--- title: "What's Next Now: Health & Wellness" description: Join us for a panel discussion on the role of innovation in transforming health & wellness. image: https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/Canva%20images/WNN%20Health%20%26%20Wellness%20(Blog%20Banner).jpg --- # What's Next Now - Health & Wellness ![WNN Health & Wellness (1600 × 500 px) 1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/Canva%20images/WNN%20Health%20%26%20Wellness%20(1600%20%C3%97%20500%20px)%201.jpg "WNN Health & Wellness (1600 × 500 px) 1") ## Event Recap! On Tuesday, May 24 we brought together the executives, investors and entrepreneurs transforming healthcare with innovation. Watch the event video to learn more.   ## Agenda:  ### Introduction & Kick-Off | 12:00 to 12:10 p.m.  Join us for an introduction to today's session. We'll take a look at Ventures to Watch in the Health, Wellness and Healthcare space; and discuss the opportunity for collaboration between industry leaders, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to reshape and unlock the future of prevention & care. - Featuring: Fred Schonenberg, VentureFuel Founder & CEO ### Panel I: From Proof of Concept to Patient Care Join us for a conversation about the role of collaboration in the commercialization of health & bio tech innovation. - Featuring: Dov Shamir, PhD, Head of Elementa Labs, Mount Sinai Innovation Partners & Tracy Dooley, MD, Partner at Avestria VC - Moderated by: Fred Schonenberg, Founder & CEO, VentureFuel ### Panel II: Healthcare Innovation  Join us for a conversation about the opportunity for innovation to reshape healthcare and the role of technology in addressing legacy challenges. - Featuring: Shailja Dixit, CEO, Curio Digital Therapeutics; Vasu Nadella, Co-Founder/CEO at Vital Bio; and Philip Fung, Founder & CEO, Kit.com - Moderated by: Vanessa Rosado, Head of Brand Strategy, VentureFuel ## Panelists: ![Dov_Shamir](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Dov_Shamir.png?width=1259&height=691&name=Dov_Shamir.png "Dov_Shamir") Dov Shamir, PhD, Head of Elementa Labs at Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP) Dov Shamir, PhD, leads the Mount Sinai Health Systems newly established Elementa Labs, an incubator program powered by the health systems commercialization office, Mount Sinai Innovation Partners. The incubator helps strategically position external healthcare and biotechnology startup companies for the next stage in their development. Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP), as part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, facilitates the transfer of discovery from the laboratory to the marketplace, acting as the interface with commercial entities.  *The thoughts and opinions expressed in this panel reflect those of the speaker, and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Mount Sinai Health System.* [![Shailja Dixit, CEO Curio Digital Therapeutics](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/ShailjaDixit.png?width=600&height=334&name=ShailjaDixit.png "Shailja Dixit, CEO Curio Digital Therapeutics")](https://www.curiodigitaltx.com/) Shailja Dixit, CEO, Curio Digital Therapeutics Shailja is an accomplished healthcare & pharmaceutical physician executive with more than 15 years of healthcare industry experience with Big Pharma (Sanofi and Pfizer), Big-5 Consulting (Accenture), Payer(Aetna) and Provider Groups. Curio is a Digital Therapeutics company with tailor-made Cognitive Behavioral Therapy programs for Women across the cycle of life – encompassing age groups, physiological conditions and social settings. ![VentureFuel Event Speakers](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/VentureFuel%20Event%20Speakers.png?width=600&height=341&name=VentureFuel%20Event%20Speakers.png "VentureFuel Event Speakers") Vasu Nadella, Co-founder/CEO at Vital Bio Vasu believes that democratizing diagnostics has the potential to radically reshape care delivery, and is passionate about helping patients live healthier lives through technology that is delightful to use. Prior to starting Vital Bio, he founded a machine-learning personalization start-up which he sold to a direct competitor after which he spent time at Inovia Capital as an entrepreneur-in-residence, focused on supporting founders in healthcare and life sciences. Vital Bio is an ecosystem of devices, software & people designed to help all of us live healthier. Vital was created to enable proactive, preventative, and accessible healthcare.  ![WNN Health & Wellness (Presentation (169)) (1067 × 640 px)](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/Canva%20images/WNN%20Health%20%26%20Wellness%20(Presentation%20(169))%20(1067%20%C3%97%20640%20px).jpg?width=1067&height=640&name=WNN%20Health%20%26%20Wellness%20(Presentation%20(169))%20(1067%20%C3%97%20640%20px).jpg "WNN Health & Wellness (Presentation (169)) (1067 × 640 px)") Tracy Dooley, MD, Partner, Avestria Ventures Tracy Dooley is a Partner at Avestria Ventures where she invests in early stage medtech, healthtech, and life science companies. Prior to joining Avestria, Tracy was a digital health & innovation consultant for clients including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Novartis, and early stage startups. Previous to that she served as Head of Global Operations at Novartis Diagnostics/Grifols, after leading strategy & innovation efforts. Tracy started her career as a healthcare M&A investment banker. Tracy holds an MD from Stanford and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California. Avestria Avestria Ventures is a healthtech/life science venture capital firm founded by senior executives formerly at Edwards, Tularik (Amgen), Applied Biosystems (Thermo) & Novartis, with deep M&A and operating expertise. Avestria invests in female founders and women’s health, defined broadly as any disease area impacting women exclusively (e.g. menopause, maternal mortality), predominantly (e.g. autoimmune, neurodegenerative disease), or differently than men (e.g. cardiovascular, oncology). ![PhilipFung](https://info.venturefuel.net/hs-fs/hubfs/PhilipFung.png?width=1043&height=626&name=PhilipFung.png "PhilipFung") Philip Fung, Founder & CEO, Kit.com Philip Fung is Founder/CEO of Kit.com - an at-home health diagnostics platform for businesses and a subsidiary of Ro, the patient company. Previously, Philip was one of the early engineers at Facebook, focusing on growth and mobile apps. In 2005, Phil was in-between classes at Stanford and ran into Mark Zuckerberg, who was sitting by himself holding a sign "Come Work at Facebook". Phil left school a month later to work there. Kit.com At-home medical exams, delivered. Kit enables insurers and telehealth companies to test their patients from home. Subsidiary of Ro. ## Why Health & Wellness Innovation? ![1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/1.png "1") Convergence of Big Tech & Health Tech  ![2-1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/2-1.png "2-1") Emergence of Click & Mortar ![3-1](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/3-1.png "3-1") Adoption, integration and scaling of AI, automation & robotics These three trends represent just a few of the forces at work to disrupt the health & wellness industry. Join us for a discussion of these trends and more to learn how you can navigate the transformation of this important and valuable sector.  ## About VentureFuel Founded in 2014, VentureFuel is an independent innovation advisory that helps the world's best organizations ignite change through startup collaborations. Its innovation programs include Diagnostics, Corporate Accelerators and Commercial Pilots; and focus on solving clients' biggest challenges to driving greater efficiencies; closing strategic capability gaps; and identifying emerging business models. VentureFuel provides organizations like Hershey's, Comcast, Dick's Sporting Goods, AARP Foundation and the State of California the tools to drive transformative change with less risk, more speed, and greater proximity to the consumer than traditional innovation models. ### Resources: Click on the images below to access more resources related to actions industry leaders, innovators and collaborators are taking to disrupt health and wellness. [![Healthcare Innovation Featuring the Founders of Kit.com, Curio & Vital Bio](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/Healthcare%20Innovation%20Featuring%20the%20Founders%20of%20Kit.com%2c%20Curio%20%26%20Vital%20Bio.jpg "Healthcare Innovation Featuring the Founders of Kit.com, Curio & Vital Bio")](https://blog.venturefuel.net/blog/healthcare-innovation-featuring-the-founders-of-kit-curio-vital-bio) [![From Proof Of Concept to Patient Care-Tracy Dooley & Dov Shamir, PhD](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/From%20Proof%20Of%20Concept%20to%20Patient%20Care-Tracy%20Dooley%20%26%20Dov%20Shamir%2c%20PhD.jpg "From Proof Of Concept to Patient Care-Tracy Dooley & Dov Shamir, PhD")](https://blog.venturefuel.net/blog/from-proof-of-concept-to-patient-care-avestria-vcs-partner-tracy-dooley-msips-elementa-labs-head-dov-shami) [![Health & Wellness_Inside The Innovation Huddle](https://info.venturefuel.net/hubfs/Health%20%26%20Wellness_Inside%20The%20Innovation%20Huddle.png "Health & Wellness_Inside The Innovation Huddle")](https://blog.venturefuel.net/blog/inside-our-innovation-huddle-health-wellness)