September 30th, 2017,

Hello, I am David Eigen, the founder of P5 Health Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early to mid stage companies that are at the heart of the evolution of how healthcare is and will be delivered and practiced.  A few years ago, Bruce Moskowitz, family friend and my first adult doctor too many years back, reached out to me to say that his foundation donated money toward research that never reached patients; would I consider starting a venture firm and work with him to tackle just this problem – getting treatments and services to market for the benefit of patients.

Both our firm investment strategy and this podcast and blog series, entitled P5 Protocols, is focused on what we see as the two key aspects of this: First, the way healthcare is delivered now and in the future; and second, the frameworks and protocols that leading physicians and practitioners use to generate the best outcomes.

Whether you are a patient, caretaker or practitioner who wants to increase your arsenal of treatment options, you will find valuable insights and what we would term adaptable protocols – as one size does not fit all. We will be interviewing practitioners, executives and other high performing people in the healthcare sector – those who are at the forefront of this next generation of the practice and delivery of care and disease management.

So, in our show notes and blog posts and articles section on our web site, we will provide you with plenty of links to relevant content; but the goal of this podcast series is to provide starting, organizing and accelerating tools for improving your healthcare process.

For those of you who are new to P5, the name is partly based on our 5 P’s – patient, performance, prevention, precision and personalization; but the 5 in P5 is a direct acknowledgement of the five elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which work in combination and clearly treat the body as a complex biological system; to fix or heal that complex system, you need to study and touch it from many different angles. To get every edge you can get. Now!

Over time, the practice of medicine will change. Technology, data collection,  Social media, popular voting systems, key opinion leaders and other factors will ensure that. But as someone who was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition 30 years ago, I, like most of you, need answers and things now.

Over time, you may see me interview people from different fields because cross discipline learning is invaluable.  I want to expand on what a health or treatment protocol means or simply make patients and providers think more expansively and creatively – because when you’re told you have X, the profession has now put you in a “box.”

One of our advisors at P5, Terry Fadem, believes that some of the best thinking does not come from thinking outside the box, but rather from being stuck inside the box and finding a way out.  I believe complete health should be the only goal, even if not practically achievable.  So to poach from Sheryl Sandburg: if things didn’t go according to Option A, you have to go with Option B and get yourself, your loved ones or your patients out of that box – using your energy and creative juices to “kick the shit out of Option B.”  What a great, simple but not easy to execute idea.

I will give you one last metaphor.  Long ago, I first heard a definition of luck as when preparation and opportunity meet.  Then, years later, I was watching a TV biography on Pat Fisher, a 5’9” undersized defensive back who was known as one of the hardest hitters the NFL history.  They were interviewing a teammate and he said that right before they left the locker room to play each game, Pat Fisher would say: “I’m going to make me some luck.”

So if I were to discern the mission here at P5 Protocols and P5 Health Ventures, it is to provide you with access to the tools, knowledge, practices and frameworks so you can make yourself some luck or help others do the same.

To practitioners, caretakers and patients and even athletes seeking peak performance, I encourage you to never stop until you have answered Dr. Sidney Baker’s most important question: Have we done everything we can for this patient? Even when that patient is you.

I hope you will join us and participate in this endeavor.  Do not hesitate to follow us on twitter @P5health, see us here at www.p5hv.com and click through to P5 Protocols for our podcast, blog posts and interesting articles from research that we highlight.  We also are on Facebook at P5 Health Ventures.

I think this is the beginning of something special but it can only become truly valuable and great if we all participate and collaborate to get every edge we can get.

So why create P5 Health Ventures and P5 Protocols?  I have been a patient with an autoimmune problem for the past 30 years, but effectively drug free for the past 24. I don’t view myself as having an autoimmune disease, but rather a recurring infection and partial loss of the adaptability of my immune system. That is my diagnosis for me.  I have already lost or almost lost too many others who are important to me.

Thank you.