Diagnostic Tool Unlocks Identification of Inflammatory Back Pain with Neil Klompas Augurex
Release Date: 12/08/2025
Virtual Support Groups Remove Barriers Encourage Sharing Honest Experiences to Fight Misinformation with Rick Davis AnCan TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Rick Davis, patient advocate and Founder of AnCan, is building and operating virtual peer-to-peer support groups to allow patients to connect with others who have direct experience with their condition. These groups can provide accurate information, foster connections among participants, and serve as a check on medical misinformation. With the growing acceptance of virtual meetings, this approach overcomes geographic, physical, and psychosocial barriers that might otherwise prevent participants from attending on-site meetings. Rick explains, "The mission is to make each person and each...
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Virtual Support Groups Remove Barriers Encourage Sharing Honest Experiences to Fight Misinformation with Rick Davis AnCan
Empowered Patient Podcast
Rick Davis, patient advocate and Founder of AnCan, is building and operating virtual peer-to-peer support groups to allow patients to connect with others who have direct experience with their condition. These groups can provide accurate information, foster connections among participants, and serve as a check on medical misinformation. With the growing acceptance of virtual meetings, this approach overcomes geographic, physical, and psychosocial barriers that might otherwise prevent participants from attending on-site meetings. Rick explains, "The mission is to make each person and each...
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Healthcare Plans Using Analytics to Improve Health Literacy Patient Engagement and Outcomes with Bob Farrell mPulse TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Bob Farrell, CEO of mPulse, is using digital technology, data analytics and AI to improve the relationship between health plans and their members in order to improve health outcomes and operational efficiency. Bob introduces the concept of HXI, Health Experience and Insights, as a framework that unites data, intelligence, and personalized communication to provide tools to enage members at the best time and by the preferred methods with appropriate information at the right time. Analyzing claims data enables plans to identify high-risk patients, promote preventive care, and build health...
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Healthcare Plans Using Analytics to Improve Health Literacy Patient Engagement and Outcomes with Bob Farrell mPulse
Empowered Patient Podcast
Bob Farrell, CEO of mPulse, is using digital technology, data analytics and AI to improve the relationship between health plans and their members in order to improve health outcomes and operational efficiency. Bob introduces the concept of HXI, Health Experience and Insights, as a framework that unites data, intelligence, and personalized communication to provide tools to enage members at the best time and by the preferred methods with appropriate information at the right time. Analyzing claims data enables plans to identify high-risk patients, promote preventive care, and build health...
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AI-Powered Drug Discovery Platform Transforms Broad Antiviral Development with Rick Pierce Decoy Therapeutics TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Rick Pierce, Co-Founder and CEO of Decoy Therapeutics. is using AI and machine learning to accelerate drug discovery and is developing broad-acting antivirals using peptide conjugates that target a shared invasion mechanism of hundreds of viruses. The company is using small language models and a high-speed peptide synthesizer to dramatically reduce drug creation time. Rick predicts that the future of drug discovery will combine AI-driven design with advanced biological models, such as organoids, to better predict drug toxicity and efficacy. Rick explains, "Decoy Therapeutics was founded...
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AI-Powered Drug Discovery Platform Transforms Broad Antiviral Development with Rick Pierce Decoy Therapeutics
Empowered Patient Podcast
Rick Pierce, Co-Founder and CEO of Decoy Therapeutics. is using AI and machine learning to accelerate drug discovery and is developing broad-acting antivirals using peptide conjugates that target a shared invasion mechanism of hundreds of viruses. The company is using small language models and a high-speed peptide synthesizer to dramatically reduce drug creation time. Rick predicts that the future of drug discovery will combine AI-driven design with advanced biological models, such as organoids, to better predict drug toxicity and efficacy. Rick explains, "Decoy Therapeutics was founded...
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Concierge Healthcare Services for Employees of Self-Insured Companies with Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan World Class Health TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan, cardiologist and geriatrician and Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at World Class Health, is bringing concierge healthcare to employees of self-insured companies. The platform includes a global network of top-tier doctors and nurse navigators. Directly negotiating with providers reduces costs and reduces administrative and financial friction for patients seeking planned procedures. The model also reduces friction for physicians by providing them with complete patient records and ensuring prompt payment. Kumar explains, "We are a global,...
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Concierge Healthcare Services for Employees of Self-Insured Companies with Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan World Class Health
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Kumar Dharmarajan, cardiologist and geriatrician and Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at World Class Health, is bringing concierge healthcare to employees of self-insured companies. The platform includes a global network of top-tier doctors and nurse navigators. Directly negotiating with providers reduces costs and reduces administrative and financial friction for patients seeking planned procedures. The model also reduces friction for physicians by providing them with complete patient records and ensuring prompt payment. Kumar explains, "We are a global,...
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Direct-to-Consumer Health Tools and AI Making Medical Information Accessible with Brent Dial Beek Health TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Brent Dial, Founder and CEO of Beek Health, has built a platform that addresses patient information fragmentation by aggregating data from patient portals and providing direct access to lab testing. Health literacy is key to preventing chronic diseases, and AI is being used to scale the delivery of personalized health information. Identifying relevant biomarkers and early warning signs supports proactive health management that can alter long-term health outcomes. Brent explains, "Beek Health is re-imagining healthcare by finally putting the individual at the center of their health journey....
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Direct-to-Consumer Health Tools and AI Making Medical Information Accessible with Brent Dial Beek Health
Empowered Patient Podcast
Brent Dial, Founder and CEO of Beek Health, has built a platform that addresses patient information fragmentation by aggregating data from patient portals and providing direct access to lab testing. Health literacy is key to preventing chronic diseases, and AI is being used to scale the delivery of personalized health information. Identifying relevant biomarkers and early warning signs supports proactive health management that can alter long-term health outcomes. Brent explains, "Beek Health is re-imagining healthcare by finally putting the individual at the center of their health journey....
info_outlineNeil Klompas, President and CEO of Augurex, has a mission to improve the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases, with a primary focus on axial spondyloarthritis, a form of inflammatory back pain that is often misdiagnosed. The Augurex blood test SpineStat is designed to differentiate axSpA from mechanical back pain by identifying a specific biomarker present in axSpA. Currently, there is an average nine-year delay from the onset of symptoms to an accurate diagnosis of axSpA, causing irreversible spinal damage and years of using drugs and therapy with no benefit.
Neil explains, "I think we're all familiar with back pain. Some of the NIH data and WHO data out there show that almost 28% of adult Americans live with chronic back pain, back pain lasting more than three months. It can be a real journey to figure out what the drivers are, with some patients really never getting resolution, resulting in pain management and, in some cases, even opioid pain management. But if you dive deeper into that category of back pain, there are really two broad classifications we can think about. We can think about mechanical back pain, which is due to lifting, twisting, sports injury, or maybe a car accident. But then there's this whole other category, as you indicated, called inflammatory back pain, which really has its roots in autoimmune, where the body's immune system is actually attacking itself. "
"Well, this is when the body's immune system attacks its peripheral joints. In inflammatory back pain, or as you said, axial spondyloarthritis, it's an autoimmune condition where the body's immune system actually attacks the spine. This can lead to pain increasing over time, new bone growth, fusion of the spinal cord, and permanent stiffness and loss of mobility. It's progressive. It keeps getting worse, and because it's an autoimmune condition. Simply stretching or swearing to take up yoga or getting a new pair of runners or doing PT or massage, while it might help with some of the symptoms, it's not going to slow down or stop the disease. The challenge with axSpA, with axial spondyloarthritis, is that while it's not really that well known or talked about in the media, it's actually more than twice as prevalent as rheumatoid arthritis, a condition which many people have heard about."
#Augurex #AdvancedDiagnostics #AutoimmuneDiseases #axSpA #AxialSpondyloarthritis #BackPain
