Innovate Health

About Innovate Health

Explore the breakthroughs, bold ideas, and rising innovations reshaping patient care and life science. From new technology to fresh thinking in medicine, discover what's next for healthcare and everyone working to keep us well. Produced by OHSU clinical informatics and Strategic Communications.

Publisher

OHSU

Category

health & fitness · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Aug 2025

Latest episode

1 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

13 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 Oct 2026

   GammaTile Brain Tumor Treatment Delivers Targeted Radiation at the Time of Surgery

   For some patients with complex or recurrent brain tumors, GammaTile offers a new option: targeted radiation that begins in the operating room. In this episode of Innovate Health, we sit down with the OHSU specialists who launched Oregon's first GammaTile program to talk about how it works, who may benefit and what it took to bring it to patients. In this episode, we talk about: • How GammaTile combines brain tumor surgery and targeted radiation in one procedure, and why that can spare patients extra trips for radiation afterward • Why recurrent brain metastases can be hard to treat with external beam radiation alone, especially as more patients, including younger adults with colorectal cancer, live longer with metastatic disease • What patients can expect from the implant, radiation safety and recovery, including why avoiding radiation-related hair loss matters more than it sounds • How neurosurgery, radiation oncology and medical physics built the program together, from a value committee pitch to tracking every radioactive seed • Early program experience and what's next: the ROADS and BRIDGES trials, research in glioblastoma (an aggressive form of brain cancer) and one-stop care for patients across rural Oregon Meet our guests: • Stephen Bowden, M.D. — assistant professor of neurological surgery and neuro-oncology specialist at OHSU. • Josh Walker, M.D., Ph.D. — associate professor of radiation medicine and radiation oncologist at OHSU. • Joe Foy, Ph.D. — assistant professor of radiation medicine, medical physicist and brachytherapy lead at OHSU. Hosts: Ani Chintalapani and Tammy Wagner Topics covered: GammaTile, brain tumor treatment, brain metastases, targeted radiation therapy, brachytherapy, neuro-oncology Timestamps: 00:00:00 Introducing GammaTile and the OHSU team 00:04:25 Limits of radiation after tumor surgery 00:07:41 Radiation delivered during surgery 00:11:59 Why recurrent tumors need new options 00:14:13 Building Oregon's first GammaTile program 00:20:25 What a GammaTile is and who may benefit 00:24:53 Radiation safety, recovery & quality of life 00:29:32 Early results, future trials & rural access 00:33:30 Radiation before vs. after surgery 00:38:12 What this means for patients in Oregon Links and resources • OHSU News: OHSU is first in Oregon to implant device in brain to treat tumor (July 23, 2026): https://news.ohsu.edu/2026/07/23/ohsu-is-first-in-oregon-to-implant-device-in-brain-to-treat-tumor (https://news.ohsu.edu/2026/07/23/ohsu-is-first-in-oregon-to-implant-device-in-brain-to-treat-tumor) • OHSU News: OHSU is first in Oregon to implant device in brain to treat tumor (July 23, 2026): https://news.ohsu.edu/2026/07/23/ohsu-is-first-in-oregon-to-implant-device-in-brain-to-treat-tumor (https://news.ohsu.edu/2026/07/23/ohsu-is-first-in-oregon-to-implant-device-in-brain-to-treat-tumor) • ROADS phase 3 trial results, as presented at ASCO 2026: https://www.ajmc.com/view/gammatile-improves-metastatic-brain-tumor-outcomes-without-added-toxicity-jeffrey-weinberg-md (https://www.ajmc.com/view/gammatile-improves-metastatic-brain-tumor-outcomes-without-added-toxicity-jeffrey-weinberg-md) • BRIDGES phase 3 glioblastoma trial (NCT07195591) on ClinicalTrials.gov (http://ClinicalTrials.gov): https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07195591 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07195591)

2. 

   6 Aug 2026

   AI Surgical Reminder Calls: How OHSU Cut Cancellations by 50%

   Can an AI voice agent make surgery day smoother — without losing the human touch? In this episode of Innovate Health, OHSU shares how it became the first health system in the country to launch an agentic AI patient-reminder call for surgical patients — cutting procedure cancellations by roughly 50% while freeing staff for higher-value work. ⚠️ Content warning: This episode includes a brief discussion of self-harm and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 (U.S.) to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In this episode: • Why pre-op reminder calls are so labor-intensive — and how AI reduces last-minute surgery cancellations • How OHSU co-developed a human-in-the-loop voice agent with escalation to real staff (plus a real-time 988 safety escalation) • What patients actually think: satisfaction ratings, generational differences, and English vs. Spanish calls • How freeing schedulers from repetitive calls lets them work at the top of their license • What's next: medication reconciliation, ambulatory reminders, and post-op calls Guests: Dio Sumagaysay, Vice President of Perioperative & Multi-Specialty Procedural Services at OHSU (returning guest); and Kristen Lund, RN, Director of the Pre-op Medicine Clinic and OR Scheduling Groups at OHSU, who led the project. Hosted by Dr. Ani Chintalapani and Dr. Tammy Wagner. Topics covered: agentic AI in healthcare, AI patient reminder calls, reducing surgery cancellations, perioperative operations, patient experience, conversational voice AI, multilingual (Spanish) patient outreach, healthcare workforce. Timestamps: 00:00:00 Introduction & guest welcome 00:03:00 The problem: why pre-op calls are hard 00:05:44 Before AI: MyChart, texts & manual calls 00:09:00 How the agentic voice agent works 00:11:33 Escalations, dashboards & human handoff 00:12:33 Building trust: augment, not replace 00:16:17 Stress-testing the agent for failure points 00:18:25 A surprise: suicide-risk escalation to 988 00:19:55 Why the AI voice feels human (generational gaps) 00:21:15 How patients reacted: satisfaction ratings 00:24:14 Evolving the script from patient feedback 00:25:20 Results: 50% fewer cancellations 00:28:01 Freeing staff for higher-value work 00:29:24 What's next: med reconciliation and post-op calls 00:32:41 Closing thoughts and why OHSU leads Links and resources: Innovate Health podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovate-health/id1872730471 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/innovate-health/id1872730471) 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/ (https://988lifeline.org/)

3. 

   9 Jul 2026

   From Lab Bench to Market: How OHSU Innovates Turns Research Into Startups — with Dr. Aditi Martin

   How does a promising discovery in a research lab actually become a company, a licensed product, or a clinical tool patients can use? In this episode of Innovate Health, Dr. Aditi Martin, Senior Director for Collaborations and Entrepreneurship at OHSU, breaks down how OHSU Innovates helps researchers, clinicians, and students turn early-stage ideas into partnerships, startups, and market-ready innovations — and why entrepreneurship doesn't have to be a lonely journey. In this episode: • Inside OHSU Innovates: how partnership development, startup formation, and gap funding work together to support academic entrepreneurship • Real success stories — from a nerve-imaging surgical technology (Trace Biosciences) to a biodegradable neurosurgical clip (NeuraMedica) • How the Biomedical Innovation Program and the I-Corps-based Commercialization Readiness Program de-risk the path from idea to market • Why "the earlier, the better" is the golden rule for connecting with OHSU's innovation and technology transfer teams • Guest credential: Dr. Martin is a pharmacologist by training who spent seven years at Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures before joining OHSU in 2015 to lead its growing innovation ecosystem Guest: Dr. Aditi Martin, Senior Director for Collaborations and Entrepreneurship at OHSU. A pharmacologist by training (Virginia Commonwealth University), Dr. Martin spent seven years at Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures in business development, licensing, and patent analysis before joining OHSU in 2015 to help build out its innovation and entrepreneurship programming. Topics covered: academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer, biomedical innovation funding, healthcare startups, industry-academia partnerships, commercialization readiness Timestamps: 02:05 Dr. Martin's path to OHSU and what OHSU Innovates is 05:14 Partnership development — the first pillar of Collaborations & Entrepreneurship 07:07 Cultivating startups from university IP — the second pillar 08:53 The Biomedical Innovation Program: gap funding for early-stage ideas 09:50 The I-Corps-based Commercialization Readiness Program 11:59 Push vs. pull — how researchers and innovators connect with the program 13:58 Success story: Trace Biosciences' nerve-imaging technology 15:42 Success story: NeuraMedica's bioabsorbable surgical clip 17:16 When to reach out — "the earlier, the better" 20:03 How OHSU Innovates defines success: metrics, ROI, and repeat innovators 24:07 Navigating risk and the culture shift toward innovation at OHSU 26:41 Coaching researchers through commercialization anxiety 30:56 Overcoming early resistance through relationship building 34:49 What's next: on-campus startup space and expanded ecosystem partnerships 36:51 How to get started — contact info, newsletter, and the annual impact report Links & Resources Mentioned: OHSU Innovates — https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates (https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates) OHSU Collaborations and Entrepreneurship — https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates/collaborations-and-entrepreneurship (https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates/collaborations-and-entrepreneurship) Entrepreneurial Education Programs — https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates/entrepreneurial-education-programs (https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates/entrepreneurial-education-programs) OHSU Startup Companies — https://www.ohsu.edu/collaborations-and-entrepreneurship/ohsu-startups (https://www.ohsu.edu/collaborations-and-entrepreneurship/ohsu-startups) Contact Dr. Martin's team: oce@ohsu.edu (mailto:oce@ohsu.edu)

4. 

   9 Jun 2026

   AI Healthcare Staffing Optimization: From Hero Staffing to Best-Fit OR Teams

   Fragmented perioperative staffing models — driven by siloed knowledge, manual scheduling, and overreliance on hero staff — create inefficiencies that delay surgical access and increase staff burnout. This discussion highlights how an AI-powered staffing optimization platform leverages real-time workforce data and case-history intelligence to automate assignments, standardize decision-making, and improve OR throughput, care consistency and team scalability. In this episode we cover: - AI-Powered Perioperative Optimization: How predictive staff-to-case matching improves surgical efficiency, reduces case duration, and enhances patient care consistency. - Operational & Technical Barriers: The challenges of replacing manual, siloed scheduling systems with integrated AI tools across OR workflows and workforce systems like Kronos and EHRs. - Leadership & Transformation Strategy: Lessons on driving adoption through frontline engagement, co-design, and reframing AI as augmentation—not replacement—of clinical expertise. Episode Timeline and Key Takeaways 00:05 – Introduction and Context: The current landscape of perioperative operations, highlighting the hidden complexity of getting patients efficiently from scheduling into the operating room. 03:44 – Addressing the Staffing Optimization Problem: Why traditional “hero staffing,” siloed expertise, and manual, paper-based scheduling fail to scale in modern healthcare infrastructure. 16:04 – Technical Deep Dive: Breaking down how the AI staffing platform integrates Kronos workforce data and EHR-derived case history to match staff expertise with surgical needs and enable automated assignments. 25:50 – Workforce, Research and Education Impacts: How this shift improves care consistency, reduces administrative burden and creates new opportunities for staff development, cross-training and competency tracking. 34:25 – Future Outlook: Where AI-driven staffing and resource optimization will expand to next.

5. 

   22 Apr 2026

   Back to the Patient: How AI Scribe is Changing the Visit

   What happens when the computer stops being the center of the exam room? This episode of Innovate Health explores AI scribe—technology that listens during a visit and drafts a clinical note for clinicians to review, edit and sign. We discuss what providers and patients can expect with AI scribe, the impact of reducing after-hours documentation for providers, why human editing remains essential with these tools, and how this technology can help put the clinician–patient connection back at the center of care.

6. 

   19 Mar 2026

   Saving Sight with Light: Dr. Huang and OCT

   In this episode, Dr. David Huang tells the story of how optical coherence tomography (OCT) grew from a single research project in an MIT lab into a mainstream medical technology that saves the eyesight of millions and launched an entirely new field of innovation. He reflects on the teamwork and collaborators who shaped the breakthrough—and why working with people has been the highlight of his career. Dr. Huang also looks ahead, sharing what his team is developing now and how OCT’s next generation could transform early detection and treatment even further.

7. 

   12 Feb 2026

   Vista Pavilion puts patients, staff and families at the center of design

   OHSU's new inpatient addition, Vista Pavilion, will expand OHSU inpatient capacity while redefining what healing spaces can be. With an emphasis on holistic experiences that integrate patient care with emotional and environmental considerations, as well as dedicated interdisciplinary staff and research space, the Vista pavilion puts patients, families, and staff at the center of the design and experience.

8. 

   6 Nov 2025

   It's not Epic training, it's clinician training ​with​ Epic

   This episode discusses the critical role of ongoing advanced EHR training in empowering clinicians to deliver care more efficiently, remain adaptable, and achieve higher levels of professional satisfaction. "It's not Epic training, it's clinician training with Epic.

9. 

   27 Oct 2025

   How Clinical Informatics improves health care delivery

   Clinical informatics at OHSU, how it started and how the focus on human-centered design continues to drive how we test, adopt and integrate health care technology and the critical role clinical informatics plays at OHSU. "[Clinical informatics] is a collaboration that has the happiness of our providers, and the success of our system, and the success of our patients at its heart."

10. 

    12 Oct 2025

    OHSU Sprints: Boosting clinical effectiveness and EHR engagement

    OHSU Sprints, what they are, how they can help reframe workflows and processes to meet the diverse needs of staff across a unit or department, and why they’re essential for enhancing clinical effectiveness and engagement with the electronic health record.

11. 

    22 Sept 2025

    AI in Health Care: Opportunities, risks and the path forward

    How AI, or artificial intelligence is reshaping health care—the opportunities it brings, the risks it poses, and the thoughtful steps needed to move forward.

12. 

    7 Sept 2025

    People plus Technology: Why we started this podcast

    The goals behind the Innovate Health podcast, what we hope to achieve, why a podcast and how folks can share ideas and thoughts for future episodes.

13. 

    12 Aug 2025

    Recharge Retreat: Optimizing EHR efficiency with personal wellness

    How the OHSU Health Recharge Retreat fits into the broader mission to boost satisfaction and efficiency through Epic initiatives at OHSU, including a candid, firsthand account from an attendee on what it’s like to attend the retreat, and how the experience impacted his work and well-being.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

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Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.