Talk Polymath: Evidence-based Conversations Polyplexus.com

Hear the semifinalists from the ARPA-H Dash talk about their bold ideas for health transformation and what drives them. In this episode, they explore the impact their ideas could have on health — from accelerated healing and customized cell treatments at scale to better mental health treatments and a single drug for cancer.
 
This episode features: 
 
Willie Reaves, Cellino  
Mary Allen, Cure Brain Disease
Jeffry Paten, BrilliantStrings Therapeutics
Anuradha Lingappa, Prosetta Biosciences
 
To see the whole bracket of ideas, go to polyplexus.com/healthdash
 
 
Tags: 
#polyplexus #TalkPolymath #ARPAH #HealthDash #FutureofHealth #CancerTreatment #MentalHealth #CellTherapies #AcceleratedHealing #HealthinAmerica #TransformingHealth #Healthcare #HealthBreakthroughs 
 

In this episode, we talk with Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)’s Inaugural Director, Dr. Renee Wegrzyn. ARPA-H, a new federal agency, accelerates accessible and equitable high-impact health solutions that cannot be readily accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity. To do this, ARPA-H aims to create new capabilities and solve important health problems for all Americans through ambitious, well-defined, and measurable programs.
 
During our discussion, Dr. Wegrzyn discusses the ARPA-H Dash to Accelerate Health Outcomes (ARPA-H Dash), a collaborative online competition to identify revolutionary ideas to transform health. The nationwide competition uses a bracket format and online discussion, debate, and voting to narrow submissions to quarterfinalists, semifinalists, finalists, and a champion idea during March and April 2023. 
 
To learn more about the ARPA-H Dash, visit:  https://arpa-h.gov/news/dash/
 
 To register for the Dash and view full rules, visit: https://polyplexus.com/healthdash 

In this episode, we talk with Colin Strong, Head of Behavioral Science at Ipsos. During our discussion, Colin differentiates behavioral science from traditional psychology and how the former can help us understand how to navigate the “liquid changing” sociopolitical and environmental situations currently happening on a global scale. Specifically, he offers his perspective on how the Pandemic affected the human condition, the behavioral changes that manifested, and how they may impact the critical challenges we face.
 
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Colin Strong
 
Head of Behavioral Science at Ipsos
 
Colin Strong is Head of Behavioral Science at Ipsos, where he applies this discipline to client challenges in the private and public sectors, with recent activities in sustainability, disrupted brand choice, organizational change, and financial well-being. Colin and his team have developed a significant reputation in behavior change, developing a system that delivers sustained change in various contexts.
 
Colin’s academic background is in psychology, with a Masters's Degree in Applied Psychology from Cranfield Institute.  He has worked in the market research industry for most of his career, using a psychology lens to develop advice, guidance, and new approaches using market research tools.
 
He is an Honorary Professor of Consumer and Behavioural Psychology at Nottingham University Business School, where he is actively engaged in a range of programs, including a significant body of work on autonomous systems.
 
Finally, he is a writer with a book under his belt (Humanizing Big Data) and writing projects both on applied behavioral science and another on the tricky business of ‘being human’.
 
Links: 
 
Ipsos Website: https://www.ipsos.com/en-us 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-strong-3a12006/?originalSubdomain=uk 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colinstrong 
Personal Website: https://colinstrong.co.uk/ 
 
Authors Mentioned:
 
 
Lorraine Daston 
Cory Doctorow
Jernnifer Jacquet
David Noble
 
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Hosted by Polyplexus, Talk Polymath is a monthly podcast series featuring evidence-based conversations with current and emerging thought leaders in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. From public health to changing models and trends in technology, this podcast engages in topics of current interest across disciplines. For more information, visit www.polyplexus.com

In this episode we speak with Dr. Stacy Woods, Senior Data Scientist at the Science Office of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). As the in-house expert in statistics and data visualization, her work primarily focuses on different aspects of water health. Stacy discusses the key role community members play in water health projects, recounting her work on the highly publicized case of lead pipes poisoning residents in Flint, MI. There, she and her team established a public database, including historical and community-based data, that led to an overhaul of the city’s water system. She now leverages this replicable process and a set of data tools to address similar threats to water health across the country.
 
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Dr. Stacy Woods
 
Senior Data Scientist, Science Office NRDC
 
Dr. Stacy Woods specializes in applying data science—from defining the problem domain to data collection, management, analysis, interpretation, and communication—in environmental litigation. She has served as an expert witness and science advisor on numerous state and federal cases with NRDC’s litigation team, including the landmark Flint water case (Concerned Pastors for Social Action v. Khouri). 
 
Dr. Woods also directs the Data Hub Initiative for NRDC’s Science Office. Her scientific research employs spatial statistics and GIS to investigate diverse environmental health issues, from predicting lead pipe locations in Flint to quantifying pesticide runoff hazards to manatees in Florida. 
 
Before joining NRDC, Dr. Woods worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, she was a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy fellow at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 
 
She holds a Ph.D. in environmental health engineering and a master's of public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she was a Brown scholar in community health. She is based in NRDC’s New York office.
 
Links: 
 
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/stacy-woods
 
Additional Links: 
 
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/stacy-woods/flint-map-shows-progress-reveals-where-lead-likely-remains
 
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Hosted by Polyplexus, Talk Polymath is a monthly podcast series featuring evidence-based conversations with current and emerging thought leaders in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. From public health to changing models and trends in technology, this podcast engages in topics of current interest across disciplines. For more information, visit www.polyplexus.com

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Anastasia Yanchilina, a Research Scientist and “Rock Enchantress” at Impossible Sensing. Anastasia’s work is rooted in applying what we know about the past to what we can learn about the future. Combining her studies in paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, and climate policy with her expertise in geochemistry and geology, she analyzes data coming back from the 2020 Mars Perseverance Mission. Learn about her findings, including whether or not we’ll ever grow crops on the Red Planet.
 
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Dr. Anastasia Yanchilina, Research Scientist at Impossible Sensing
 
Anastasia Yanchilina completed her Ph.D. at Columbia University and her postdoctoral training at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Dr. Yanchilina’s expertise lies in Marine Geology and Geochemistry. At Impossible Sensing, she analyzes and diagnoses data generated from various data-driven IMS projects such as #InVADER, #VIPER, and the #Mars2020 Perseverance Mission.
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https://twitter.com/borealis87?lang=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-yanchilina-a2596424/
https://www.instagram.com/nyanchil/

 Hosted by Polyplexus, Talk Polymath is a monthly podcast series, featuring evidence-based conversations with current and emerging thought leaders in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. From public health to changing models and trends in technology, this podcast engages in topics of current interest across disciplines. For more information visit www.polyplexus.com

In this episode, we talk with Eric Klingenberg, Materials Science Lead, at the Mars Advanced Research Institute, the research arm of Mars, Inc. Eric discusses how the development of new packaging for Mars products involves thinking beyond recyclability. He and his colleagues at Mars explore a variety of materials and technologies that present opportunities for making use of waste materials while also reducing the amount that ends up in landfills. Learn more about how Eric assembles interdisciplinary experts to help him learn more about composting and plastics deconstruction — including soil chemists, physicists, and engineers — and why he believes informed research and investment will help global companies like Mars drive the circular economy.
 
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Eric H. Klingenberg, Ph.D.
 
Materials Science Lead, Mars Advanced Research Institute
 
Eric is part of the Mars Advanced Research Institute (MARI), where he leads the Materials Science Platform. His work includes developing new materials and processes to reduce the environmental impact of plastic packaging, supporting Mars’ commitment to transition to 100% reusable, recyclable, and compostable packaging and decrease its virgin plastic use by 2025. He also serves on several university advisory boards, and is a technical advisor for the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design, a consortium of national labs and universities working to develop and expand data and computation tools to accelerate advanced materials design.
 
Eric has a B.S in chemistry with a minor in biology from Geneva College, and a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University. During his 20+ year career as an industrial researcher and R&D leader, he has worked in multiple fields of study, including new material development, manufacturing scale-up, and process optimization.
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-klingenberg-9884bba/ 
 
https://www.mars.com/ 
 
Additional Links: 
 
https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2020/08/f77/beto-amo-mars-plastics-wksp-rpt-final.pdf 
 
https://www.packagingdigest.com/flexible-packaging/brainstorming-flexible-packaging-sustainability-80-experts-1500-ideas 

Hosted by Polyplexus, Talk Polymath is a monthly podcast series, featuring evidence-based conversations with current and emerging thought leaders in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. From public health to changing models and trends in technology, this podcast engages in topics of current interest across disciplines. For more information visit www.polyplexus.com