Empowered Patient Podcast

Avanish Vellanki, Co-Founder and CEO, Rain Therapeutics talks about developing targeted therapies for patients across a range of cancers.  Their lead program tarloxotinib is currently being developed for non-small cell lung cancer patients with EGFR/Exon 20 mutations.  Avanish fills us in on what makes tarloxotinib so unique, how it has the potential to help patients who currently have no viable treatment options and the future of precision medicine in treating cancers. @Rain_Thera Rain Therapeutics

Joanne Jarrett MD is a retired family physician, blogger, mom, wife and entrepreneur and talks with me about her provocative blog post Three Ways We May Be Teaching Our Kids To Be Liars.  Joanne points out that dishonesty is a misguided short-cut when attempting to avoid hurt feelings and that kids need to learn to balance kindness and social grace with authentic response to actions.  This includes telling the truth about bullying, medical conditions, and life style choices in conversations about socially acceptable behavior versus accuracy of feelings. CozyClothesBlog.com

Gilead Raday, COO, RedHill Biopharma discusses development of the next generation of effective therapies for gastrointestinal disorders and cancer that affect millions of people worldwide.  This includes treatment for H. pylori infections which can cause ulcers and gastric cancer, the first-ever therapy for Crohn's disease that targets the hypothesized bacterial cause of the disorder, and additional therapies for IBS-D and gastroenteritis. @RedHillBio RedHill Biopharma  

Vik Panda, VP Marketing, Adherium talks about their Hailie sensors which allow patients and doctors to track use of inhalers and help manage chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma and COPD.  With a smart case for the inhaler and a mobile app, patients get alerts, nudges and data to help them adhere to a plan to keep rescue inhaler use to a minimum.  Vik also shares additional insights about human behavior, what drives people to remember to take their medications and how technology can support medication adherence. @GetHailie HailieAdherium 

Ryan Lanclos, Director of Public Safety Industries, Esri talks about how drone data is changing the way first responders are able to prioritize resources in the event of a hurricane or other disaster.  Small drones are allowing safer analysis of damage with the ability to feed the real time data into predictive models that are able to create maps and visualizations that can help public safety officials and citizens to take action and think about options for recovery. @esri Esri

Dr. Anish Bhatnagar,  CEO of Soleno Therapeutics, discusses Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic disease that among other difficult symptoms, most markedly renders patients perpetually starving because of a dysfunctional neural pathway in the brain. This state, otherwise known as hyperphagia, can bring patients to the brink of severe sickness from overeating despite bring full, or from eating garbage, spoiled food, or sometimes even inedible objects. Anish talks about the hardships that this disease inflicts on its patients and its patients’ loved ones raising them, and about DCCR, the experimental treatment his company is developing to address this significantly unmet need for patients struggling with PWS. #Prader-Willi #PWS #SolenoTx #SLNO #RareDisease #DCCR Soleno Therapeutics

Dr. Niels Riedemann, Co-founder and CEO of InflaRx, discusses the pervasive problem of inflammation in a host of diseases, and how InflaRx is tackling this problem with their clinical-stage antibody therapy, IFX-1. InflaRx believes that they have found the key to addressing inflammation across a range of diseases, in the form of a molecule in the blood, complement factor C5a. Their main focus is on using IFX-1, a monoclonal antibody, to block C5a and prevent its action in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a devastating autoimmune disorder that manifests on the skin, to reduce inflammatory lesions and potentially prove an ability of IFX-1 to work in different inflammatory conditions. #inflammation #InflaRx #complementsystem #HS #immunology #IFX1 InflaRx.com

Greg Duncan, CEO, Celtaxsys tells us about the work the company is doing to help reduce pulmonary exacerbations in patients with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a rare genetic life-threatening disease that affects over 70,000 people worldwide. Pulmonary exacerbations are sudden, severe respiratory events that ultimately lead to lung function decline. Celtaxsys’ lead candidate, once-daily anti-inflammatory acebilustat, which the company is currently progressing to Phase 3 development, has the potential to prevent lung function decline by reducing the frequency of pulmonary exacerbations. #cysticfibrosis #CFresearch #RareDisease #CFAware #acebilustat Celtaxsys.com  

Suma M. Krishnan, Founder and COO, Krystal Biotech discusses their approach to treating rare genetic skin diseases that lack any truly effective treatments.  Krystal is developing the first ever topically applied gene therapy for the rare disease epidermolysis, a genetic condition characterized by extremely fragile skin that leads to devastating physical developments.  Krystal is looking to apply their novel gene therapy to treat a wide range of skin conditions for those of all ages. #RareDisease #EpidermolysisBullosa #Ichthyosis #GeneTherapy #Dermatology #FightEB #IchthyosisAwareness Krystal Biotech  

Christian Wilde, medical author and researcher has been studying the historical and medicinal benefits of turmeric.  Evidence from cultures where turmeric is used regularly in cooking points to a wide range of benefits of this spice.  Used in a concentrated form, this supplement seems to have a very positive impact on diseases that are related to inflammation and growth of tumors.  With no obvious side-effects and little chance for an overdose, this supplement is getting more attention from drug developers and doctors. MyHeartBook.com 

Joel Wishkovsky, Founder and CEO, Simple Contacts shares his passion for changing the healthcare model to provide affordable care using telemedicine particularly to treat low-risk patients.  Simple Contacts is an online model that allows those who wear contact lenses to take an online eye exam reviewed by a real doctor, and re-order lenses between visits to an eye doctor's office.  With support from ophthalmologists, Joel is providing inexpensive eye healthcare that fits into the busy life of patients.  @SimpleContacts SimpleContacts.com

Pierre Laurin, B.Sc.Pharm., M.Sc is President and CEO, Prometic Life Sciences, a company working to address varying forms of fibrosis. Pierre points out how much researchers have learned about fibrosis just over the last 10 years and how it is more common than you may think attacking vital organs for a variety of reasons. We also learn about what Prometic is doing to tackle highly progressive fibrotic diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and the ultra-rare condition Alström syndrome. #fibrosis #ipf #alstromsyndrome   Prometic Life Sciences

Crime Analysis Police Officer Adele Gardner is a gang intelligence expert who is working with Randy Raymond, a geographic information specialist in the Detroit public schools community district.  They are applying GIS, visualization tools, and sentiment analysis of social media posts to drive rapid response and proactive communication to address guns in schools, gang violence, natural disasters, and threats by kids to harm themselves and others. #Esri  

Dave Domzalski, CEO, Foamix Pharmaceuticals reminds us that acne is the most common skin condition affecting 50 million people in the US alone, how little has changed in the treatment of outbreaks, and how side effects of commonly prescribed acne treatments often result in many people discontinuing use leaving their acne unresolved.  Foamix is in late stage development of a topical form of minocycline, usually prescribed as an oral antibiotic, that is applied directly to the skin as a foam and that is showing fewer side-effects and greater impact. #acne #acneprone #AcneAwareness #skincare #clearskin #dermatology #dermatologist  Foamix Pharmaceuticals

Suzanne Shugg is CEO and Co-Founder, Teleplus Healthcare, a professor at Rutgers University teaching adult medicine, and director of a preventative cardiology clinic.  We talk about how telemedicine is allowing care provider teams to treat and support those with chronic diseases, advantages doctors enjoy from using telemedicine to prioritize response to patients, and the role of predictive models and AI in early detection and prevention.  Teleplus Healthcare

Cathy Miller is a patient advocate, field hockey coach and a medical mystery.  She talks about her journey in trying to find proper diagnoses, her relationship with doctors who struggle to figure out what is causing her conditions including Cushing's Disease and Myasthenia Gravis, and her drive to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Cushing's Support & Research Foundation

Dr. Steve Steinhubl, is Director of Digital Medicine at the Scripps Translational Science Institute and director of a team that is partnering with the All of Us Research Program, an NIH led national research effort that aims to advance individualized prevention, treatment and care for people of all backgrounds.  We talk about their plan to recruit one million participants as citizen-scientists, the value of capturing real time health metrics, and how digital health tools will become more robust as mobile and sensor technologies evolve. #JoinAllofUs JoinAllofUs.org Scripps Translational Science Institute  

Claire Wachter is a professional in the online advertising world, an Ironman triathlete and is beating breast cancer having cared for her mom who also suffered from the same disease.  With a focus on exercise and finding new ways to keep moving, Claire is on the path to healing.  For example, instead of taking the subway in Manhattan, she now rides a bike to her office.  Good diet, discipline and a supportive community are also part of her treatment plan.

Dr. Ernesto Gutierrez, Chief Medical Officer, Rehealth and the World Stem Cells Clinic offers stem cell therapies in Cancun Mexico to a global audience.  We talk about using regenerative medicine to address aging and maintaining a healthy body, who is most helped by stem cell therapy, and the rigorous testing and oversight of this emerging treatments. Rehealth.com World Stem Cells Clinic  

Denver Lough MD PhD is the President, CEO, CSO and Chairman of PolarityTE, a company looking to transform the regenerative medicine space. Denver shares his thoughts and insights on the most exciting and recent developments in regenerative medicine, including the work of his company PolarityTE, founded by a group of Johns Hopkins physician scientists. Denver discusses how PolarityTE is expanding the regenerative medicine space, building upon early foundational stem cell research, to be the first to produce fully functional, full thickness tissue across a number of tissue types.  We also talk about the FDA regulatory landscape and outstanding challenges in the field. @PolarityTE #PolarityTE #regenerativemedicine PolarityTE.com