The PennHealthX Podcast

90 - Building the Doctor's Second Brain - Dr. Dereck Paul

Dr. Dereck Paul, MD, is the co-founder and CEO of Glass Health [https://glass.health?utm_source=chatgpt.com], an AI platform helping clinicians with clinical decision-making, documentation, and workflow optimization. Dr. Paul’s path into healthcare innovation began long before residency — from studying music composition to applying to Y Combinator before even starting medical school. In this episode, Dr. Paul reflects on the pivotal decisions that shaped his career, including balancing startup ambitions with clinical training and ultimately taking leave from residency to scale Glass Health. He shares how his frustrations with outdated healthcare software inspired him to build tools designed specifically around the realities of clinical practice and explains how modern AI systems can function as real-time collaborators for physicians. We also explore the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and medicine, including how clinicians and students can prepare for a future increasingly shaped by large language models and automation. Dr. Paul discusses why resisting AI is the wrong approach, how physicians can stay on the technological frontier, and why empathy and firsthand clinical experience remain critical when building healthcare technology. The conversation closes with advice for students and trainees considering entrepreneurship: embrace uncertainty, recognize rare technological inflection points when they arise, and pursue the work that would leave you with the fewest regrets.

89 - From Academic Medicine to Biotechnology - Dr. Jason Chien

Dr. Jason Chien, MD, MS, is the Chief Medical Officer of Mozart Therapeutics, where he leads clinical development of a first-in-class pipeline targeting autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. He trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and pulmonary and critical care medicine before building an NIH-funded research program at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He then spent nearly eight years at Gilead Sciences and five years at Johnson & Johnson, leading global R&D strategy, before returning to his scientific roots in biotech. In this episode, Dr. Chien walks us through a career he describes as unfolding in decades — each phase building on the last. We hear what pulled him out of academia and into industry, why learning to crunch his own numbers changed everything, and what it feels like to now be responsible for putting a brand new mechanism of action into human beings for the very first time. We close with Dr. Chien's take on leadership, the MD/MBA question, and what he would do differently looking back. His advice to students: stay curious, watch where AI is taking the field, and resist investing in any one thing that makes you lose sight of where you actually want to go.

88 - Dr. Jeff Stuart - Conflict Management & Hospital Administration

Hosts Isabella Stuart and William Hayes sit down with Dr. Jeff Stuart, co-founder of Resolve Conflict, board-certified anesthesiologist, and former Chief Medical Officer. They discuss his journey from early interest in medicine to a career that spans clinical practice, hospital leadership, and entrepreneurship, highlighting key inflection points and the value of staying adaptable. Dr. Stuart shares insights on pursuing leadership roles, his decision to obtain an MBA mid-career, and how to think intentionally about MD+ pathways. A central focus of the episode is conflict management in healthcare. Drawing from decades of experience—including leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic—he explains how communication breakdowns impact teams and patient care, and offers practical strategies rooted in self-awareness and emotional intelligence. They also explore balancing clinical and administrative work, the evolving relationship between physicians and healthcare systems, and the importance of mentorship, curiosity, and embracing new opportunities throughout a medical career.

87 - Dr. Evan Fieldston - Leadership, Operations, & Value-Based Care

Hosts Habib & Ziad sit down with Dr. Evan Fieldston, Associate Chief Medical Officer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, who focuses on improving healthcare systems for children and their families. They discuss his journey from childhood patient to physician-leader, how training in pediatrics, business, and public policy shapes his approach to value in healthcare, the nuts and bolts of evidence-based management and quality improvement, the role of technology and AI in hospital operations, CHOP’s future expansion and behavioral health initiatives, and his advice for students interested in system-level impact.

86 - Dr. Akl Fahed - Digital Health, Genetics, & GLP-1s

In this episode of the PennHealthX Podcast, Habib sits down with Dr. Akl Fahed to discuss his career as an interventional cardiologist, physician–scientist, and digital health entrepreneur working at the frontiers of genomic medicine and chronic disease care. Dr. Fahed serves at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute, where he leads an NIH-funded research program focused on using large-scale genomics and data science to better understand cardiometabolic disease and identify risk long before symptoms appear. He is also the clinical co-founder of GoodPath, a virtual-first care platform that delivers integrated, whole-person management for chronic conditions through a multidisciplinary, value-based model. This episode explores how advances in genetics, data-driven prevention, and technologies like AI can transform the way we identify, manage, and ultimately prevent chronic illness. We discuss the emergence of obesity “endotypes,” the promise of polygenic risk scores, and the rapidly expanding role of GLP-1 medications. Dr. Fahed also shares how digital health tools can reduce fragmentation, enhance patient engagement, and address rising healthcare costs by meeting patients where they are. His career offers a compelling look at how clinicians can shape the future of medicine by bridging scientific discovery, clinical practice, and technology to build systems that meaningfully improve patient health.