How should leaders manage AI without losing the human judgment that makes organizations work?

Technology executive and AI strategist Twinkle Johnson, founder of Transform AI and Transformer Hub, joins Seth Narayanan to explore responsible AI, enterprise transformation, and the changing role of leadership. Twinkle introduces her Human Algorithm framework—combining human trust, machine intelligence, and accountability—and explains why companies must redesign workflows instead of simply adding AI to existing processes.

They also explore human-AI teams, AI governance, changing leadership roles, the future of work, and why the next generation may need an entrepreneurial mindset to succeed in an AI-first economy.

Kendra Batchelder, Founder and CEO of Medara, joins The Innovator’s Playbook to discuss how AI is transforming healthcare from disease detection toward prediction and prevention. With a background in medical imaging and research, Kendra shares her journey from PhD researcher to entrepreneur, building AI solutions designed to improve early disease risk assessment. The conversation explores healthcare innovation, responsible AI adoption, clinical trust, and the challenges of bringing breakthrough technology from research labs into real-world care.

Valerie F. Barckhoff, founder of 6QD, joins Seth Narayanan to explore what healthcare innovation looks like beyond the buzzwords. Drawing on more than 30 years across health systems, consulting, revenue cycle transformation, AI, and automation, Valerie explains why leaders need to think “six questions deep.”

They discuss where AI and automation can create real operational value, why healthcare must rethink broken processes instead of simply making them faster, how hospitals can prepare for cyber downtime, and why successful transformation starts with the people doing the work.

RJ Burnham has spent more than 25 years building voice, communications, computer vision, and AI technologies, including co-founding CPaaS pioneer Voxeo. Now, as founder of Consig AI, he is applying voice AI to one of healthcare’s biggest challenges: reaching patients effectively at scale.

RJ joins Seth Narayanan to discuss the evolution of voice AI, why enterprise AI has crossed a tipping point, the importance of combining generative and deterministic systems, and why founders must solve the problem before selling the technology. It’s a practical conversation about AI, leadership, innovation, healthcare, and building technology that works in the real world.

How do you innovate when the problem you're trying to detect is constantly changing?

Dr. Frank Basile, CEO of Aegis Sciences Corporation, joins Seth Narayanan to explore the evolving world of toxicology, healthcare diagnostics, AI, and leadership. Basile explains how Aegis combines science, software, data, and advanced laboratory technology to keep pace with emerging substances and give clinicians better information. He also shares where AI is creating measurable value today, why some AI applications remain overhyped, and why collaboration may be the most underrated skill for the next generation of innovators.

Jim Hewitt, CEO of JardogsHealth, joins The Innovator’s Playbook to trace a career that began with self-taught programming and grew into decades of healthcare technology leadership. He shares lessons from building early hospital systems, advancing electronic prescribing, creating FollowMyHealth, and returning to healthcare with an AI-first vision.

The conversation explores why replacing an EHR rarely solves the real problem, how AI can improve clinical documentation, coding, revenue capture, and patient engagement, and why experienced human oversight still matters. It is a practical look at healthcare innovation, technical judgment, and building around the needs of physicians and patients.

Sean Banerjee, CTO of CentralReach, joins The Innovator’s Playbook to share lessons from nearly three decades of building large-scale technology across telecom, healthcare, value-based care, telemedicine, and autism care.

Sean explores why technology leaders must understand business and product strategy, how unified data platforms improve healthcare delivery, and where generative AI is already producing meaningful results. He also explains how AI-assisted development is shifting engineers away from manual coding and toward architecture, specifications, and critical decision-making.

This conversation offers practical insights for technology leaders navigating AI adoption, complex systems, and mission-driven innovation.

Artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare—but technology alone isn't innovation.

In this episode of The Innovator's Playbook, Seth Narayanan speaks with Nick Yaitsky, former Chief AI Officer and Head of Enterprise Architecture at Wellstar, about what it really takes to bring AI into clinical environments. From agentic AI and clinical decision support to leadership, trust, and the future of digital health, Nick shares practical insights drawn from years of healthcare innovation.

Whether you're a healthcare executive, technology leader, clinician, or AI enthusiast, this conversation will change how you think about innovation, human-centered design, and the future of healthcare.