HITea With Grace

Grace Vinton

HITea with Grace, hosted by digital health expert Grace Vinton, spotlights women leaders in the healthcare IT and pharma innovation sector. What sets Grace's podcast apart is the intentional inclusion of women patient and caregiver leaders in the dialogue – whose perspectives are often overlooked in conversations about healthcare and research innovation.  As a patient advocate, digital health influencer, and award-winning healthcare communications professional, Grace is deeply committed to promoting technologies that save lives and amplifying patient and caregiver voices in the process. She is well-known for telling powerful innovation stories and educating the industry on emerging trends, helping shape industry categories. Grace has interviewed over 80 women leaders on her podcast to date, magnifying their industry know-how, as well as their personal and professional stories. Her commitment extends beyond the microphone, actively contributing to the evolution of patient-driven healthcare and technology. Grace's standout quality lies in her audacious goal: to engage with every woman leader in the healthcare industry – spanning care, research, informatics, funding – and challenge them to incorporate real patient and caregiver voices and experiences into their work.

  1. Dr. Robin McLeod Spills the Tea on How NSAP Is Uniting the Autism Community

    3d ago

    Dr. Robin McLeod Spills the Tea on How NSAP Is Uniting the Autism Community

    In this episode of HITea, Grace Vinton welcomes Robin McLeod, PhD, LP, CEO of the National Society of Autism Professionals (NSAP), clinical psychologist, and systems-level leader whose career has spanned clinical practice, executive leadership, and field-wide transformation. Dr. McLeod is building something the autism field has never had: a unified professional home for the multidisciplinary community of clinicians, educators, researchers, advocates, and support professionals working across the autism ecosystem. Together, Grace and Dr. McLeod explore what NSAP is and why it was needed, why the autism field has long operated in silos and why now is the right moment to change that, how NSAP plans to integrate the voices of autistic individuals and their families, and what it will take to bridge the persistent gap between research and real-world implementation. They also tackle the increasingly polarized conversation around autism care philosophies and how the field can move toward more collaborative, evidence-informed dialogue. Join us for a candid conversation about community, innovation, and the future of autism care. Connect with Dr. Robin McLeod: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmcleodphd/ Learn more about NSAP: https://www.catalight.org/press-release/national-society-of-autism-professionals-nsap-launches-to-create-a-unified-voice-to-move-the-field-forward Listen, subscribe, and stay connected with HITea With Grace for more conversations with healthcare leaders making a difference. Cheers! ☕

    19 min
  2. Dr. Julie Wood Spills the Tea on Brain Health Advancements

    4d ago

    Dr. Julie Wood Spills the Tea on Brain Health Advancements

    Welcome to HITea With Grace, where we spill the tea on healthcare IT, innovation, leadership, and the people transforming healthcare. In this episode, Grace welcomes Julie Wood, MD, MPH, Senior Medical Director at Linus Health, family physician, public health leader, and longtime advocate for advancing patient-centered care. After nearly three decades in family medicine and executive leadership roles within healthcare, Dr. Wood is now helping shape the future of brain health through AI-enabled cognitive assessment and early detection tools. Together, Grace and Dr. Wood explore why brain health has historically lagged behind other preventive health priorities, the realities primary care clinicians face when trying to address cognitive concerns during brief patient visits, and how emerging technologies are changing the landscape of Alzheimer's detection and intervention. And of course, no HITea With Grace episode would be complete without finding out what tea Dr. Wood brought to the conversation and the story behind her favorite mug. Join us for an insightful conversation about innovation, prevention, and the future of brain health. Connect with Dr. Julie Wood:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-wood-md-mph-2873112a/ Learn more about Linus Health:https://www.linushealth.com Listen, subscribe, and stay connected with HITea With Grace for more conversations with healthcare leaders making a difference. Cheers! ☕

    20 min
  3. Dr. Bridget Duffy Spills the Tea on a New AI Guardrail for Patient Communication

    May 12

    Dr. Bridget Duffy Spills the Tea on a New AI Guardrail for Patient Communication

    Welcome to HITea with Grace, where we spill the tea on all things health IT—and the moments shaping the future of care. In this episode, Grace sits down with Dr. Bridget Duffy, the nation’s first Chief Experience Officer, longtime patient experience leader, and co-chair of the AI Care Standard™, for a timely conversation at the intersection of AI and human-centered care. Dr. Duffy shares the journey that led her from championing patient experience to helping define one of the first comprehensive standards for patient-facing AI. As health systems rapidly adopt chatbots, portals, and automated communication tools, she breaks down what prompted the creation of the AI Care Standard—and why existing governance frameworks simply weren’t built for this moment. Together, they unpack the 10 Core Pillars of the Standard and the real-world challenges organizations will face in operationalizing them. From treating AI communication with the same rigor as clinician interactions to addressing bias, health literacy, and accessibility, this conversation gets into what responsible AI actually looks like in practice—not just in principle. Looking ahead, Grace and Bridget Duffy, MD, board member of Vital.io and co-chair of the PatientAI Collaborative™ explore how the AI Care Standard could shape regulation, accreditation, and industry norms—and what success really looks like five years from now. As always, the episode closes on a more personal note, with reflections on leadership, resilience, and advice for women building careers in healthcare and health IT. It’s thoughtful, forward-looking, and grounded in one core idea: technology should strengthen—not replace—the human experience in healthcare.

    16 min
  4. Pharmacist Havy Ngo-Hamilton Spills the Tea on Medication Costs and the Broken Rx Journey

    May 5

    Pharmacist Havy Ngo-Hamilton Spills the Tea on Medication Costs and the Broken Rx Journey

    In this special episode of HITea, Grace sits down with Havy Ngo-Hamilton, PharmD, a pharmacy innovation leader at Buzz Health, to unpack what’s really happening between the moment a prescription is written and when a patient actually gets their medication. Havy brings a front-line perspective on where the prescription journey breaks down most—whether it’s access barriers, affordability challenges, or friction at the pharmacy counter. Together, they dig into how cost isn’t just a financial issue, but a major driver of medication adherence, and why “price transparency” often falls short of what patients actually need at the point of care. This conversation goes beyond buzzwords to explore what meaningful transparency and better patient experiences should really look like. They also take a closer look at prescription savings models and digital platforms, separating what simply raises awareness from what truly improves outcomes. From the role health systems should play to the innovations worth paying attention to, this episode highlights why medication affordability is a system-wide issue—not just a pharmacy problem. As always, the conversation closes with a more personal note, as Havy shares what drives her, how she navigates challenges, and her advice for women building careers in healthcare and health IT. It’s a thoughtful, practical, and refreshingly honest discussion—served with a side of tea, of course.

    16 min
5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

HITea with Grace, hosted by digital health expert Grace Vinton, spotlights women leaders in the healthcare IT and pharma innovation sector. What sets Grace's podcast apart is the intentional inclusion of women patient and caregiver leaders in the dialogue – whose perspectives are often overlooked in conversations about healthcare and research innovation.  As a patient advocate, digital health influencer, and award-winning healthcare communications professional, Grace is deeply committed to promoting technologies that save lives and amplifying patient and caregiver voices in the process. She is well-known for telling powerful innovation stories and educating the industry on emerging trends, helping shape industry categories. Grace has interviewed over 80 women leaders on her podcast to date, magnifying their industry know-how, as well as their personal and professional stories. Her commitment extends beyond the microphone, actively contributing to the evolution of patient-driven healthcare and technology. Grace's standout quality lies in her audacious goal: to engage with every woman leader in the healthcare industry – spanning care, research, informatics, funding – and challenge them to incorporate real patient and caregiver voices and experiences into their work.