In the latest episode of the Me, Myself, and AI podcast, Carla Goulart Peron, Philips’s chief medical officer, discusses how AI is revolutionizing healthcare by enhancing access, refining diagnostics, and enabling clinicians to devote more attention to patients. Drawing from her experience in Brazil’s public health system, she highlights AI-powered imaging and remote collaboration as solutions to critical care gaps. Carla also addresses challenges like trust, bias, interoperability, and the importance of women's health data, offering a grounded global view on making healthcare more human through technology.
The FDA has failed to meet its own deadline to prohibit the use of electrical shock devices on individuals with intellectual disabilities, prompting strong reactions from disability rights advocates.
The state of behavioral health presents a complex picture. On one side, mental health challenges affect 62% of U.S. adults, with severe mental illness increasing significantly over the last decade. On the other, progress is evident: stigma around seeking care has lessened, treatment rates have risen, and investments plus workforce growth in behavioral health have increased substantially.
Despite these improvements, the industry still battles staffing shortages, clinician burnout, and difficulties in outcome measurement. Central to these challenges is outdated technology. Much behavioral health software was designed over 15 years ago for compliance purposes, primarily supporting billing rather than clinical care, leading to inefficiencies and administrative burdens on clinicians.
There's a growing need for next-generation electronic health records (EHRs) that prioritize care delivery, featuring foundational interoperability between healthcare systems, integration of AI to ease administrative tasks, and built-in support for outcomes reporting. These advancements can help providers manage complex care coordination, reduce clinician workload, and improve data-driven decision-making.
Given ongoing demand, evolving regulations, and workforce limitations, technology has become crucial. Systems that seamlessly connect stakeholders, reduce administrative strain, and empower clinicians to focus on patient care will be essential in transforming growth into sustainable improvement in behavioral health outcomes.
Josh Schoeller, CEO of Qualifacts, emphasizes that the evolution of technology in this sector will be key to ensuring better care quality and workforce sustainability as behavioral health services expand.
A total of 341 pioneering research projects are set to receive over €36 million in funding. These projects span a diverse range of fields, including targeted cancer therapies, innovations in sustainable food production, and the development of energy-efficient battery technologies. This investment aims to fuel advancements that tackle critical challenges in health, environment, and energy sectors.
Amsterdam-based OpenUp has raised €20 million to enhance its mental health platform that provides employees with confidential access to psychologists, lifestyle advisors, and financial counsellors through their employers. Currently supporting over 2,000 organizations in five European countries, the startup attracted investment from Smartfin and returning backers Rubio Impact Ventures, which led its 2022 Series A funding. The platform seeks to modernize traditional mental health access in Europe, which typically requires a GP referral.
Blossom Health, a telepsychiatry startup based in New York and established in 2024, has successfully raised $20 million through seed and Series A funding rounds. The investment will be used to expand its AI-driven platform that integrates clinical copilots and automated administrative tools to assist psychiatrists. Leading the funding round was Headline, with its co-founder and managing partner Mathias Schilling joining Blossom Health’s board.
Many tech visionaries predict AI will revolutionize medicine, potentially doubling human lifespans or curing all diseases within a decade. But while AI excels at designing molecules and accelerating early drug discovery, it can’t yet master the complexity of human biology or guarantee safety in clinical trials. The pharmaceutical industry still faces high clinical failure rates, despite AI’s advances. However, AI is transforming the preclinical phase by making drug discovery faster and producing higher quality candidates, with some drugs showing promising Phase IIa results. The next step is developing integrated AI systems to autonomously design and validate drugs. Though AI won’t erase all diseases imminently, it’s accelerating and improving medicine development, promising faster, cheaper, and more effective treatments in the near future.
Generare, a Paris-based techbio firm, is pioneering the analysis of microbial genomes to discover molecules shaped by three billion years of evolution. The company asserts that in 2025 it has identified more novel small molecules than any other research group combined. Its recent Series A funding round, co-led by Alven and Daphni, supports its mission to accelerate drug development by tapping into this largely unexplored microbial chemistry.
American healthcare boasts cutting-edge medical technology, yet patients, especially children with neurological disorders, often endure years of symptom management without clear diagnoses—a journey known as the “diagnostic odyssey.” This process not only saps emotional strength from families and clinicians but also drives up enormous costs. A critical yet underused solution is genomic sequencing, which reads the complete genetic blueprint to pinpoint disease causes. Though clinical guidelines recommend genomic testing early on, it’s frequently delayed, prolonging ineffective treatments and expensive hospital visits. Evidence shows that introducing genomic sequencing earlier can cut healthcare expenses significantly—in epilepsy cases, by up to 61%, saving nearly $80,000 per child annually. This cost reduction reflects a shift from emergency care to focused outpatient management, benefiting Medicaid programs that shoulder much of this financial burden. The core obstacle is not technology but uneven adoption across regions and care settings. For a healthcare system aiming to balance quality and cost, expanding access to genomic sequencing offers a clear pathway to smarter, more effective care. Linda Genen, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer at GeneDx, emphasizes that this technology should be a standard part of care everywhere, not a privilege limited by location or resources.
A solo entrepreneur leveraged AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to handle coding, customer support, and grow a telehealth startup without a traditional team.
