A bittersweet farewell to close out Season 2

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What a year! In the last 9 months alone, The Pulse Podcast rebranded, elevated to a C-suite level pipeline, upgraded to a weekly release schedule, and scaled to tens of thousands of listeners all over the nation. We couldn’t have achieved this growth without the mentorship and support of our co-hosts, Lora Rosenblum and Arpan Parikh, MD, who both recently graduated from Wharton this May. We’re officially closing out our second podcast season with some words of appreciation highlighting our rockstar [alumni] co-hosts.

Pictured are Lora Rosenblum (L) and Arpan Parikh, MD (R)

Lora Rosenblum

Describe your new role.

• I’m the Director of Business Development at Cedar, where I focus on building strategic partnerships that grow the business. Cedar is a financial engagement platform that leverages technology to make it easier for patients to pay their medical bills. I’ve felt super connected to the company mission since interning here last summer and helping out on various projects throughout my second year. Coming back was a no brainer.
• Also fun fact, I interviewed our CEO, Florian Otto, for a brief episode of The Pulse during the Wharton Healthcare Business Conference last year. Florian was on his way to catch a train when we recorded! While the episode is only a few minutes, it’s packed with lots of great content, like how we should hold healthcare payments to the same standards as any consumer tech experience.

What did you learn from your two favorite podcasts that you hosted?

• Halle Tecco: For anyone who has listened to this episode, you can tell that I’ve deeply admired Halle and the impact she’s had on the digital health space for quite some time. When I took over the podcast entering 2Y, Rohan (The Pulse founder!) encouraged the team to shoot for the stars when it came to guests. It was a privilege to interview someone who embodies the way I think about leadership.
• Dr. Barnes & Anmol Madan are tied! They’re two of my favorites for the same reason: I knew about Ro and Livongo (their respective companies) before recording the episodes, but during recording, I focused on their specific roles and career paths, which cast a more nuanced perspective about their businesses. Some of the most fun episodes happened when I followed my own curiosity instead of anticipating what an audience might appreciate hearing, which led to richer, more engaging episodes. This took me a bit of time to realize and incorporate into episodes, but I love the direction it took things in.
• Lastly, I’d be remiss not to acknowledge how proud I am of our team for finding incredible guests who represent a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities. Representation matters and it really matters in healthcare.

Any reflections on the last year?

• Healthcare is an industry that, no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn. I’m fully embracing this as I continue on my post-business school journey. I’m grateful to all of the guests I interviewed for challenging me and sharing more about their own experiences. The ability to share and teach is the only way our healthcare system can move forward. Just as we need to share our pockets of expertise, we must be open about our blind spots, too. I’m working on this :)
• I also want to give a shout out to Arpan, Sandy and Vivien. Working with you and learning how to podcast on the fly was a highlight of my school experience. Sandy is the partner who does just what she says she will, plus she has no reservations using her vast professional network for the benefit of the group. Vivien epitomizes the word hustle, chasing down every opportunity to get our name out in the world. Arpan is the ever reliable teammate, able to bounce ideas or to bring us all back down to earth when ambition clouds reality. I’m proud of what we created together and thrilled that our text thread is alive and well. I’ll miss working with each of you and can’t wait for our future alumni episode.

Arpan Parikh, MD

Describe your new role.

• I’m the Regional Lead for Behavioral Health across the Western US, and also the Attending Psychiatrist for Los Angeles/Orange County, at CareMore. My new roles have me spending most of my time thinking through operational and strategic priorities/projects (90%) while also maintaining clinical time to see complex psychiatric patients (10%). CareMore is a risk-bearing integrated primary and specialty care delivery system that focuses on improving outcomes for a high-risk (primarily Medicare and Medicaid) patient population. Similar to Lora, I spent much of my 2nd year consulting on a number of projects after doing my summer internship with CareMore; the decision to return full-time after graduation was an easy one.

What did you learn from your two favorite podcasts that you hosted?

• Mariam Malik: My first interview for the podcast formerly known as the Wharton Digital Health Podcast (now known as The Pulse) was with a leader in the telepsychiatry world, Mariam at Genoa Healthcare. Above all, this interview reminded me how powerful and moving sharing one’s personal story can be; Mariam diving into why she decided to work in healthcare (and behavioral health in particular) was refreshing, and this interview was part of the inspiration behind me sharing my own story at Wharton’s Storyteller’s later in the year.
• Corbin Petro: I wear my Ohio pride on my sleeve, and it was a privilege to interview such an accomplished fellow Ohioan and Clevelander. Work:life:family balance is a topic that frequently came up in discussions with friends at Wharton; hearing Corbin speak candidly about the way she has approached this over the course of her career will be helpful for many as we go back into the workforce and prioritize our obligations, passions, and loved ones.

Any reflections on the last year?

• The last six months have been challenging for us all, as a team, as a community, and as a nation. However, it has also been a time of pride for folks in healthcare, both those who are on the frontlines caring for patients and also those who support clinicians through running operations, creating strategies, and building solutions. Never have I been more proud to say I am a healthcare worker, and I’m glad this platform has grown so quickly over the last year to give smart people doing great work a platform to tell others their stories.
• Thank you to Rohan for entrusting your baby to Lora and me; I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate as we took over the reins and made the podcast our own. Sandy and Vivien — bringing you onto the team was the best decision we made; your relentless hustle and creativity have already been showcased with the significant growth the podcast has made over the last year, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to evolve this year!

Lora, Arpan, and some of our Wharton Healthcare Management MBA classmates post-winter formal

Thanks, Lora and Arpan, for being incredible teammates and mentors this past year! We’re thrilled to follow all of your upcoming successes. This picture is a fun Wharton memory and a reminder to not take yourselves too seriously while you’re pushing forward new frontiers in healthcare — but definitely wear your #BusinessSuit while you’re at it. — Vivien Ho and Sandy Varatharajah