Digitalis Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in solutions to complex problems in human and animal health. Digitalis partners with entrepreneurs, scientists, and inventors across all stages of venture investing. The firm comprises technical professionals with deep industry experience and networks in diverse areas related to human and animal health. Through domain expertise and a dedication to the entrepreneurial process, Digitalis is deeply committed to helping their portfolio companies scale their impact on the world.

Good Therapeutics

Digitalis Ventures

Misti Ushio, Managing Partner at Digitalis Ventures, will be speaking alongside Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Director Renee Wegrzyn & Program Manager Darshak Sanghavi as part of the ARPA-H Fireside Chat, moderated by Ipsita Smolinski, at the J.P Morgan Healthcare Conference on January 7th at 7am PT. We hope to see you there!

As is now a tradition, our last missive of the year is an opportunity for us to reflect on the topics we covered earlier in the year in our Notes on Engineering Health and see if any updates are in order. The whole team at Digitalis Ventures wishes you a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.

Pets vs. Pests: Many of us remember the days when bringing beloved pets into our homes brought fleas, ticks, parasites and disease risks with them. Read why today there is an urgent need for new, safe, effective treatments to keep threats to animal and human health at bay. 

PLUS: AI for Goose beak recognition, cats as amazing hunters, cats that fetch, gender equality in the benefits of dog hugs, and the effects of neutering on animal lifespan.

https://lnkd.in/egtbJUx2

#pets #pethealth #animalhealth #animallovers

We're thrilled that our partners at Terray Therapeutics have announced a multi-target collaboration agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to discover and develop small molecule therapeutics.

Notes on How We Drug The Brain. The late neurologist Oliver Sacks had his fair share of experience with experiments on chemical compounds altering brain functions. He wrote beautifully in books and articles about how he experimented on himself both to relieve pain and to explore unvisited corners of his self. He was a keen observer of how mental diseases work and what is available to treat them. How did we get to produce such neuro-active compounds? Are the nervous system and the brain like any other organs? Where is neuropharmacology going?

ALSO:
The science of Zoom fatigue, the immune response of exercise, a cause of itching, neurons controlling ingestion in our taste buds, and a neurochemical brain wave that controls motivation.

#neuropharmacology #neurology #psychedelics #zoomfatigue #exercise

A few months ago, we wrote about the historical accident that is the current employer-sponsored healthcare insurance system in the US. Today, we explore another idiosyncratic feature of the American healthcare system, its payer system. What is a payer? How does it interact with other actors, like providers and pharmacies? How is it evolving?

PLUS: a new map of the brain at unprecedented resolution, the gene for good parenting (in mice), social determinants of health and child development, a window into the heart, and why so many carrots are orange.

#payers #healthcare #healthinsurance #singlepayer #multipayer

The social contract around big data and information technology is broken.

The combination of years of “Big Data” hype and obviously flawed inferences, of overpromising and under-delivering, has led to pervasive online tracking and a miasma of distrust.  It is simultaneously too difficult to deploy novel consumer-facing information technology and avoid the sale or at least use of personal information. 

Population data matter even if the promises of big data were vastly overblown. In our reaction to over a decade of hype, we should act prudently and not cripple the ability of researchers, government, and, yes, businesses to better understand the vast diversity of mankind. We must focus on the harms of panopticon and tracking, while allowing large datasets to grow safely, secure in the knowledge that there is no oracle of “big data.” 

The map is not the territory—all the more reason to build better maps.

https://lnkd.in/eE7p9C4j

#data #datascience #machinelearning

Thanks Robert Lavine & Global Corporate Venturing for an insightful dive into Companion Fund II with our Ben Jacobs. Fueled by Mars, we are excited to work with founders who have great ideas for improving animal health.

“The first fund was $100m, and this one being $300m really opens up the aperture for us to enter companies at growth stage and support the companies we’re already in through their growth stages,” – Ben Jacobs

#petcare #animalhealth #veterinarians #investing #founders

Drew Taylor | Cynthia Cole | Geoffrey Smith | Misti Ushio

Announcing the inaugural issue of Notes on Animal Health, a newsletter highlighting the ways we are tackling the most important problems and opportunities to provide for the health and welfare of our pets. Through our Companion Funds, we invest in solutions across the pet health ecosystem. We invite you to be in touch with your ideas for potential solutions in petcare so we can work together to deliver better health to all. Cynthia Cole / Geoffrey Smith / Ben Jacobs / Drew Taylor / Misti Ushio

#pets #petcare #petdiagnostics #animalhealth #veterinarians #investing

Digitalis Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in solutions to complex problems in human and animal health. They partner with entrepreneurs, inventors, and scientists across all stages of venture investing, and their investments span the full continuum of the healthcare ecosystem.

COM:DIGITALISVENTURES

Digitalis Ventures

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