Explore every episode of the podcast The Healthtech Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for The Healthtech Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

	Title	Pub. Date	Duration
	#468: CEO of Mind, Sarah Hughes - AI and mental health	23 oct. 2026	01:02:39
Dr Sarah Hughes is chief executive of Mind. Aahuti Rai chairs Mind's Mental Health in the Age of AI Commission and runs the Mental Health Innovation Network. The commission exists partly because of something that happened to Sarah. She had been using ChatGPT for around two years, had given it a name, and found it genuinely useful. Then she upgraded her subscription and it behaved as though it did not know her. Her own reaction, irritation and then a real sense of abandonment, is what made her think this needed looking at properly. Two other things landed around the same time: reports from around the world of people building relationships with chatbots at the cost of everyone else in their lives, and parents contacting Mind about advice their child had been given at three in the morning. Aahuti sets out how the inquiry is actually built, around three questions on help seeking behaviour, on keeping people safe, and on whether AI widens the inequalities that already exist in mental health support. There is an open call for evidence for adults in England and Wales, plus separate work streams for technology providers, regulators and mental health providers. The most uncomfortable stretch is not about AI at all. Sarah's argument is that people return to a chatbot because it offers continuity, patience and attention that services often do not, and that facing that is harder than regulating anything. Dr Sarah Hughes on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sarahhughesceo Aahuti Rai on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/aahutirai Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk AI and mental health, Mind's information page: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/ai-and-mental-health/
	#467: Cancer screening at the baseball game, and what the UK is missing	14 oct. 2026	01:13:02
Michael LaPorta is President of Playbook for Health, the US agency that sits on the healthcare side of the table when hospital groups, insurers and health tech companies partner with sports teams. He and James have known each other since a hostel in Guatemala fifteen years ago, and this conversation picks up from where they met again at HLTH Europe in Amsterdam. Mike explains what these partnerships actually look like once you get past the logo on the shirt. Playbook set up prostate cancer screening booths at Major League Baseball games, where men turned up beer in hand and a handful walked away with an elevated PSA and a follow-up appointment. He talks through the USD 35 million raised for paediatric cancer research with Hackensack University Medical Center, the New York Giants and Eli Manning. He describes American sports teams turning into property companies, and the medical campus Dignity Health is planning on the 260 acres the Arizona Cardinals took over in North Phoenix. James pushes on what any of this means for the UK, where hospital brands have had little reason to market to patients because patients have had little choice. Mike's read is that Britain is roughly where the US was fourteen years ago, and that the purest version of these partnerships, community screening rather than signage, is the one that travels. His closing advice is to stop assuming a sports partnership only leads back to sports medicine. Michael LaPorta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-laporta-1967438/ Playbook for Health: https://www.playbookforhealth.com/
	#466 : Should pharma fund more healthtech?	07 oct. 2026	01:33:08
Tom Keith-Welsh is Client Partner for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Endava, and he has worked in almost every seat in this industry: regulatory affairs at Glaxo Wellcome, pharma sales for Merck, two pharma advertising agencies, marketing at an infection control software company, project management inside two NHS trusts, and then senior digital health and innovation roles at Merck and GSK. He takes James through the whole route, and the stories are the point. A hijacked lorry full of cuddly toys for a children's growth hormone pen. A Nintendo Wii hacked into a mode-of-action demo for a haematology congress. The salt mine two miles from a hospital where paper records were kept for thirty years, and the one question that made most of the scanning project unnecessary: which of these pages do you actually read? Then the harder conversation. James asks whether pharma, with the deepest pockets in healthcare, does enough to make digital health business models work. Tom's answer is no, and his reasoning is worth hearing if you are building anything you hope pharma will pay for. He explains the two year innovation cycle, why those teams keep getting cut, and the connected asthma inhaler that was shut down over the gap between 80p and five pound eighty. Tom Keith-Welsh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkw/ Endava: https://www.endava.com/ Apply to be a guest: ⁠https://thehealthtechpodcast.com ⁠ Produced by ⁠SomX ⁠
	#465: Lessons from running a $250M healthtech & biotech fund, with Steve Burnell from Tenmile	30 sept. 2026	01:17:41
Steve Burnell is managing director of Tenmile, the health technology and biotech investment business Andrew and Nicola Forrest's Tattarang set up with a 250 million dollar allocation. He is also a PhD marine ecologist who spent his twenties putting satellite trackers on right whales and making natural history documentaries, then spent fourteen years in big pharma, latterly running digital pathology and clinical decision support businesses for Roche. He and Dr James Somauroo spend a long stretch on antimicrobial resistance, which Steve calls contrarian, and for good reason. Antibiotics have been the place capital goes to die, and big pharma has largely walked away. He explains why Tenmile went in anyway, across a vaccine company, a gram negative antibiotic and a point of care test that tells a GP whether an infection is bacterial or viral. The most useful part for founders is on money. Steve is candid that he became a digital health sceptic after being the digital health guy in 1998, and he names a miss, Heidi Health, an Australian company Tenmile passed on. His line on it is "who looks like the idiot now". There is also his advice on leadership, which starts from never having felt unworthy, why he thinks the best uses of AI in hospitals are the unglamorous ones, the regulatory absurdity of proving an algorithm against two pathologists who cannot agree with each other, and what Australia's R and D tax incentive is worth to a company on the register. Steve Burnell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveburnell Tenmile: https://www.tenmile.com Apply to be a guest: https://thehealthtechpodcast.com Produced by SomX
	#464 How to go to market in healthtech - Ross Drynan from We Don’t Consult	23 sept. 2026	01:20:11
Ross Drynan has spent twelve years at the intersection of technology and healthcare, almost all of it in go to market, including building the go to market that took a small dental software company to international market leadership. He now runs We Don't Consult, which despite the name is a consultancy, working with clinicians becoming founders, SaaS companies stuck after their first few percent of market share, and established teams trying to work out AI adoption. The conversation opens on why so many clinical founders fail, and it is not the product. Ross argues most spend years and their own money building something nobody has seen, then find they have never practised explaining it. He makes the case for validating cheaply first, including a defence of vibe coding as a founder's tool rather than an engineering embarrassment. From there it gets less comfortable. Healthcare buyers, unlike buyers in most B2B markets, are not thinking about your problems at all, and Ross has the best piece of feedback he has ever received to prove it. He walks through what he calls the narrow bridge: foundations, codifying your expertise, giving your ideas away for free, selling with a diagnostic rather than a demo, proving value so customers attribute the outcome to you, and leverage. There is also a hopeful stretch near the end about redeploying people rather than replacing them. Ross Drynan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-drynan/ We Don't Consult: https://wedontconsult.co.uk
	#463: Real world evidence & the metrics patients care about in healthtech	16 sept. 2026	01:11:39
Nader Alaghband co-founded Ampersand Health with two NHS gastroenterologists, Dr Gareth Parkes and Dr Bu Hayee, and has spent about eight years building it. His argument here is uncomfortable and worth hearing. Too much of a hospital appointment is spent on the things doctors care about, and not enough on the things patients care about. People living with Crohn's and colitis do not measure their week by an inflammation marker. They measure it by whether they held down a job and kept up with their kids. Nader and Dr James Somauroo get into what that means in practice. Nader explains why Ampersand moved from clinical decision support into real world evidence, and why pharmaceutical companies and payers benefit from watching the movie rather than looking at a few stills. He is blunt about UK health policy, pointing out that countries doing this well are not running their health systems on seven different people's vision in ten years. He is equally blunt about the innovator's problem of not knowing which of five competing NHS frameworks will turn out to be the one that matters. James brings his own view from intensive care and from working in policy at NHS England and Health Education England. They close on how you survive eight years of this, which for Nader means a hard separation between work and everything else. Nader Alaghband on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nader0102/ Ampersand Health: https://ampersandhealth.co.uk Produced by SomX: https://somx.health
	#462: Dr Nikita Kanani, Global Medical Director at Neko - Neko's Year 3 Prevention data & Insights from 80,000 scans	10 sept. 2026	00:47:53
Dr Nikita Kanani MBE is Global Medical Director at Neko Health and still a practising NHS GP. Before Neko she was medical director for primary care at NHS England, through the pandemic and the vaccine rollout, and she and Dr James Somauroo start there because it explains everything that comes after. She is precise about what those years were actually like. Two or three in the morning on Teams in her pyjamas, her daughter building a diorama of the Roman empire beside a call with the Prime Minister, and her mother running the family pharmacy without PPE while her father shielded. She was asked to join the vaccine programme the week before Diwali, argued for delivering it through primary care rather than around forty hospitals, and ended up with thousands of sites and a map on the wall. The second half is Neko's year three data, which James had read on the train in and came armed to argue about. More than eighty thousand scans in 2025. Life threatening findings holding steady at about one percent across three years, which is her answer to the charge that scanning more people only finds more noise. Five or six dermatology referrals to find a melanoma, against fifteen or twenty in general practice. People with a chronic condition improving two and a half times more than people without one. There is also an honest stretch on why she thinks worried well is the wrong argument, and where an NHS partnership might go next. Dr Nikita Kanani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnikkikanani/ Neko Health: https://www.nekohealth.com Apply to be a guest: https://thehealthtechpodcast.com Produced by SomX: https://somx.health
	#461: Deborah Cohen, BBC & ITV journalist: Has the Internet Hijacked Our Health?	02 sept. 2026	00:55:44
Deborah Cohen is a medically qualified investigative journalist, formerly science editor at ITV News and health correspondent at BBC Newsnight, where she led the programme's COVID coverage. Her book, "Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health", shortlisted for the Royal Society science book prize, started from one question: are influencers making us sick? She spoke to more than 200 people to answer it, and the answer turned out to be more nuanced than the title suggests. She and James get into what happens when health information travels through people rather than institutions. Where companies get into trouble, which she puts at the point the hype outflanks the evidence. Why the Advertising Standards Authority is playing regulatory whack-a-mole, and how a prescription only migraine drug ended up advertised in her feed by a Kardashian, in a country where that advertising is banned. Why she would ban the words anti-vaxxer and anti-masker before she banned anything else. And what she thinks would actually help, from a register of influencers working with companies to better health literacy and real transparency about where our information comes from. James puts himself in the frame too, on the Instagram ad promising employers a better bottom line if their staff take GLP-1s, and on the work SomX turns down. Deborah's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-cohen-journalist Deborah's Book: https://oneworld-publications.com/work/bad-influence/ Apply to be a guest: ⁠www.thehealthtechpodcast.com⁠ Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: ⁠www.healthtechpigeon.com⁠ Get in touch with James: ⁠www.jamessomauroo.com⁠ This podcast was brought to you by ⁠SomX⁠.
	#460: Why healthtech still hasn't had its big exits	26 août 2026	01:32:42
This week, James is joined by Dr Sai Narimetla, an A&E doctor who simultaneously works in investment banking at SSG Capital, to ask why healthtech hasn't produced the exits that biotech and medical devices have. They get into fragmentation, why the deals that are happening don't make headlines, and what a clinical lens actually adds when you're diligencing a company. Connect with Sai: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sainarimetla/ Learn more about SSG Capital: https://www.ssgcapital.uk/ Apply to be a guest: https://www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon: https://www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: https://www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#459: What if we monitored everyone that leaves hospital care?	19 août 2026	01:06:14
Martin Ratz co-founded Doccla after a heart attack at forty-four that he had no reason to have. Lying in a hospital bed in Stockholm, he noticed something obvious. Inside the building you are monitored constantly, and the minute you leave, nobody is watching at all. He and Dr James Somauroo trace what Doccla became from there. A research study at Northampton General that COVID shut down, then a virtual COVID ward stood up in a fortnight, then integrated care boards across England, plus Ireland, Germany and Austria. Martin is precise about who these patients are: multimorbid, mostly older, several long-term conditions each, and nothing like the customer of a consumer wearable. He is equally precise about what is actually blocking this, which is not the technology. It is commissioning. Doccla can take activity out of a hospital, but somebody still has to take the cost out, and the trust losing the income has no reason to help. There is also a good exchange on the something-is-better-than-nothing argument, where James revisits a position he now thinks was wrong about AI and mental health, and Martin's answer to the safety objection, which is that the alternative to a virtual ward is usually not a hospital bed. Doccla: https://www.doccla.com Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com
	#458: Fat loss or weight loss? The number one GLP-1 question	05 août 2026	00:56:02
This week, James is joined by Dr Kapil Savania, Medical Lead at Voy (formerly Manual) and a practising NHS GP, for a candid look at the fast-blurring line between healthcare and wellness. They dig into who should own preventative medicine, what TRT actually is — and where it gets abused — and why "fat loss," not weight loss, has to be the goal in the GLP-1 era. It's an honest conversation about holding both hats: the NHS clinician and the industry medical lead. Connect with Kapil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ksavania/ Learn more about Voy: https://www.joinvoy.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#457: Should medical education let AI in?	29 juil. 2026	01:12:22
This week, James is joined by Yasir Sacranie, pharmacist, content creator and founder of MicroPharm, the education platform helping thousands of trainee pharmacists pass their registration exam. Yasir talks candidly about bootstrapping a healthcare education business alongside a demanding NHS role, the family moment that finally pushed him to leave the NHS for good, and why he's deliberately keeping AI at arm's length in his business. They also get into why he still works one day a week as a barista — and what that teaches him about craft. Connect with Yasir: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasir-sacranie/ Learn more about MicroPharm: https://www.micropharm.uk/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#456: Half of babies with heart problems are missed - AI in ultrasound is changing that	22 juil. 2026	01:02:15
In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, James is joined by Professor Reza Razavi, Professor of Paediatric Cardiovascular Science at King's College London and CEO of Fraiya, an AI ultrasound software company. Reza shares the deeply personal story behind Fraiya — including his own daughter's near-fatal undiagnosed heart condition as a newborn — and explains how AI applied to the routine 20-week anomaly scan could close the gap between the 50% of congenital heart defects currently missed and a detection rate approaching 97-98%. They get into what it actually takes to build AI that clinicians trust, why the NHS financial environment makes or breaks adoption, and how a team of 14 people is on the verge of launching across six European countries. Connect with Reza: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reza-razavi-a50967265/ Learn more about Fraiya: https://www.fraiya.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#455: Is animal testing in drug development on its way out?	15 juil. 2026	00:51:30
In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, James is joined by Steve Bulera, Chief Scientific Officer for Safety Assessment and Toxicology at Charles River Laboratories — one of the world's largest CROs, and a company that almost every new drug passes through on its way from lab to human trials. They dig into one of the most significant shifts in preclinical drug development: the move away from traditional animal testing towards virtual control groups, AI-assisted decision-making, and what Steve calls "new approach methodologies." It's a candid conversation about where the science is, why the regulators are cautious, and what it actually takes to change a decades-old industry from within. Connect with Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-bulera-245234a9/ Learn more about Charles River Laboratories: https://www.criver.com Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#454: Slow regulation is killing health tech innovation	08 juil. 2026	01:06:32
In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, James is joined by Jamie Cox, Co-Founder and CTO of Scarlet — Europe's only notified body specialised in software and AI medical devices. Jamie shares how a frustrating experience building AI triage software at Babylon Health led him and co-founder James Dewar to a radical idea: build a notified body from the ground up, designed specifically for iterative software development. They explore why the current regulatory system creates artificial bottlenecks for health tech founders, what it actually means to regulate an LLM as a medical device, and why making certification faster and cheaper could fundamentally reshape who gets to bring products to market. Connect with Jamie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-cox-01458b3a/ Learn more about Scarlet: https://www.scarlet.cc/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#453: Why "can AI replace doctors?" is the wrong question. Shravan Nageswaran, Atman Labs	01 juil. 2026	01:44:30
This week, James is joined by Shravan Nageswaran, co-founder and CEO of Atman Labs, the London applied-AI research company building diagnostic AI that reasons like a doctor — without relying on large language models. They dig into why LLMs fall short on real clinical reasoning, what "safety" actually means when a system takes a patient history, and how reinforcement learning over a medical knowledge graph could reshape primary care. A genuinely different take on the "can AI be a doctor?" question. Connect with Shravan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shravan-nageswaran-8961801a1 Learn more about Atman Labs: https://atmanlabs.ai Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#452: Uncovering the objective truth in health tech journalism	24 juin 2026	00:37:12
In this episode, James is joined by Cate Lawrence, Senior Journalist at Tech.eu, to explore what the European healthtech ecosystem actually looks like from the press box, how stories get chosen, what makes a startup worth covering, and why the data gap between innovation and clinical impact remains so wide. Cate brings a decade of cross-sector reporting to the conversation, from wearable tech and women's health data to Ukrainian healthtech and the growing push for European digital sovereignty. Connect with Cate: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catelawrence1/ Learn more about Cate's work: https://tech.eu/authors/catelawrence Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#451: A new biomarker for depression?	17 juin 2026	01:00:31
This week, James is joined by Ben Finlay, Partner at Stratt and Advisor to Ranvier.ai, to dig into why mental health is still diagnosed by questionnaire - and what a taste test, a blood biomarker and a continuum view of neurological wellness could change. Ben shares the science behind Ranvier's objective mood measurement, the journey from early intervention in depression through to staving off Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and a candid look at where pharma, policy and AI are heading next. Connect with Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfinlay/ Learn more: https://www.ranvier.ai/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#450 : What it takes to get a "yes" inside the NHS	10 juin 2026	01:17:38
This week, James is joined by Professor Shafi Ahmed — Consultant Surgeon at the Royal London Hospital, futurist, and author of Intelligent: The Evolution of AI Transforming Healthcare — for a candid look at what it actually takes to innovate inside a system designed to resist change. From streaming a live colectomy on Google Glass to 14,500 students in 118 countries, to walking away from 80% of his pay at the peak of his clinical career, Shafi shares the relationships, leadership and reflection that sit behind a decade of firsts in surgical innovation. Connect with Shafi: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/professorshafiahmed Learn more about Shafi's work and book Intelligent: https://www.profshafi.com Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#449: 9.2 million people can't sleep... and the NHS isn't ready	03 juin 2026	01:04:06
This week, James is joined by Dr Tom Chambers, anaesthetist and Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer of Theta Sleep, to unpack why an estimated 9.2 million people in the UK are living with undiagnosed sleep apnoea. They get into why sleep medicine is so fragmented, why CPAP has an image problem, and how shifting diagnosis and treatment into the home could fix a supply-and-demand crisis the NHS isn't built for. A candid look at building a clinical business while still working as an NHS doctor. Connect with Tom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/-tomchambers-/ Learn more about Theta Sleep: https://www.thetasleep.com Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#448: We need £2M to rebuild women's health from scratch	27 mai 2026	01:14:50
This week, James is joined by Dr Sujitha Selvarajah, co-founder of Hesta Health, who recently closed a £2M pre-seed round to rebuild postnatal care from the ground up. They get into why most of the women's health gap has nothing to do with reproductive health, why new mothers are abandoned at the moment their care needs spike, and what it actually takes to build healthcare that's both clinically excellent and humane. Connect with Sujitha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsujitha/ Learn more: https://www.hestahealth.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com
	#447: Can you build europe's biggest clinic in just five years?	20 mai 2026	01:02:20
In this episode, James is joined by Ranjan Singh, who built HealthHero by acquiring six companies in nine months during lockdown. Now covering 35 million patients across four countries and delivering nearly five million consultations a year, it's Europe's largest digital clinic, with three consecutive outstanding CQC ratings to back up the scale. In this episode, he talks James through the acquisition-led playbook, a care coordination service that cut A&E admissions by 85%, and what an AI-first health system actually looks like when you're operating at this level. Connect with Ranjan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranjan-singh-6204a3/ Learn more about HealthHero: https://www.healthhero.com Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#446: Is AI giving clinicians empathy back?	13 mai 2026	01:07:30
This week, James is joined by Dr Kishan Rees, Senior Director for Global Video & Digital Content Strategy at Bayer, to unpack why healthcare's communication problem is now its biggest patient-safety problem. They get into medical misinformation, why patients are turning to AI chatbots over clinicians, and what pharma can learn from broadcast journalism. Connect with Kishan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkishanrees/ Learn more about Bayer: https://www.bayer.com Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#445: Why is your wearable shaming you?	06 mai 2026	01:11:23
This week, James is joined by Dr Tiril Elstad, medical doctor, yoga teacher, and founder and CEO of Endor Global, to explore why chronic stress may be our generation's biggest health risk - and why most wearables are making the problem worse. They get into the science of heart rate variability, the gap between data and actual behaviour change, and why the real opportunity in preventive health lies in reaching the middle 75%, not the biohacking elite. Connect with Tiril: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiril-elstad-1a547736/ Learn more about Endor Global: https://www.endor.global/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#444: What does safe, clinical AI for mental health look like?	29 avr. 2026	00:52:46
This week, James is joined by Dr Clare Palmer, Director of Evidence Generation at ieso, to explore what happens when AI is purpose-built for mental health care - and why that's worlds apart from people typing their problems into ChatGPT. They discuss ieso's safety-constrained AI architecture, the striking fact that only half of people with depression or anxiety recover, and how agentic AI systems could move us towards precision mental health care at scale. Connect with Clare: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-palmer-phd-b752795a/ Learn more about ieso: https://www.ieso.ai/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#443: The NHS has trust. AI doesn't. Now what?	22 avr. 2026	01:06:12
This week, James is joined by Ahmed Binesmael, Senior Improvement Analyst at the Health Foundation, to dig into what the British public actually thinks about AI in healthcare - and why the people most likely to benefit from healthtech are often the most sceptical of it. They explore the Health Foundation's latest survey data on trust, the NHS app's "doctor in your pocket" function, and why meaningful public engagement is the missing piece in the UK's fragmented AI strategy.Connect with Ahmed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmed-binesmael-025b07225 Learn more about The Health Foundation: https://www.health.org.uk Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#442: Can ultrasound + AI predict premature births?	15 avr. 2026	01:16:11
In this episode, James is joined by Robert Bunn, Founder and President of Ultrasound AI, who shares an extraordinary story - from multiple failed startups and personal tragedy to building an AI that can predict actual delivery dates from standard ultrasound images. With a De Novo FDA clearance now in hand, Robert explains how the technology works, what the AI discovered that clinicians couldn't see, and why he's committed to making it available to every woman on earth regardless of ability to pay. Connect with Robert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertbunn/ Learn more about Ultrasound AI: https://www.ultrasound.ai Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon : www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#441: Why Are So Many NHS Doctors Leaving for Healthtech?	08 avr. 2026	01:01:07
This week, James is joined by Dr Yath Prem, Medical Advisor at Flo Health and clinical product specialist, to talk about the growing wave of NHS doctors moving into healthtech - what's driving it, whether content creators are encouraging too many to leave, and what clinical product actually means in practice. They also dig into wearables, AI health assistants, and whether healthtech is genuinely solving problems or just adding to middle-class anxiety. Connect with Yath: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yathprem/ Learn more about Flo Health: https://flo.health/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon : www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#440: From the 16th Century to AI, with Dr David Neal	01 avr. 2026	01:19:37
This week, James is joined by Dr David Neal, Assistant Professor at Amsterdam UMC and co-lead of the eHealth Living & Learning Lab (ELLLA), for a wide-ranging chat about what happens when technology disrupts a healing ritual that hasn't fundamentally changed since the 16th century. They explore why medicine is roughly 150 years behind in understanding the role of humans in healthcare, what that means for AI-driven care, and why the most effective healthtech products still fail if nobody thinks about adoption from day one... Connect with David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-david-neal/ Learn more about ELLLA: https://ellla.amsterdamumc.nl/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#439: What 35 years inside the NHS taught Cisco's healthcare lead, Declan Hadley	25 mars 2026	00:54:03
James welcomes Declan Hadley, the healthcare lead at Cisco, who shares his extensive experience in the NHS and health informatics. The conversation explores the evolution of healthcare technology, the importance of digitisation, and the role of AI in improving patient outcomes. Declan emphasizes the need for collaboration between startups and healthcare organizations, the significance of local ownership of AI, and the challenges of ensuring safety in rapidly changing technologies. He also reflects on his personal journey and the lessons learned from raising a successful son in the world of Fantasy Premier League (seriously). Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-somauroo/ This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#438: Does design matter more than tech in healthcare?	18 mars 2026	01:10:22
This week, James is joined by Ian Wharton, the co-founder and CEO of Aide Health, a design-led chronic disease management platform with retention rates 20x the sector average. In this episode, Ian makes the case that design - not technology - is the missing ingredient in digital health, explaining why only 3–4% of patients stick with health apps after 30 days and what Aide does differently to hit 70% retention at three months. We get into the role of conversational AI in behaviour change, why medication adherence remains one of healthcare's billion-pound unsolved problems, and how Aide's new patient-facing scribe Mirror was born from Ian's personal experience of his father's Alzheimer's diagnosis. We also discuss Aide's white paper on building trust in AI, why pursuing Class II regulation as a startup of six people is a statement of intent, and what the Meta glasses saga tells us about the trap of adopting technology just because it's within reach. Connect with Ian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianjwharton/ Learn more about Aide Health: https://aide.health/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-somauroo/ This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#437: The clinical trial system is broken and here’s why with Dr Elsa Zekeng from SökerData	11 mars 2026	01:06:05
This week, James is joined by Dr. Elsa Zekeng, founder of SökerData who shares the story behind building a company tackling one of healthcare’s most persistent blind spots: biased and underrepresented clinical trial data. She discusses her journey from infectious disease research and frontline outbreak response during Ebola, to advising on COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and ultimately founding SökerData to aggregate more inclusive health datasets. Connect with Elsa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-elsa-zekeng-sokerdata/ Learn more about SökerData: https://www.soker-data.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#436 Lessons from a healthcare investor with T.N. Giridhar from SSG capital	04 mars 2026	01:28:37
In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, Dr James Somauroo speaks with T.N. Giridhar, Managing Director and CEO of SSG Capital, an investment banker and venture capital investor with nearly 30 years of experience spanning public markets, Goldman Sachs-level M&A and early-stage VC. Giridhar draws on a career managing over $17 billion in transactions to argue that the quality of an investment outcome is determined almost entirely by the quality of the people behind the company, not the metrics, the market size or the business plan. The conversation covers the real reason most companies fail at the VC stage, the one question every founder should ask an investor before accepting their money, and why the NHS is repeating, at scale, the talent retention mistakes that investment banks identified and addressed decades ago. Learn more about T.N. Giridhar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/t-n-giridhar-9352602/ Learn more about ssg capital: https://www.ssgcapital.uk/ Learn more about SomX for your healthtech company:https://somx.health/Apply to be a guest on The Healthtech Podcast:https://www.thehealthtechpodcast.com/Subscribe to our newsletter, Healthtech Pigeon 🐦:https://www.healthtechpigeon.com/
	#435: Hidden barriers to healthtech adoption with Saira Ghafur from Prova Health	25 févr. 2026	01:10:19
This week, James is joined by Dr Saira Ghafur, respiratory consultant, health tech leader, and Co-Founder of Prova Health. She shares her journey from medical training in Scotland to NHS consultancy, policy fellowships at NHS England and in New York, and co-founding two health tech ventures. Saira discusses the realities of scaling digital health, generating credible evidence for innovation, and the challenges of regulating AI in healthcare. Connect with Saira: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-saira-g-943a1b1b/ Learn more about Prova Health: https://www.provahealth.com/ Learn more about SomX for your healthtech company:https://somx.health/ Apply to be a guest on The Healthtech Podcast: https://www.thehealthtechpodcast.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter, Healthtech Pigeon 🐦:https://www.healthtechpigeon.com/
	#434 Vocal biomarkers: Detecting the unspoken with Kang Hsu from Canary Speech	18 févr. 2026	01:00:13
In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, we’re joined by Kang Hsu, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Canary Speech, to explore the emerging field of vocal biomarkers and what they could mean for earlier disease detection. Speech is more than language. It is airflow, vocal cord vibration, neuromuscular control and cognitive processing in motion. Subtle acoustic features such as pitch variation, jitter, shimmer and timing patterns can reflect underlying physiological and neurological change.Can those signals help detect depression, anxiety, mild cognitive impairment or even early neurodegenerative disease? Kang brings a rare perspective. As a practising physician and former Chief Medical Informatics Officer within a major US health system, he led large-scale EHR implementations and AI deployments across a 50+ hospital network. He understands both the science and the realities of adoption at system level. This conversation covers: • What vocal biomarkers are and how they are measured• How 40 seconds of natural speech can generate thousands of acoustic data points • Clinical applications across behavioural health and neurology• Sensitivity, specificity and the limits of current evidence • What makes clinicians trust and adopt new AI tools • Why seamless workflow integration is critical for scale Learn more about SomX for your healthtech company:https://somx.health/Apply to be a guest on The Healthtech Podcast:https://www.thehealthtechpodcast.com/Subscribe to our newsletter, Healthtech Pigeon 🐦:https://www.healthtechpigeon.com/
	#433: Skin+Me Founder, James Mishreki on consumer healthtech & how to get to £37M revenue	11 févr. 2026	01:02:45
This week, James is joined by James Mishreki, founder of Skin + Me, who shares the story behind building one of the UK’s fastest-growing personalised healthcare brands. He discussed the challenges of scaling a regulated DTC business, and how Skin + Me is tackling the dermatology access gap with clinical-grade care delivered directly to consumers.Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmishreki/ Learn more about Skin + Me: https://www.skinandme.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.comSubscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.comGet in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.comThis podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#432: What clinicians really want, and need, from Healthtech with Lawrie Kidd from DrDoctor	04 févr. 2026	01:15:30
This week, James is joined by Lawrie Kidd, Consultant Anaesthetist at Gloucestershire Hospitals and Clinical Product Lead at DrDoctor, who shares a candid look at the pressures facing frontline clinicians and how healthtech can help. Connect with Lawrie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrie-kidd/ Learn more about DrDoctor: https://www.drdoctor.co.uk/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#431 Neko: The Future of Healthcare? With Hjalmar Nilsonne, CEO	28 janv. 2026	01:22:02
This week, James is joined by Hjalmar Nilsonne, CEO and Co-Founder of Neko Health. With Hjalmar yielding the power to shape the future of healthcare, James asks all the big questions. Can Neko pull off their ambition? What will it take? What lessons have they learned along the way? What challenges lie in their way? Learn more about Neko: https://www.nekohealth.com/gb/en Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#430 How NICE finds startups, with Tharni, Horizon Scanning Lead	21 janv. 2026	01:01:09
In this episode, we're joined by Tharni Vasavan, Horizon Scanning Senior Health Technology Lead at NICE, about how emerging health technologies are identified, evaluated, and prepared for the NHS. From her journey through women’s health research and startup life at Hertility to shaping national foresight on healthtech disruption, Tharni offers an inside glimpse of how innovation meets evidence. If you're working with AI that you think will be applicable in healthcare within the next 10 years, you can partake in NICE's horizon scanning with this form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=FNtA1T7OGE2t-3WmXoj3178lLN5iep1Aj4hJbvJXiDRUREs0Q1dVRFJTTTZHSU1HUllSSjYwVllRQS4u Connect with Tharni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tharnithavasavan/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#429 How Microsoft is Powering the AI Era in Healthcare: Jacob West from Microsoft UK	14 janv. 2026	00:38:04
This week James is joined by Jacob West, Managing Director for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Microsoft UK, who shares insights on how Microsoft is leveraging AI to enhance healthcare in the UK. Connect with Jacob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-west-a519404/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#428 How to fix Global Health without a quantum computer: Madeleine Ballard from CHIC	07 janv. 2026	01:16:09
This week, James is joined on the podcast by Dr Madeleine Ballard, CEO of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC). CHIC is a global movement making professional community health workers the norm worldwide by changing guidelines, funding, and policy. Connect with Madeleine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleineballard/ Learn more about CHIC: https://joinchic.org/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#427 Taking wearable biosensors to the next level: Rafaël Michali from Sava	17 déc. 2025	01:06:11
James is joined by Rafaël Michali, co-founder and co-CEO of SAVA. SAVA is redefining the way people interact with their health by developing the most advanced biosensing technology science has to offer, capable of accessing bodily information in a painless, real-time and affordable way. Connect with Rafaël: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafa%C3%ABl-michali-656136101/ Learn more: https://www.sava.health/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com
	#426 Outpatient care, reimagined from the ground up: Sam Winward from Pastel Health	10 déc. 2025	01:05:31
This week, James is joined on the podcast by Sam Winward, co-founder and CEO of Pastel Health. Pastel Health is an end-to-end outpatient clinic that supports Chronic pain sufferers referred from the NHS. The service aims to transform the experience for both patients and clinicians. Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelwinward/ Learn more about Pastel: https://pastel-health.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com This podcast was brought to you by SomX.
	#425 Is it unethical not to use AI in mental health care? (Part 2): Dr Ross Harper from Limbic	03 déc. 2025	00:41:22
In the second episode of this two-part series, James is joined by Dr. Ross Harper, CEO and co-founder of Limbic. Limbic is developing clinical-grade AI tools for mental health care, designed to be deployed in clinical settings. Their goal is to enhance the capacity of trained professionals and help meet the overwhelming demand for mental health services. Listen to Part 1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wTwZ1SjfFsjy4IKkcOIzE Connect with Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/refharper/ Learn more: https://www.limbic.ai/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Limbic and AI in Healthcare 04:01 The Role of AI in Treatment 09:28 ChatGPT vs. Clinical AI: The Debate 16:49 Human + AI: A Better Care Model 19:43 Scaling Mental Health Services with AI 26:09 Adapting Healthcare Models for AI 36:57 Ensuring Clinical Rigor in AI Solutions
	#424 Why content creation might be the next frontier for clinical impact: Oscar Ferguson from Deaku	26 nov. 2025	01:29:49
In this week’s episode, James is joined by Oscar Ferguson, co-founder of Deaku. Oscar is a doctor-turned-founder and award-winning creator and content strategist on a mission to make every creator’s life better. Deaku are building a connected workspace where creators, marketers, and production teams plan, collaborate, and grow - all in one place. Connect with Oscar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-oscar-ferguson/ Learn more: https://www.deaku.app/home Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Health Tech and Creator Economy 05:59 The Value of Long-Form vs Short-Form Content 11:53 The Emotional Toll of Medical Practice 18:03 The Decision to Leave Medicine 21:12 Building a New Career in Health Tech 32:55 The Importance of Networking and Mentorship 35:12 Learning from Failure in the Real World 36:02 Creating Impactful Health Content 41:12 Building a Community for Content Creators 48:05 Innovating in the Creator Economy 56:26 The Future of AI in Content Creation 59:17 The Value of Human-Made Content 01:00:03 AI in Video Generation: Gimmick or Utility? 01:04:51 Misinformation and Responsibility in Health Content 01:06:40 The Purpose of Content Creation 01:17:11 The Dream of Content Creation 01:19:08 Creative Fulfillment in Content Creation 01:20:26 Building Community with Deaku 01:27:36 Connecting with the Creator Community
	#423 Teaching AI to Predict the Future of Your Brain: Dr Hannah Madan from Prima Mente	21 nov. 2025	01:08:09
Hannah Madan joins us to share a rollercoaster journey of co-founding Prima Mente— an AI-driven neuroscience company building foundations models for the brain. This episode is packed with thought-provoking insights, including: — The biological hypothesis behind Prima Mente that "No one believed was true" — How Hannah made it by doing "just enough", not by being a top student — A baptism by fire— landing her first role as Chief of Staff and flying out for a YC launch party on her 25th birthday — Prima Mente's "Ecosystem plays" and atypical competitive strategies — Hannah's unique focus on the people she works with— deep personal understanding and fostering reflective behaviour — A decentralised vision for the future of healthcare Connect with Hannah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahmadan/ Learn more: https://www.primamente.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com Chapters: 00:00:00 Welcome to the Health Tech Podcast 00:01:23 Uncovering Novel Biology in the Neurodegenerative Space 00:02:03 Primemente's Integrated Approach: Clinical Studies, Wet Lab, and Machine Learning 00:03:22 Early Life 00:04:38 Undergraduate Studies 00:08:58 PhD Research: The Link Between Diet, Diabetes, and Bowel Cancer 00:12:23 Chief of Staff at Cambridge Cancer Genomics (CCG) and YC 00:15:10 CCG's Mission: Liquid Biopsies for Cancer Treatment Monitoring 00:19:05 The Road to Prima Mente 00:22:19 Establishing Team Culture: Communication, Self-Reflection, and Growth 00:27:13 Scientific Hypothesis: Cell-Free DNA and Epigenetics in Neurodegenerative Conditions 00:30:03 Technical Approach: Using Transformer Architecture and Foundation Models 00:33:47 The Pleiades Model and Diagnostic Accuracy 00:34:56 The Sandbox Study: Pushing for Earlier Diagnosis 00:37:47 Future Strategy: Focusing on Novel Clinically Actionable Targets
	#422 Declan Kelly from Eolas Medical: The Untold Cost of Knowledge Gaps in Healthcare, and How to Fix Them	12 nov. 2025	01:10:57
This week, James is joined by Dr. Declan Kelly, founder of Eolas Medical, a platform tackling one of healthcare’s most overlooked problems: knowledge management. Eolas Medical helps clinicians access the right information instantly at the point of care. Used by NHS Trusts, clinical teams, and individual practitioners, the platform consolidates essential medical knowledge from trusted sources—guidelines, protocols, and internal documents—into one simple, intuitive system. Connect with Declan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/declan-kelly-484bb7187/ Learn more: https://www.eolasmedical.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com
	#421 Daniel Månsson from Flow Neuroscience: Is Electric Brain Stimulation as Effective as Antidepressants?	05 nov. 2025	01:00:43
In this week’s episode, James is joined by Daniel Mansson, Chief Clinical Officer and founder of Flow Neuroscience. Flow Neuroscience is Europe and UK's only medically approved brain stimulation headset and therapy app home treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Connect with Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmanss/ Learn more: https://www.flowneuroscience.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com
	#420 Dan Jamieson from Biorelate: How AI is Discovering New Drugs Faster Than Ever	22 oct. 2025	01:15:37
In this week’s episode, James is joined by Dan Jamieson, CEO and founder of Biorelate. Biorelate helps scientists solve the most difficult biomedical challenges of today. They achieve this by providing the most comprehensive knowledge graph in biopharma, enabling better knowledge review, target and biomarker discovery. Connect with Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-jamieson-8498a33a/ Learn more: https://biorelate.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com
	#419 Mark Kendall from WearOptimo: How Micro-Needles Are Quietly Replacing Blood Draws	15 oct. 2025	01:17:58
In this week’s episode, James is joined by Professor Mark Kendall, biomedical engineer, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and business-builder with more than 25 years of experience. Mark is now CEO and Founder of WearOptimo. With a vision to shift the focus of healthcare to early identification and intervention, WearOptimo’s sensors track real-time data from the body’s biomarkers to detect conditions ranging from dehydration to heart attacks. Connect with Mark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-af-kendall/ Learn more: https://wearoptimo.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com Subscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.com Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com

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