Deanna Pogorelc

Deanna Pogorelc is a Cleveland-based reporter who writes obsessively about life science startups across the country, looking to technology transfer offices, startup incubators and investment funds to see what’s next in healthcare. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ball State University and previously covered business and education for a northeast Indiana newspaper.

Posts by Deanna Pogorelc

How Merck’s Jain is helping pharma catch up to the digital health movement

Big Pharma has a reputation of being late to the digital health game. Slowly but surely, that’s changing. Pfizer is working with a game lab on a clinical trial of a video game designed to detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Janssen Healthcare and Johnson & Johnson Innovation launched the Digital Health Masterclass Challenge to […]

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Crowdfunding, therapeutic video games and Will Ferrell have something in common

Gaming in healthcare has a new supporter in funnyman Will Ferrell, who’s the face of a new crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a charity that provides video games to children with cancer. Ferrell’s offering up the chance to win a one-on-one gaming session that will be broadcast live on video platform Twitch in exchange […]

This ugly chart sums up problems with Obamacare (and all government healthcare)

After reading the AP story “Silicon Valley struggles to speak FDA’s language” yesterday, this graphic resurfaced on my Twitter feed and served as a reminder of one of the reasons why disruption in this sector can be challenging, especially for outsiders trying to break into healthcare. Let’s get this out of the way first: This […]

Epic hopes a lobbyist can help fight its closed-system image on the Hill

Epic Systems CEO Judy Faulkner tried to set the record straight last year when she told Forbes that criticisms about its EMR’s lack of interoperability were “totally wrong.” And other company leaders have been working on the Hill to try to overcome its closed-system reputation, too. Yet Epic, which generally tends to avoid the spotlight, […]

Mobile care plan platform Patient IO among apps to integrate with Apple’s HealthKit

Consumers might not be all that excited about Apple’s plans for healthcare, but developers are already hard at work figuring out how to integrate their products into the Apple health ecosystem. Health tracking companies RunKeeper, Withings, Strava and iHealth told 9to5mac their apps will support Apple’s upcoming health data platform HealthKit, and today a more […]

A no-snip, long-term male contraceptive is almost ready for human trials

It’s not quite as simple or noninvasive as swallowing a pill, but a new form of male birth control is on target to begin human clinical trials next year, according to its developers. It’s called Vasalgel, and it’s a non-hormonal contraceptive that’s similar to a vasectomy, except without any cutting involved. Instead, the technique involves […]

This is what a public health campaign looks like in Ebola-stricken West Africa

Images of health workers in full-body protective suits and frail, suffering civilians have become the faces of West Africa’s Ebola epidemic in the media. But today the Washington Post shows a different depiction of the outbreak, through murals painted on bright red backdrops and colorful posters decorating communal areas. It highlights how leaders in West […]

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Wearable enthusiasts & health-tracking haters react to #AppleWatch

The product formerly but unofficially known as iWatch now has a name: Apple Watch. The wearable device unveiled at Apple’s event today puts a heavy focus on fitness tracking features, as well as payment and walkie-talkie capabilities and, of course, Siri. Among other things, the device will collect a user’s heart rate, steps taken and […]