The Anti-Doping Podcast Dr. Marie McNeely and the Partnership for Clean Competition

Dr. Amy Eichner is the Special Advisor on Drugs and Supplements at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). In this episode, she discusses risks and considerations for athletes who are thinking about taking dietary supplements, and work that USADA is doing to help reduce supplement-related risks for athletes. Dr. Eichner also covers research chemicals, some of the novel substances that are relevant in the context of clean sport, the anti-doping implications of the growing field of biologics, and more.

Brian Ahrens is Director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in Los Angeles. In this episode Brian shares insights from more than three decades working in a WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratory, details on their daily operations, research and development efforts they are working on now, areas of opportunity in anti-doping research, and their preparations for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games which will be held in Los Angeles. 

Kim Højgaard Ravn is Chief Executive Officer of Anti Doping Denmark, and he has worked for the organization for over ten years, serving in a variety of roles to advance clean sport. In our interview, Kim talks about his career, how the anti-doping landscape has evolved over the past decade, and the organization’s commitment to clean sport and supporting anti-doping science. Kim discusses the work they are doing at Anti-Doping Denmark currently, including anti-doping efforts in organized sports and also in gyms and fitness centers across the country.

Dr. Henrique Marcelo Gualberto Pereira is Director of the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory and Professor in the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Henrique is also President of the World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists (WAADS). In our conversation, we talk about his background, the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory, and the role of WAADS in the anti-doping community. He also shares some of the important research that he and his colleagues are working on, including using a zebrafish water tank model to better understand the metabolism of prohibited substances and research aimed at better detecting use of cobalt, a prohibited substance that can impact red blood cell production. 

As a follow-up to our previous episode focused on innovative Blood Collection Devices from Tasso, Inc., Dr. Matthew Fedoruk joins us to discuss how Tasso's blood collection devices are being used in anti-doping and the state of the science of what we can detect with these devices for anti-doping purposes. He covers important benefits of these devices, current limitations, and some of the key milestones and future directions for implementation in anti-doping testing. Dr. Fedoruk is Chief Science Officer at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and he is also Co-Chair of the Partnership for Clean Competition's Scientific Advisory Board. 

Collecting blood samples is critical in anti-doping testing and a variety of clinical applications such as diagnostics and disease monitoring. However, traditional blood testing approaches can be a major pain point for athletes, sport organizations, patients, and their care teams. Tasso, Inc. is a company developing innovative products to improve the user experience surrounding blood collection. In this episode, Dr. Erwin Berthier and RJ Asplund describe Tasso's current devices and how they work, the benefits of these products, and how their work is helping advance anti-doping. Erwin is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer and RJ is Vice President of Commercial at Tasso, Inc.