Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us a textDr. Anastasia Liapis, Ph.D. is Global Head of Innovation & New Business Creation, HP Health Solutions ( https://www.izb-online.de/en/companies/hp-health-solutions-germany-gmbh/ ), a division of HP ( https://www.hp.com/us-en/home.html ) , that develops technology specifically for the healthcare industry and reimagines healthcare tech for diagnostics and precision medicine of the future.Dr. Liapis’ team leads innovation in diagnostics and health-tech, driving the development and commercialization of ultrafast PCR and microfluidic-based diagnostic platforms, as well as focuses on early-stage technology development, partnerships, and business strategy, ensuring breakthrough innovations translate into real-world impact.Previously, Dr. Liapis served as Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Partnerships at GNA Biosolutions GmbH, a molecular diagnostics start up that was acquired by HP, and she played a pivotal role in enhancing the organization's strategic vision, focusing on innovative solutions in the bioscience sector.Before taking her role at GNA Biosolutions, Dr. Liapis made significant contributions to various notable organizations such as TBWA, the healthcare agency creative collective, where she served as a Group Account Supervisor, and as of Vice President of Medical Affairs at Medical Dynamics, developing medical education programs and fostering key opinion leader (KOL) relationships.Dr. Liapis completed her doctoral training in Genetics at the Mount Sinai School of Biomedical Sciences and her post-doctoral fellowship in Immunology at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at NYU Langone. She earned both her Master’s and Bachelor's degrees in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis.#AnastasiaLiapis #HPHealthSolutions #HP #HewlettPackard #Healthtech #Biosecurity #LifeSciences #FoodSafety #NucleicAcidAmplification #MolecularAssays #Biotechnology #Nanotechnology #GNABiosolutions #MolecularDiagnostics #Microfluidics #PolymeraseChainReaction #PCR #Bioscience #CarT #LysosomalStorageDisorders #BrandStrategy #ScientificWriting #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Arthur C. Evans Jr. is Chief Executive Officer of the American Psychological Association ( https://www.apa.org/about/apa/senior-staff/evans-bio ), the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. With more than 146,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students as members, APA promotes and disseminates psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve lives – a mission consistent with Dr. Evans' life work.Before joining APA in March 2017, Dr. Evans spent 12 years as commissioner of Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. In that post, he led the transformation of that agency's approach to serving a wide range of individuals with complex needs. The transformation of the $1.5 billion Philadelphia system has relied heavily on public health strategies that contribute to better community health. Dr. Evans has emphasized a data-driven, population health approach to improve outcomes for people and increased system efficiency. Over his tenure, the agency saved more than $110 million that the city reinvested in improving and expanding services and employing innovative strategies to reach more people. The work in Philadelphia has become a national and international model, with over 25 states and more than a dozen countries having either visited the city or invited Evans to speak about the Philadelphia model.An unconventional leader, Dr. Evans has employed science, research, community activism, spirituality, traditional clinical care, policy, and cross-system collaborations to change the status quo. Dr. Evans approach gave voice to and empowered individuals and communities that have been historically marginalized. He ensured those with lived experiences were involved with every policy decision. He enlisted political and community leaders, grassroots organizations, academic institutions and advocates in a citywide commitment to think differently about behavioral health and intellectual disabilities.Dr. Evans has been honored nationally and internationally for his work. In 2015, he was recognized as an “Advocate for Action” by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 2013, he received the American Medical Association's top government service award in health care, the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service. In 2017, he received the Visionary Leadership Award from the National Council of Behavioral Health and was inducted into the Florida Atlantic University Alumni Hall of Fame. His work as a strong advocate for social justice has led to his receiving three different awards named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.Dr. Evans has held faculty appointments at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Drexel School of Public Health. He also held a faculty appointment at the Yale University School of Medicine.Dr. Evans holds a doctorate in clinical/community psychology from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in experimental psychology from Florida Atlantic University, where he also completed his undergraduate work.#ArthurEvans #AmericanPsychologicalAssociation #Psychology #MentalHealth #AddictionServices #RecoveryOrientedSystemOfCare #BehavioralHealth #PhiladelphiaModel #PennCollaborative #BeckCommunityInitiative #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #EvidenceBasedPractices #ImplementationScientists #CommunityPsychology #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Peter Ordentlich, Ph.D. is Chief Scientific Officer and Founder, Syndax Pharmaceuticals ( https://syndax.com/team/peter-ordentlich-ph-d/ ), a company with a mission to obtain regulatory approval and commercialize drugs that extend and improve the lives of cancer patients, by drawing on the newest scientific research and advances, collaborating with determined problem solvers, and identifying value in overlooked aspects of science.Dr. Ordentlich co-founded the Company in October 2005 and has served as Chief Scientific Officer since September 2016.Dr. Ordentlich previously served as Syndax’s Chief Technical Officer, Vice President, Translational Medicine, Executive Director, Translational Science, and Director, Scientific Affairs and Strategic Alliances.Prior to founding the company, Dr. Ordentlich was a scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, a biological research non-profit organization. He also spent five years as a research scientist at X-Ceptor Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery company, which was acquired by Exelixis, Inc.Dr. Ordentlich received a B.A. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania.#PeterOrdentlich #SyndaxPharmaceuticals #Oncology #Cancer #Menin #KMT2Ar #AcuteLeukemias #NPM1m #AcuteMyeloidLeukemia #Revuforj #Niktimvo #Axatilimab #Revumenib #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #Podcasting #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Science #Technology #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textProf. Dr. Islam Abou El-Magd, Ph.D. is the President of the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Egypt ( https://www.narss.sci.eg/professor/47 ), which focuses on applied research using earth observation and geo-informatics in environmental-related issuesProf. Abou El-Magd is also Counsellor for the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research for Space Technology and African Affairs ( https://mohesr.gov.eg/en-us/Pages/home.aspx ), which is responsible for all related education, science and technology in Egypt with Africa either on bi-lateral, multi-lateral and AUC agreements. Prof. Abou El-Magd has been involved in developing many international, regional and national Geographic Information System (GIS) projects in different disciplines. He was a GIS consultant for the Centre of Environment and Development for Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), Arab League. Prof. Abou El-Magd spent five years of his career in the UK as a GIS Program Coordinator for the University of Southampton and Gifford Excellence. He has been selected as an international consultant for a short-term consultancy to some of the UN Programs, including the Food and Agriculture Organization in Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization in Sudan, and the United Nations Development Program in Kuwait.Prof. Abou El-Magd is also general secretary of the space council of Egypt, which is responsible for setting up the policy and strategy of space and earth observation applications in Egypt. He represents Egypt as a focal point in some European-African space initiatives and partnerships such as Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). He was also a co-chair of the Implementation Plan Working Group – Group on Earth Observation that developed the ten-year implementation plan for GEO (2016-2025). Moreover, He is also an acting member of the African Space policy and Strategy by the Space Working Group that developed the African Space policy and strategy. Finally, he is the Vice-President of the African Association of Remote Sensing and the Environment, the largest remote sensing and geo-informatics association and network in Africa.Prof. Abou El-Magd chaired the high-level national committee to strategize and develop the National Space Program, which the Egyptian Space Agency ( https://www.egsa.gov.eg/ ) currently implements. He was also appointed for a short period as the Vice Executive President of the Egyptian Space Agency before being appointed president of the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, which was the cradle of the Egyptian Space Program.Prof. Abou El-Magd has an MSc, University of El-Mansoura, Egypt and Ph.D., School of Civil Engineering and The Environment, University of Southampton, UK. #ProfDrIslamAbouElMagd  #RemoteSensing #SpaceSciences #Egypt #GeographicInformationSystems #SatelliteImagery #DisasterMitigation #SandDuneMovements #AeolianProcess #Dengue #MedicalEntomology #AquaticBiology #Fisheries #AedesAegypti #GreenhouseGases #GeothermalEnergy #FishingZoneDetection #Sardinella #Geosciences #GoldExploration #ArchaeologicalSites #SandStorms #Sinai #RedSea #STEM #Innovation #Science #Technology #Research #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #Podcasting #ViralPodcastSupport the show

Send us a textProfessor Dr. Mark Kendall (BE PhD FRSA FTSE FNAI) is CEO & Founder of WearOptimo ( https://wearoptimo.com/prof-mark-kendall/ ), a private Australian health-tech company developing the next generation of wearable technology, redefining how we approach hydration and biomarker monitoring.Professor Kendall is also Vice-Chancellor's Entrepreneurial Professor at the Australian National University ( https://research.anu.edu.au/research-initiatives/wearoptimo ).Professor Kendall is a biomedical engineer, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur and business-builder with more than 25 years’ experience in creating medical technologies to tackle key global health challenges, and companies licensing/advancing his patents/technologies have created a combined economic value of more than $2 billion for investors.​While at the University of Oxford, Professor Kendall was an inventor of the biolistics technology, commercialized with PowderJect (sold to Chiron Vaccines for US$1 billion in 2003), and then PowderMed, purchased by Pfizer for US$400 million in 2006. Professor Kendall was then Founder, CTO and a Director of Vaxxas (2011-2015), which was the commercialization vehicle for his Nanopatch vaccine delivery invention, featured in his TEDGlobal talk, which has more than 1 million views.In recognition of his innovation and translation of commercial technologies focused on the delivery of drugs to skin, and skin-based disease diagnostics, Professor Kendall has received more than 40 awards and accolades. These include the 2016 CSL Young Florey Medal, a 2012 Rolex Laureate Award for Enterprise and the Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Research (2011). He was also named a 2015 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, winner of The Australian Innovation Challenge in 2011 and 2004 Younger Engineer of Britain. Professor Kendall’s work has featured in diverse media outlets, including TEDGlobal, WIRED, ABC, BBC, NBC, National Geographic, New Scientist, Popular Science and Vanity Fair.Professor Kendall’s international recognition extends to his election as a Fellow: of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI, USA); the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, (RSA, UK); and Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE).With a strong global network, and a significant international profile, Professor Kendall serves on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Biotechnology and is co-chair of the Australian Stem Cell Therapies Mission.Professor Kendall has a BE (Hons I) and a PhD, Mechanical Engineering from The University of Queensland.#WearOptimo #MarkKendall #WearableBiometrics #HydrationMonitoring #Dehydration #PeakPerformance #EliteAthletes #AgedCare #MarkWebber #CompanionDiagnostics #Theranostics #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Kilian Kelly, Ph.D. is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Cynata Therapeutics ( https://cynata.com/ ), a stem cell and regenerative medicine company that is known for its proprietary Cymerus platform, for the scalable and consistent production of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapies.Unlike traditional MSC therapies that rely on multiple donors, the Cymerus manufacturing process ensures that cells for therapeutic use can be produced in virtually limitless quantities from a single donor – making the opportunities endless and attractive from a manufacturing standpoint. The company has completed Phase I studies for Graft vs Host disease & Diabetic Foot Ulcers and have a number of Phase II, and even have a Phase III clinical trial, in progress.Dr. Kelly has over 20 years’ experience in biopharmaceutical research and development, including almost 15 years focused on the development of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) based therapies. He joined Cynata in March 2014, initially as Vice President, Product Development, then Chief Operating Officer from May 2019, and since July 2023 has been CEO & MD. At Cynata, he has overseen all stages of the development of the Cymerus induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived MSC technology, including the first completed clinical trial of any iPSC-derived product worldwide.Dr. Kelly previously held positions at Biota Pharmaceuticals, Mesoblast Limited, Kendle International, Amgen and AstraZeneca. Dr. Kelly holds a Masters in Pharmacy degree from the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, and he is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), Melbourne. He is a member of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the AICD.Dr. Kelly also serves on the ISCT Asia-Pacific Industry Committee, the ISSCR Best Practices Working Group for the Development of PSC-Derived Therapies and the Industry Interface Committee of the Center for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Australia.#KilianKelly #CynataTherapeutics #InducedPluripotentStemCells #MesenchymalStemCells #Immunomodulation #Immunoregulation #Mesenchymoangioblasts #GraftVersusHostDisease #GVHD #MSC #iPSC #IschaemicHeartDisease #Osteoarthritis #AcuteRespiratoryDistressSyndrome #ARDS #Inflammation #Secretome #Paracrine #RegenerativeMedicine #DiabeticWounds #KidneyTransplantation #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Blythe Adamson, PhD, MPH ( https://www.blytheadamson.com/ ) is Head of Outcomes Research and Evidence Generation at Flatiron Health ( https://flatiron.com/ ), where her work has been focused on developing deep learning language models for extraction of clinical details from EHR documents, ultimately learning from the experience of millions of patients with cancer, and generating evidence of treatment effectiveness and value used by governments around the world. Dr. Adamson is a scientist, epidemiologist and economist ( https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jAflVcUAAAAJ&hl=en ), who co-invented a patented clinical decision-support tool, enabled by machine learning, that is used by cancer clinics to benefit patients.Formerly a lead data scientist in the West Wing of The White House, Dr. Adamson has been involved in advising public and private institutions including professional sports leagues, the entertainment industry, retailers, manufacturers, and more.Dr. Adamson founded the company Infectious Economics ( https://www.infectiouseconomics.com/ ), with a focus to provide thought leadership to policy makers and industry leaders on cost-effective strategies to prevent the transmission of viruses.Dr. Adamson holds degrees in microbiology, epidemiology, and pharmaceutical economics with a focus on infectious disease prevention, doing her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy, at the University of Washington, where she still lectures as an Affiliate Assistant Professor ( https://sop.washington.edu/people/blythe-adamson/ ).Dr. Adamson has also held roles at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Institute for Disease Modeling and the NIAID HIV Vaccine Trials Network and is a Board Member of NBA-funded SalivaDirect lab at Yale.#BlytheAdamson #FlatironHealth #EHR #Oncology #Cancer #HIV #InfectiousEconomics #RWE #RealWorldEvidence #ElectronicHealthRecords #RealWorldData #ClinicalDecisions #HealthPolicies #LargeLanguageModels #LLM #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #ML #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Martin Brenner, DVM, Ph.D. is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of iBio ( https://ibioinc.com/team/martin-brenner-dvm-ph-d/ ), a biotech company developing the next generation of cardiometabolic and obesity medicines to promote higher quality weight loss and enhance overall metabolic health and function, as well as a pipeline of therapeutic candidates in immuno-oncology for some of the most-difficult-to-treat cancers, including solid tumors in lung, colorectal, and breast cancer, head and neck cancer, pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma, a fast-growing brain tumor. Dr. Brenner has a strong history of success heading drug discovery and development teams at several of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., and Merck Research Laboratories. Most recently, Dr. Brenner served as the CSO at Pfenex Inc., which, using its patented Pfēnex Expression Technology® platform, created an advanced pipeline of therapeutic equivalents, vaccines, biologics and biosimilars. Pfenex was acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated for approximately $516 million in October 2020. Previously, Dr. Brenner served as the CSO at Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on accelerating drug discovery for rare diseases and diseases with high unmet medical need. Prior to his time at Recursion, Dr. Brenner was Vice President and Head of Research & Early Development at Stoke Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company using antisense oligonucleotides to increase gene expression for the treatment of rare diseases. Prior to Stoke, Dr. Brenner was Executive Director at Merck, where he built a biotech unit from scratch, focusing his team’s research on diabetes and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Earlier in his career, Dr. Brenner was the Senior Director and Head of cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism (CVRM) biosciences at AstraZeneca. In addition, Dr. Brenner was an Associate Research Fellow at Pfizer where he led the islet biology and in vivo pharmacology in the CVMED Target Exploration Unit before assuming the role of Head of the Insulin Resistance Group.Dr. Brenner has a DVM, Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and a Ph.D., Pharmacology  Tieraerztliche Hochschule Hannover.#MartinBrenner #iBio #Cardiometabolic #Obesity #Medicines #WeightLoss #MetabolicHealth #ImmunoOncology #GLP1 #BispecificAntibodies #ArtificialIntelligence #TransformingGrowthFactorBeta #Myostatin #ActivinA #ActivinE #MuscleMass #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Ilke Demir, Ph.D ( https://ilkedemir.weebly.com/ ) works at the intersection of computer vision and machine learning and her research focuses on generative models for digitizing the real world, deep fake detection and generation techniques, analysis and synthesis approaches in geospatial machine learning, and computational geometry for synthesis and fabrication ( https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6837MdMAAAAJ&hl=en ).Most recently Dr. Demir served as a Senior Staff Research Scientist at Intel Corporation, leading Intel’s Trusted Media team.  She established the research foundations of the world’s largest volumetric capture studio at Intel, bridging the gap between the creative process and AI approaches.Prior to joining Intel, Dr. Demir had startup experience at DeepScale, working on perception for autonomous vehicles (with a successful acquisition by Tesla), and she was also a visiting scholar at UCLA.Dr. Demir earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University advised by Prof. Daniel Aliaga, and her B.S. in Computer Engineering from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Türkiye with a minor in Electrical Engineering. Afterwards, Dr. Demir joined Facebook as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist working with Prof. Ramesh Raskar from MIT, where their team developed the breakthrough innovation on generative street addresses. Her research further included deep learning approaches for human behavior understanding in next generation virtual reality headsets, geospatial machine learning for map creation, and 3D reconstruction at scale.At the intersection of art and science, Dr. Demir also contributed to several animated feature and VR/AR short films in Pixar Animation Studios and Intel Studios, respectively.In addition to her publications in top-tier venues, Dr. Demir has organized workshops, competitions, and courses in deep learning, computer vision, and graphics such as DeepGlobe, SkelNetOn, WiCV, SUMO, DLGC, EarthVision, and OpenEDS, to name a few. Dr. Demir received numerous awards and honors such as Jack Dangermond Award, Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship, and IEEE Industry Distinguished Lecturer, in addition to her best paper/poster/reviewer awards. Her scientific articles received significant attention from researchers and media outlets around the world, such as The Independent, VentureBeat, MIT Tech Review, and Liberation. She has been invited to present over 120 talks and panels worldwide, on the wide range of topics that her work spans. Dr. Demir has been actively involved in women in science organisms, always being an advocate for women and underrepresented minorities. #IlkeDemir #ComputerVision #MachineLearning #DeepFakes #ComputerScience #ComputerEngineering #Intel #Meta #Facebook #3DVision #ComputationalGeometry #GenerativeModels #RemoteSensing #DeepLearning #PixarAnimationStudios #Purdue #MiddleEastTechnicalUniversity #Türkiye #GazeTracking #SyntheticFaceDetection #PatternRecognition #MyBodyMyChoice #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show

Send us a textDr. Jessica Sacher, Ph.D. is Co-Founder of Phage Directory ( https://phage.directory/ ), a global network of phage researchers from more than 80 countries, where she directs its phage-sourcing and community-building efforts, including coordinating over 50 phage-finding efforts, where a network of more than 1,300 members of the global phage community volunteer their time and lab space to identify active phages for patients.Dr. Sacher is also a Staff Scientist at Stanford University School of Medicine ( https://profiles.stanford.edu/jessica-sacher ) in Dr. Paul Bollyky's lab where she leads strategy & lays groundwork for a new phage-based therapeutic development and delivery center at Stanford, developing manufacturing processes and quality control pipelines for clinical-grade phage biologics, as well as evaluating phages as gene and peptide delivery vectors for eukaryotic and microbial cells.Dr. Sacher was previously a member of Prof. Jon Iredell’s group in Sydney, Australia as a postdoctoral research scientist for the Phage Australia project where she developed and streamlined Phage Australia’s phage selection, biobanking, and manufacturing process, to make phage therapy available for patients Australia-wide and eventually beyond.Dr. Sacher received her PhD in Microbiology and Biotechnology in 2018 from the University of Alberta, Canada.Dr. Sacher is also Founder, Editor, Writer of Capsid & Tail: the phage community newsletter, a weekly report on bacteriophage news and researchImportant Episode Links -  Bacteriophage therapy for multidrug-resistant infections: current technologies and therapeutic approaches - Published March 3, 2025  - The Journal of Clinical Investigation -https://www.jci.org/articles/view/187996The Citizen Phage Library (https://citizenphage.com) #JessicaSacher #PhageDirectory #Bacteriophage #StanfordUniversity #Campylobacter #SteffanieStrathdee #Microbiology #PhageBiobank #Biofilms #AMR #AntimicrobialResistance #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #IraPastor #Podcast #Podcaster #ViralPodcast #STEM #Innovation #Technology #Science #ResearchSupport the show