Episode 18: AI, Mental Health, and the Mirror of the Mind – A Conversation with Dr. Nick Sahar

Episode 19: Krista Kim - Redesigning Healing through Digital Sanctuaries

Data sovereignty, the risks of AI centralization, and why our heartbeat may hold a key to protecting our digital identity in a rapidly shifting world. Welcome to the ⁠⁠⁠North of Patient⁠⁠⁠ podcast - conversations on health[beyond]care - where we paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers from around the world. For a summary of the episode, visit the ⁠⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠North of Patient⁠ [https://open.substack.com/pub/northofpatient/p/episode-18-ai-mental-health-and-the?r=53lxdt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true]. Today’s guest is Krista Kim, contemporary digital artist, founder of the Techism movement, and one of the most visionary voices at the intersection of art, technology, and human healing. In this episode, we dive into art as a healing tool, meditation as ancient technology, and how the design of our surroundings shapes mental and physical well-being. Krista reveals how immersive tech and sound create sanctuaries for reflection and presence, while also advocating for data sovereignty and exploring the risks of centralized AI. Key stamps from our conversation are below:00:00 – Welcome to Episode 19!02:30 – Heart Space: AI biometric art installations in Barcelona, Amsterdam, London & Seoul03:20 – From political science to digital art: McLuhan’s influence on Krista’s worldview07:24 – “Light is the new ink”: the birth of the Techism Manifesto08:30 – Meditation, martial arts and connecting to higher purpose20:13 – Growing Up in a Healing Household23:59 – Facebook and the Inspiration for Techno-Feudalism28:21 – Art + Healthcare: Aesthetics, Empathy, and the Healing Environment32:16 – Digital Sovereignty: Your Heartbeat as Your Password45:06 – Mars House: Building Immersive Virtual Environments for Healing50:00 – Exploring 3D digital assets, Architectural Innovation, and AI-Powered Ownership.58:15 – Sound Healing & Theta Waves: Creativity and Emotional Recovery01:02:00 – Looking Forward: Krista’s Advice for Health Leaders & What’s Next

Episode 18: AI, Mental Health, and the Mirror of the Mind – A Conversation with Dr. Nick Sahar

Open-source AI as a tool for self-reflection—and why mistaking machines for minds could be our biggest blind spot.Welcome to the ⁠⁠⁠North of Patient⁠⁠⁠ podcast - conversations on health[beyond]care - where we paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers from around the world. For a summary of the episode, visit the ⁠⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠⁠ on North of Patient [https://open.substack.com/pub/northofpatient/p/episode-18-ai-mental-health-and-the?r=53lxdt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true].Today we sit down with Dr. Nick Sahar– a digital health entrepreneur, AI researcher, and medical doctor passionate about using artificial intelligence to elevate human well-being. He is best known as the co-founder of Semantic Health, an AI startup launched out of medical school. He has worked at the intersection of medicine and AI since 2017, contributing research to early transformer architectures through the Vector Institute and serving as a reviewer at leading machine learning conferences including NeurIPS and ICML. In this episode, we explore how AI can be used to foster personal growth, the dangers of anthropomorphizing AI, and the potential of open-source development.Key stamps from our conversation are below:00:00 - Welcome to Episode 18!02:07 - Meet Nick Sahar: From Med Student to Startup Founder09:42 - A Toothbrush That Detects Stress? Early Startup Experiments11:35 - Discovering the Bottleneck: How Medical Coding Sparked the Idea for Semantic16:44 - Why Nick Chose Systems-Level Healthcare Over the Clinic19:34 - Semantic’s Journey: Founding, Scaling, and Innovating AI in Healthcare Data Coding28:04 - The “Last Mile” Challenge: Balancing AI Autonomy and Human Touch in Complex Tasks31:02 - Exploring Mental Health, Bias, and the Future of Human-AI Interaction41:58 - Personalizing Mental Health AI and Navigating the Risks of Anthropomorphized Intelligence43:45 - Neuralink, Telepathy, and the Dystopian Black Mirror Future of Brain-AI Connections46:19 - The Urgent Need for Open Source Solutions Amidst Social Disconnect and Global AI Power Struggles53:04 - Physicians Must Partner with AI, Not Be Replaced by It01:03:00 - Making AI Your Smartest Intelligence Upgrade Yet01:05:00 - Yoga, Nature, and the Radical Power of Logging Off

Episode 17: Dr. Jay Parkinson - Pioneering Virtual Primary Care

Reimagining primary care through digital-first thinking, clinician-guided AI, and radical service design. Welcome to the ⁠⁠⁠North of Patient⁠⁠⁠ podcast - conversations on health[beyond]care - where we paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers from around the world. For a summary of the episode, visit the ⁠⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠North of Patient. [https://open.substack.com/pub/northofpatient/p/episode-16-nina-maturu-designing?r=53lxdt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true] Today we sit down with Dr. Jay Parkinson, MD, MPH – a physician turned product visionary. Known for co-founding Sherpaa, inventors of Virtual Primary Care, Jay spent the last two decades redefining what healthcare could look like. Over the past 18 years, he's built online healthcare companies that have served more than 500,000 patients from major companies like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, and now leads Automate.clinic to help make AI in healthcare safer and more reliable. In this episode, Jay unpacks what it means to approach healthcare as a service, explores what large language models are doing well—and where they fall short—and shares insights into his latest venture Key stamps from our conversation are below: 00:00 Welcome to Episode 1701:57 - Meet Dr. Jay Parkinson 04:01 - How Flickr, photography and the iPhone kickstarted Jay’s Journey 07:40 - Launching Hello Health: Early Days of Virtual Primary Care 13:24 - Using Tumblr to Build Planned Parenthood’s Digital Sex Ed Strategy 16:47 - Can You Use ChatGPT as Your Personal Therapist? 21:19 - Designing Healthcare Systems Amid Bureaucratic Barriers 26:03 - Establishing Continuous Care with Sherpaa’s Asynchronous Model 28:34 - Building from Scratch Versus Navigating Big Company Complexities 32:08 - Automate.clinic: Where Doctors Don’t See Patients – They Train AI Models 42:35 - Talking Less, Saying More: The Power of Asynchronous Communication 48:24 - The Growing Professional Depression Among Family Physicians and How Automate.clinic Is Making a Difference 53:00 - Hope and Optimism in a World Overwhelmed by Digital Noise

Episode 16: Nina Maturu - Designing Tomorrow through Ethics, AI, and Optimism

Shaping the future of health through speculative design, ethical AI, and the power of human-centred innovation. Welcome to the ⁠⁠⁠North of Patient⁠⁠⁠ podcast - conversations on health[beyond]care - where we paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers from around the world. For a summary of the episode, visit the ⁠⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠⁠ on North of Patient. [https://open.substack.com/pub/northofpatient/p/episode-16-nina-maturu-designing?r=53lxdt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true] This week’s guest is Nina Maturu — an innovation strategist, seasoned designer, and futurist. Nina recently wrapped up her term as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, where she advised on bold innovations at ARPA-H and led future-focused strategy at NASA, helping the agency explore emerging technologies and trends that could shape human life through 2050. Join us as we explore topics such as the ethics of data usage, the need for restraint in an accelerating AI landscape, and what it genuinely means to embed human-centered thinking into some of the most complex and technical corners of healthcare. Key stamps from our conversation are below: 00:00 Welcome to Episode 16 02:42 Meet Nina Maturu: Innovation Strategist, Designer, and Futurist 03:33 Groundwork in Global Community Organizing & Participatory Design 06:36 Translating Human-Centred Design into Corporate Innovation 08:18 Integrating Community and Corporate Experience to Drive Social Change 09:40 From ARPA H to NASA: Nina’s Impact as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow 14:10 The Role of a Designer at ARPA-H: Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility 19:46 Designing for the Distant Future with NASA 23:09 A Dual Lens Approach: Integrating Generalist and Expert Views in Design Consulting 26:26 Partnering with the United Nations Foundation: A Public Health Initiative in Haiti 30:02 Centering Lived Experience in Medicine 31:28 The Promises and Perils of Affectionate AI 37:06 Designing Restraint in a Rapidly Evolving AI Landscape 44:13 Anticipating AI’s Long-Term Effects on Society and the Environment 45:59 AI Persuasion Experiment: Can AI Bots Outperform Human Experts? 48:35 Determining Liability when AI Causes Harm 51:42 Beyond Doomsday: How AI Pushes Us to Imagine a New Future 58:10 Embracing Diverse Perspectives to Shape an Unpredictable Future

Episode 15: Amy Karle - A Journey Beyond the Human Canvas

Pushing the boundaries of health through bio-design, ultra-contemporary art, and reimagining the human form. Welcome to the ⁠⁠⁠North of Patient⁠⁠⁠ podcast - conversations on health[beyond]care - where we paint an inspired landscape of healthcare's future through dialogues with creative and unconventional thinkers from around the world. For a summary of the episode, visit the ⁠⁠⁠blog post⁠⁠⁠ [https://open.substack.com/pub/northofpatient/p/episode-15-amy-karle-a-journey-beyond?r=53lxdt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true] on North of Patient. In this week's episode, we sit down with Amy Karle—an internationally acclaimed ultra-contemporary artist, designer, and futurist. With exhibitions spanning the globe, and even reaching space, Amy pushes the boundaries of art, science, and the future of our existence.  Join us as we dive into some of Amy Karle’s most groundbreaking projects—from bioprinted bone scaffolds to a revolutionary archive of life being stored on the Moon.  Amy also shares her insights into the role of generative AI in healthcare, the risks of data opacity, and why she believes that true innovation requires us to stay grounded in empathy, ethics, and the human story.   Learn more about Amy’s work. [https://www.amykarle.com/] Key stamps from our conversation are below: 00:28  Meet Amy Karle: Artist, Designer & Futurist 08:48  Evolving Medical Accessibility in the Digital Age 10:56  The Perils of Drowning in AI Agents 15:14 Merging Art, Technology, and the Quest for Human Enhancement 20:21 Using Fine Art to Enhance Medical Training 21:28 Beyond Art: Convincing People of the Technological Impact on Humanity 24:47 Navigating the Challenges of Displaying Bioart 26:07 From IBM to Bauhaus: Influences Shaping Amy’s Artistic Vision 30:22 Regenerative Reliquary: Could Biodesign Lead to Longer Lifespans? 33:54 The Symbiotic Relationship Between Art and Science 36:14 Reimagining Life's Mystery 37:03 Balancing Innovation with Caution 43:12 The Heart of Evolution 46:56 The Philosophical & Ethical Implications of Redesigning Life 57:34 Sending Art to the Moon: Echoes From the Valley of Existence 01:15:17 An Intricate Balance: Enhancing Care Without Replacing Human Touch