AI Explained: Healthcare and Life Sciences

Applonia Cornolius and David Samwel

Explore the transformative power of AI in healthcare and life sciences. Join hosts Applonia Cornolius and David Samwel from Salesforce's Health and Life Sciences Division as they dive into the journeys of industry leaders, uncover groundbreaking AI use cases, and envision the future of AI shaping innovation, patient outcomes, and business growth. Whether you're an executive, researcher, or tech enthusiast, this podcast offers insights and inspiration for leveraging AI to revolutionize healthcare and life sciences.

  1. FEB 2

    Medicine at the Speed of Life with Dr Romi Chopra

    In this deep dive, Dr. Chopra breaks down his "Digital Nervous System" strategy—a framework that uses the Salesforce ecosystem and Slack-triggered workflows to deliver a staggering 459% ROI. He argues that in a field where a 2-millimeter mistake is the difference between life and death, precision in logistics is just as vital as precision in surgery. Key Takeaways for Healthcare Leaders: The Six Rights of Systems: Learn how Dr. Chopra applies the "six rights"—right structure, process, people, information, decisions, and rewards—to create an agentic organization. Strategy vs. Logistics: Why most AI implementations fail by jumping straight to tactics (like building a bot) before solving the underlying logistical "why". Human in the Loop: Navigating the ethics of trust and HIPAA compliance, and why high-impact clinical decisions must always remain in human hands. Eliminating the "Administrative Grind": How MIMIT Health uses Slack emojis to trigger clinical workflows and unified data to provide "medicine at the speed of life". The Future of Work: Dr. Chopra shares how he saved $2 million in consulting fees by replacing manual cognitive work with AI agents that perform 10x better. "Amateurs talk about strategy... the real professionals talk about logistics." Whether you are a C-suite executive struggling with AI adoption or a provider facing burnout, this episode offers a roadmap for using technology to restore empathy to the heart of healthcare.

    36 min

  2. JAN 19

    Navigating the Digital Currents: AI, Compliance, and the Future of Canadian Healthcare with Derek Quesnel

    In this episode of AI Explained: Healthcare and Life Sciences, we sit down with Derek Quesnel, a Salesforce alum and professor who is redefining how patient data moves. Derek breaks down why Canadian healthcare is a "conservative ocean" and how his team at Blue Ocean CRM helps organizations implement AI agents in as little as 4 to 8 weeks while maintaining strict compliance with PHIPA and PIPEDA. From the "server room to the boardroom," learn how AI is moving beyond the hype to provide tangible outcomes for patients and providers

    38 min

  3. 12/08/2025

    How Verifiable's Cracking the Credentialing Crisis: 98% Efficiency Gains & The Trust Framework

    What do nuclear reactors and healthcare credentialing have in common? According to Brett Dooies, Head of Product at Verifiable, the answer lies in safety culture and the "human in the loop". In this episode, we explore how Brett took frameworks from the zero-failure world of atomic energy and applied them to AI-driven provider networks. We dive deep into Verifiable’s work with Humana, discussing how they achieved a massive 98% reduction in turnaround time by separating "signal from noise" and automating the clean 80% of work. We cover: The Nuclear Mindset: How "pre-job briefs" and safety analysis translate to designing trustworthy AI agents. Inverting the Workflow: Moving from a process where humans start the work to one where AI handles the heavy lifting and humans manage the exceptions. Pilot to Production: Overcoming "analysis paralysis" and knowing exactly when your system is ready to scale. Campy.ai: Why Brett believes "tinkering" with side projects is essential for product leaders to keep up with the speed of GenAI. If you are stuck in a POC or trying to figure out how to safely deploy agents in a regulated industry, this conversation is the blueprint you’ve been looking for.

    34 min

  4. 11/24/2025

    Dreamforce Releases: Agenforce get's some BIG upgrades

    The era of theoretical AI is over. We are moving from "cool demos" to production reality, but that transition requires a toolset that prioritizes trust, compliance, and scalability. In this episode, we break down the most critical post-Dreamforce platform releases and what they mean specifically for Healthcare and Life Sciences organizations. We explore why the conversation is shifting from "what can we build?" to "how do we control it?" In this episode, we cover: Agentforce Vibes: Why "vibe coding" isn't just a developer tool—it’s a way for Operations leaders to prototype ideas using actual Salesforce metadata, bridging the gap between concept and code. The Hybrid Builder (Agentforce Script): The feature Pharma has been waiting for. We discuss how to combine natural language reasoning with strict, deterministic "If-This-Then-That" logic to ensure agents follow legal and compliance guardrails every single time. Observability & Data 360: Moving beyond basic metrics to deep session tracing, allowing teams to debug specific conversation turns and measure real business value like deflection and resolution rates. Agentforce Grid: How to stress-test your prompts against hundreds of records simultaneously to catch hallucinations before they reach a patient. Intelligent Context: Solving the "unstructured data" problem by giving admins control over how agents chunk and retrieve data from complex documents like insurance cards.

    47 min

  5. 10/17/2025

    Ellery Fisher - How McKesson CIO is turning a 17-Day Process into 3 Minutes with AI & CRM

    Ellery Fisher, SVP and CIO at McKesson Medical-Surgical, discusses the modern trend of blending CIO, CTO, and CDO responsibilities. He explains how this unified approach—rooted in the goal of being a customer service company —is essential for modernizing the healthcare supply chain. Learn why organized data is the biggest prerequisite for AI success , how to use both deterministic and non-deterministic systems for complex problem-solving , and the crucial role of curious business partners in accelerating tech adoption.

    35 min

  6. 09/26/2025

    From Transactional to Continuous Care: Spring Health's human-centric AI Journey

    In a world where people are turning to AI for therapy, what does it mean to build a safe, ethical AI for mental healthcare? This week on AI Explained, David Samwel and Appolonia Cornolius talk with Gijo Mathew, Chief Product Officer at Spring Health, to discuss his work at the forefront of this challenge. Gijo shares how his personal experience as a father has shaped his professional mission to break down barriers to mental healthcare. He reveals how his past work creating security standards led to the development of a new ethics benchmark for AI, and why AI's ultimate purpose is to "superpower" clinicians and transform transactional care into a continuous, on-demand service. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of AI, strategy, and the future of healthcare. Topics include: From SAML to Vera MH: The story behind creating a new ethical framework for AI in mental health. The "Human-in-the-Loop": Why human therapists are the "quarterback" of care and how AI empowers them to be more present. The 10x Bar: Setting a higher bar for AI to ensure patient safety and prevent over-reliance. Transforming Care: The vision for moving from transactional, 50-minute sessions to continuous, destigmatized, and always-on support. Listen now and discover how ethical AI is poised to revolutionize the healthcare industry.

    35 min

  7. 09/12/2025

    The Mouth-Body Connection: How PDS Health utilizes AI to connect with their patients

    How does a technology leader transform IT from a cost center into a revenue-generating innovation engine? In this episode, we sit down with David Baker, Chief Information and Digital Officer at PDS Health, a trailblazing organization pioneering the "mouth-body connection" to deliver truly holistic patient care. David shares a masterclass on how to align technology with a long-term business plan, moving beyond theory to deploy AI, automation, and "hyper-personalization" at scale across more than a thousand healthcare practices. He unpacks the real-world challenges and successes of integrating best-of-breed systems like Epic and Salesforce to create a seamless and empathetic patient journey.

    36 min

  8. 08/05/2025

    The Hard Truth About AI in Pharma - With Dave Rosner

    What’s really holding AI back in life sciences? In this episode, we sit down with Dave Rosner, Partner – Global Life Sciences Customer Engagement Leader, to unpack the realities of AI in pharma beyond the buzzwords. Drawing from decades of experience driving customer engagement strategies, Dave shares what most organizations overlook when it comes to AI, data, and digital transformation. We explore: 🚫 Why AI fails without solving a real business problem 🔄 How shifting from dashboards to decisions drives better outcomes 🧠 The cultural and operational blockers that stall innovation 📉 Why personalization efforts fall flat—and how to fix them If you're working in pharma, biotech, or health tech, this conversation cuts through the noise with practical takeaways. 🎧 Listen now and get honest about what it takes to make AI stick. Spotify Apple Podcasts Chapters 00:00 Navigating AI in Life Sciences 06:45 AI's Impact on Workforce Dynamics 11:48 Bridging the Data Readiness Gap 16:18 Evaluating ROI in AI Investments 19:38 Governance and Experimentation in AI 22:45 Innovative AI Use Cases in Pharma 27:37 Strategizing AI Implementation

    31 min
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Explore the transformative power of AI in healthcare and life sciences. Join hosts Applonia Cornolius and David Samwel from Salesforce's Health and Life Sciences Division as they dive into the journeys of industry leaders, uncover groundbreaking AI use cases, and envision the future of AI shaping innovation, patient outcomes, and business growth. Whether you're an executive, researcher, or tech enthusiast, this podcast offers insights and inspiration for leveraging AI to revolutionize healthcare and life sciences.

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