WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Larry Blocher, MD, JD, is CEO of BioOptions, which provides human tissues and biological materials to researchers and scientists for molecular and genomic research, including drug and biomarker discovery, validation of drug targets, and development of diagnostic tests and devices. BioOptions provides fresh tumor tissue, blood, and other biological fluids delivered the same day or overnight from their extensive network of physicians, hospitals, and clinical labs. The company also provides frozen and FFPE samples via its considerable biorepository. Its biospecimens are collected at facilities throughout the U.S. in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines. Larry is a licensed physician and attorney with 25+ years of experience in healthcare and medical science as both a practicing physician and attorney. Since 2001, he has been assisting researchers at the leading biotech, pharma, and academic research centers in obtaining human biospecimens for their studies. As an entrepreneur, he has been an officer and founder at several healthcare-related companies, as well as VP of Network Development at UniHealth, UniMed Management Company. Larry has joined the ABL-Health OC Round Table.

Melissa Hanna, JD, is Co-Founder and CEO of Mahmee, a comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care coordination platform that increases positive health outcomes for moms and babies, backed by Serena Williams and Mark Cuban. By using its proprietary HIPAA-secure technology, Mahmee’s staff of certified and trained maternity support professionals are able to deliver proactive, ongoing education and guidance to new families everywhere at a fraction of the cost. Melissa has worked in operations and strategy at startups in healthcare, education, digital media, and consumer goods. Prior to launching Mahmee, in 2014, she was Assistant Director of the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School. Her modus operandi has always been to forge cross-industry collaborations and partnerships to solve big challenges, and she believes that equitable access to healthcare for women and children is a challenge we can all solve by working creatively together. Melissa has been featured in Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Cheddar TV, Black Enterprise, USA Today, and more. Named to Inc. Magazine’s “2019 Female Founders 100” list, Melissa has joined the ABL-Health LA Round Table.

UPCOMING ABL HEALTHCARE ROUND TABLES

• • • • • • • 4/07 – ABL-Health OC Zoom Table
            • 4/13 – ABL-Health SV Zoom Table
            • 4/14 – ABL-Health SF Zoom Table
            • 4/15 – ABL-Health OAK Zoom Table
            • 4/16 – ABL-Health LA Zoom Table

Blog by Mimi Grant

HHS Wants You – to Encourage Vaccinations

While the COVID vaccine roll-out may have stumbled getting out of the gate in mid-December, already over 106 million Americans have been vaccinated, with over 61 million of us fully so. This is great news for those who don’t want to join the nearly 3 million worldwide – and over half a million Americans – who’ve already died of COVID.

So with the US government footing the bill for the development and distribution of the drugs created under “Operation Warp Speed,” and now providing them for free to everyone in the country over the age of 16 for Pfizer’s, and over 18 for Moderna’s and J&J’s, and all age restrictions being lifted by mid-month – we should all be vaccinated by May. Right?

Turns out, now that we’re past the major problems with supply and logistics for ending the modern plague, we have one more obstacle to confront: us. About a quarter of us don’t want to be vaccinated. Given that experts estimate we need 70 to 80 percent of the population to have COVID-19 immunity through infection or vaccination, herd immunity will be difficult for the country to obtain, especially since children, who are ineligible for the vaccine, compose another 24% of the population, according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. So if roughly a quarter don’t want to be vaccinated and another quarter can’t be yet, that leaves the country 50% vaccinated – nowhere near herd immunity. And most of the comments from those who are refusing to take it boil down to: they don’t trust it.

So what to do? Create the COVID-19 Community Corps, a nationwide, grassroots network of local voices people know and trust to encourage their fellow Americans to get vaccinated.… CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF MIMI’S POST.

Mimi Grant’s Vlog:

Super-Charge Your Post-Pandemic Strategic Plan

Now would be a good time to super-charge your strategic plans for a year that will have to be better than 2020. And here are five ways to do it…

CLICK HERE to watch Mimi’s 6:49-minute vlog.