Healthcare Innovators Showcase Cutting-Edge Technology at AAPA 2025

Leaders from RenewRx, Affineon Health, and Eon Health Share Groundbreaking Innovations

May 17, 2025

AAPA 2025’s first Main Stage Event was kicked off today by the president of the Colorado Academy of PAs, A’lanne Conrad, and AAPA President Jason Prevelige. “PAs are doing extraordinary things every day — in every setting, every specialty, and every state,” said AAPA President and Chair of the Board of Directors Jason Prevelige, DMSc, MBA, PA-C, DFAAPA. “This week is about celebrating that impact, building on it, and fueling what’s next.”

Additionally, AAPA CEO Lisa Gables spoke about innovation in healthcare — and how PAs can lead the charge. “What if the future of healthcare isn’t a choice between compassion and technology, but a chance to use both to deliver better care?” Gables said. “PAs cannot afford to sit back and watch that evolution from the sidelines.”

The winners of the inaugural AAPA 2025 Hackathon were also announced. For the first time ever at an AAPA conference, PAs and PA students came together to solve problems and develop solutions for this year’s topic: Food Is Medicine. The winning team, “Food for Me, food For You,” included PA Kristin Batla, PA student Julie Lane, pre-PA Olivia Ye, PA student Tracy Rangel, PA Betsy Piburn, and PA student Abbie Meyer.

The team developed an idea for a personalized, AI-enabled platform that would extend clinician reach and improve nutrition outcomes.

How Healthcare Innovation Can Work for You

In a showcase hosted by Jessica DaMassa, creator and host of the What’s the Future, Health? podcast, attendees got a sneak peek at cutting-edge technology and groundbreaking innovations that will shape the future of healthcare and PA practice.

RenewRx

Kari Cao, PA-C, MHS, NFC, founder and CEO of RenewRx has over a decade of medical experience. As a primary care provider for vulnerable populations and a professionally trained natural foods chef, she offers a unique perspective on patient-centered holistic care, optimizing health through patient engagement, lifestyle enhancement, and nutrition.

Starting with gestational diabetes, RenewRx is designed to transform maternal health, empowering women to take control of their health, break the cycle of preventable complications, and ensure healthier pregnancies.

While nutrition and lifestyle changes can significantly reduce complications like gestational diabetes, providers lack the time and resources to offer the personalized support patients need.

“There’s innovation in all of us,” Cao said. “This is your time to think: How can I change the healthcare spectrum?”

Affineon Health

Affineon is an AI inbox agent that triages a clinical inbox, under the provider’s direction, to automatically handle lab results and prescription renewals, reducing daily inbox volume by 30 percent to 80 percent – so clinical teams can spend less time in the inbox and more time with patients.

Co-Founder and CEO David Norris took the stage and discussed the importance of finding solutions that meet providers where they are, without forcing the to significantly change the way they practice.

“The pace of the adoption of innovation in healthcare is faster than ever,” Norris said. “This is the most exciting time to be in healthcare, because we’re actually making a difference. It’s not theoretical anymore.”

Eon Health

Eon was founded in 2015 by Dr. Aki Alzubaidi, an interventional pulmonologist, who had first-hand experience treating patients with lung cancer. After years on the front lines, it broke founder Dr. Aki’s heart to see how many patients could be diagnosed earlier if only there were smarter care plan systems in place.

“Find the problem in your clinic, and see if it’s a problem elsewhere. Just go for it,” Dr. Aki said. “If you’re thinking about starting a business as a clinician, chase the ‘wow.’”

Eon is partnered with more than 60 health systems, including five of the 10 largest in the country. It is deployed at more than 1,000 facilities and experiencing hyper-growth with plans to meaningfully expand the breadth of diseases it affects. Its software as a service (SaaS) solutions leverage EMR and other third-party data to identify and classify patients at risk for a broad range of catastrophic diseases, then create intelligent care plans in order to get the right patient the right care at the right time.

Attendees left this session equipped with the insights and knowledge to leverage these tools that can make healthcare more effective, equitable, and human.

Don’t miss AAPA’s second Main Stage Event, Momentum in Medicine: Reconnect, Recharge, and Make an Impact, on Monday, May 19. Bestselling author, healthcare entrepreneur, and Harvard Medical School instructor Suneel Gupta will unpack how through small, intentional actions, you can keep your passion for care front and center, build resilience, and create meaningful impact in your practice and beyond.

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