General Partner of Lightbank, a private venture capital firm specializing in investments in technology companies. He is also the co-founder of Pathos AI, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on re-engineering drug development; Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), a global e-commerce marketplace; Mediaocean, a leading provider of integrated media procurement technology; Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ: ECHO), a technology-enabled transportation and logistics outsourcing firm; and InnerWorkings (NASDAQ: INWK), a global provider of managed print and promotional solutions.
He co-chairs the Lefkofsky Family Foundation with his wife Liz to advance high-impact initiatives that enhance lives in the communities served. Lefkofsky also serves on the board of directors of The Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern Medicine. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
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In this episode (recorded live), Halle Tecco speaks with Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of Medicine at UCSF, about their concurrently released books on healthcare innovation and AI.
They share thoughts on the dual challenge of innovation in healthcare and the role of AI, covering:
Why past waves of tech failed to change healthcare and why AI may finally break through
How AI is making a difference today in healthcare
Where AI-assisted diagnosis and prescribing could go next, and the risks of over-relying on humans “in the loop”
How EHR vendors (like Epic) hold the "poll position" for AI implementation due to workflow integration
Why innovators must become healthcare "anthropologists"; and clinicians must understand technology and AI

Plus, a surprise guest from Prenuvo joins us to chime in.
Order Halle’s new book, Massively Better Healthcare here
Order Bob’s new book, A Giant Leap here
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About our guest:
Robert M. Wachter, MD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Author of 300 articles and 6 books, he coined the term “hospitalist” in 1996 and is often considered the “father” of the hospitalist field, the fastest-growing medical specialty in U.S. history. He is a past president of the Society of Hospital Medicine, past chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a Master of the American College of Physicians, and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Modern Healthcare magazine has ranked him among the 50 most influential physician-executives in the U.S. more than a dozen times; he was #1 on the list in 2015. His 2015 book, The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age, was a New York Times bestseller. His new book is A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future.

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Physicians now face a world where search bars, chat apps, and large AI models are becoming many people’s first stop for health questions, long before they enter a clinic.
Former Google Chief Health Officer and national health IT leader Dr. Karen DeSalvo joins us to unpack what this shift means for clinicians, regulators, and patients, and why 15% of daily Google searches are questions no one has ever asked before.
We cover:
• Why consumer health search is becoming a powerful entry point into care
• How Google built guardrails for safety, quality, and real-time monitoring of emerging risks
• What the rise of GenAI “doctor in your pocket” tools could mean
• The regulatory tensions ahead as states experiment with AI-driven medical decision support
• How global demand, workforce strain, and new data sources (IoT, at-home diagnostics, wearables) are accelerating AI-supported primary care
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About our guest:
Dr. Karen DeSalvo is a health leader who has committed her career to improving health for everyone, everywhere. She was most recently Google’s Chief Health Officer, where spearheaded a global team of health professionals dedicated to harnessing Google's technology and platforms to help everyone, everywhere live a longer, healthier life. Before Google, Dr. DeSalvo held significant roles in the U.S. government, including National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and acting Assistant Secretary for Health. She was also the Health Commissioner in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, where she led public health recovery efforts. Dr. DeSalvo currently sits on the Boards of Directors for Welltower and CityBlock Health and is a member of the Council of the National Academy of Medicine.
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Pre-order Halle's new book, Massively Better Healthcare.
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