"Burtual" Reality: AI in Healthcare Redux

Megan and Nicole reunite the experts from their AI + Healthcare panel for the conversation they didn't get to have in front of the live crowd: no time limits, no audience questions, just Megan and Nicole finally getting to ask what they actually wanted to know. Joining them: Janet Johnson, founder of the AI Governance Group; Dr. Arpi Chalian, a physician and systems-thinker; and Burt Rosen, who manages his own cancer care as a true partnership between himself, his doctors, and AI.

Join our meaty conversation about what AI is already doing to healthcare — the real benefits, the privacy trade-offs, and the questions of access and equity that don't get nearly enough airtime.

Along the way:


• Why the "always-on" nature of AI might matter more than we think
• The privacy trade-offs we keep pretending we haven't already made
• Why the real equity story is rural and underserved communities, not early adopters

• Burt's new obsession: building a "digital twin" to test-drive his own healthcare decisions

Last week was a full week. Like, genuinely full: mayors, panels, happy hours, and a revelation about cheese portions.

Megan and Nicole are back to unpack a stretch that somehow included a civic tech incubation lab with the City of Portland and Oregon State University, a sold-out healthcare panel that had people fired up enough to walk out (we mean that as a compliment), and a happy hour collaboration with Prosper Portland that brought knife makers and violin professors into the same room to talk AI.

The healthcare conversation hit different: featuring Janet Johnson from the AI Governance Group, cancer patient and AI power-user Burt Rosen, and pediatrician Dr. Arpi Chalian, the panel dove into the real, messy, genuinely unresolved questions around AI in medicine.

Along the way:

🏙️ How a civic incubation lab at Big Pink is setting the stage for Portland Startup Week's hackathon in May

🩺 The "three-legged stool" model: you, your doctor, and your AI

🧬 N=1 medicine vs. population-level care — and why Burt cares most about one of those

⚖️ The uncomfortable space between AI's promise in healthcare and the very real risks of getting it wrong

🧀 The just-right amount of cheese (no, really — it was a breakthrough)

Plus: the mayor shakes hands and cleans up trash, a Nighthawk connection that somehow ties into the panel, and Nicole finally nailing the snack situation after years of cheese surplus.

Related links:

• Janet Johnson
• Burt Rosen
• Dr. Arpi Chalian
• Oregon State University AI Week
• Prosper Portland
• Upstart Collective
• Civic Incubation Lab
• AI Portland Calendar of Events

It's been a week! A really, genuinely cool one: premieres, packed rooms, a hot tub time machine reference, and one very satisfying redemption story.

Megan and Nicole are back to recap a stretch of AI Portland events that somehow all landed in the same seven days: an advanced screening of *The AI Doc* (yes, the Sundance documentary — yes, Nicole left halfway through, no judgment), a sold-out design-focused collab with Friends of Figma where Alex from Paramount Plus dug into Figma Make, and a triumphant return to the Silicon Forest Tech Summit stage.

Along the way:

🎬 What *The AI Doc* gets right and why it's not a vacation watch

🎨 How a Paramount Plus design leader is actually (and honestly) using Figma Make

💡 Why showing > telling when it comes to getting your team on board with AI

🎤 The redemption arc we didn't plan to put in the podcast but absolutely had to

📅 What's coming up: healthcare panels, a civic hackathon, a scholarship, and more

Plus: why Portland designers are a little hungry for events right now, a psychedelics mixer that accidentally captured some AI Portland attendees, and a $11,500 scholarship through Willamette University that you should absolutely go apply for.

Related links:

• The AI Doc and the Case Against Cynicism (Megan’s Substack article)
• The AI Doc: Or I How I Became an Apocaloptimist
• Friends of Figma Portland
• The Willamette University MS in Data Science – AI Portland Scholarship
• Co-creAIt, an unconference about Human/AI collaboration - Save 15% with Code AIPDX15%
• AI Portland episode about 2025 tech summit
• AI: Start Here — Scott Hanselman

• Chapters:00:00 – N8N or Natan? Starting strong01:00 – Why we don't record our events (and what you get instead)03:30 – The AI Doc: apocaloptimists, empty chairs, and polar bears09:00 – What we took away from the film11:20 – Design night with Alex from Paramount Plus14:00 – The Figma Make workflow that actually works17:00 – Showing vs. telling: getting your team curious about AI19:30 – What Figma Make is (and isn't) good for right now22:00 – Willamette University scholarship announcement25:30 – Co-CreAIte conference + discount code27:30 – Nicole's redemption arc (we had to)32:00 – Silicon Forest Tech Summit: the sequel34:30 – Upcoming events