Cadence Conversations

Designing the future of care delivery: A conversation with Dr. Joanna Cavalier

Episode Notes

Join host Eve Cunningham, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Cadence, in conversation with Joanna Cavalier, MD, Associate Medical Director in Duke Health’s Digital Strategy Office, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke School of Medicine, and Medical Director of an Innovation Unit at Duke University Hospital.

Dr. Cavalier represents a new generation of physician leaders working at the intersection of clinical practice, digital strategy, and healthcare innovation. In this episode, Drs. Eve and Jo discuss how Duke tests new technologies in real-world inpatient settings, why remote patient monitoring is fundamentally a care delivery model, and how AI can strengthen clinical care.

Their conversation focuses on:

• How Duke’s Management and Leadership Pathway helped Dr. Cavalier build a career combining clinical practice, strategy, and innovation
• What happens inside Duke’s Innovation Units, where new inpatient technologies are tested, measured, and refined before broader deployment
• Why implementation details matter—and how even a digital whiteboard can create unintended patient-experience challenges
• How dedicated evaluation and biostatistics support help health systems decide what to scale, adjust, or stop
• Why RPM is not simply about collecting data, but redesigning care around medication management, coaching, and continuous patient engagement
• What surprised Dr. Cavalier about RPM: many patients benefit most from medication adherence support and lifestyle coaching, rather than medication titration alone
• Why patients value the human connection and reassurance that continuous remote care can provide
• Where AI holds the greatest near-term promise for patient access, clinical decision support, ambient documentation, and clinician-patient connection
• The essential questions health systems must address to ensure AI supports clinical vigilance and properly prepares the next generation of clinicians

Dr. Cavalier is a partner of Cadence and not compensated for this podcast.

Segments:

• [00:10] Introduction — Eve welcomes Dr. Joanna Cavalier to Cadence Conversations
• [00:34] A career at the intersection of medicine and innovation — Why Dr. Cavalier pursued digital health early in her career
• [03:33] Finding the path — Duke’s Management and Leadership Pathway and a deliberate route into health system strategy
• [08:37] Staying clinical — Why practicing as a hospitalist remains central to her work in digital innovation
• [13:10] Inside Duke’s Innovation Units — Testing and refining inpatient technology before scaling
• [16:12] Moving innovation forward — Balancing agility with rigorous evaluation in a large academic health system
• [18:19] RPM as a care delivery model — Why the care team and redesigned workflow matter as much as the technology
• [21:33] What surprised her about RPM — Medication adherence, reconciliation, and lifestyle support as major sources of impact
• [24:56] The patient experience — Why sustained engagement and human connection matter in remote care
• [27:38] AI in healthcare — The most promising near-term opportunities for patients and providers
• [31:56] The questions ahead — Clinical vigilance, governance, and preparing future clinicians to use AI responsibly
• [33:41] Closing — A conversation about the future of physician leadership and care delivery