Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us a textDr. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D. is the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health ( ARPA-H - https://arpa-h.gov/ ), an agency that supports the development of high-impact research to drive biomedical and health breakthroughs to deliver transformative, sustainable, and equitable health solutions for everyone. ARPA-H’s mission focuses on leveraging research advances for real world impact. Previously, Dr. Wegrzyn served as a vice president of business development at Ginkgo Bioworks and head of Innovation at Concentric by Ginkgo, where she focused on applying synthetic biology to outpace infectious diseases—including Covid-19—through biomanufacturing, vaccine innovation and biosurveillance of pathogens at scale. Prior to Ginkgo, Dr. Wegrzyn was program manager in the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA, where she leveraged the tools of synthetic biology and gene editing to enhance biosecurity, promote public health and support the domestic bioeconomy. Her DARPA portfolio included the Living Foundries: 1000 Molecules, Safe Genes, Preemptive Expression of Protective Alleles and Response Elements and the Detect it with Gene Editing Technologies programs. Dr. Wegrzyn received the Superior Public Service Medal for her work and contributions at DARPA. Prior to joining DARPA, she led technical teams in private industry in the areas of biosecurity, gene therapies, emerging infectious disease, neuromodulation, synthetic biology, as well as research and development teams commercializing multiplex immunoassays and peptide-based disease diagnostics. Dr. Wegrzyn holds doctorate and bachelor’s degrees in applied biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was a fellow in the Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative and completed postdoctoral training as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow in Heidelberg, Germany. Support the show

Send us a textDr. Nir Barzilai, MD ( https://www.einsteinmed.edu/faculty/484/nir-barzilai/ ) is the Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research and of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. He is the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research, professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics, and member of the Diabetes Research Center and of the Divisions of Endocrinology & Diabetes and Geriatrics. Dr. Barzilai’s research interests are in the biology and genetics of aging, with one focus of his team on the genetics of exceptional longevity, where they hypothesize and demonstrate that centenarians (those aged 100 and above) may have novel protective genes, which allow the delay of aging or for the protection against age-related diseases. The second focus of his work, for which Dr. Barzilai holds an NIH Merit award, is on the metabolic decline that occurs during aging, and his team hypothesizes that the brain leads this decline with some very interesting neuro-endocrine connections. Dr. Barzilai is currently leading an international effort to approve drugs that can target aging (Gerotherapeutics). Targeting Aging with METformin (TAME) is a specific study designed to prove the concept that a basket of diseases (multi-morbidities) of aging can be delayed simultaneously, in this protocol by the drug metformin, working with the FDA to approve this approach which will serve as a template for future efforts to delay aging and its diseases in humans. Dr. Barzilai has received numerous grants, among them ones from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), American Federation for Aging Research, the Ellison Medical Foundation and The Glenn Medical foundation. He has published over 280 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and textbook chapters. He is an advisor to the NIH on several projects and serves on several editorial boards and is a reviewer for numerous other journals. Dr. Barzilai is on the board of the American Federation for Aging Research, is it's co-scientific director, and has served on several NIA study sections. He is also a founder of CohBar Inc., a biotech company that develops mitochondrial derived peptides as therapy for aging and it's diseases, and of Life Biosciences. Dr. Barzilai has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Beeson Fellow for Aging Research, the Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar in Aging Award, the Paul F. Glenn Foundation Award, the NIA Nathan Shock Award, the 2010 Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction in Aging Research and the IPSEN Longevity Prize (2016). Born in Israel, Dr. Barzilai served as chief medic and physician in the Israel Defense Forces. He graduated from The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and completed his residency in internal medicine at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. He served in a refugee camp during the war in Cambodia (1979-1980) and built a nutritional village in the homeland of the Zulu (1983 – Kwazulu). He has completed 2 fellowships at Yale (Metabolism) and Cornell (Endocrinoology and Molecular Medicine).  He has also taken part in Global initiatives and spoke at The Milken Global Institute, Asian Megatrends and is an advisor for the Prime Minister of Singapore on Aging. Dr. Barzilai has been on the ‘Forward 50, top 50 influence Jews" in the US (2011). His work has been profiled by major outlets, including the New York Times, the BBC and PBS' NOVA science now, TEDMED and several TEDx talks, and is the leading feature on the Ron Howard/Jonathan Silberberg/National GeographicSupport the show

Send us a textMonica P. Medina ( https://www.state.gov/biographies/monica-p-medina/ ) is Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. She was also recently appointed as United States Special Envoy for Biodiversity and Water Resources. Previously, Secretary Medina was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She was also a Senior Associate on the Stephenson Ocean Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Co-Founder and Publisher of Our Daily Planet, an e-newsletter on conservation and the environment. A former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, Secretary Medina served as General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Earlier in her career, Secretary Medina served as the Senior Counsel to former Senator Max Baucus on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, as the Senior Director for Ocean Policy at the National Geographic Society, as the ocean lead at the Walton Family Foundation, and in senior roles in other environmental organizations. Secretary Medina attended college on an Army R.O.T.C. scholarship and began her career on active duty in the Army General Counsel’s Office. She received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Army Meritorious Service Medal. She has a Bachelor’s degree in history from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Support the show

Send us a textSavva Kerdemelidis is Founder & CEO of Crowd Funded Cures ( https://crowdfundedcures.org/ ), an organization with a mission to incentivize clinical trials for off-patent therapies that are otherwise ignored because a monopoly price cannot be enforced with patents. Savva is a Commercial/IP Consultant Legal Counsel and Patent Attorney with 18+ years experience advising in relation to IP, commercial law and crypto. Savva graduated with a LLM (1:1, Hons) and BSc (2:1, Hons) from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and lawyer in the Supreme Court of Queensland, Australia. He also is a New Zealand and Australian Patent and Trade Mark Attorney. Savva conducted his LLM thesis in 2014 on alternatives to the patent system for developing medicines in a thesis entitled: Deadly gaps in the patent system : an analysis of current and alternative mechanisms for incentivizing development of medical therapies ( https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/9826 ). Savva founded Crowd Funded Cures as a NZ charity in 2013 to implement the idea of using pay-for-success contracts as an incentive to find new uses for off-patent drugs and other un-monopolizable therapies. Support the show

Send us a textDr. Angela Naef, Ph.D. is Chief Research & Development Officer at Reckitt ( https://www.reckitt.com/about-us/our-leadership/executive-team/angela-naef/ ) where she is responsible for elevating the company's science capability and platforms, as well as for driving external partnerships, including amplifying the mission of the Reckitt Global Hygiene Institute ( https://www.rghi.org/ ). With 43,000 employees and over $13 billion in revenue, Reckitt is an Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. Reckitt's brands include the indigestion remedy Gaviscon, the baby food brand Mead Johnson, the air freshener Air Wick, and other brands and products like: Calgon, Clearasil, Durex, Lysol, Enfamil and Nutramigen. Dr. Naef came to Reckitt with over 20 years of diverse senior leadership experience in product and business development roles. Most recently, Dr. Naef spent 10 years at DuPont, in various technical and commercial leadership roles, where she led the Nutrition & Biosciences Global Technology and Innovation organization. She has very a strong track record of accelerating innovation in the areas of food, nutrition science and biotechnology. Dr. Naef is a graduate of the University of California, Davis with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and is a Six Sigma Black Belt. Dr. Naef is also an accomplished author and you can find her book "The Fabulous and Fun World of Chemistry!: A science book for girls by girls!!" on various on-line outlets ( https://www.amazon.com/Fabulous-Fun-World-Chemistry-science/dp/1493670409 ). Support the show

Send us a textDr. Robert M. Toguchi ( http://www.roberttoguchi.com/ ) is currently serving as the Chief, Concepts Division, Force Modernization Directorate, in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina ( https://www.soc.mil/ ). Dr. Toguchi has spent over 30 years on active military duty while serving as a Functional Area 59 strategist for the U.S. Army. Dr. Toguchi’s past assignments included a tour as the Director, Strategic Plans and Chief, ARCIC (Army Capabilities Integration Center) Initiatives Group, TRADOC (U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command). In the Pacific region, he spent a tour with the U.S. Pacific Command while serving as the Deputy Director, J8; and the Chief, Strategic Plans, J5 Directorate, USPACOM (United States Indo-Pacific Command). Dr. Toguchi was also assigned to Africa in 2005 while serving as the senior U.S. military observer to the U.N. Mission in Liberia. Previously, Dr. Toguchi served on the faculty and taught military strategy at the U.S. National War College, National Defense University. Additionally, in the Washington D.C. area, Dr. Toguchi gained valuable experiences within the halls of the Pentagon while serving as a strategist in the DAMO-SSP (Strategy, Doctrine and Concepts Division), Strategy and Policy Division, Army; and as a war planner in DAMO-SSW, War Plans Division, Army. Dr. Toguchi received a B.S. degree concentrating in Engineering, from the U.S. Military Academy, and received a Ph.D. in History from Duke University in 1994. Dr. Toguchi has published several books including: The Competitive Advantage Special Operations Forces in Large-Scale Combat Operations, Land Warfare In The Information Age, The Enduring Relevance Of Landpower: Flexibility And Adaptability For Joint Campaigns, and The Winning Habits of Steve Jobs. Support the show

Send us a textDr. Stanley Plotkin, MD ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Plotkin ), is an American physician, scientist, and scholar, who in the 1960s, while working at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, played a pivotal role in discovery of a vaccine against rubella virus (which is now used worldwide as a key component of the MMR vaccine), and has worked extensively on the development and application of a wide range of other vaccines including those for polio, rabies, varicella, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus ( https://www.epiv.eu/ ). Dr. Plotkin graduated from New York University in 1952 and obtained a medical degree at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He was a resident in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. In 1957, Dr. Plotkin served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the U.S. Public Health Service for three years and then served as a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991. Today, in addition to his emeritus appointment at Wistar, Dr. Plotkin is emeritus professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania ( https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p1554 ), and works as a consultant advising vaccine manufacturers, biotechnology firms, non-profits and governments. Dr. Plotkin's book, Vaccines, remains the standard reference on the subject. He is also an editor with Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, which is published by the American Society for Microbiology in Washington, D.C. Support the show

Send us a textBonnie Brennan is President of Christie's Americas, part of the Christie's global art and luxury business and auction house network ( https://www.christies.com/ ). Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business, renowned and trusted for its expert live and online auctions, as well as it's bespoke private sales. Christie’s offers a full portfolio of global services to its clients, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s has a physical presence in 46 countries, throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. It also is the only international auction house authorized to hold sales in mainland China (Shanghai). Ms. Brennan previously served as the Chairman of business development, as well as Senior Vice President and Senior Director, head of trusts, estates and wealth management services, in the Chairman’s office. Before joining Christie’s in 2012, Ms. Brennan had over 15 years in the auction business in a variety of marketing and leadership roles. A graduate of Northwestern University, Ms. Brennan holds a B.A. in art history and communications. In addition to her leadership role at Christie’s, Ms. Brennan also sits on a number of boards including the board of trustees for the Cristo Rey New York High School, as well as the Advisory Council for Calvary Hospital and the Planned Giving Advisory Council for the New York Historical Society. Support the show

Send us a textDr. Eric Bapteste, Ph.D. ( http://www.evol-net.fr/index.php?option=com_tlpteam&view=team&id=2&Itemid=559 ) is a Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the French state research organization and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. Dr. Bapteste has both a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Pierre and Marie Curie University and a Ph.D. in the philosophy of biology from Pantheon-Sorbonne University. Dr. Bapteste is the Co-Director of the Adaptation, Intégration, Réticulation, Evolution (AIRE) team, which develops new methods and new concepts, in particular related to biological networks, in order to study evolution and aging. Specifically, the AIRE team works to enhance the evolutionary theory i) by expanding its scope by targeting additional objects of studies (such as novel units of selection and novel still unknown taxonomical groups from the microbial dark matter, and mobile elements) and ii) by expanding evolutionary studies towards more general models, able to in particular account for chimerism and interactions between biological elements, from molecules to ecosystems. Dr. Bapteste is the author of 95 scientific articles and 4 books of popular sciences: "Les gènes voyageurs: l'odyssée de l'évolution", "Conflits intérieurs: fable scientifique", "Tous entrelacés! Des gènes aux super-organismes, les réseaux de l'évolution", and "Tout se transforme! Comment marche l'évolution". Support the show

Send us a text Dr. Nadine Lamberski, D.V.M., Dipl. ACZM, Dipl. ECZM (ZHM), is Chief Conservation and Wildlife Health Officer, at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance ( https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/about-us/key-leaders/nadine-lamberski ). Dr. Lamberski leads a unified team of conservation scientists, researchers, wildlife nutritionists, and wildlife veterinarians, cultivating a strategic approach to conservation efforts. She is aligning San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance with other global conservation organizations and developing strategies that safeguard biodiversity so all life can thrive. Dr. Lamberski joined the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2001 as senior veterinarian, following seven years as the senior veterinarian at Riverbanks Zoological Park and Botanical Garden in Columbia, South Carolina. She completed an internship at the University of Tennessee and Zoo Knoxville, followed by a zoological medicine residency at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Lamberski has focused her career on the health and welfare of zoological species, as well as on the conservation impacts of disease on small or fragmented wildlife populations. She has participated in several field projects, most notably studying black-footed cats in southern Africa, thick-billed parrots in northern Mexico, desert tortoises in the Southwestern United States, and working with partners at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in northern Kenya. She is inspired by the next generation of wildlife veterinarians and conservationists and has a special interest in organizational leadership. Dr. Lamberski is a Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM) and European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM) in zoo health management (ZHM). She received her undergraduate degree in zoology and DVM from the University of Georgia. Dr. Lamberski is a member and past president of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American College of Zoological Medicine, American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians, European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians, European College of Zoological Medicine, Wildlife Disease Association, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. She is San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's key contact for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is a member of IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group. Dr. Lamberski is an adjunct professor at the University of California Davis One Health Institute and the Wildlife Health Center. She has received numerous awards and research grants, has contributed over 100 scientific publications and presentations, and is currently a co-editor for Fowler’s Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine textbook. Support the show