HealthTech Talks - Lumina Podcast Series

Dervla Loughnane is on a mission to save lives by making mental health support more accessible. Dervla is disrupting the way mental health services are delivered, turning the traditional face-to-face psychology session on its head and reaching more people in the process. As the Founder and CEO of Virtual Psychologist and Mental Health Warrior, Dervla talked to us about how she took an idea and turned it into a multi-national health care provider. Warning: Domestic violence and suicide is mentioned in this interview. If this raises any issues for you, please phone Lifeline on 131 114.

A cancer diagnoses at just 32 changed Makala Castelli’s perspective on life. She now makes every day count and fits more into one day than most people would fit in a week. Makala is an entrepreneur and business woman driven to help people live well with, and beyond cancer. In this interview, we talk to Makala about how this illness changed her and led to the creation of limonata and Oncana, an integrated digital platform offering a network of allied and complementary health providers dedicated to support people living with cancer.

You won’t need to listen to this episode for long to understand why Scott Chapman is ranked in the country’s top 100 entrepreneurs! From starting his career in radio, to owning a restaurant on the side - which then grew to 8 restaurants - to most recently stepping into the digital world to create a wellness program for people living with disability (including his nephew), Scott Chapman is a man on a mission. We spoke with Scott about his journey as an entrepreneur and what drives him. Warning: Sexual abuse is mentioned in this interview. If this raises any issues for you, please phone the confidential sexual assault support service ‘1800 RESPECT’ on 1800 737 732 or Lifeline on 131 114.

Dren Xerxa found his passion for entrepreneurship in his early twenties. After his first taste of success, he turned his attention to helping other entrepreneurs to connect and thrive by building communities of like-minded people around the world. We spoke with Dren about the community he’s building here within the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct as Program Manager at Cohort, the Gold Coast’s tech start-up launchpad and incubator, and find out about LuminaX, the accelerator program he created for Australian HealthTech Startups.

Dr Jon Field has been described as a medico revolutionising the health industry. As the Chief Executive Officer of DOCTO, Australia’s online hospital, Dr Jon is changing the way people access care from medical specialists. We talk to Jon, an intensive care physician at Gold Coast University Hospital, about DOCTO – why he started the service, how his team got it up and running and his vision for the ground breaking telehealth platform.