Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Aboubacar Kampo, MD, MPH is the Director of Health Programs at UNICEF (UN Headquarters) where he provides strategic leadership, management support and overall direction to UNICEF’s global health program. UNICEF, also known as the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The agency is among the most widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in 192 countries and territories. UNICEF's activities include providing immunizations and disease prevention, administering treatment for children and mothers with HIV, enhancing childhood and maternal nutrition, improving sanitation, promoting education, and providing emergency relief in response to disasters. With over 20 years of experience in development aid and humanitarian assistance, Dr. Kampo has worked as a physician/surgeon in hospitals and clinics in rural and urban areas in Africa and Asia and has over 14 years’ experience in senior management position as Country Director, Senior Global Health Advisor, and Chief of Health and Nutrition with International NGOs and United Nations’ Agencies. Dr. Kampo is a Medical Doctor and Public Health Specialist, passionate about using innovations to address real life community challenges and bridge the gap between communities and stakeholders. Dr. Kampo had his Medical degree from University of Mali, an MPH (Epidemilogy and Complex Emergency) at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and is certified in Health Economics from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London. Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Charles Brenner Ph.D. is the Alfred E Mann Family Foundation Chair in Diabetes and Cancer Metabolism, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Diabetes & Cancer Metabolism, at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (https://www.cityofhope.org/faculty/ch...). With his Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Stanford University, Dr. Brenner’s laboratory focuses on disturbances in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), the central catalyst of metabolism, in diseases and conditions of metabolic stress (https://www.cityofhope.org/charles-br...). Among his most significant discoveries, Dr. Brenner identified nicotinamide riboside (NR) as a vitamin precursor of NAD, as well as a quantitative metabolomic technology that allowed him to discover that the NAD system is disturbed by many diseases and conditions of metabolic stress, including diabetes and cancer. Specifically, Dr. Brenner and colleagues have found that in animal models of fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, diabetic and chemotherapeutic neuropathy, central brain injury, heart failure, postpartum and coronavirus infection, the NAD system is disturbed and that in these models, provision of nicotinamide riboside is highly protective. Dr. Brenner also led the team that conducted the first clinical trial of nicotinamide riboside establishing safe oral availability and has participated in trials establishing safety and potential activities of nicotinamide riboside in clearance of liver fat and depression of common markers of inflammation. Dr. Brenner continues to research how the NAD system is disregulated as a function of postpartum, coronavirus infection, inflammatory conditions, diabesity and specific malignancies, with the dual goals of defining mechanisms of biological regulation and developing safe preventative and therapeutic interventions for people. Dr. Brenner's work over the years been funded by numerous agencies including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the March of Dimes, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Beckman Foundation, the Lung Cancer Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Brenner is author of more than 140 publications and was the senior editor of the 2004 book, Oncogenomics: Molecular Approaches to Cancer. Dr. Brenner also serves as a Member of the scientific advisory board and Chief Scientific Advisor to ChromaDex, a global bioscience company dedicated to healthy aging.Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Sakhrat Khizroev is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the College of Engineering of the University of Miami, with a secondary appointment at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Miller School of Medicine. Dr Khizroev's laboratory conducts research on nano-magnetics and spintronics applications ranging from energy-efficient information processing to precision medicine. From 2011 to 2018, he was a Professor (tenured) of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida International University, with a joint appointment at the College of Medicine, where he co-founded and spearheaded the university-wide initiative on personalized nanomedicine. From 2006 to 2011, Dr Khizroev was a Professor (tenured) of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside (UC-Riverside). Prior to joining academia, Dr Khizroev spent four years as a Research Staff Member with Seagate Research and one year as a Doctoral Intern with IBM Almaden Research Center. His team, in collaboration with Professor Ping Liang of UC-Riverside, has for the first time proposed and developed magnetoelectric nano-particles for medical applications including targeted drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), high-specificity cancer treatment, HIV/AIDS, neuro-imaging, wireless neural network stimulation, and others. This team has also proposed and developed multilevel 3D magnetic memory devices and nanolasers for future information processing. In industry, he is most known for conducting groundbreaking experiments which resulted in the multi-billion-dollar data storage industry’s shift towards perpendicular magnetic recording. In 2012, Dr. Khizroev was elected a Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in the inaugural year of the Academy. He has graduated over 22 PhD Graduate Students. Dr. Khizroev holds over 39 granted US patents. He has authored over 150 refereed papers, 6 books and book chapters in the field. He has presented over 100 talks including many invited seminars and colloquia at international conferences, and has acted as a guest science and technology commentator on television and radio programs across the globe. Dr. Khizroev received a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1999, a M.S. in Physics from the University of Miami in 1994, and B.S./M.S. degrees in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Phystech) in 1992/1994. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Christopher Cifelli Ph.D. is Vice President of Nutrition Research at National Dairy Council where he oversees the Dairy and Public Health research platform, the goal of which is to provide scientific evidence that can be used to protect and promote dairy in public policy. Dr. Cifelli is responsible for the strategic planning, development, and management of dairy-centric research on chronic disease risk, childhood nutrition, CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey related research, and nutrition and sustainability. Dr. Cifelli obtained both his B.S. degree in Biology and his Ph.D. degree in Nutritional Sciences from Penn State University, where his graduate work focused on understanding how vitamin A status and inflammation affected retinoic acid metabolism, including mathematical modeling to study the effects of retinoic acid supplementation on whole-body vitamin A kinetics. During his post-doctorate work at Penn State, he examined vitamin A kinetics, storage and disposal rates in adults from different ethnic backgrounds. In his current role at the Dairy Research Institute, Dr. Cifelli is involved in the development, design, initiation, management and communication of research projects on the health benefits associated with adequate dairy consumption, including those studies examining the effects of vitamins and minerals found in dairy on bone density, weight maintenance, and metabolic health. Dr. Cifelli is active in several professional organizations. He currently serves as the chair of the Science and Translation Committee for the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics and is on the Board of Directors for the Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative. In addition he has authored or co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed research manuscripts, reviews and abstracts. Support the show

Send us Fan MailDr. Lydia Kostopoulos is a Science and Emerging Technology advisor at the U.S. Joint Special Operations University, and previously served as Innovation Advisor for the USSOCOM J5 Donovan Group, where she analyzed strategic trends relevant to Special Operations in the context of emerging technologies. The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) is the designated agency within USSOCOM to conduct joint Special Operations Force (SOF) education. Dr. Kostopoulos’ work lies in the intersection of national security, strategy, and technology. She forecasts emerging threats around disruptive technologies, participates in the NATO Science for Peace Program, is on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers -USA AI Policy Committee, and has been awarded the U.S. Presidential Service Award for her service to the cybersecurity community. Separate from her work at SOCOM, Dr. Kostopoulos is passionate about social tech awareness, has an art series about AI (#ArtAboutAI ) and released an open source game on technologies that affect humanity called Sapien 2.0. Dr. Kostopoulos is also the Founder of a fashion label called Empowering Workwear by Lydia, which has an agenda to promote awareness for change around women's issues and UN's sustainable development goals. Dr. Kostopoulos is also very focused on wellness and currently exploring epistemic wellness and human performance. Dr. Kostopoulos has a PhD in Political Science & Security Studies from University of Siena, Italy, an M.A. in Security & International Conflict from University of Innsbruck, Austria, and a B.A. in International Relations from American University Sharjah, UAE. Dr. Kostopoulos fluently speaks English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, and Greek.Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Anil Achyuta is an Investment Director and a Founding Member at TDK Ventures, which is a deep-tech corporate venture fund of TDK Corporation, the Japanese multinational electronics company that manufactures electronic materials, electronic components, and recording and data-storage media. Anil is passionate about energy and healthcare sectors as he believes these are the most impactful areas to building a sustainable future – a mission directly in line with TDK Ventures’ goal. At TDK Ventures, Anil has reviewed over 1,050 start-ups and invested in: 1) Autoflight - an electric vertical take-off and landing company, 2) Genetesis - a magnetic imaging-based cardiac diagnostics company, 3) Origin - 3D printing mass manufacturing company, 4) Exo - hand-held 3D ultrasound imaging company, 5) GenCell - ammonia-to-energy hydrogen fuel cell company, 6) Mojo Vision – augmented reality contact lens company, and 7) Battery Resourcers – a direct to cathode lithium ion battery recycling company. From his seven investments, Anil has secured two exits. GenCell IPO’d on Tel Aviv’s Stock Exchange, and Origin was acquired by the #1 3D Printing company in the world, Stratasys, for $100M. Anil was voted as one of the Rising Stars in 2021 by Venture Capital Journal and recently, Anil was ranked #2 Rising Star in 2021 out 20,000 corporate venturing managers globally. Prior to TDK Ventures, Anil held leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies including L'Oréal, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and Draper. Anil has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University and has authored over 15 peer-reviewed journal publications and 5 US patents. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Scelta Mushrooms BV is an innovative food company, located in Venlo, Netherlands, which processes mushrooms to make a portfolio of mushroom, and mushroom derived products, that are fresh, frozen, or preserved, for distribution to the food industry, food suppliers, and food retailers around the world. Scelta has grown to a group of six production facilities, with products exported to over 80 countries worldwide, and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most innovative mushroom companies. Jan Klerken is the Founder of Scelta, whose family has been in the mushroom business for three generations, combining over 50 years worth of experience within the mushroom industry, and who has been focusing and pioneering the intersection of taste, health and sustainability for the last few decades. Mr. Klerken is also an Ambassador at Kokkerelli / The Kids University for Cooking, a non-profit initiative which intends to familiarize Dutch children with the wonderful world of food and food innovation. In 2008, Scelta opened up the Scelta Institute, a research and development laboratory for novel, value added opportunities, and a kitchen for chefs to test products and come up with new recipes. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Natasha Bajema, is a subject matter expert in nuclear nonproliferation, cooperative threat reduction and WMD terrorism, and currently serves as Director of the Converging Risks Lab, at The Council on Strategic Risks, a nonprofit, non-partisan security policy institute devoted to anticipating, analyzing and addressing core systemic risks to security in the 21st century, with special examination of the ways in which these risks intersect and exacerbate one another. The Converging Risks Lab (CRL) is a research and policy development-oriented program designed to study converging, cross-sectoral risks in a rapidly-changing world, which brings together experts from multiple sectors of the security community, to ask forward-thinking questions about these converging risks, and to develop anticipatory solutions. Dr. Bajema is also Founder and CEO of Nuclear Spin Cycle, a publishing and production company specializing in national security, entertainment, and publishing. Prior to this, Dr. Bajema was at the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the National Defense University, serving as Director of the Program for Emerging Leaders (PEL), as well as serving long-term detail assignments serving in various capacities in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics, Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs and in Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Prior to joining the Center, Dr. Bajema was a Research Associate at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, where she supported research staff of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change established by the UN Secretary-General. She has also served as a Junior Political Officer in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch of the Department for Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations. Dr. Bajema's publications include two co-edited volumes entitled Terrorism and Counterterrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism, both of which were published by McGraw Hill. She has also published the novels Bionic Bug, Rescind Order, Genomic Data, and Project Gecko. Dr. Bajema holds an M.A. in international policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a PhD in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Mary "Missy" Cummings, is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, at the Pratt School of Engineering, at Duke University, the Duke Institute of Brain Sciences, and is the Director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory and Duke Robotics. Dr. Cummings received her B.S. in Mathematics from the US Naval Academy in 1988, her M.S. in Space Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994, and her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004. Dr.. Cummings was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots earning the rank of lieutenant and serving as naval officer and military pilot from 1988-1999. Dr. Cummings research interests include human-unmanned vehicle interaction, human-autonomous system collaboration, human-systems engineering, public policy implications of unmanned vehicles, and the ethical and social impact of technology. Dr. Cummings is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellow, a member of their Board of Trustees, the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, and Veoneer, Inc. Board of Directors. Dr. Cummings previously served as an instructor for the U.S. Navy at Pennsylvania State University, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech in their Engineering Fundamentals Division, and an associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Cummings is also an accomplished author with her book Hornet's Nest: The Experiences of One of the Navy's First Female Fighter Pilots. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Jonna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD, is a Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Ecology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Founding Executive Director of the UC Davis One Health Institute, and Vice Provost For Grand Challenges At UC Davis. Additionally, Dr. Mazet in on the Steering Committee of the Global Virome Project, Principal Investigator of the PREDICT project, Chair, National Academies’ One Health Action Collaborative, and Co-Vice Chair, UC Global Health Institute Board of Directors. Dr. Mazet's work focuses on global health problem solving for emerging infectious diseases and conservation challenges. She is active in international One Health education, service, and research programs, most notably in relation to pathogen emergence; disease transmission among wildlife, domestic animals, and people; and the ecological drivers of novel disease dynamics. Currently, Dr. Mazet is the Co-Director of the US Agency for International Development’s One Health Workforce – Next Generation, an $85 million educational strengthening project to empower professionals in Central/East Africa and Southeast Asia to address complex and emerging health threats, including antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic diseases. Dr. Mazet is the Principal Investigator of, and served as the Global Director of, the PREDICT Project for 10 years, a greater than $200 million viral emergence early warning project under USAID’s Emerging Pandemic Threats Division, which served as an early-warning system-strengthening effort aimed at finding emerging viruses before they spread to humans. Dr. Mazet was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2013 in recognition of her successful and innovative approach to emerging environmental and global health threats, and serves on the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats and chairs the Academies’ One Health Action Collaborative. She was appointed to the National Academies Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, which was created to assist the federal government with critical science and policy issues related to the COVID-19 crisis and other emerging health threats. Support the show