Mini Kahlon, PhD, is the Austin-based co-founder and CEO of Beheld Health, a company built on a contrarian bet: as AI automates more of healthcare, science-backed human connection will become more valuable, not less.

Managing chronic conditions and maternal health requires medical expertise. But it also requires something healthcare was never designed to deliver at scale: trusted relationships that reach people in their daily lives, where the real work of health happens. Beheld builds that missing layer – consistent, human relationships that act as a form of care in their own right – and is gaining traction with health plans and care delivery organizations accountable for outcomes and cost. Crucially for risk-bearing networks, these relationships capture a missing asset: a longitudinal conversational record of life outside the clinic. Beheld uses AI to parse this dialogue, surfacing symptoms, behavior changes, and emerging risks long before they ever show up in claims or clinical records. The model is grounded in peer-reviewed research published in JAMA and other leading journals, demonstrating clinically meaningful improvements in glycemic control alongside substantial reductions in depression and loneliness. Beheld is now translating that evidence into real-world programs with health plans and clinical networks across Medicaid and Medicare.

A neuroscientist by training, Mini has spent her career translating science and technology into real-world impact. At UT Austin, she served as Founding Vice Dean of Dell Medical School, helping build its community-focused model, and led the clinical trials that became Beheld’s evidence base. Previously, as Executive Director and CIO of UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, she built infrastructure to move innovation into practice across technology, new services, and models of care.

Kirk Barnes is the founder of the TransPharMed Commercialization Lab, a platform built to address one of healthcare innovation’s most persistent challenges: the commercialization gap in digital health. An award-winning sales professional and leader at Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Takeda, Kirk developed his foundation driving performance in highly complex, regulated markets and contributed to the commercialization of two healthcare products that scaled to over $1B in revenue. He later became a senior leader at the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech, where he designed and launched the first healthtech program in ATDC’s 40-year history. He also served as former Co-Chair of Together.Health, helping convene global leaders across health systems, startups, investors, and policy to accelerate innovation.

Today, through TransPharMed’s Commercialization Lab, Kirk founded what is positioned as the world’s first Digital Health Sales Institute—bringing structure, discipline, and repeatability to digital health commercialization and building the commercial workforce pipeline the industry will depend on for the next decade. He serves as an advisor to MATTER, MassChallenge, and Phoenix Bioscience Core XLR8, and is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He also serves on the board of several digital health startups. Kirk has served as a startup coach for the Engage Venture Fund, helping portfolio companies crack the code on selling to large corporations, and led a startup initiative for the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)—equipping underrepresented founders with the commercial frameworks needed to compete and scale in the U.S. market. Over the course of his career, he has coached hundreds of founders and thousands of sales professionals—bridging corporate leadership, venture advisory, startup execution, and ecosystem development to help healthcare companies move from innovation to predictable revenue. He is currently expanding TransPharMed’s footprint across Latin America and Canada, working with innovation ecosystems, startups, and government partners to accelerate digital health commercialization in high-growth markets.

Outside of work, Kirk is a passionate traveler, outdoor enthusiast, and self-proclaimed music lover who believes the right playlist can solve almost any problem. He is married with two children, and credits his family as the foundation behind everything he builds.

Bianca Quell is VP Commercial at AMBOSS, leading Sales (DACH & International), Customer Success & Support, and B2B Operations. She is a commercial leader with over a decade of experience scaling tech companies from early growth to international expansion, including previous roles at Rocket Internet/Global Founders Capital and Mercedes-Benz. Alongside her operating role, she also advises early-stage founders on building high-performing commercial functions.

Julius Betmann is GTM Lead at praxipal. As the company’s first commercial hire, he now leads a small team across Sales and Marketing. Previously, Julius was employee #3 at medical scribe startup Sonia, where he built the Sales org from the ground up to €1M ARR. In total, Julius holds more than 6 years of experience in commercial roles within digital health and was previously a BCG consultant.

Frederik Meßmer is Founder and Consultant for Sales Organisations at Focus for Sales Frederik is helping Start-up and Scale-ups to improve their Sales Organisation in three roles. First, helping as Fractional Sales Leader on an interim asignment for 3 to 9 Months, second, analysing the Sales Teams performance and helping to improve by training, coaching and shadowing, third, finding the right sales talents to grow the sales team further. Beforehand Frederik worked more than 10 years in Healthcare Sales, building up Doctolib as one of the first Sales Managers and Growing the practice software Doctorly as VP of Sales.

​Moderator – Jack Godau is a freelance CTO for HealthTech at VRR Consulting, most recently he was CTO of doctorly. Jack is an experienced technical leader in healthtech who is now working as fractional and interim CTO in healthcare startups. His expertise lies in bridging the gaps between strategic business goals, the right technologies and hiring the best people thereby enabling organisations to not only adapt but thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.