70 - Zack Gray - Co-Founding Ophelia to Improve Access for Patients Addicted to Opioids

Summary: In this episode, I interview Zack Gray, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ophelia, which seeks to address the opioid epidemic by making medication-assisted treatment (MAT) private, convenient, and affordable for patients. Zack is a graduate of Columbia where he studied Astrophysics and Philosophy. After being in the working world for a few years, he pursued an MBA at Wharton. During this time, he was able to work on building Ophelia. Ophelia took the 1st Place prize at the Penn HealthX Conference Pitch competition last year when Ophelia was still in the works. Thus, I was excited to catch up with Zack to see how Ophelia has been doing since. The conversation is loaded with tons of information about the opioid epidemic, the many barriers that exist which keep innovators from helping patients who are addicted to opioids, and what he has learned along the way as he has started a healthcare company from scratch. I was so impressed by Zack’s dedication to solving the problem, and his approach to overcoming the obstacles inherent in the space and am excited to see what he and the Ophelia team are able to achieve in the coming years. We’ve linked off to many resources and articles that we discuss in the show notes – so please take a look if you are interested in learning more. Host: Ryan O'Keefe Foot Notes Zack’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-gray-58437936/ Ophelia Website https://www.meetophelia.com/ Article Covering Ophelia’s Raise https://www.forbes.com/sites/berenicemagistretti/2020/05/12/rehab-20-yc-backed-ophelia-raises-27-million-to-help-people-quit-opioids-without-the-burden-and-cost-of-rehab/#8b248551ee82 Zack’s Explanation for Why He Founded Ophelia and What They Do https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22570133 Zack’s Graduation Speech http://media.licdn.com/embeds/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2Fa2kxSycPey0%3Ffeature%3Doembed&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Da2kxSycPey0&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube Evidence/Research for the Efficacy of MAT with suboxone https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29934549 Atlantic Article on the Opioid Crisis https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/11/why-heroin-and-fentanyl-addicts-cant-get-treatment/576118/ Book by Dr. Bisaga - Overcoming Opioid Addiction: The Authoritative Medical Guide for Patients, Families, Doctors, and Therapists https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Opioid-Addiction-Authoritative-Therapists/dp/1615194584 Article on Primary Care Providers Not Prescribing MAT https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/20/opioids-addiction-physicians-doctors-naltrexone/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=f5e5d9e1cc-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-f5e5d9e1cc-149667945