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Making Rounds

Cassie McGrath

Healthcare Brew delivers the latest news and trends in healthcare.

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Occasionally, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition?

Breast cancer screening has long been skewed toward older patients who are 

 to be diagnosed with the disease. But in recent years, rates have jumped among younger women.

 among women over 50 each year from 2012 to 2022, rates also rose 1.4% in women under 50, according to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. In fact, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among US women ages 20 to 49, the nonprofit also reported.

That’s why Bailey Renger created BeSound. The startup officially launched on Sept. 30 with $6.8 million in seed funding, co-led by Overwater Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and Muse Capital, according to a press release. BeSound aims to detect and prevent breast cancer in young women by providing imaging and results within 24–48 hours for an up-front cost of $350. The process can typically take a few days, the National Breast Cancer Foundation wrote on its site.

Renger previously worked as a physicist, quantum computing research fellow at Harvard University, and NASA researcher.

Renger created BeSound due to her own frustrations during a cancer scare. “I 

. I didn’t get an imaging order that I wanted and had to fight for it,” she said.

Once she got the scan, her medical team found a solid mass but couldn’t tell her if it was malignant.

“That’s at the center of BeSound: making imaging more accessible to women with better imaging technology,” she said.

Renger, a young woman herself at 26, spoke with Healthcare Brew about her plans for the company.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Women book ultrasound scans on our website and then find nearby partner locations. Initially, we’ll just have one [in Los Angeles, opening this fall] but as we scale, there’ll be multiple to choose from. A clinician will review eligibility for that scan. It’s a 20-minute scan. It’s radiation free, no pain.

The results are reviewed by a board-certified breast radiologist and displayed in the BeSound platform to women within 24–48 hours of the scan. If there is no finding, that’s the final step. If there is a finding, and if eligible, then there’s an order placed by the clinician for an ultrasound plus near-infrared light, a diagnostic imaging test, and helping to characterize what was found. Is it a cyst? Is it benign? Is it fibroadenoma? Or is it concerning? That second scan helps to reduce unnecessary biopsies and to really just give women peace of mind and empower them with data on what’s actually happening in their body.

What differentiates the company from other breast cancer care?

Today, it’s really difficult for women under 40 to get screening, yet we know they’re getting breast cancer. That’s for a few reasons. Mammography is not reimbursed and is also not recommended for women under 40, unless you’re very high risk. Younger women have more dense tissue, and that decreases the accuracy of mammograms.

We brought on the co-founder of Equinox [Lavinia Errico], and she’s helping with designing the experience, both in person and digitally. We think that’s going to be really important as well because a lot of women today, even if they qualify for a mammogram, they don’t get it because they’re scared or it’s painful or they don’t want exposure to radiation. We think offering a better experience is more conducive to women actually wanting to get screened.

The most expensive part of the scan is the radiologist and their interpretation. If we can help make their jobs easier and help them read more quickly, then we can help to drive down the cost of the scans. There’s really rigorous FDA review, requirements, and clearance that’s involved, so we are not using any AI yet, but that’s on the road map.

Where do you hope the company will be in the next five to 10 years?

I hope that breast cancer screening for younger women is more accessible and that we help to remove the stigma around both screening and just having dense breasts in general. Our larger vision is really to end late-stage breast cancer because that’s how we save women’s lives. I would love to have BeSound available to women across the country, and with the AI that we’re building, that’s actually how we hope to improve accessibility even more. [This includes] driving down the costs—our goal is eventually $150.

We [also] want to expand into ovarian cancer and pelvic ultrasound imaging, all women’s ultrasound-based imaging.

A portrait of founder and CEO of BeSound, Bailey Renger.

Startup BeSound seeks to reduce breast cancer in young women 

Meet Bailey Renger, the 26-year-old founder of BeSound. 

Nicole Ortiz

Jayme Strauss is the chief commercial and clinical officer of brain implant (called a brain-computer interface, or BCI) manufacturer Precision Neuroscience, which helps patients with paralysis do things like operate a phone or robotic limb through their thoughts.

“It sounds like science fiction, but it’s real,” she told Healthcare Brew, as she explained what the company is working on.

In the role, Strauss shared she works with multiple bodies to ensure this tech reaches patients: from the doctors performing surgery to the FDA to the researchers and engineers creating the devices to the insurers covering the procedures.

We spoke with Strauss about what led her to the role, what she finds most fulfilling, and where she’s feeling most optimistic.

This is personal for me. I’ve worked as a neuroscience critical care nurse, led hospital teams, and I have watched people I love face diseases like ALS and spinal cord injury. I know what it means when someone loses the ability to move or speak and how powerful it would be to give some of that independence back. My “why” isn’t just about cool tech—it’s about giving people a voice, control, and a way to connect with the world and their loved ones.

What’s the best change you’ve made or seen at a place you’ve worked?

In the early stages, much of our energy was devoted to validating the safety and performance of our BCI system. That work was essential. But once we proved the science, we asked ourselves: How do we build trust, not just technology? That question led us to bring in broader voices. Working side by side with these stakeholders, especially in partnerships with the FDA, has allowed us to address critical issues early on, from data privacy and interoperability to ethics and access.

Clinically, we’ve now worked with nearly 60 patients across leading institutions. By integrating direct feedback from neurosurgeons, patients, caregivers, and care teams into our development process, we have refined our protocols to address real-world needs.

At the end of the day, it is not enough to just build the technology. It’s about ensuring that what we build is ethical, human-centered, and accessible.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

I came to this work not just as a healthcare leader, but as a daughter-in-law, a niece, and a caregiver. I lost my father-in-law to ALS. I have watched my uncle adjust to life with quadriplegia after a spinal cord injury. I’ve seen, up close, the way loss of independence ripples outward, impacting not just the person but their family, their identity, and their future.

Every day, I get to sit at the intersection of research, clinical practice, and commercial strategy, helping translate this life-changing technology into something that can reach the people who need it most. It’s about solving hard problems and never forgetting who we’re solving them for.

In a world where too many patients are told, “There’s nothing more we can do,” I’m proud to be part of a team working to change that answer.

What healthcare trend are you most optimistic about?

I’m most optimistic about the convergence of AI and medical devices, especially in brain-related conditions. We’re only beginning to scratch the surface of what’s possible when we pair neural data with intelligent systems.

Cutout of woman, Jayme Strauss, displayed on templated background.

Precision Neuroscience's Jayme Strauss discusses technological advancements in brain implants

At Precision Neuroscience, she helps ensure the company’s devices are “ethical, human-centered, and accessible.”

Jayme Strauss discusses technological advancements in brain implants

Dominique Wells, chief operating officer at Conduit Health Partners, a nurse-led organization that connects patients with health systems, began her career “with a mop and a bucket” as a hospital housekeeper, moved into various nursing roles, and eventually found herself in the C-suite.

Each of her roles, she told us, gave her “a deeper sense of empathy for the people who keep our system running.”

We spoke with Wells about her unique journey to the C-suite and the parts of her job that bring her the most joy.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in healthcare?

I think a great analogy for my current position is that of mission control. While I may be powered differently than a spaceship, I have to speak the language of healthcare and navigate the evolving technology and regulatory landscape to make sure the mothership does not crash land. Central to all this activity is ensuring that our team of 200+ nurses who work remotely nationwide—along with sales, marketing, and administrative staff—is operating as a tight unit.

I have a deep passion for helping people. In my current role, I am able to combine my informatics background with my nursing experience to support nurses working at the top of their license.

Navigating healthcare today is challenging for everyone, and we’ve all experienced loved ones getting caught up in the complexities and, at times, falling through the cracks. I love that our nurses are there to fill in critical gaps and provide the comfort and reassurance that people desperately need when they are facing uncertainty. Nurses form the foundation of optimal care delivery, and I’m acutely focused on bringing nursing back to the center of the patient journey.

, but for me, the concept of agentic nursing is particularly intriguing. I know a lot of people in nursing are worried about how AI is going to impact the profession, especially the human side of it. But I see agentic nursing as an opportunity to get nurses back to the bedside and in front of patients. If AI can address a lot of the administrative and documentation overload that nurses are currently burdened with, these professionals will be free to excel at what they were trained to do: care for patients.

What healthcare trend are you least optimistic about?

, healthcare has an incredible opportunity to continue building on the momentum we saw during the pandemic. That period sparked a surge of 

 and a strong commitment to improving care through innovation. Stakeholders showed a willingness to take risks, explore new ideas, and embrace change—all of which led to meaningful progress.

Tell us one new or old health tech product or platform that’s made your life easier.

This answer will probably get mixed reviews, but EHRs [

] have transformed the way healthcare is delivered. They have evolved over the years and seen their share of issues, but I remember the days of 

. Clinicians could spend half their day hunting down patient records—time that could have been spent more proactively getting ahead of patient care issues.

EHRs have provided the foundation for us to advance key industry initiatives in a way that would not have been possible before, ultimately impacting more lives for the better.

Cutout of a Conduit Health Partners's Dominique Wells placed inside an abstract shape.

How this COO is trying to take nursing ‘back to the center of the patient journey’

Conduit Health Partners’s Dominique Wells talks AI, EHRs, and more.

Dani Bowie, SVP of workforce AI at travel nursing agency Aya Healthcare, began her career as a nurse and has moved into “helping hospitals run more efficiently.” With Aya specifically, she’s in a role where she taps into how AI and predictive analytics can ensure nurses are scheduled “in ways that support their well-being and help hospitals manage labor costs,” she said.

We spoke with Bowie about how her work has evolved and how the tech she works with factors in.

 remains one of the most complex challenges for hospitals and health systems. Where efficiency and automation are lacking, and resources are misaligned, that’s where technology can make the largest impact: by transforming scheduling. What previously took hospital nurse leaders hours and days can now take less than five minutes with the right technology.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

, there are a lot of misconceptions about AI in healthcare. AI isn’t intended to replace clinicians but rather enhance their work and help them practice to the top of their licensure. The tools we’re developing are built to save nurse managers hours per week of manual effort—that kind of time savings is invaluable.

As a former health system executive, seeing the technology I designed and created implemented in hospitals across the country is so rewarding. It’s ensuring nurses like me are caring for patients at the bedside rather than being 

, staring at a computer screen covered in sticky notes, buried deep in spreadsheets until they’re cross-eyed.

I’m really optimistic about how technology will 

 streamline processes, better utilize their resources, and improve alignment between previously siloed units. Technology is helping frontline leaders get away from mundane and tedious work so they can focus on what’s most important: patient care.

How this healthcare exec is helping make health systems more efficient with AI

Dani Bowie oversees how Aya Healthcare implements the tech, with hopes of reducing burnout.

Loneliness epidemic. Mental health crisis. These terms are often used to describe the state of mental health in the US, all while the country is also experiencing a behavioral health 

These mental health professionals provide counseling without going through the traditional state licensure process. One group, the 

 (LCA), is helping train groups like social workers, legal aid staff, and community health workers to become lay counselors.

Co-founder Alli Moreno brings her own expertise as a defense investigator and lay counselor to provide guidance for others interested in a “nonconventional pathway.”

After leaving the legal field when she started a family, she told us she was looking “for something that would be intervening or making a meaningful difference in people’s lives.” She joined up with co-founder Elizabeth Morrison in 2021 to see how Morrison’s psychology background and Moreno’s experience could help shape the field.

Healthcare Brew spoke with Moreno about her career and what people might not know about lay counseling.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions about lay counselors?

One that comes to mind is this misconception that mental health counseling is only being provided by licensed professionals. The reality is that, as we all know, the mental health crisis is acute, and the 

 is severe, so there’s that ongoing barrier to access.

There’s tons of different ways to approach this issue, but one of them is to acknowledge that mental health counseling is happening. Really pour in rigorous professional development like workshops, training, practice opportunities, adding weekly clinical supervision and support, all of that to make structural adjustments so that counseling that’s already happening is more effective and the people providing it are more confident in doing so.

[Another] misconception is the idea of a triage, or the idea [lay counseling] is a cheaper way to provide care. Our hope is that it is equivalent in terms of value.

What are the biggest challenges you’re trying to address through the LCA?

It’s really access to quality mental health support. The need is so severe, and it’s only increasing as more marginalized, vulnerable communities are targeted in government policies and 

. It’s already affecting young people and immigrants and LGBTQ+ community members; it’s already affecting people in 

There are so many competent, skillful people who are nowhere in this conventional licensure pipeline. But they have skill, and they have community connection, and they have the desire to be helpful. So, bridging that gap of helping folks, who are already in connection with people who need the help, to help them be able to do that even better and more competently and confidently and feel acknowledged is the biggest challenge.

What are the ways health equity plays into how you’re approaching this?

When you think about people who have lower resources, have lower social power, they’re less likely to be able to get care that they need. When we’re supporting people who are already in those communities—who already have relationships to meaningfully respond to those needs and to do so in a way that’s supported and there’s continual learning and growth—we’re responding to people who have the least access. That’s where we’re gravitating toward first.

What’s your biggest achievement in your career so far?

These [cohorts] are hearing these mental health struggles from people, which means that they’re doing something to indicate to the people that they’re safe. And that means that they have some sort of skill. And then not only is that person telling them, but they keep coming back.

I always feel so proud and happy to be able to elevate and amplify and acknowledge that skill in other people who come through our course and who are on our team, too.

A portrait of Alli Moreno, co-Creator of the Lay Counselor Academy & Counselor.

Lay Counselor Academy's Alli Moreno discusses lay counseling and reaching underserved patients

Through the Lay Counselor Academy, Moreno is addressing a provider shortage in behavioral health.

Alli Moreno discusses lay counseling and reaching underserved patients

Ever since he was a kid, Ryan Gibney, UCI Health’s associate medical director at its Orange, California, facility and an emergency medicine physician, knew he wanted to be a doctor.

But before that happened, he worked in the service industry for many years—and performed in a band—while he studied at med school. Once he took the plunge, he had a “meteoric rise” from residency to leadership, which includes serving as the incoming medical director of the health system’s new Irvine site, scheduled to open later this year.

Healthcare Brew spoke with Gibney about his career and what he’s hoping to accomplish in his new role.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How did you go from working in the hospitality industry to the hospital industry, and what did it teach you?

I moved out to California, where my mom had moved in the interim, and I ended up starting back in the service industry at a bar and restaurant in the area. It wasn’t until 2007 when I got married that I decided that looking longevity-wise and raising a family and that kind of career didn’t really kind of go hand in hand. And I did a very thorough self-inventory and said that I’m going to go back to college.

We actively look for people that have service experience. It teaches you a lot about people, a lot about anticipating needs, multitasking, and the behaviors that exist in emergency medicine. And I think if you want to be a reductionist about medicine in general, it is a service industry.

What was one of the most unexpected parts of transitioning into the medical field?

I found it to be so similar to working at a bar that it was almost off-putting.

I will say that this meteoric rise to admin and leadership is something I didn’t expect this fast. I’ve been in a full-fledged attending career—this is now my fifth year—and I’m already in charge of opening a new emergency room and hiring staff, and I’m involved in leadership strategy for the entire hospital. That’s a lot of very quick learning, but I think a lot of it comes from that route in the service industry and my life experience, being in my 40s and starting my career here instead of my 20s. I think that the ability to speak and interact with people and anticipate needs and see in a different way has lent itself to building this skill set quickly.

Can you tell me about your new role at the UCI Health – Irvine hospital and how it might change compared to what you’re currently working on?

From a clinical lens, the work is going to be similar. I mean, emergency room is emergency room.

You know, in the service industry you do the soft opening, the friends and family, and all the policy procedures. That’s what we’re doing right now. It’s really all about the strategy of prepping as best as we possibly can, so on day one, when we open, we are really representing what we can do here at UCI.

Within the larger hospital world, what do you think needs to change the most?

 and that have challenges to access have led to this critical national problem of patients carrying out all their care in the emergency department—even their inpatient care—and it forces our work further and further out of the physical spaces that are designated as emergency medicine to where you’re doing stuff in the waiting room. Nationally, this is a problem. Locally, this is a problem. There’s a lot of downward pressure to do all these things that are just almost not possible in the primary care space.

The medical director of UCI Health, Ryan Gibney, a man in a necktie and lab coat

From hospitality to hospitals, UCI Health's Ryan Gibney talks career moves and industry pain points

The emergency medicine physician will be UCI Health’s medical director at its new facility opening later this year.

From hospitality to hospitals, Ryan Gibney talks career moves and industry pain points

Occasionally, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? 

 column, where we feature experts in the healthcare industry and highlight what they do, the challenges and misconceptions they face, and the parts of their jobs that bring them the most joy.

We spoke with Robert Andrews, CEO of the Health Transformation Alliance (HTA), a group of healthcare organizations working to provide better healthcare experiences for employees and their families. Before starting HTA, Andrews served as a member of the New Jersey House of Representatives for almost 25 years.

“Put simply, we’re all working together to do one thing: fix our broken healthcare system,” he told us about the company’s goals.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

At the HTA, we have learned the immense value of saying a polite “no” when a potential partner’s services are not a good fit for our members. By embracing the practice of politely declining partnerships that do not align with our collective goals, we ensure that our valuable resources and efforts are focused on collaborations that have a higher probability of success and a positive impact. While it can be challenging to turn down opportunities, especially when a potential partner presents an appealing solution, we believe it is crucial to assess every opportunity for the greater good of the collective.

One of the most common misconceptions about our work at the HTA is that our sole focus is on saving money for employers. While it’s true that we do strive to achieve cost efficiencies, our primary mission is focused on the people we serve. We are passionately dedicated to driving meaningful change in the healthcare system by focusing on better health outcomes for millions of employees and their families.

The growing emphasis on consumer-centric care signifies a pivotal step toward better healthcare outcomes. When healthcare services are tailored to meet the needs and preferences of the patients, it fosters a stronger sense of engagement and empowerment among individuals. This, in turn, can lead to higher levels of adherence to treatment plans, increased participation in preventive care, and, ultimately, better health outcomes.

As more and more consumers demand convenient healthcare delivery, it can also act as a catalyst for innovation in the industry. Healthcare providers and systems may respond to this demand by adopting and integrating technologies that enhance access to care, such as telemedicine, remote monitoring devices, and digital health platforms. These advancements can break down barriers to access, making healthcare more readily available to a broader population, including those in remote or underserved areas.

While the intention behind making pricing information more transparent is noble, there are two key reasons why I am cautious about its impact.

Firstly, the process of obtaining and disseminating accurate and comprehensive price data is taking far too long. The implementation of price transparency initiatives has faced significant challenges, including data collection, standardization, and collaboration between various healthcare stakeholders. As a result, the information made available to consumers might not be as up-to-date or as comprehensive as needed to make fully informed decisions.

Secondly, the publication of price data in the absence of quality data raises concerns about potential unintended consequences. While knowing the price of healthcare services is essential, it is equally vital to consider the quality of care being offered. Relying solely on price data without accompanying information about the quality of services or outcomes may lead patients to make decisions based on cost alone, overlooking critical aspects like provider expertise, treatment effectiveness, and patient safety.

Health Transformation Alliance CEO Robert Andrews