Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Ira Pastor

Interviews and Discussions With Fascinating People Who are Creating A Better Tomorrow For All Of Us - Host - Ira S. Pastor

  1. 2d ago

    Building the Internet of Medicine: How AI Could Transform Children's Healthcare | Dr. Timothy Chou - Founder, Pediatric Moonshot

    Send us Fan Mail Imagine a world where a child with a rare disease in a rural hospital could benefit from the collective intelligence of 500 of the world's best children's hospitals - not years later, but in real time. What if artificial intelligence could connect medical expertise globally while keeping every patient's data private? That is the ambitious vision behind the Pediatric Moonshot ( https://pediatricmoonshot.org/ ). Our guest today has spent more than four decades at the forefront of nearly every major transformation in enterprise computing. Dr. Timothy Chou earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois before beginning his career at Tandem Computers, one of Silicon Valley's pioneering companies in fault-tolerant distributed computing. He later served as President of Oracle On Demand, helping lead Oracle's early cloud computing initiatives years before "the cloud" became part of everyday vocabulary. Alongside his industry career, Dr. Chou has taught at Stanford University since 1982, where he created the university's first course on cloud computing and has inspired generations of entrepreneurs and technology leaders. Today he serves on the Board of Directors of Teradata, chairs the IoT initiative at Alchemist Accelerator, advises emerging enterprise software companies, and was recognized as one of the National Association of Corporate Directors' Directorship 100 honorees. But after what many would consider a complete career, Dr. Chou came out of retirement to pursue perhaps his most ambitious mission yet. Inspired by one of his Stanford students, he founded Pediatric Moonshot, a nonprofit with a bold vision: to reduce healthcare inequity by enabling privacy-preserving artificial intelligence to securely learn from the more than one million medical machines spread across roughly 500 children's hospitals around the world - without requiring patient data to leave those hospitals. Today we're going to explore not only the future of pediatric healthcare and artificial intelligence, but also whether medicine is on the verge of its own Internet moment - where distributed intelligence, rather than centralized data, could fundamentally reshape how care is delivered around the world. #PediatricMoonshot #ArtificialIntelligence #AIHealthcare #HealthcareInnovation #FutureOfMedicine #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #MedicalAI #AIRevolution #EdgeComputing #CloudComputing #FederatedLearning #RareDisease #Pediatrics #ChildrenHealthcare #PrecisionMedicine #HealthcareEquity #Innovation #Technology #SiliconValley #StanfordUniversity #AIAgents #FutureTechnology #MedicineOfTheFuture #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities Support the show

    53 min

  2. 3d ago

    How Regenerative Medicine Is Reinventing Breast Reconstruction | Dr. Claudia Chavez-Munoz, MD, PhD - Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder - Conexeu Sciences

    Send us Fan Mail For decades, women undergoing mastectomy have largely faced the same choice: reconstruct with permanent implants or use tissue transplanted from another part of the body. But what if there was a third option - not replacing what's been lost, but actually regenerating it? Today we're exploring one of the most ambitious ideas in regenerative medicine: a 3D-bioprinted scaffold designed to help the body rebuild living tissue. Dr. Claudia Chavez-Munoz, MD, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized surgeon-scientist, regenerative medicine innovator, and Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Conexeu Sciences ( https://www.conexeu.com/ ). With a career spanning plastic surgery, wound healing, tissue engineering, and extracellular matrix biology, she has dedicated more than two decades to understanding how the body repairs itself - and how that knowledge can be translated into next-generation therapies. Dr. Chavez-Munoz earned her MD from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, completed her Ph.D. in Plastic Surgery at the University of British Columbia, and pursued postdoctoral training in tissue engineering and reconstructive surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her pioneering work has ranged from stem cell biology and skin regeneration to biomaterials and organ reseeding technologies. Throughout her academic career at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver General Hospital, she has mentored future physician-scientists while advancing innovative approaches to tissue regeneration. Today, she leads the scientific development of Conexeu's "10 Minute Tissue™" platform and is spearheading what may become the world's first 3D-bioprinted regenerative breast - a temporary scaffold designed to disappear over time as a patient's own tissue regenerates and replaces it. Her work represents a bold vision for the future of reconstructive surgery: moving beyond permanent implants and toward living, regenerative solutions that harness the body's natural healing capacity. #BreastCancer #BreastReconstruction #RegenerativeMedicine #3DBioprinting #TissueEngineering #Bioprinting #PlasticSurgery #Biotechnology #StemCells #WoundHealing #Biomaterials #PrecisionMedicine #FutureOfMedicine #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalInnovation #ExtracellularMatrix #CancerSurvivorship #Surgery #WomenInSTEM #ProgressPotentialPossibilities Support the show

    1h 3m

  3. 4d ago

    How Radiopharmaceuticals Are Changing Cancer Forever | Dr. Ebrahim Delpassand, MD - Founder, Chairman and CEO - RadioMedix

    Send us Fan Mail What if radiation could become one of the most precise medicines ever invented? Long before radiopharmaceuticals became one of the hottest areas in biotech, today's guest was helping pioneer targeted radiation therapies that seek out cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Today, the field is attracting billions in investment and reshaping oncology. Our guest today is one of the true pioneers of modern targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy. Dr. Ebrahim Delpassand, MD is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of RadioMedix ( https://radiomedix.com/ ), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation targeted radioactive diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer. Long before radiopharmaceuticals became one of the most exciting areas in precision oncology, Dr. Delpassand was introducing these therapies to patients who had exhausted every other option.  As former Deputy Chairman and Chief of Clinical Nuclear Medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Delpassand served as Principal Investigator on some of the very first FDA Investigational New Drug programs for Lutetium-177 therapies in the United States, including the nation's first INDs for Lu-177 DOTATATE peptide receptor radionuclide therapy and Lu-177 PSMA-617 therapy. Board-certified in Nuclear Medicine and trained in both pathology and nuclear medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Delpassand has authored more than ninety peer-reviewed publications and has spent decades advancing therapeutic nuclear medicine through research, clinical care, and education. But perhaps even more remarkable is his entrepreneurial journey. Nearly twenty years ago, convinced that targeted radiopharmaceuticals represented a fundamentally new way to fight cancer, Dr. Delpassand founded RadioMedix and personally sustained the company through its earliest years while helping build not only innovative therapies, but also isotope production capabilities, cGMP manufacturing infrastructure, and broader access to these life-saving treatments. Today, as radiotheranostics transforms cancer care around the world, Dr. Delpassand joins us to discuss where the field began, where it is heading, and what the next generation of precision radiation medicines could mean for patients. #Radiopharmaceuticals #CancerResearch #CancerTherapy #PrecisionMedicine #Oncology #Radiotheranostics #NuclearMedicine #Biotechnology #Biotech #MedicalInnovation #HealthcareInnovation #TargetedTherapy #AlphaTherapy #Lutetium177 #PrecisionOncology #FutureOfMedicine #CancerTreatment #DrugDevelopment #SciencePodcast #ProgressPotentialPossibilities Support the show

    48 min

  4. 5d ago

    Beyond Immunosuppression: The Rise of T-Cell Engagers for Autoimmune Disease | Dr. Jeffrey Jones, MD, MPH - Chief Medical Officer, Cullinan Therapeutics

    Send us Fan Mail For decades we've treated autoimmune diseases by suppressing the immune system - but what if we've been approaching the problem all wrong? What if, instead of lifelong immunosuppression, we could selectively eliminate the immune cells causing disease and allow the immune system to rebuild itself? Today we're exploring one of the hottest areas in biotechnology: T-cell engagers and the possibility of an "immune reset." Dr. Jeffrey Jones, MD, MPH is Chief Medical Officer of Cullinan Therapeutics ( https://cullinantherapeutics.com/ ) and one of the leaders helping bring the power of T-cell engager therapies beyond cancer and into autoimmune disease. With more than two decades of experience spanning academia and industry, Dr. Jones has been at the forefront of clinical development in hematology, oncology, and immunology. Prior to joining Cullinan, Dr. Jones served as Vice President of Global Drug Development at Bristol Myers Squibb, leading programs in lymphoma and myeloid diseases and helping guide the lifecycle strategy for Reblozyl®. Earlier, he held leadership positions at Celgene, where he developed clinical strategies across lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia portfolios. Before entering industry, Dr. Jones spent more than a decade at The Ohio State University, where he led the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia clinical research program and served as Associate Professor of Internal Medicine. Today, he is helping pioneer a new generation of T-cell engagers designed not to continuously suppress the immune system, but potentially to reset it - opening the possibility of durable, treatment-free remission for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, lupus nephritis, and autoimmune cytopenias. Dr. Jones earned his MD from the University of Michigan Medical School, an MPH from the University of Texas School of Public Health, and an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. #AutoimmuneDisease #Lupus #RheumatoidArthritis #Immunology #TCellEngagers #Biotechnology #DrugDevelopment #PrecisionMedicine #ImmuneSystem #ImmuneReset #ClinicalTrials #Biotech #HealthcareInnovation #FutureOfMedicine #ProgressPotentialPossibilities Support the show

    55 min

  5. 5d ago

    Inside Israel's Health Innovation Revolution | Dr. Michal Tzuchman-Katz, MD - Chief Innovation & Research Officer, Maccabi Healthcare Services

    Send us Fan Mail Can artificial intelligence really think like a physician - or is it simply predicting words? This week we're joined by Dr. Michal Tzuchman-Katz, MD, physician, AI entrepreneur, pediatrician, and Chief Innovation & Research Officer at Maccabi Healthcare, one of the world's most advanced healthcare organizations. We explore why the future of medicine isn't just better AI - it's building healthcare systems that learn from every patient. Dr. Michal Tzuchman-Katz, MD is a physician, technologist, entrepreneur, and healthcare innovation leader who currently serves as Chief Innovation & Research Officer at Maccabi Healthcare Services ( https://www.maccabi4u.co.il/ ), one of Israel’s largest and most advanced healthcare organizations. What makes Dr. Tzuchman-Katz’s story extraordinary is that she has worked across nearly every layer of modern health technology. She began her career as a software engineer, earned her medical degree with honors, trained as a pediatrician, studied genomics and biomedical informatics, and went on to co-found and lead Kahun, an AI-powered clinical reasoning company that developed a knowledge-graph engine containing more than 30 million evidence-based medical insights. At Kahun, Dr. Tzuchman-Katz became a pioneer in explainable AI for physicians, focusing on making AI-generated recommendations transparent, traceable to medical evidence, and aligned with the way clinicians actually think.  Today, at Maccabi, Dr. Tzuchman-Katz oversees innovation and research initiatives that leverage one of the world’s richest longitudinal healthcare datasets and biobanks to develop and scale technologies that can improve patient outcomes at population level. Remarkably, while leading innovation for a major healthcare system, Dr. Tzuchman-Katz continues to practice as a pediatrician, giving her a uniquely grounded perspective on the promises and limitations of AI in real clinical care. #HealthcareInnovation #ArtificialIntelligence #MedicalAI #PrecisionMedicine #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #ClinicalAI #Medicine #Healthcare #Biotech #Genomics #Innovation #FutureOfMedicine #HealthcareData #MachineLearning #MedicalResearch #Pediatrics #PreventiveMedicine #PersonalizedMedicine #PPP Support the show

    47 min

  6. Jul 3

    Beyond Ignition: The Engineering Challenge That Will Decide Fusion's Future | Dr. Will Regan, Ph.D. - Founder and Chief Scientist, Pacific Fusion

    Send us Fan Mail For decades, fusion researchers were chasing a single goal: ignition. But what if ignition isn't the finish line? What if it's only the starting gun? Today we're joined by Dr. Will Regan, Founder and Chief Scientist of Pacific Fusion, a company betting that the future of fusion won't be won by building bigger machines - but by solving one of engineering's toughest manufacturing challenges. Dr. Will Regan, Ph.D. is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Pacific Fusion ( https://www.pacificfusion.com/ ), where he is helping lead one of the most ambitious efforts in advanced inertial fusion energy: developing a practical, scalable pathway to commercial fusion power using pulsed power systems and high-yield target physics. Before founding Pacific Fusion, Will served as a Project Lead and Rapid Evaluator at X, the moonshot factory, where he helped originate and develop breakthrough concepts in agricultural and systems innovation, including early foundational work behind the Mineral initiative focused on sustainable food production at planetary scale. Earlier in his career, he was an ARPA-E Fellow at Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, where he worked at the intersection of high-risk, high-reward energy technologies and national-scale innovation programs—an experience that helped shape his approach to large-scale energy system design and technology acceleration. Will earned his PhD in Physics from University of California, Berkeley, following his undergraduate degree in Physics from Cornell University. Across academia, government, and moonshot industry environments, he has consistently focused on translating frontier physics into real-world systems—now centered on one of the most consequential engineering challenges of the century: fusion energy. At Pacific Fusion, he is working to turn high-gain fusion concepts into repeatable, engineered systems that could fundamentally reshape global energy infrastructure. #FusionEnergy #NuclearFusion #PacificFusion #WillRegan #CleanEnergy #FutureOfEnergy #FusionPower #InertialConfinementFusion #ICF #MagLIF #SandiaLabs #LawrenceLivermore #NIF #AdvancedEnergy #EnergyInnovation #Physics #Engineering #ClimateTech #MoonshotFactory #ARPAE #SciencePodcast #TechnologyPodcast #ProgressPotentialPossibilities #STEM #DeepTech Support the show

    37 min

  7. Jul 3

    Growing Plants in Space: The Science Behind Future Moon and Mars Colonies | Mark Ciotola - CEO and Co-Founder, Sustain Space

    Send us Fan Mail Everyone talks about getting humans to Mars. But almost nobody talks about the harder question - how do you keep them alive once they get there? My guest today says the answer isn't bigger rockets - it's plants. Mark Ciotola is CEO and Co-Founder of Sustain Space ( https://www.sustainspace.com/ ), a company focused on developing regenerative life-support technologies for future space missions while translating those innovations to improve agriculture and sustainability on Earth. Through Sustain Space's Orbital Genomics initiative, he is helping advance research into growing plants in space environments - an essential capability for long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Mark's career spans entrepreneurship, academia, industry, and government, including work with NASA, Genentech, Applied Biosystems, Intuit, Carnegie Mellon University, Monash University, San Francisco State University, and Singularity University, where he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence and faculty member in Space and Physical Sciences. A physicist, entrepreneur, educator, and sustainability advocate, Mark is particularly interested in regenerative ecosystems, closed-loop life-support systems, space agriculture, and the broader question of how humanity can build a sustainable future both on Earth and beyond it. Important Episode Link - HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology - https://www.hudsonalpha.org/ #MarkCiotola #SustainSpace #SpaceAgriculture #SpaceFarming #MarsColonization #MoonBase #NASA #SpaceBiology #Astrobiology #PlantScience #OrbitalGenomics #ControlledEnvironmentAgriculture #VerticalFarming #Hydroponics #SyntheticBiology #FutureOfFood #SpaceTechnology #SpaceExploration #LifeSupportSystems #ClosedLoopSystems #MarsMission #MoonMission #Humanity #Innovation #SciencePodcast #STEM #FutureOfHumanity #ProgressPotentialPossibilities Support the show

    49 min

  8. Jul 1

    Delirium, Dementia & Protecting the Aging Brain | Dr. Tammy Hshieh, MD, MPH - Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife

    Send us Fan Mail We often assume confusion after surgery is temporary. But what if those few days of delirium are actually a major turning point in the aging brain? New research from Harvard and Hebrew SeniorLife suggests postoperative delirium may be the strongest predictor of long-term cognitive decline - and what we're learning could fundamentally change how we think about dementia and healthy aging. Each year, millions of older adults undergo surgery successfully, only to experience episodes of confusion, disorientation, memory impairment, or altered awareness in the days that follow. For decades, many clinicians viewed postoperative delirium as a temporary complication that resolved once patients left the hospital. But emerging research suggests a much more profound story. Our guest today is Dr. Tammy Hshieh, MD, MPH, is physician-scientist, geriatrician, and internationally recognized expert on delirium, cognitive impairment, and healthy aging.  Dr. Hshieh serves as Assistant Scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife ( https://www.marcusinstituteforaging.org/who-we-are/profiles/tammy-hshieh-md-mph ), Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School ( https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/33333 ), and Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital ( https://physiciandirectory.brighamandwomens.org/Details/12170 ). After earning her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Harvard University and her MD from Brown University's Alpert Medical School, Dr. Hshieh completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine through Harvard Medical School, and earned a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Hshieh's research focuses on understanding, preventing, and treating delirium and cognitive decline in older adults - conditions that carry enormous consequences for independence, quality of life, and healthcare systems worldwide. In groundbreaking work recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Hshieh and colleagues demonstrated that postoperative delirium remains the strongest predictor of long-term cognitive decline, even after accounting for rehospitalizations and other markers of illness and frailty. Their findings suggest that delirium may represent far more than a transient hospital complication - it may be a critical turning point in the trajectory of brain aging itself. Clinically, Dr. Hshieh co-manages older surgical patients at Brigham and Women's Hospital in one of the nation's most innovative geriatric-surgical care programs and leads the Older Adult Hematologic Malignancy Clinic at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ( https://www.dana-farber.org/find-a-doctor/tammy-t-hshieh ), where she works to improve outcomes for older adults facing cancer treatment. Today we'll discuss delirium, dementia, cognitive resilience, surgical risk, brain aging, and what patients, families, and healthcare systems can do to better protect the aging brain. #Delirium #Dementia #BrainHealth #HealthyAging #CognitiveDecline #Alzheimers #HarvardMedicine #Geriatrics #Longevity #Surgery #PostoperativeDelirium #AgingResearch #Neuroscience #Healthcare #Medicine #BrainAging #CognitiveHealth #Prevention #Podcast #ProgressPotentialPossibilities Support the show

    39 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

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Interviews and Discussions With Fascinating People Who are Creating A Better Tomorrow For All Of Us - Host - Ira S. Pastor

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