Empowered Patient Podcast

Pranav Singh is an undergraduate in the department of Bio-Engineering at the University of California San Diego and the winner of the recent UCSD HealthHack.  Pranav's team came up with a plan, Blueprints for Life: Design Solutions for Refugee Health.  Their central idea is to allow the community of refugees in camps to organize and tap into expertise that can improve the life of all.  Pranav is excited about the tools that bio-engineering is bringing to addressing global health challenges and encouraged by their success in the HealthHack.   @UCSD UCSD HealthHack

Ben Tien is a graduate student in the department of bio-engineering at the University of California San Diego and a winner in the refugee category at the recent UCSD HealthHack.  Ben talks about how his team came up with the solution of a sexual assault alarm bracelet that would provide light, an emergency siren and a way to mark an assailant.  Ben also explains his passion for improving global health through the use of  bio-engineering to come up with cost-effective innovative solutions. UCSD HealthHack  

Paul Knoepfler PhD, Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy, University of California Davis is also the author of the new book GMO Sapiens: The Life-Changing Science of Designer Babies and talks with me about what stem cells can do to help create new cancer therapies as well as grow organoids in the lab to test drugs.  I heard Paul speak at the recent Future of Genomic Medicine Conference produced by the Scripps Translational Science Institute. @UCDavis #FOGM17  @ScrippsSTSI GMO Sapiens: The Life-Changing Science of Designer Babies

Ed Boyden PhD, Associate Professor, Media Lab and McGovern Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is exploring how light can be used to treat neurological diseases using non-invasive devices and genetic engineering.  He talks about the emerging field of neurotechnology, bringing together problem experts and solutions experts to find cures and treatments for brain diseases, and the need for more investigation of the mind/body connection.  I talked with Ed at the recent Future of Genomic Medicine Conference held in La Jolla CA by the Scripps Translational Science Institute.  @EdBoyden3 #FOGM17 @ScrippsSTSI Syntheticneurobiology.org

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, is assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, physician at Columbia University Medical Center and author of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer and the recently published The Gene: An Intimate History.  I heard Sid speak at the 10th Annual Future of Genomic Medicine Conference and in this short interview he admits that he is surprised that his books have become so popular with general audiences but that scientists need to talk up to people and assume they can understand more about the implications of genetic breakthroughs. @DrSidMukherjee #FOGM17 @ScrippsSTSI  

Sher Ali Butt, CEO, CB Therapeutics was presenting at a recent University of California San Diego IGNITE Innovator & Entrepreneur conference.  He was there to highlight their novel way of producing cannabinoids in yeast bypassing the need for land, water and other elements involved with growing cannabis plants to extract the cannabinoids.  Using biosynthesis technologies they are able to produce CBD isolate with a high level of purity in under 6 days costing on average $5/gram of pure compounds.  Now it is up to the medical profession to find new ways to use CBD instead of opiates and other pain medications. @CBTherapeutics  CB Therapeutics

Niranjanaa Jeeva talks about the March 4-5 UC Health Hackathon that will focus on improving health in low-resource communities and creative ways to address health care needs of refugees.  Now in it's third year, this competitive event mixes individuals with medical and technology expertise and awards prize money to teams that show the most innovative solutions to critical medical problems. #UCHealthHack UC Health Hack

Jefferson McMillan, Manager, Healthcare Analytics, Enterprise  Data Warehouse, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University is an expert in geo-spatial visualization and getting data tools into the hands of a wide variety of people.  He takes delight in working with end-users when they realize that by looking at patient data in new ways they can find early warning signs of disease outbreaks and see relevance to social media chatter to community health. @NUFeinbergMed Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University

Jonathan Mack PhD, Program Coordinator Health Care Informatics Program, University of San Diego is excited about the diversity of skills that are needed in the ever expanding health care information technology industry.  He shines a light on the increased risk from cyber attacks on health information, the reduction of medical errors thanks to electronic records, and the kinds of jobs that are being created for health care providers with strong technology experience. @UofSanDiego hcinformatics.sandiego.edu

Ruth Bush PhD, Associate Professor, Beyster Institute for Nursing Research at the University of San Diego talks about changing expectations for patient portals by care providers and patients, who really has access to online health information, and possibilities for new approaches to clinical trials.  Ruth also talks about the kinds of skills that are needed in the health care informatics industry. @UofSanDiego #HealthIT University of San Diego Beyster Institute  

CJ Barton, VP Sales, Kinvey talks about why clients who have tried to design apps most appreciate the value Kinvey brings to the development of HIPAA and security compliant mobile apps being used by hospitals, pharmaceuticals, insurance companies and other healthcare providers.  He also talks about innovative mobile health apps for pets that their humans seem to enjoy and that are not required to meet all the standards for moving electronic health information of their owners.  @Kinvey #HITSummit Kinvey.com

Fintan Connolly, founder, TakeTen, a start-up in Belfast Northern Ireland is addressing the growing problem of children of all ages who are experiencing stress and anxiety.  This innovative app is particularly useful for kids with learning, social, and emotional disabilities by having the camera in a mobile device detect heart rhythm, giving the user visual feedback about how their body is reacting, and providing a language for expressing feelings.  TakeTen is working with teachers and parents to give kids a strategy for dealing with failure and stress brought on by life as well as social media. @TakeTenTeam #InvestNorthernIreland #Belfast @CONNECTinSD TakeTenTeam.com

Eros Lazzerini Denchi PhD, Associate Professor, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) talks about his exciting discovery of a protein that fine-tunes the cellular clock and impacts aging and the development of cancer.  The novel protein TZAP binds the ends of chromosomes and controls a process called telomere trimming.  Eros provides a little perspective about the long journey in our understanding of telomeres and telomerase and the intriguing questions that this new discovery opens up.   @scrippsresearch TZAP: A telomere-associated protein involved in telomere length control Science January 12, 2017      Eros Lazzerini Denchi and Julia Su Zhou Li The Scripps Research Institute

Elizabeth Blackburn PhD was trained as a molecular biologist and is currently the President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.  She is the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking discovery of telomeres that protect the end of chromosomes and the enzyme telomerase that produces the telomeres' DNA.  Liz and her co-author Elissa Epel, PhD have translated this basic research into a book The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer that provides a way for the general consumer to understand the science of telomeres and genetics and how lifestyle choices can impact the health of the cells in the body. Originally from Tasmania, Australia Liz also reflects on whether there is a genetic predisposition for becoming a scientist. Salk.edu The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer by Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD and Elissa Epel, PhD    

Brian Pak Yan Leung, neuroscience PhD candidate in the neuroscience graduate program at the University of Southern California.  He is also a PhD  student at the University of Zurich in the Department of Experimental Immunology.  Brian talks about how those with a variety of backgrounds are drawn to the USC interdisciplinary neuroscience program and the upside down approach that makes classes so exciting. #neuroscience NGP.USC.edu

Tony Ricci, PhD, Director of Neuroscience Graduate Training Program at the Stanford University School of Medicine talks about how most of their students are new to neuroscience and the program's emphasis on interaction and collaboration between students and teachers.  He also reflects on how the field of neuroscience is getting broader and how the prefix 'neuro' could be put in front of just about any field. @StanfordMed Stanford Medicine @SfNTweets #SfN16

Michael Rowling, COO, ProtoKinetics explains that measuring and evaluating how someone is walking can be an early predictor for diseases.  He notes that wearables are  limited in their ability to measure differences in those who are slowing down.  Gait mat technology and associated software evaluates gait and balance by directly measuring  footsteps for better diagnosis of such conditions as Parkinson's and stroke and can be used to help prevent falls. @Protokinetics ProtoKinetics Gait and Balance Academy

Dr. Jon Pierce-Shimomura, Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Texas Austin talks about their unique program that pairs neuroscience graduate students with those that suffer from neurological diseases to better understand the whole patient and provide opportunities for everyone to learn about treating the ill and disabled. #neuroscience @SfNTweets #SfN16 University of Texas Austin Graduate School of Neuroscience

Renee Cockerham PhD is the Neuroscience Program Manager at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  I talked with Renee at the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience about how enthusiasm for science is hard to teach but other skills can be learned. She also emphasizes that diverse backgrounds are needed in the growing field of neuroscience as they prepare the next generation of scientists. #neuroscience @SfNTweets #SfN16 Lifesciences.umaryland.edu/neuroscience  

Greg Gage, CEO and Co-Founder, Backyard Brains talks about bringing affordable neuroscience tools to kids and classrooms to stimulate thinking about how our brain communicates with our senses.  I met Greg at the recent annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience where his fun experiments were a stark contrast to the high tech expensive equipment on the show floor being sold for clinical research. @BackyardBrains #Neuroscience @SfNtweets #SfN16 Backyard Brains