Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us a text Dr. Jamie L. Wells, MD, FAAP, is an Adjunct Professor at Drexel University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, where she has been involved in helping to spearhead the nation's first-degree program focused on pediatric engineering, innovation, and medical advancement. She just co-authored an article in the journal Artificial Organs on this newly emerging applied science. Dr. Wells is an award-winning Board-certified pediatrician with many years of experience caring for patients. With her BA with Honors from Yale, and her MD from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, where she was President of the Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society, she has served as a Clinical Instructor/Attending at NYU Langone, Mt. Sinai-Beth Israel and St. Vincent's Medical Centers in Manhattan. Dr. Wells also serves as Director of the Research Science Institute (RSI), at the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE), a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, collaboratively sponsored with MIT which brings together top U.S. and international high school students for an intensive, six-week summer program that provides students with the opportunity to conduct original, cutting-edge research. Dr. Wells is on the leadership council of the Wistar Institute (the USA's first independent biomedical research facility and certified cancer center), an Ambassador in Healthcare for the Global Blockchain Business Council, was a grant reviewer for the Susan G. Komen Community Grants Program, judged both the local, district and world robotics championships for Dean Kamen’s F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) nonprofit and is the President and Founder of the Yale Alumni Health Network (YAHN). Dr. Wells has a proven track record of success in communications on various platforms (e.g. BBC, Reuters TV, Fox News Channel, Discovery Health), routinely appearing as a medical expert and has published over 400 articles as director of medicine for an educational advocacy nonprofit. Dr. Wells has broad ranging interests in patient safety and optimizing care delivery, bioethics, public health and policy, science communications, med-tech innovation, diagnosis and management of disease, identifying healthcare trends, bridging interdisciplinary knowledge gaps to prevent medical error and expedite discovery, thought integration of clinical practice and biomedical engineering approaches with an emphasis on patient-centered design, debunking medical myths and pediatrics. Support the show

Send us a text According to the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 20 million American adults battled a full-fledged substance use disorder in 2017. Drug abuse and addiction cost American society more than $740 billion annually in lost workplace productivity, healthcare expenses, and crime-related costs. Mr. Dan Addario spent 3 decades with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), rising to the role of Special Agent in Charge, the highest-ranking field agent for the DEA under five presidents, heading up anti-drug operations in 13 countries throughout South American, South East Asia, as well as in the U.S. Dan started his career in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first narcotics undercover agents in 1954 and was involved in the capture of some of the world’s most notorious drug lords, and was even on scene when Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was captured by US forces. Dan's list of accomplishments consists of, but is not limited to: - A cultivation of the U.S. strategic relationship with the Panamanian leader, Manuel Noriega, who at the time, was head of police in Panama and fighting the war on drugs with the U.S. , - The chase and capture Auguste Joseph Ricord, the French-Corsican heroin trafficker and one of the founding members of the French Connection, immortalized in the 1970s Gene Hackman movie, - Infiltrating the center of the “Golden Triangle” opium empire of Burmese opium king Khun Sa, - The major drug bust, round up and arrest of dozens of Hell’s Angels, including their head Sonny Barger - The destruction of a dozen of drug guru Timothy Leary’s LSD labs - The drug arrest Ray Charles - Working with special counsel Robert Mueller, Frank Sinatra, and Watergate figures including John Dean and Gordon Liddy Sadly, in 1993 the very scourge he was battling came home and was responsible for taking the life of his son Daniel due to opiate addiction. After he retired from the DEA, Mr. Addario spent some time in the news business working for a San Francisco news station. He has recently published a book entitled "Chasing the Dragon: How to Win the War on Drugs" where is recounts his long history and experience as well as puts forth a range of new ideas as the drug war continues in this millennium. Support the show

Send us a text Donna Butts is the Executive Director of Generations United, an organization with a mission to improve the lives of children, youth, and older people through intergenerational collaboration, public policies, and programs for the enduring benefit of all, a position she has held since 1997. For more than 30 years, Ms. Butts has worked tirelessly to promote the well-being of children, youth and older adults through nonprofit organizations across the country and around the world. She began her career in her home state of Oregon as a youth worker with the YWCA, where she worked one-on-one with teens and saw the positive effects of intergenerational programs firsthand. Ms. Butts has held leadership positions with Covenant House, a New York-based international youth serving organization, and the National 4-H Council. She served as the Executive Director for the National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention before taking the helm of Generations United. An internationally sought-after speaker, author and advocate, Ms. Butts frequently speaks on intergenerational connections, grandparents raising grandchildren and policies effective across the lifespan. Her commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal. She has been interviewed on the TODAY Show, National Public Radio and ABC News, and was invited by the United Nations to sit on four expert panels most recently on intergenerational solidarity and social cohesion in preparation for the 2014 20th anniversary of the International Year or the Family. In 2004, Ms. Butts was honored with the National Council on Aging’s Jack Ossofsky for Leadership, Creativity, and Innovation in Programs and Services for Older Persons. She served as a 2005 delegate to the White House Conference on Aging. A respected author, she has written countless articles, chapters and publications regarding the welfare of children, youth and older adults. Ms. Butts received her undergraduate degree from Marylhurst College and is a graduate of Stanford University’s Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders. She is a former chair of the board of the International Consortium of Intergenerational Programmes (ICIP) and serves on the board of the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. She was recognized three years in a row (2012, 2013 and 2014) by The Nonprofit Times as one of the Top 50 most powerful and influential nonprofit executives in the nation. In 2015, Ms. Butts was named one of the Top 50 Influencers in Aging by Next Avenue. Under her leadership, Generations United received the 2015 Eisner Prize for Excellence in Intergenerational Advocacy. Recently she was honored with one of the 2017 International Federation for Family Development Awards. Support the show

Send us a text Disclaimer - COL Dr. Barnes’ remarks are personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, the United States Army, the United States Military Academy, or any other department or agency of the United States Government. COL Dr. David Barnes is Professor, United States Military Academy (USMA) and Deputy Head of the Department of English and Philosophy, West Point, NY. COL Dr. Barnes concurrently serves as the Chief AI Ethics Officer for the US Army’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force, advising the Army on incorporating ethics, law, and policy into Army AI design, development, testing, and employment, and in this capacity has provided assistance to the Joint AI Center (JAIC), Defense Innovation Board (DIB), National Security Commission on AI, OSD Autonomy Community of Interest, and others. COL Dr. Barnes' research interests include normative and applied ethics, especially the ethics of war and the ethics of emerging technology. He is a DARPA Senior AI Ethics Advisor, a Senior Advisor for the JAIC Responsible AI Subcommittee, and a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace. COL Dr. Barnes is a member of the Editorial Boards for AI and Ethics and the Journal of Military Ethics, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Military Ethics (ISME). COL Dr. Barnes is the author of The Ethics of Military Privatization: The US Armed Contractor Phenomenon. Support the show

Send us a text Dr. Shawna Pandya MD, is a scientist-astronaut candidate with Project PoSSUM, physician, aquanaut, speaker, martial artist, advanced diver, skydiver, and pilot-in-training. Dr. Pandya is also the VP of Immersive Medicine with the virtual reality healthcare company, Luxsonic Technologies, Director of the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences (IIAS)/PoSSUM Space Medicine Group, Chief Instructor of the IIAS/PoSSUM Operational Space Medicine course, Director of Medical Research at Orbital Assembly Construction (a company building the world's first rotating space station providing the first artificial gravity habitat), clinical lecturer at the University of Alberta, podcast host with the World Extreme Medicine’s WEMCast series, Primary Investigator (PI) for the Shad Canada-Blue Origin student micro-gravity competition, member of the ASCEND 2021 Guiding Coalition, Life Sciences Team Lead for the Association of Spaceflight Professionals, sesional lecturer for the “Technology and the Future of Medicine,” course at the University of Alberta, and Fellow of the Explorers’ Club. Dr. Pandya also serves as medical advisor to several space, medical and technology companies, including Mission: Space Food, Gennesys and Aquanauta, as well as the Jasper Dark Sky Festival Advisory Committee. Dr. Pandya holds a Bsc degree in neuroscience from University of Alberta, a MSc in Space Studies from International Space University, an MD from University of Alberta, and a certification in entrepreneurship from the Graduate Studies Program at Singularity University. Dr. Pandya is currently completing a fellowship in Wilderness Medicine (Academy of Wilderness Medicine), was granted an Honorary Fellowship in Extreme and Wilderness Medicine by the World Extreme Medicine organization in 2021, and was one of 50 physicians selected to attend the 2021 European Space Agency Space Medicine Physician Training Course. Dr. Pandya was named one of the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2021, and a Canadian Space Agency Space Ambassador in 2021. Dr. Pandya was part of the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity in 2015. Dr. Pandya earned her aquanaut designation during the 2019 NEPTUNE (Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology and Underwater Exploration) mission. She previously served as Commander during a 2020 tour at the Mars Desert Research Station. Her expeditions were captured in the Land Rover short, released with the Apollo 11: First Steps film. She previously interned at ESA’s European Astronaut Center and NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Dr. Pandya's publications include book chapters on space spin-offs for medical benefit, psychological resilience in long-duration spaceflight, and reproduction and sexuality in long-duration spaceflight. In 2019, Dr. Pandya’s career and trajectory were captured at the Ontario Science Center’s “Canadian Women in Space,” exhibit, where Dr. Pandya is permanently exhibited alongside Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space (and Dr. Pandya’s idol growing up). Support the show

Send us a text Dr. Brian Kennedy is Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS), Director of National University Health System (NUHS) Centre for Healthy Ageing, Singapore, Professor, Buck Institute for Research on Ageing, Adjunct Professor, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, USC, and Affiliate Faculty, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington. With a Ph.D. in Biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), research in the Kennedy lab is directed at understanding the biology of ageing and translating research discoveries into new ways of delaying, detecting, preventing and treating human ageing and associated diseases. Current research projects in Dr. Kennedy's lab include systems biology strategies to understand ageing and murine longevity studies and disease models. Dr. Kennedy has published over 80 manuscripts in prestigious journals including Cell, Nature, Science, Genes & Development, and PNAS and serves as a Co-Editor-In-Chief at Aging Cell. Support the show

Send us a text Dr. Hassan A. Tetteh, MD, is the Health Mission Chief, at the Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, serving to advance the objectives of the DoD AI Strategy, and improve war fighter healthcare and readiness with artificial intelligence implementations. Dr. Tetteh is also an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, adjunct faculty at Howard University College of Medicine, a Thoracic Staff Surgeon for MedStar Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and leads a Specialized Thoracic Adapted Recovery (STAR) Team, in Washington, DC, where his research in thoracic transplantation aims to expand heart and lung recovery and save lives. In the past, Dr. Tetteh has served as Chief Medical Informatics Officer, United States Navy, and Division Lead for Futures and Innovation at Navy Medicine’s Headquarters, a Command Surgeon for the National Defense University, and as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, assigned to the U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office, (CBO). Dr. Tetteh served as Ship’s Surgeon and Director of Surgical Services for the USS Carl Vinson, deployed as a trauma surgeon to Afghanistan’s Helmand and Nimroz provinces, and has supported special joint forces missions to South America, the Middle East, the South Pacific, Australia, and Africa. He earned both the Surface Warfare Medical Department Officer and Fleet Marine Force Qualified Officer designations, and his military honors include two Meritorious Service Medals and the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Dr. Tetteh is also an accomplished author, including the novel “Gifts of the Heart”, "Star Patrol" (co-authored with his son Edmund Tetteh), as well as “The Art of Human Care” and "The Art of Human Care for COVID-19" (illustrated by his daughter Ella Bleue), and has published numerous articles on surgical innovation, health information technology, ethics, wounded warriors, and process improvement. He also serves on the board of directors for the Brooklyn, New York based Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, Fayetteville, Arkansas based Champions for Kids, and Miriam’s Kitchen, a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit that works to end chronic homelessness. Dr. Tetteh received his B.S. from State University of New York (SUNY), his M.D. from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, his M.P.A. from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, and M.S. in National Security Strategy with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence from the National War College. He completed his thoracic surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota and advanced cardiac surgery fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Tetteh is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management, board certified in thoracic surgery, general surgery, clinical informatics, and healthcare management, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Support the show

Send us a text Captain (Ret) Dr. Roger Herbert, Ph.D. is the Robert T. Herres Distinguished Military Professor of Ethics at the United States Naval Academy. A 1983 graduate of Davidson College, Captain Herbert holds a Master of Arts in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School (1992), a Master of Science in National Security Studies from the National War College (2005), and a Ph.D. in International Relations and Political Theory from the University of Virginia (2016). Captain Herbert received his commission through Officer Candidate School in 1984. He graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Class 131 in 1985 and reported to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO (a SEAL team that specializes in undersea operations) for his first operational assignment in Naval Special Warfare. His operational tours include SEAL Platoon Commander assignments at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO, SEAL Team EIGHT, and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He served as Operations Officer of SEAL Team EIGHT, Executive Officer of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO, and Naval Special Warfare Task Unit Commander at SEAL Team TWO. Captain Herbert was privileged to serve as Commanding Officer of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO, Naval Special Warfare Unit THREE (Naval Special Warfare’s forward command in the Middle East), and the Naval Special Warfare Center (Naval Special Warfare’s training command). Shore Assignments include Executive Assistant to Deputy Commander, United States Naval Forces Europe, Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director for Information Operations, the Joint Staff, and United States Special Operations Command’s liaison to the United States Coast Guard. Captain Herbert is also a backpacking instructor for National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and, prior to joining the Naval Academy faculty, served as Head of School for The Outdoor Academy, a semester school for high-achieving teens that focuses on character education, experiential learning, and leadership development. Support the show

Send us a text Dr. Lee Chae, Ph.D., is a Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Brightseed, a novel life sciences company, merging the tools of plant biology and artificial intelligence, with a goal of enabling a healthier future by re-illuminating and re-activating the connections between people and plants. Dr. Chae is a seasoned R&D technology developer and has designed advanced discovery methodologies for food technology, agricultural biotech, bio-medicine, and synthetic biology. He has been a principal scientist of multiple discoveries, including machine-learning driven discovery of novel nutritional bio-actives in plants and computationally guided identification of plant-based proteins for food. With as Ph.D in Plant Biology, Computational and Genomic Biology, from University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Chae was also a founding member of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute, and did Post-Doctoral Research at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford. Prior to Brightseed, Dr. Chae served as the VP of R&D at Hampton Creek, a company developing and marketing plant-based alternatives to conventionally-produced food products. Support the show

Send us a textEvery year, 800,000 babies are born extremely preterm (defined as less than 28 weeks of age) worldwide. These infants are usually transferred to an air-based neonatal intensive care unit to support their heart and lung development. Exposure to air, however, leads to many complications, because the lungs are not fully developed yet. An artificial uterus, or artificial womb, is a device that would allow for extra-corporeal pregnancy, by supporting the growth of a fetus outside the body of an organism that would normally carry the fetus to term. Juno Perinatal Healthcare (https://www.junoperinatalhealthcare.com/​) is a fascinating Dutch neonatal healthcare start-up which has a mission of developing a novel, alternative environment, similar to the mother’s womb, where extremely premature babies could be transferred, where the lungs remain filled with fluid and the umbilical cord will be attached to an artificial placenta to improve their organ development and ease the transition to newborn life. Juno Perinatal Healthcare is a companion project to a interdisciplinary consortium known as the Perinatal Life Support (PLS) Project (https://perinatallifesupport.eu/​), a consortium of three European universities, Aachen, Milan and Eindhoven, to establish the first ex-vivo fetal maturation system for clinical use. The PLS project, coordinated by the Eindhoven University of Technology brings together world-leading experts in obstetrics, neonatology, industrial design, mathematical modelling, ex-vivo organ support, and non-invasive fetal monitoring. The PLS consortium is led by professor Frans van de Vosse and Professor Dr Guid Oei. In 2020, the spin off Juno Perinatal Healthcare was set up by engineers Jasmijn Kok and Lyla Kok. Ms. Jasmijn Kok, our guest on today's show, is the founder of Nanny Nina International, an online nanny service in 24 cities operating in the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium. She has a degree in architectural engineering from TU Delft.Support the show