HIT Like a Girl Pod: Empowering Women in Health IT

Healthcare is complicated. But the math behind value-based care? It doesn't have to be. In this episode, Joy Rios sits down with Rachael Jones, CEO of the Sintax division of Lightbeam Health Solutions, for a conversation that weaves together data, dollars, and the deeply human side of healthcare transformation. Rachael pulls back the curtain on what population health actually means and why the "pe...

What happens when patients become the product—and no one asked for consent? In this episode of HIT Like a Girl Pod, Grace Vinton sits down with Andrea Downing, a security researcher and co-founder of The Light Collective. Andrea's journey into patient advocacy began in 2005, when she tested positive for the BRCA1/2 gene mutation at age 30. That moment transformed her from a tech professional into ...

This episode is a call to action—and we have until July 13th. Rebecca Love sits down with Elizabeth Ginexi, PhD—a former NIH scientific program official of 22 years who took early retirement after DOGE restructured the agency. She is now speaking out about a proposed OMB rule that she believes threatens the future of federal funding across every community in America. The rule rewrites the Uniform ...

After a much-needed pause, HIT Like a Girl Pod is back—and this time, Joy isn't doing it alone. Joy Rios reunites with Grace Vinton and Rebecca Love to relaunch the show as a trio: built on joy, fueled by love, and led with grace. In this first conversation, they catch up on where life has taken them—Joy's broken ankle and move to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Rebecca's deep dive into healthcare AI as ...

In a digital-first healthcare world, who gets left behind? The answer is often the same communities that have always been marginalized. But what if the solution wasn't just to build better apps, but to empower the very people from these communities to become the navigators, the mentors, and the doctors of tomorrow? In this inspiring and urgent episode of HIT Like a Girl, recorded at HLTH 2025, Joy...

In a world where healthcare is simultaneously global and deeply local, how do we build technology that truly serves humanity? From the conference floors of HLTH 2025 to the cobblestone streets of Paris, Dr. Aditi Joshi has been on the front lines of this question for over a decade. A pioneer who helped architect the very framework of American telemedicine, she now reveals why the biggest innovatio...

What does it really take to rebuild a life after addiction? For Hilary Phelps, the journey wasn't a linear path to a happy ending — it was a daily practice of peeling back layers, navigating severe depression, and redefining self-care as a single mother. In a world quick to judge and glamorize, she argues that the heart of recovery lies in the messy middle. In this deeply personal episode of HIT L...

What if we’ve been missing a fundamental piece of human biology? Dr. Leigh Vinocur, one of the first physicians with a master’s in Cannabis Science, pulls back the curtain on the endocannabinoid system — the "bliss molecule" network that regulates everything from pain to stress. She reveals why this science is ignored in medical schools, how it could have helped her own mother, and why "stress tri...

We celebrate athletes as superheroes, but what happens when the pressure to perform ignores their basic humanity? From social media noise to the dangerous myth of the "normal" missing period, Dr. Marcia “Marcy” Faustin reveals the systemic gaps in sports care — and how a "Fuel Your Soul" model could revolutionize athlete health. In this compelling episode of HIT Like A Girl, guest host Dana Trampa...