Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us a textDr. David Latshaw, Ph.D. is Co-Founder and CEO of BioPhy ( https://www.biophy.ai/ ), a Philadelphia based artificial intelligence company which has developed a set of platforms that provide quantitative metrics to drug company partners about what drugs and clinical trials will ultimately succeed. Dr. Latshaw is a computational biomolecular and chemical engineer by training and most recently led the deployment of more than 20 programs that leveraged AI across several drug development functions at Johnson & Johnson’s Advanced Technologies Center of Excellence. This impacted $16 billion in yearly sales, reducing costs by 20 percent, and a 50 percent increase in reliability. His work has been recognized by the World Economic Forum, McKinsey & Company, and the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Latshaw has a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University, a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from North Carolina State University, and a Master of Business Administration - MBA, Finance and Operations, from The Wharton School. Support the show

Send us a textDr. Joshua Gonzalez, M.D. is Co-Founder of Popstar Health ( https://popstarhealth.com/ ), a physician-founded sexual wellness company focused on promoting the importance of sexual health for all. Dr. Gonzalez is a board-certified urologist who is fellowship trained in Sexual Medicine and specializes in the management of male and female sexual dysfunctions. He completed his medical education at Columbia University and his urological residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. Throughout his career, Dr. Gonzalez has focused on providing improved healthcare to the LGBTQ+ community, a group often left behind in conversations about sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Gonzalez also serves as an official Sexual Health Advisor to Astroglide Lubricants and is on the board of directors for the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health. Dr. Gonzalez has appeared on The Doctors television show, been featured in Vogue, and is a medical contributor to Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, and Oprah magazines. He is a sexual health expert that continues to build a robust following on TikTok ( https://www.tiktok.com/@joshuagonzalezmd?lang=en ) where he uses social media to educate the public on sexual and reproductive health. Support the show

Send us a textDr. Jaime Yassif, Ph.D. serves as Vice President of Global Biological Policy and Programs, at the Nuclear Threat Initiative ( https://www.nti.org/about/people/jaime-yassif-phd/ ) where she oversees work to reduce global catastrophic biological risks, strengthen biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, and drives progress in advancing global health security. Prior to this, Dr. Yassif served as a Program Officer at the Open Philanthropy Project, where she led the initiative on Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness. In this role, she recommended and managed approximately $40 million in biosecurity grants, which rebuilt the field and supported work in several key areas, including: development of new biosecurity programming at several leading think tanks; cultivation of new talent through biosecurity leadership development programs; initiation of new biosecurity work in China and India; establishment of the Global Health Security Index; development of the Clade X tabletop exercise; and the emergence of a new discussion about global catastrophic biological risks. Previously, Dr. Yassif was a Science and Technology Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Defense, where she focused on oversight of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and East Asia security issues. During this period, she also worked on the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) at the Department of Health and Human Services, where she helped lay the groundwork for the WHO Joint External Evaluations and the GHSA Steering Group. Dr. Yassif’s previous experience includes work with Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance, Chatham House, NTI, the Federation of American Scientists and the Tsinghua University Institute for International Studies. Dr. Yassif holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from UC Berkeley, an MA in Science and Security from the King’s College London War Studies Department, where she wrote her thesis on verification of the Biological Weapons Convention, and a BA in Biology from Swarthmore College. Important episode link - The International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS) - https://ibbis.bio/ Support the show

Send us a textBill Taranto is President of both the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund ( MGHIF - https://www.merckghifund.com/ ), and Merck Global Health Private Equity (GHIPE). He is the founder of MGHIF and is responsible for leading the global health capability for Merck ( https://www.merck.com/ ). The Merck Global Health Innovation Fund was established in late 2010 as a strategic response to the challenges surrounding Merck’s core business of discovering, developing and marketing innovative drugs and vaccines. MGHIF is a $500m evergreen fund focused on identifying opportunities that are adjacent to Merck’s core business of pharmaceuticals and vaccines. Under Bill's leadership, MGHIF has invested more than $1bn in 70 companies, with more than $7bn in exits. Bill has more than three decades of experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining Merck, he spent 18 years at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in various roles. As VP of healthcare strategy and venture at J&J, he was responsible for evaluating and creating new healthcare business models through venture capital and acquisitions. Prior to joining J&J, he spent eight years in investment banking. Support the show

Send us a textCaptain (ret) Dr. Gurpartap "GP" Sandhoo, Ph.D. is Director, Emerging Technologies and Architectures - Space Sector at Northrop Grumman ( https://www.northropgrumman.com/space ), where he is focused on leveraging new and emerging technologies and manufacturing process to shape the future of civil and national security space. Dr. Sandhoo previously served at the Defense Innovation Unit ( DIU - https://www.diu.mil/ ) at the Pentagon, a United States Department of Defense organization founded to help the U.S. military make faster use of emerging commercial technologies, supporting that organization’s space portfolio, focused on operationalizing commercial space technologies for national security space. He also served as Deputy Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity ( IARPA - https://www.iarpa.gov/ ) support the director in the day-to-day management of the organization, and execution of the diverse portfolio of high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the Intelligence Community. Dr. Sandhoo previously occupied the Distinguished Visiting Professor Robert A. Heinlein Endowed Chair in Astronautics at the U.S. Naval Academy. At the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, he headed the Spacecraft Engineering Division, and was also the acting director of the Naval Center of Space Technology. He provided executive direction and technical leadership in conducting research of space systems with advanced technologies. He was also a flight controller at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and was a research & development engineer at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, as well as in industry. Since 1986, until recently retiring from public service, Dr. Sandhoo served in uniform in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy and as a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an Engineering Duty Officer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, Master’s from the U.S. Naval War College, a Master’s and a Doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics from George Washington University, and is a MIT Seminar XXI fellow. Support the show

Send us a textDanielle Halstrom is President of the GE HealthCare Foundation ( https://www.gehealthcare.com/foundation ), a philanthropic foundation arm of GE HealthCare that supports nonprofit organizations aimed at making healthcare more accessible, personal, human, and flexible – and ultimately, strives to remove barriers that separate underserved communities from equitable healthcare. With an initial focus on improving maternal health outcomes globally, the Foundation addresses a critical need: Every two minutes, a woman dies due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications, compounded by a severe shortage in primary care and midwifery professionals worldwide. Ms. Halstrom was previously Chief Communications and Corporate Marketing Officer for GE HealthCare. Prior to GE HealthCare, Ms. Halstrom was SVP and head of comms at biotechnology company Zai Lab, and at Bristol Myers Squibb as VP and head of commercial, research and development and manufacturing comms, including patient advocacy. Before that, she served in roles as senior director and leader of global colleague communications at Pfizer, Director, Product Communications at GlaxoSmithKline, and Manager, USHH Public Affairs at Merck. GE HealthCare ( https://www.gehealthcare.com/ ) is a leading global medical technology and digital solutions innovator, enabling clinicians to make faster, more informed decisions through intelligent devices, data analytics, applications and services. Important episode links Urban Institute - https://www.urban.org/ Lwala Community Alliance - https://lwala.org/ Black Mamas Matter Alliance - https://blackmamasmatter.org/ Project ECHO - https://projectecho.unm.edu/ Support the show

Send us a textDr. Sean Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. is Owner of Nonlinear Solutions LLC., an advisory group that provides strategic scientific and intelligence consulting services, with a focus on emerging science and technology trends, to clients in both the defense and intelligence communities. Dr. Kirkpatrick recently retired from federal Senior Service in December 2023 and prior to his current responsibilities he answered to the Deputy Secretary of Defense to stand-up and lead the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office ( AARO - https://www.aaro.mil/ ) in early 2022, leading the U.S. government’s efforts to address Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) using a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach. Dr. Kirkpatrick attended University of Georgia as an undergraduate, to study physics, where he also did his Ph.D. work in nonlinear and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics of rare earth doped fluoride crystals, and currently serves as an adjunct professor at UGA. Dr. Kirkpatrick began his career in Defense and Intelligence related science and technology immediately out of graduate school. After receiving his Ph.D. in Physics in 1995, he subsequently took a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, investigating laser-induced molecular vibrations of high explosives under an AFOSR program. In 1996, he was offered a National Research Council Fellowship at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. investigating novel solid-state lasers for the Department of the Navy. In 1997, he was recruited by the Air Force Research Laboratory to build an Ultrafast Laser Physics Lab to investigate nonlinear optics, novel ultrafast spectroscopic methods, and nonlinear micro/nano-fabrication techniques for the Air Force. In 2003, Dr. Kirkpatrick was offered a program manager position in the National Reconnaissance Office and converted to CIA in 2005. In 2007, he was assigned as Chief Technology Officer in a joint CIA-DIA program office, where he later became division chief as a DIA officer. In 2010 he was asked to serve as the space control portfolio manager for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Space and Intelligence, Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 2012, Dr. Kirkpatrick returned to DIA and served as the Defense Intelligence Officer for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, serving as the Department of Defense’s counterpart to the National Intelligence Manager for Science and Technology until 2016. Towards the end of his tenure as DIO/S&TI, Dr. Kirkpatrick served on special assignment to the Principal Deputy Director National Intelligence leading the Intelligence Community’s support to the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center (now the National Space Defense Center). From 2016 onwards, Dr. Kirkpatrick served in a variety of no-fail roles including Deputy Director of Intelligence, US Strategic Command; Director, National Security Strategy, National Security Council; Deputy Director of Intelligence and the DNI Representative for USSPACECOM. The USSPACECOM Intelligence Enterprise was the fifth organization he has been the IC lead for establishment, with AARO being the sixth “new start” he’s led. Dr. Kirkpatrick is the recipient of several scientific, military, and intelligence awards. These include the Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal, four National Intelligence Collaboration medallions, the NRO Innovation and Achievement Award, the Cleary Award for Scientific Excellence, and the DIA Director’s Award for Excellence. Dr. Kirkpatrick holds 2 open patents and has contributed to several scientific books on nonlinear phenomena as well as written multiple strategies for the National and Defense Intelligence Communities. He wasSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Tahmeed Ahmed, MD, PhD is Executive Director of the icddr,b ( https://www.icddrb.org/ - formerly known as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), an organization committed to solving public health problems facing low- and middle-income countries through innovative scientific research – including laboratory-based, clinical, epidemiological and health systems research. By developing, testing and assessing the implementation of interventions specifically designed for resource-poor settings, they aim to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in the world’s poorest nations. Dr. Ahmed has been working for the last three decades in simplifying the management of childhood malnutrition, childhood tuberculosis, and diarrheal diseases. He leads the BEED (Bangladesh Environmental Enteric Dysfunction) study that attempts to discover non-invasive biomarkers of environmental enteric dysfunction, an important cause of stunting in children. Together with Dr Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis he discovered microbiota directed complementary food (MDCF) - a novel intervention for childhood malnutrition. This discovery was highlighted by the prestigious journal Science as one of the scientific breakthroughs of 2019. He is continuing the research on MDCF with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Ahmed studied in St. Gregory’s High School and Notre Dame College, Dhaka and then obtained his medical degree from Mymensingh Medical College. He received residential training in Dhaka Children’s Hospital and subsequently studied at the University of Tsukuba in Japan for his PhD. He has recently been appointed the Executive Director of icddr,b where he has been working for the last three decades. As a member of the Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group of the WHO, Dr. Ahmed revised the global guidelines for management of childhood acute malnutrition. He advises the Global Task Force on Cholera Case Control (GTFCC) on case management of cholera in children. Dr Ahmed was awarded the Bangladesh Academy of Science - Dr Sultan Ahmed Choudhury Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in Medical Science in 2003. He received from the Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, the Islamic Bank Development Transformers’ Roadshow Award in 2018. Dr Ahmed works closely with the Ministry of Health of Bangladesh, WHO, UNICEF and the International Atomic Energy Agency in research, policy issues and training on nutrition. He has more than 400 papers published in international journals and books. Dr Ahmed was the President of the Commonwealth Association of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (CAPGAN), an association of professionals in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition from the 54 Commonwealth nations. He is Professor of Public Health Nutrition of James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka and also Affiliated Professor of School of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle. Dr Ahmed has recently been appointed Honorary Senior Fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). Social Media - icddr,b - icddr,b Twitter - https://twitter.com/icddr_b/ icddr,b LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/icddrb/ Support the show

Send us a textAshley Kalinauskas is the Founder and CEO of Torigen Pharmaceuticals ( https://www.torigen.com/ ), a company dedicated to researching and developing novel immuno-oncology products and services specifically for the veterinary market, with a focus on autologous cancer vaccines. Torigen Pharmaceuticals is a start‑up that resulted from Ashley’s graduate thesis project at the University of Notre Dame, as she was working on her Masters in Engineering, Science and Technology Entrepreneurship in collaboration with Dr. Mark Suckow ( https://www.research.uky.edu/staff/mark-suckow ). Ashley also received an undergraduate degree in Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology from University of Connecticut. Support the show

Send us a textProfessor Dr. Thomas Rademacher, MD, PhD, is CEO and Co-Founder of Emergex ( https://emergexvaccines.com/ ), a company that has developed a novel nanoparticle-based vaccine technology to deliver synthetic viral fragments via microneedles on a skin-adhesive patch. Emergex’s approach works on the principle of priming immune T-cells, opening the door for the development of universal vaccines against highly mutagenic viruses such as the seasonal flu and covid. T-cell priming offers a superior inoculation strategy over traditional vaccines, which rely on the body’s generation of antibodies and fail to keep up with seasonal mutations. A serial entrepreneur, Professor Rademacher also serves as Emeritus Professor of Molecular Medicine at University College London (UCL) and is widely considered one of the founders of biotech from the early 1980s (having been involved in many of it’s core disciplines – from recombinant proteins, to monoclonal antibodies, to glycobiology). Professor Rademacher has authored over 200 publications and 50 patents – 19 of which are in the nanomedicine field. In addition to being a world leader in nanomedicine, he is also an expert in fetal-maternal medicine, having produced 25 publications and filed 5 patents related to preeclampsia. Professor Rademacher was co-Founder of the field of Glycobiology and subsequent Glycobiology Institute in Oxford and co-founded Oxford GlycoSciences, the first of Oxford University’s biotech spinouts, which, in 1998, was listed on the London Stock Exchange and reached a market capitalization of £1.7 billion. After moving to UCL, Professor Rademacher founded several biotech spin-out companies, including Rodaris Pharmaceuticals Ltd. In 2000, Professor Rademacher entered into a collaboration with the Spanish Research Council and co-founded the first nanomedicine company, Midatech Ltd. Midatech floated on the AIM and NASDAQ stock exchanges in December 2015. Support the show