Health Horizons is the podcast at the intersection of health, tech and policy. Through in-depth dialogues with change makers, I spotlight the people actively shaping what care will look like tomorrow.
What if medicine stopped treating you like the average patient, and started treating you like you?
MIT's Prof. Regina Barzilay has spent a decade building the AI algorithms to make that real, with a vision of cancer care where disease is caught far earlier, treatment involves less guesswork, and therapies have less side effects. Her current research takes on some of the hardest cases: metastatic patients in lung, colon, and breast cancer who've run out of options, using AI to predict which therapy is most likely to work for each individual. We get into why today's approach so often gives whole groups of patients the same treatment when only some will benefit, and why getting these tools to actual patients is its own hard problem. She also opens up about her own cancer diagnosis: how it reshaped which problems she thought were worth solving, and how she experienced the limits of treatments built for the average patient.
00:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw) Intro01:12 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=72s) The future of personalized healthcare08:46 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=526s) Current landscape of personalized treatments12:36 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=756s) Regina's research: AI for metastatic cancer patients 16:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=990s) Challenges in data and methodology26:42 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=1602s) Interpretability of the models27:40 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=1660s) Validation of the models31:33 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=1893s) Understanding foundation models in biology34:02 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=2042s) Challenges with biology foundation models38:53 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=2333s) The value of personalized treatments for all patients44:29 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=2669s) Regulatory challenges48:14 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=2894s) Regina's personal journey through breast cancer52:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=3150s) Overcoming Skepticism in AI Research55:38 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=3338s) The value of building a hospital network58:01 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=3481s) Lightning round01:01:01 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCn6WdqSRkw&t=3661s) Outro
19 Aug 2025
Policy in Motion: Adapting to Autonomous AI with Prof. Michael Abramoff
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the U.S — yet far too few people who need screening actually receive it. Through his company, Digital Diagnostics, and its flagship product LumineticsCore, Michael and his team have built an FDA-authorized autonomous AI system that brings diabetic retinopathy screening much closer to patients.
In this episode, we discuss how Michael has spent over a decade driving the systemic changes needed to make autonomous AI viable clinically, economically, and ethically.
17 Jun 2025
The Nobel that Sparked Biotech
Phillip Sharp recounts his journey from a Kentucky farm to a Nobel Prize for discovering RNA splicing at MIT, which catalyzed the biotechnology industry in this interview.
19 May 2025
AI Health Regulation with Dr. Hugh Harvey
Dr. Hugh Harvey explores the slow adoption of AI in healthcare, clarifies common misconceptions about regulatory processes, and considers the necessity of human oversight in AI systems during an interview.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 11 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
8
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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