Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us Fan MailBill Taranto is President of the Global Health Innovation Fund at Merck (https://www.merckghifund.com/taranto.html) and founding partner since inception in 2010. Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (Merck GHI) is a corporate venture capital group utilizing a healthcare ecosystem strategy, investing globally in platform companies with proven technologies or business models where Merck's expertise can accelerate revenue growth and enhance value creation to ultimately develop integrated healthcare solutions. Merck GHI has $500M under management per an evergreen model and invests broadly in the domain of digital health, and other segments, and has made over 60 investments in portfolio companies, and has over 20 exits. They invest across the segments of Therapy Planning, Care Management, Health Analytics & AI, eClinical Trials and enabling technologies. Bill has more than 30 years of health care experience including over 20 years of healthcare investing. In addition to his experience in venture investing, Bill has more than a decade of management operations experience. Bill is also the chairman of the Merck Innovative Ventures Board, a group that manages the identification and funding of portfolio businesses; and is also Chairman of the GHI Fund LLC Management Board. Prior to joining Merck, Bill spent 18 years at Johnson & Johnson in various venture capital, marketing, sales and business development roles. Before J&J, Bill spent eight years in investment banking. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration from St. Bonaventure University.Support the show

Send us Fan MailLisa R. Sanders is the Director of Science and Technology for Special Operations Forces, Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (SOF AT&L), U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM - https://www.socom.mil/), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, where she is responsible for all research and development funded activities (https://www.socom.mil/SOF-ATL/Pages/eSOF_cap_of_interest.aspx) Ms. Sanders has over 30 years of civilian Federal service. She entered Federal Service as an Electronics Engineer at Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis, Indiana where she served in quality engineering, production engineering and program management. In 1996, she transferred to Naval Air Warfare Center and Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Patuxent River, Maryland, serving as an Electronics Engineer and Program Manager for the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. In 2003, she assumed responsibility for the production and modification of the CV-22 (a Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft). During her time at NAVAIR, she managed one of the first Multi-Year Procurements, and executed the modification and delivery of CV-22 production and developmental test aircraft. Ms. Sanders transferred to USSOCOM in 2005, where she retained responsibility for CV-22 production and worked as the Systems Acquisition Manager for the C-130 program in Program Executive Office Fixed Wing managing all C-130 projects across the Special Operations Forces inventory. In 2010, Ms. Sanders was promoted to position of Deputy Director for the Science and Technology Directorate; and in 2011, was assigned to the position of Director, Science & Technology. In 2014, Ms. Sanders left USSOCOM to attend the Defense Acquisition University Senior Service College Fellowship in Aberdeen, Maryland. She graduated in 2015, and was assigned to Headquarters, Air Force serving as the chair of the Air Force Capability Development Working Group. In 2016, she was selected as a Defense Intelligence Senior Leader. Ms. Sanders has her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, from GMI Engineering & Management Institute (Kettering University), Flint, MI, her Master’s in Business Administration, from St. Leo University, St. Leo, FL, and did a Senior Service College Fellowship, Aberdeen MD in Senior Professional Military Education.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Greg Lieberman, Ph.D. (https://www.arl.army.mil/arl25/meet-arl.php?gregory_lieberman) is a Neuroscientist, and Lead, Optimizing Human-System Performance, at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL). DEVCOM ARL, as an integral part of the Army Futures Command, is the Army’s foundational research laboratory focused on operationalizing science to ensure overmatch in any future conflict. DEVCOM ARL shapes future concepts with scientific research and knowledge and delivers technology for modernization solutions to win in the future operating environment. With a Ph.D. from the University of Vermont in Neuroscience, a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognitive Neuroscience from University of New Mexico, and a BA from University of Massachusetts Amherst in Psychology, Dr. Lieberman’s research and research leadership experience ranges from genetics to learning theory, animal behavior to artificial intelligence, and human variability to team dynamics; with additional expertise in S&T strategy and the opportunities afforded by the Future of Work. Specific areas of Dr. Lieberman’s technical expertise include maximizing human potential, human-autonomy teaming; neuroanatomical organization and connectivity; brain structure-function coupling; learning-driven neuroplasticity; non-invasive neurostimulation and cognitive enhancement; neuroimaging; mind-body medicine and mindfulness meditation; and the mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease, neuropathology, and brain injury.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Brad Stanfield, MD (https://drstanfield.com/) is a general medical practitioner from Auckland, New Zealand, as well as the host of the rapidly growing Extend Healthspan channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpcvPcHJVOkO9Qp79BOagTg) on YouTube. Dr. Stanfield graduated in 2015 from the University of Auckland, New Zealand with his MD, worked in hospital medicine for several years, including a role as an orthopedic registrar, before moving into general community practice focusing on healthspan-centric medicine. Support the show

Send us Fan MailAngel Eduardo (http://angeleduardo.com/) is a writer, musician, photographer, and designer based in New York City, who serves an Advisory Board member, FAIR in the Arts Fellow, and Director of Messaging & Editorial for the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR - https://www.fairforall.org/), where he helps shape the organization's pro-human approach to our often contentious and divided discourse. He is also a contributor to the Center for Inquiry’s blog, where he writes on science, communication, skepticism, and morality for a column entitled Searching for Better Angels, and is best-known for coining and promoting the rhetorical concept of star-manning. Angel holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from CUNY Hunter College, and has had writing featured in Newsweek, Areo Magazine, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, and The Caribbean Writer, among other print and online publications. Angel's photographs have been featured in various exhibitions and used as cover art for books—most notably in Personal Effects: Essays on Memoir, Teaching and Culture in the Work of Louise DeSalvo for Fordham University Press, which makes use of his photograph, “Early Bird.” Angel has been writing, performing, and recording music since the age of 15, and has been intimately involved in every creative facet of his projects, from songwriting, producing, mixing, and mastering, to designing and overseeing the creation of album artwork, concert posters, and merchandise. Be it with music, writing, photography, or design, Angel is an artist inspired to inspire. His hope is to pay it forward—providing others with the same solace, inspiration, perspective, and opportunity for personal and intellectual growth that the work of others has done for him. In the social realm, Angel advocates for a compassionate, honest, and civil approach to discourse, even when we’re incentivized to bare our teeth and dig in our heels. Through his work he hopes to foster more productive conversations on the topics of the day, all bolstered by his own six words of advice: Be kind; we’re all first drafts.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Uwe Schoenbeck, Ph.D., (https://www.pfizer.com/research/science_and_technology/meet_our_scientists/uwe_schoenbeck) is Chief Scientific Officer, Emerging Science & Innovation (ES&I) and Senior Vice President, Worldwide Research and Development & Medical (WRDM) at Pfizer. Part of Worldwide Research, Development & Medical, ES&I is charged with enhancing Pfizer’s pipeline through translation of external emerging science into breakthrough therapies for patients and through dedicated outreach to academia, consortia and biotech. Through its Emerging Science Liaisons located around the globe, they work across Pfizer’s Therapeutic Areas to harness external cutting edge pre-clinical assets and breakthrough technologies applying a broad range of partnering vehicles, including research collaborations, consortia, licensing, and acquisitions. ES&I also engages in equity investments as well as seed investments and formation of new companies. It has a Target Sciences team which is focused on novel target and biology discovery research to introduce differentiated First-in-Class programs with enhanced confidence in rationale into the WRDM portfolio. And through its new Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI - https://www.pfizercti.com/), ES&I prosecutes cutting edge science sourced from leading academic and medical centers globally, working in close partnership with external PIs and building an exciting pipeline across the range of Pfizer’s core areas. Dr. Schoenbeck brings fifteen years of pharmaceutical drug development experience to Pfizer’s R&D executive leadership team. Prior to joining the company, he served as Vice President, Emerging R&D Innovation for Wyeth and Vice President, Cardiovascular Research for Boehringer Ingelheim. Before joining industry, he held an Assistant Professor of Medicine position at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He has served as a reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, review articles, book chapters and abstracts with particular contributions in molecular and cell biology, cardiovascular research, immunology and metabolism. Dr. Schoenbeck earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kiel, Germany, and completed postdoctoral training in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, before joining as a faculty member.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Cecilia A. Conrad, Ph.D. (https://www.macfound.org/about/people/cecilia-a-conrad) is CEO of Lever for Change, a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (where she also serves as a Senior Advisor) which leverages investments in solutions to the world’s biggest problems — from racial and gender equity to climate change. Dr. Conrad was formerly a Managing Director at the Foundation, where she led the MacArthur Fellows program and steered the cross-Foundation team that created MacArthur’s 100&Change—an athematic, open call competition that periodically makes a single $100 million grant to help solve a critical problem of our time. She continues to manage the 100&Change competition. Before joining the Foundation in January 2013, Dr. Conrad had a distinguished career as both a professor and an administrator at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. She held the Stedman Sumner Chair in Economics and is currently a Professor of Economics, Emerita. She served as Associate Dean of the College (2004-2007), as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College (2009-2012), and as Acting President (Fall 2012). From 2007-2009, she was interim Vice President and Dean of the Faculty at Scripps College. As Associate Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pomona, Dr. Conrad championed the College's summer undergraduate research program and expanded it to the arts and humanities, led conversations regarding the value and assessment of a liberal arts college education, nurtured collaborations between the arts and the sciences, and worked with academic departments to improve the campus climate for diversity. As a member of the faculty, Dr. Conrad contributed to the curriculum of several interdisciplinary programs and, in 2002, was recognized as California's Carnegie Professor of the Year, a prestigious national award that recognizes faculty members for their achievement as undergraduate professors. Dr. Conrad's academic research focuses on the effects of race and gender on economic status. Her work has appeared in both academic journals and nonacademic publications including The American Prospect and Black Enterprise. Before joining the faculty at Pomona College, Dr. Conrad served on the faculties of Barnard College and Duke University. She was also an economist at the Federal Trade Commission and a visiting scholar at The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Dr. Conrad is a member of the board of trustees of Bryn Mawr College, The Poetry Foundation, the National Academy of Social Insurance, IES Study Abroad, and the African Center for Economic Transformation. She is a member of the TIAA Board of Governors and of the 2021-2023 Generosity Commission. Dr. Conrad received the National Urban League’s Women of Power Award in 2008 and the National Economic Association’s Samuel Z. Westerfield award in 2018. She has honorary doctorates from Claremont Graduate University and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr. Conrad received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Robert A. Montgomery, MD, DPhil, FACS, (https://nyulangone.org/doctors/1467404137/robert-montgomery) is the Director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, and Chair and a Professor in their Department of Surgery, where he oversees a diverse team of medical and surgical specialists who provide a wide variety of surgery and transplantation services including bone marrow, heart, kidney, liver, lung, and facial transplantation. Dr. Montgomery received his Doctor of Medicine with Honor from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, his Doctor of Philosophy from Balliol College, The University of Oxford, England in Molecular Immunology, and completed his general surgical training, multi-organ transplantation fellowship, and postdoctoral fellowship in Human Molecular Genetics at Johns Hopkins. For over a decade Dr. Montgomery served as the Chief of Transplant Surgery and the Director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Montgomery was part of the team that developed the laparoscopic procedure for live kidney donation, a procedure that has become the standard throughout the world. He and the Hopkins team conceived the idea of the Domino Paired Donation (kidney swaps), the Hopkins protocol for desensitization of incompatible kidney transplant patients, and performed the first chain of transplants started by an altruistic donor. He led the team that performed the first 2-way, 3-way, 4-way, 5-way, 6-way, and 8-way domino paired donations, and in the first 10-way open chain donation. Dr. Montgomery's current research focuses on stem cell therapies and gene- and cell-based therapies in transplantation. He was co-lead of a clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health involving simultaneous donor bone marrow and live donor kidney transplantation. He also runs multiple clinical trials for novel desensitization therapies. Dr. Montgomery is credited in the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records with the most kidney transplants performed in 1 day, is a world expert on kidney transplantation for highly sensitized and ABO incompatible patients, and is referred the most complex patients from around the globe. Dr. Montgomery has received several awards recognizing his experience in patient care and research, including the American Society of Human Genetics’ Postdoctoral Basic Science Award, the Johns Hopkins Clinician Scientist Award, the Fujisawa Faculty Development Award from the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the Champion of Hope Award from the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, and the Terasaki Medical Innovation Award from the National Kidney Registry. Dr. Montgomery is also a transplant recipient himself so he has unique perspectives as both patient and clinician.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Asha M. George, DrPH (https://biodefensecommission.org/teams/asha-m-george-drph/) is Executive Director, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, which was established in 2014 to assess gaps in and provide recommendations to improve U.S. biodefense. The Panel determines where the United States is falling short of addressing biological attacks and emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. Dr. George is a public health security professional whose research and programmatic emphasis has been practical, academic, and political. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a senior professional staffer and subcommittee staff director at the House Committee on Homeland Security in the 110th and 111th Congress. She has worked for a variety of organizations, including government contractors, foundations, and non-profits. As a contractor, she supported and worked with all Federal Departments, especially the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. George also served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence officer and as a paratrooper and she is a decorated Desert Storm Veteran. Dr. George holds a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (in Parasitology and Laboratory Practice), and a Doctorate in Public Health (with a focus on Public Health Policy and Security Preparedness) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is also a graduate of the Harvard University National Preparedness Leadership Initiative.Support the show

Send us Fan MailGeneral Stan McChrystal, is Founder and CEO of the McChrystal Group (https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/people/stan-mcchrystal/) an advisory firm focused on delivering innovative leadership solutions to businesses globally in order to help them transform and succeed in challenging, dynamic environments. A retired four-star general, Stan is the former commander of US and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan and the former commander of the nation’s premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He is best known for developing and implementing a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, and for creating a cohesive counter-terrorism organization that revolutionized the interagency operating culture. Throughout his military career, Stan commanded a number of elite organizations, including the 75th Ranger Regiment. After 9/11 until his retirement in 2010, he spent more than 6 years deployed to combat in a variety of leadership positions. In June 2009, the President of the United States and the Secretary General of NATO appointed him to be the Commander of US Forces Afghanistan and NATO ISAF. His command included more than 150,000 troops from 45 allied countries. On August 1, 2010 he retired from the US Army. Stan is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches a course on Leadership. He also sits on the boards of Navistar International Corporation, Siemens Government Technology, and JetBlue Airways. He is a sought-after speaker, giving speeches on leadership to organizations around the country. In 2013, Stan published his memoir, My Share of the Task, which was a New York Times bestseller; and is an author of Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, which was a New York Times bestseller in 2015. Stan also co-authored Leaders: Myth and Reality, a Wall Street Journal Bestseller based on the epochal Parallel Lives by Plutarch, and his most current book is Risk: A Users Guide. A passionate advocate for national service and veterans’ issues, Stan is the Chair of the Board of Service Year Alliance (https://www.serviceyearalliance.org/). In this capacity, he advocates for a future in which a year of full-time service—a service year—is a common expectation and opportunity for all young Americans. Stan is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Naval War College. He also completed year-long fellowships at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Council on Foreign Relations.Support the show