AI, older adults, a request for startups, a Reconstruct Challenge recipient 'n more...

Healthcare through a Kentucky lens. Yeah, it's niche. But neat!

Author

Andrew Steen
March 17, 2026

🏀 

Leqembi study

This study, published in Nature Communications, was based on a collaboration between the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and the Norton Neuroscience Institute in Louisville. Really cool, ICYMI.

UK study finds blood clues to serious side effects of new Alzheimer’s drug

A team of University of Kentucky researchers has uncovered a surprising clue in the battle against Alzheimer’s disease that could help doctors predict, and ultimately prevent, a common side effect of the newest generation of Alzheimer’s therapies. Their findings, recently published in Nature Communications, reveal a distinct immune “fingerprint” in the blood of patients who develop amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) after treatment with lecanemab â€” the first FDA-approved drug shown to slow Alzheimer’s disease progression. The study was recognized as an Editors’ Highlight by Nature Communications, a designation the journal reserves for research its editors consider particularly noteworthy and impactful.

uknow.uky.edu/research/uk-study-finds-blood-clues-serious-side-effects-new-alzheimer-s-drug

Also, ponder this concept; the Louisville aging-care cluster as the clinical research arm for the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.

Clinical trials and AI

“Even if AI can help design more effective drugs, timelines will not compress until we solve the operational and regulatory bottlenecks of trials.”

AI Won't Automatically Accelerate Clinical Trials

A critique of a snippet from Dario Amodei and Dwarkesh Patel’s recent interview.

press.asimov.com/articles/ai-clinical-trials?_bhlid=b2b66a55a6ded8ea4af395b6db3c43c57c361efd

Sounds legit. What say you, ACRP Kentucky Chapter?

Pear VC Request for Startups

Pear leads and co-leads pre-seed and seed rounds.

Healthcare themes in their request for startups:

  • Verified consumer health marketplaces

  • Foundational datasets for biological intelligence*

  • Systems of record → Systems of coordinated action in healthcare

  • From paying for tools to paying for validated outcomes

Pear's Request for Startups - Pear VC

Here are some ideas and opportunities we’re most excited to see founders tackle next at Pear VC.

pear.vc/request-for-startups/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Foundational datasets for biological intelligence*
“We’re looking for founders building the canonical training datasets for biological foundation models: companies generating proprietary human biological data at scale (multiplexed perturbation screens, longitudinal multi-omic cohorts, paired genotype-phenotype datasets), or infrastructure that integrates and harmonizes existing fragmented human data into model-ready representations.”

What if…? A repository of data built from the Louisville aging-care cluster.

BP in older adults

“Clinicians’ decisions to intensify antihypertensive treatment in older adults are influenced by age, falls, frailty, perceived benefit, and access to digital monitoring data.”

Preferences for Antihypertensive Prescribing in Older Adults: A Discrete Choice Experiment

www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2026.01.044

So. Digital monitoring via virtual care, like that offered by Revitalized Solutions?

AI usage among doctors

2026 Physician Survey on Augmented Intelligence from the American Medical Association.

More than 80% of physicians use AI professionally: AMA survey

The top use is to summarize medical research and standards of care. Catch up with the latest trends on physicians’ use of health AI.

www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital-health/more-80-physicians-use-ai-professionally-ama-survey?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8sstBBLw4O0HPWLxCFEu65CW4MKRMrKGg27Vw0aKNE77FQIqdiw8wTjgmygglnR34BNNm4ZrMw0w7dNpWrVtYJSTGCyQ&_hsmi=25213370&utm_content=25213370&utm_source=hs_email

Monteris Medical

“…along with participation from several new investors including OSF Ventures, the investment arm of Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare, and the Colorado University Healthcare Innovation Fund. Both are healthcare system venture funds affiliated with institutions that offer the Monteris NeuroBlate technology to their patients.”

Monteris Medical Secures $28 Million in Growth Equity to Accelerate Revenue and Innovation in Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery

Monteris Medical, a private company leading the field in minimally invasive neurosurgery with its NeuroBlate® System for magnetic resonance-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT), announced today that it has closed $28 million in Series E equity financing. The equity capital will support the company's technology innovation program and other growth initiatives. Monteris also announced that it has refinanced its current debt and established a new $35 million credit facility with Trinity

finance.yahoo.com/news/monteris-medical-secures-28-million-132500812.html

Unrelated; heard of Louisville-based EndoNavis, LLC?

Malama Health

“Malama Health, a doula-led maternal care provider focused on Medicaid, has closed a $9.2 million seed round.”

New Medicaid-focused doula provider Malama launches with $9.2M

Malama Health, a doula-led maternal care provider focused on Medicaid, has closed a $9.2 million seed round.  | Malama, which means “to nurture” in Hawaiian, was built to address inequities and high-risk pregnancies by shifting from episodic to continuous care.

www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/new-medicaid-focused-doula-provider-malama-launches-92m

“That name sounds familiar.”

Yeah, good memory. Malama was a 2023 Reconstruct Challenge “winner.” The Reconstruct Challenge is powered by Access Ventures

Louisville Health Innovation Meetup

March 24 at Story. Register.

Familiar with Louisville-based One Care Portal? Here’s your chance to find out what they do.

Louisville Health Innovation Meetup · Luma

Interested in healthcare, healthtech, digital health, the life sciences and adjacent spaces? Real innovation happens when people show up to give, not just to…

luma.com/m7mgkqct

We're committed to sustained connection. Show up.

Healthcare innovation runs on relationships.

We create spaces for Louisville's health innovators to connect.