S1E31: Driving Digital Health Innovation: Skateboard to Scooter to Car | HT2C Podcast with Bert Fernandez

HealthTech2Care (HT2C) Podcast featuring Richard 'RJ' Kedziora, Co‑Founder & COO of Estenda Solutions Richard 'RJ' Kedziora (Guest): 🌐 Estenda Solutions: https://www.estenda.com 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rjkedziora  📺 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@EstendaSolutionsInc  Bert Fernandez (Host): 🌐 HealthTech2Care: https://www.healthtech2care.com 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bert-fernandez 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HealthTech2Care 🎙️ In this episode, RJ Kedziora shares how Estenda helps healthcare, MedTech, and life sciences teams transform ideas into working solutions. He walks through how they're using AI to scale diabetic retinopathy screening for the Indian Health Service, retraining models as imaging tech evolves, and building a domain-specific olfactory data repository with GenAI-powered analytics. From unstructured data and FHIR to product development frameworks, this conversation offers a real look at what it takes to move from prototype to scalable impact. ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 The AI imaging challenge: why old algorithms break with new camera tech 01:01 RJ's journey co-founding Estenda and the mission behind the company 03:35 From military diabetes programs to federal and global healthcare systems 05:58 Two big challenges: unstructured data and EMR integration bottlenecks 09:00 FHIR vs. MCP: what's next for healthcare data and AI agent protocols 12:26 How Estenda helps R&D teams build, test, and scale medical software 15:39 Real-world AI: diabetic retinopathy imaging and smell testing data repositories 22:28 Advice for teams sitting on valuable data or building digital health products 🔑 Highlights: Scaling 100+ AI-assisted retinal cameras for diabetic retinopathy screening  Retraining models as imaging tech evolves Smell loss linked to 200+ conditions: safety, neuro, chronic disease NIH-backed smell test data repository and GenAI analytics From HL7/FHIR to emerging AI protocols like MCP Product dev strategy: build value fast, reduce risk, uncover unknowns 👉 Explore Estenda Solutions: https://www.estenda.com 🔔Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more conversations with standout voices in U.S. healthcare & life sciences: https://www.youtube.com/@HealthTech2Care #AIinHealthcare #MedicalImaging #DiabeticRetinopathy #GenAI #DigitalHealth #HealthData #HL7 #FHIR #EstendaSolutions #HealthTech2Care