Lifers with Christina Farr

Aartik Sarma, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSF, joins Christina Farr for a short special edition on Intercept, a new $500 million initiative from a coalition of tech companies including Stripe, OpenAI, and Anthropic aimed at finally cracking the common cold and flu. They dig into why a "cold" is actually a huge, constantly mutating spectrum of viruses rather than one thing, why existing treatments like Tamiflu barely move the needle, and where Sarma thinks the money should go, from indoor air filtration to nasal sprays to longer-term vaccine research targeting the parts of viruses that don't mutate as often.—SPONSOR: Baker Health🩺 This episode is brought to you by Baker Health. Evidence-based medicine and real holistic care, under one roof, with labs, results, and 24/7 live doctor chat all in one app.Download the Baker Health App: https://linktr.ee/baker_health Learn More: https://www.bakerhealth.com/ 

The only practice in NY & NJ where you can text your doctor directly and get same-day reservations.Make a Reservation: https://reservations.bakerhealth.com/medical?utm_source=lifers —LINKS: Intercept: https://www.interceptfund.com/ 

Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books —FOLLOW:Aartik:https://www.linkedin.com/in/aartiksarma https://x.com/AartikSarma 

Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ 

Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro(00:46) Why companies care(02:20) Post-COVID work culture(04:39) Why colds persist(06:56) Who gets hit hard(08:42) Intercepting transmission(12:16) Sponsor: Baker Health(13:32) Better diagnostics(16:30) Vaccines tradeoffs(18:44) Is it worth 500M(21:03) Wrap

Christina Farr brings together three clinicians with genuinely different views: cardiologist Venkatesh Murthy, rheumatologist Paul Sufka, and internist Sandeep Palakodeti, to react to Midjourney, the whole-body scanning startup that went viral after an Elon Musk retweet. The conversation centers on a real tension in medicine: when does more screening actually help people, and when does it just generate more anxiety, biopsies, and cost without saving more lives?

—SPONSOR: Baker Health🩺 This episode is brought to you by Baker Health. Evidence-based medicine and real holistic care, under one roof, with labs, results, and 24/7 live doctor chat all in one app.Download the Baker Health App: https://linktr.ee/baker_health Learn More: https://www.bakerhealth.com/ 

The only practice in NY & NJ where you can text your doctor directly and get same-day reservations.  Make a Reservation: https://reservations.bakerhealth.com/medical?utm_source=lifers 

—LINKS: MidJourney: https://www.midjourney.com/medical Velocity Health: https://velocityhealthclinic.com/ Twin Cities Orthopedics: https://tcomn.com/physicians/paul-sufka/ Elon Musk’s retweet: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2067427059895521345?s=20 Caltech research: "Whole Cross-Sectional Human Ultrasound Tomography” (April 2026): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-026-01660-4 Caltech's own writeup: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/scanning-the-body-with-sound South Korean thyroid screening study: https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-020-07597-4 Japan active surveillance study (Kuma Hospital): https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/endocrj/71/1/71_EJ23-0395/_article 

Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books—FOLLOW:Venk:https://www.linkedin.com/in/venkmurthy https://x.com/venkmurthy 

Paul:https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsufka https://x.com/psufka 

Sandeep:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeep-palakodeti-md-mph https://x.com/DrDeepMD 

Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ 

Second Opinion Media:https://www.instagram.com/second.opinion.media/ https://x.com/second_op_media—TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead In(00:46) Intro(02:17) Whole body MRI basics(03:11) Incidental findings trap(05:52) Can AI fix imaging(08:38) Evidence vs overdiagnosis(13:00) Autonomy, incentives, liability(20:42) Sponsor: Baker Health(21:58) Lifestyle wins from scans(23:27) Who pays downstream costs(34:03) Midjourney tech under fire(39:01) Regulation gray zones(41:50) Bold new era argument(45:10) Finding silent disease early(49:50) Avoiding snake oil future(53:19) Wrap

Episode 1 of Rounds is here.

Co-hosted by Christina Farr and Stephanie Davis, this episode dives into women’s health care. Megan Scheffel from Silicon Valley Bank joins to break down the latest SVB women’s health report, and Joanna Strober, Founder of Midi Health, sits down to talk about building a billion dollar company out of a gap the healthcare system spent decades ignoring.

We’ll cover:- Companies already public or on the eve of going public in the women's health space- Oura as a case study: is it a women's health company?- The expanded definition of women's health — it's not just reproductive health anymore- Personalized and precision medicine as a multiplier for women's health outcomes- The latest from SVB women’s health report with Megan Scheffel- Midi just hit a $1 billion valuation — a major milestone for women's health- Joanna's VC background gave her a unique lens to spot the gap in midlife women's care- Midi's model: specialist-led, insurance-covered care accessible in all 50 states- Joanna's own misdiagnosis experience directly shaped how Midi approaches patient care- Menopause care as a future pillar of longevity medicine — where the industry is headed

Hosts and Guest:- Christina Farr, CEO, Second Opinion; GP, Scrub Capital- Stephanie Davis, Healthcare Industry Analyst- Megan Scheffel, Head of Life Science and Healthcare at SVB- Joanna Strober, Founder of Midi Health

Read the full SVB Report: https://www.svb.com/trends-insights/reports/womens-health-report/

Joanna Strober, CEO of Midi Health, joins Chrissy Farr to talk about building one of the first scaled companies in women's midlife health, and why the category didn't produce a unicorn until this year despite an obvious market need. They cover Midi's "B2B for show, B2C for dough" strategy, how a 150-patient pilot turned a hormone-access company into a full primary care business, and what changed when Joanna posted a public apology to patients on LinkedIn after a patch shortage overwhelmed the company's support team.—SPONSOR: Baker Health🩺 This episode is brought to you by Baker Health. Evidence-based medicine and real holistic care, under one roof, with labs, results, and 24/7 live doctor chat all in one app.Download the Baker Health App: https://linktr.ee/baker_health Learn More: https://www.bakerhealth.com/ 

The only practice in NY & NJ where you can text your doctor directly and get same-day reservations.Make a Reservation: https://reservations.bakerhealth.com/medical?utm_source=lifers —LINKS: Midi Health: https://www.joinmidi.com/Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books —FOLLOW:Joanna:https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannastrober https://x.com/joannastrober 

Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead In(00:38) Intro(02:14) Joanna's founder journey(04:27) Lessons from Kurbo(06:23) Why women's health is hard(08:12) Midi's D2C brand bet(12:30) What Midi actually treats(14:36) Labs and diagnostics(15:51) Sponsor: Baker Health(17:06) GLP-1s and midlife weight(20:55) Funding and timing tailwinds(24:10) Founder advice: think bigger(26:43) AI to scale empathy(31:29) LinkedIn and trust building(35:42) Destigmatizing menopause(40:12) Organic marketing playbook(42:41) Expansion, AI, and research(45:22) Wrap

In this episode of Lifers, Christina Farr sits down with Ric Sinclair, CEO of Cotiviti, to tackle one of healthcare's most stubborn paradoxes: why does a $5 trillion system keep expanding its own problem set? Ric makes the case that healthcare doesn't have a data problem or a technology problem, it has a coordination problem, and that Cotiviti is building the end-to-end infrastructure layer the industry has never had. They discuss why payers and providers aren't really villains, how AI is poised to make things worse before it makes them better, and what it would take to finally make healthcare fairer and more transparent for everyone.—Thanks to our sponsor Cotiviti. Cotiviti’s infrastructure platform enables healthcare organizations to deliver better care at lower cost through advanced technology and data analytics that improve the quality and sustainability of healthcare in the United States. Cotiviti’s solutions increase transparency and collaboration between payers and providers while empowering them to reduce medical and administrative costs, enable better health, improve claims payment efficiency, streamline operations, drive interoperability, and advance value-based care. Its customers serve the majority of U.S. healthcare consumers, providing coverage and care for over 300 million members and patients. For more information, visit https://www.cotiviti.com/ —LINKS:Cotiviti: https://www.cotiviti.com/ 

Chrissy Farr on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LiferswithChristinaFarr Chrissy Farr on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfarr/ Subscribe to the Second Opinion Newsletter: https://secondopinion.media/ Chrissy’s Book: The Storyteller's Advantage: https://www.chrissyfarr.com/books —FOLLOW:Ric:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricsinclair 

Chrissy:https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinafarr/ https://x.com/chrissyfarr —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Lead In(00:32) Intro(01:17) Drumming to leadership(04:18) From music to health tech(06:23) Why healthcare feels broken(08:52) Waystar product lessons(11:18) Coordination not data(12:47) AI could raise costs(16:06) Building Cotiviti vision(18:22) The dark side debate(26:48) Trust gaps and mediation(27:59) Execution over ideas(30:34) Teasing the next idea(30:51) Gold carding debate(32:12) Coordination over programs(34:00) Planting the orchard(35:15) AI business models(37:39) Humans in the loop(40:56) Reskilling and job shifts(43:14) AI literacy mindset(46:20) Polite to the bots(47:51) Teams and productivity(51:09) Creativity still human(55:34) Company values framework(57:37) Legacy and waste reduction(01:01:16) Wrap