Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.

At the recent ITAC Conference in Brisbane, one keynote stopped the room.

While most AI presentations focus on efficiency, automation and productivity, Scottish Care CEO Dr Donald Macaskill delivered something very different: a deeply human conversation about dignity, autonomy, storytelling, privacy and what healthcare risks losing in the race toward artificial intelligence.

In this episode of Pulse, Louise and George sit down with Donald to unpack Scotland’s ethical and human rights-based approach to AI in aged care — and why he believes AI is not inevitable, but a choice.

The conversation explores:

• the shift from person-centred to person-led care,
• why current AI systems often fail to reflect the lived experience of ageing,
• the risks of surveillance and opaque decision-making in care environments,
• how Scotland is using co-design and human rights frameworks to shape AI adoption,
• and why technology should enhance — never replace — human presence and relationships.

Donald also shares practical lessons from Scottish initiatives including the Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI and the Coorie Well project, where residents, families and frontline staff helped shape AI tools from the ground up.

And in a memorable closing exchange, Donald reflects on the one thing machines may never truly understand about care: laughter.

A thoughtful, philosophical and surprisingly funny conversation about what it means to “hold fast” to humanity in the age of AI.

Connect with Donald on LinkedIn

Stryker Vocera's Initial Delays Diagnosis Quiz Link

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Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

This week on Pulse: Hot Topics, Louise and George dive into the major developments shaping the future of healthcare.

Tech giants Google and OpenAI release purpose-built clinician AI tools; a landmark Science paper and commentary on the clinical reasoning capabilities of AI; Eric Topol calls out the paradox at the heart of medical AI; and OpenEvidence, the most-used clinical AI platform in the US walks out of Europe.

Resources:

Brodeur et al. Science paper Link

Hopkins & Cornelisse commentary, Science Link

Eric Topol, The Paradox of Medical AI Implementation Link

Digital Health Workforce Census (opens 1 May, ANZ) Link

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Production by Octopod Productions | Ivan Juric

Welcome to Pulse: Amplify, where we sit down with the leaders and changemakers shaping the future of health.

In this episode Louise and George sit down with Dr Mehmood Khan, CEO of Hevolution Foundation, and Her Royal Highness Princess Dr Haya Bint Khaled Bin Bandar Al Saud, Senior Vice President of Research at Hevolution. Based in Riyadh and backed by Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, Hevolution is the world's largest philanthropic funder of healthspan science, with over USD $400 million allocated in just three years.

Timed with the release of the second edition of Hevolution's Global Healthspan Report - the most comprehensive look at the field across 23 countries - this conversation moves beyond the longevity hype to explore what it takes to extend healthy human life for the benefit of all.

In this episode:

• Healthspan, not longevity - Why Hevolution is focused on keeping people physically, mentally, and financially independent, and why a global non-profit is the right vehicle for a challenge governments and private enterprise can't tackle alone.
• Why Saudi Arabia, why now - Princess Dr Haya on the demographic shift driving the kingdom's leadership, and why a young population on the brink of ageing is uniquely placed to redesign systems before they break.
• The science that has scientists excited - GLP-1 agonists, senotherapeutics, CRISPR, and cellular reprogramming, and why the real breakthrough is the convergence of these fields, not any one of them in isolation.
• A jaw-dropping case study - Dr Khan walks through how rejuvenating aged liver cells eliminated chronic Hepatitis B in animal models, with first-in-human trials now underway. A profound example of aging biology rewriting the rules for treating incurable diseases.
• What clinicians need to know - Two-thirds of healthcare professionals are now getting monthly healthspan questions from patients. Princess Dr Haya on the shift from reactive to proactive care, and the urgent need for evidence-based healthspan protocols.
• A message for policymakers - Why the Minister of Finance, not just the Minister of Health, needs to be at the table, and why retirement, education, and workforce policies built for a 1%-over-65 world are catastrophically out of date.
• Where digital health innovators should be looking - The five years that could be cut from drug development with better data tools, the four proven interventions that lend themselves to digital monitoring, and why we already have the technology - just not the policy frameworks to deploy it.

Connect with Hevolution on LinkedIn

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