Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Ira Pastor
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Science
  • Updated Semiweekly

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

  1. 1h ago

    Cancer Rehabilitation: Life Beyond Treatment | Dr. Eric Wisotzky, MD - VP, Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, MedStar National Rehabilitation Network & Ashley Smith - Cancer Patient / VP, Scott Circle Communications

    Send us Fan Mail Cancer treatment can save a patient's life - but what happens when the treatment itself leaves them struggling with pain, fatigue, weakness, limited mobility, or other lasting physical effects? Cancer rehabilitation is changing how we think about recovery, helping patients prepare for treatment, maintain their function, and regain their independence. Cancer treatment has made remarkable advances, dramatically improving survival and expanding treatment options for millions of patients. But for many people, completing cancer treatment is only the beginning of another challenging journey: recovering from the physical effects of the disease and its treatment, regaining strength and mobility, and returning to the activities that make everyday life meaningful. For breast cancer patients in particular, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments can have lasting physical consequences that patients may not fully anticipate, including chronic pain, fatigue, limited range of motion, muscle weakness, lymphedema, nerve damage and difficulties with everyday activities. Yet cancer rehabilitation remains an often-overlooked component of the cancer care continuum, despite its potential to help patients restore physical function, manage complications, maintain independence and improve quality of life. Today, we're going to explore the science and practice of cancer rehabilitation, what patients and their families should know before, during and after treatment, and how rehabilitation can help people move beyond simply surviving cancer to rebuilding their lives. Joining us is Dr. Eric Wisotzky, MD ( https://www.medstarhealth.org/doctors/eric-m-wisotzky-md ), Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at MedStar National Rehabilitation Network and Director of Cancer Rehabilitation at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital. A specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Wisotzky focuses on restoring physical function, managing treatment-related complications and improving quality of life for cancer patients and survivors. Dr. Wisotzky earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College, served as a Navy flight surgeon, and subsequently completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, including specialized training in cancer rehabilitation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is a frequent speaker at national medical conferences, has published extensively in rehabilitation medicine, and is a co-editor of Managing Breast Cancer: A Guide to Living Well Through Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, which addresses pain, fatigue, lymphedema and strategies for improving daily function throughout breast cancer treatment and recovery. We're also joined by Ashley Smith, a breast cancer patient who has been working with Dr. Wisotzky through her rehabilitation and recovery. Ashley brings both a personal perspective on the physical and emotional challenges of cancer treatment and a professional background in public health communications. She is Vice President at Scott Circle Communications ( https://www.scottcircle.com/ ) and previously held communications leadership roles at the Milken Institute, Granicus, and other organizations focused on healthcare and public health. A former television producer and graduate of the University of Mississippi, Ashley has spent much of her career helping communicate important public health issues, and today she'll share her own experience navigating breast cancer and the road to recovery. Important Episode Link - Fridays We Prance - https://fridaysweprance.com/ #CancerRehabilitation #CancerRecovery #CancerCare #CancerSurvivorship #CancerResearch #BreastCancer #PhysicalMedicine #RehabilitationMedicine #CancerTreatment #Lymphedema #CancerSupport #PatientCare #Prehabilitation #PhysicalTherapy #HealthcareInnovation #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities Support the show

  2. 1d ago

    Can AI Solve Biology If It Can't Access The Data? | Dr. Harlan Robins, Ph.D. - President, Harell Data

    Send us Fan Mail We have some of the most powerful AI systems in history - but what if one of the biggest obstacles to using AI to solve biology isn't the algorithms? What if it's the data? There are enormous amounts of biological data sitting inside pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies and research institutions. The problem is that much of it is proprietary - and the organizations that spent millions generating it have little incentive to simply give it away. What if there's a way for AI to learn from that data without the data having to leave its owner's hands? Dr. Harlan Robins, Ph.D. is a physicist, computational biologist, biotech entrepreneur, and longtime pioneer in applying computational methods to biological problems. Dr. Robins earned his undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard University and his PhD in physics from UC Berkeley, followed by postdoctoral work at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he worked with renowned biologist Dr. Arnold Levine on computational approaches to problems in genetics and genomics. Dr. Robins subsequently joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, where he became a faculty member and ultimately headed its Computational Biology Program - at a time when computational biology itself was still a relatively new field. In 2009, Dr. Robins co-founded Adaptive Biotechnologies ( https://www.adaptivebiotech.com/ ), where he served as Chief Scientific Officer for more than 16 years. Adaptive was built around a fascinating idea: that the enormous information contained in the genetics of our adaptive immune system could be decoded and translated into clinical tools for diagnosing and treating disease. The company went public in 2019. Now Dr. Robins is embarking on a new chapter as President and Co-Founder of Harell Data ( https://harelldata.com/ ), a company focused on one of the potentially enormous bottlenecks in the age of AI-driven science: access to high-quality scientific data. There is no shortage of biological data in the world - but much of the most valuable data is generated and held by companies and researchers who understandably don't want to simply give away their intellectual property. Harell is trying to create a different model: allowing powerful AI and computational systems to make use of proprietary scientific datasets while allowing the organizations that generated that data to retain control over it and participate in the value created. And that raises a much bigger question - one that goes well beyond any individual company: As AI becomes increasingly capable of solving problems in biology, could access to the right data become one of the biggest constraints on scientific progress? #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Biotech #Biotechnology #DrugDiscovery #Pharma #ComputationalBiology #Bioinformatics #ScientificData #BiologicalData #MachineLearning #AIBiology #HealthcareAI #DrugDevelopment #HarellData #HarlanRobins #AdaptiveBiotechnologies #LifeSciences #FutureOfBiology #ScienceAndTechnology Support the show

  3. 5d ago

    A New Way to Image the Breast - Using Sound | Dr. Raluca Dinu, Ph.D. - CEO, QT Imaging

    Send us Fan Mail What if we could look inside the breast without X-rays, without compression, and without injecting a contrast agent - and instead use sound to create a three-dimensional map of the tissue? Dr. Raluca Dinu, Ph.D. is Chief Executive Officer of QT Imaging ( https://www.qtimaging.com/ ), a medical technology company developing quantitative, three-dimensional breast imaging using transmission and reflection ultrasound. Dr. Dinu brings a particularly interesting background to this challenge. She holds a Ph.D. in solid-state condensed-matter physics from the University of Bucharest and an Executive MBA from Stanford University, and has spent roughly 25 years moving between physics, engineering, technology commercialization and executive leadership. Before joining QT Imaging, Dr. Dinu held senior leadership positions at companies including Lumera, GigPeak and Integrated Device Technology, helping take technologies from early development through commercialization, M&A and public markets. At GigPeak, she was part of the leadership team involved in its eventual $250 million acquisition by IDT. Today, Dr. Dinu is applying that combination of deep technical training and technology-business experience to breast imaging. QT Imaging's Breast Acoustic CT scanner is FDA-cleared as a supplemental breast-imaging device and produces three-dimensional images using low-frequency sound waves, while also generating quantitative measurements such as breast density and tissue speed-of-sound information. The company is now moving from technology development toward broader clinical and commercial adoption. #BreastCancer #BreastImaging #Mammography #MedicalImaging #Ultrasound #CancerDetection #CancerResearch #BreastCancerAwareness #Radiology #MedTech #HealthTech #MedicalTechnology #AIinHealthcare #PrecisionMedicine #QTImaging #AcousticCT #Innovation #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities Support the show

  4. 6d ago

    The Caregiving Crisis - And How Technology Could Change It | Richard Lui, MS NOW

    Send us Fan Mail There are tens of millions of Americans quietly caring for a parent, spouse, child or loved one - often while trying to maintain a career and a normal life. Yet much of that work is essentially invisible to our healthcare system, our economy and even our data infrastructure. Richard Lui ( https://richardlui.com/ ) is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, author, entrepreneur, and nationally recognized caregiving advocate whose work sits at the intersection of media, technology, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and the human experience of caring for another person. For more than 15 years, Richard has been a breaking news anchor and investigative journalist with MSNBC and NBC News, following earlier roles with CNN and Asia's Channel NewsAsia. Over the course of his global journalism career, he has covered major elections, geopolitical events, international crises, and some of the most consequential stories of our time. But Richard's understanding of caregiving isn't simply professional - it's deeply personal. More than a decade ago, Richard found himself caring for his father as he battled Alzheimer's disease. What began as a profound family responsibility ultimately changed the direction of his life and his understanding of purpose, mental health, family, and the enormous - and largely invisible - role that caregiving plays in society. That experience inspired his bestselling and award-winning book, "Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness," as well as the documentaries "Sky Blossom" and "Unconditional," which brought the experiences of caregivers and families dealing with mental health challenges to a much broader audience. Richard has since taken that mission into the worlds of technology and innovation. At the University of Michigan, he is working on CAREGenome, an ambitious effort to use data and AI to better understand the interactions between caregivers and those receiving care - what he calls the "last three feet of care." He is also involved in the Caregiving Moonshot ( https://www.startuphealth.com/caregiving-moonshot-community ) and the rapidly emerging care economy, exploring how technology, data, business and public policy might transform the way we care for an aging population. And now Richard is taking that conversation to an even larger audience. He is the host of "Because We Care" on MS NOW ( https://www.ms.now/because-we-care ), a new series bringing caregivers front and center through conversations with public figures, innovators and others working to improve the caregiving experience - while providing practical ideas and resources to the millions of Americans caring for someone they love. On this episode we explore Richard's own journey as a caregiver, the hidden human and economic cost of caregiving, Alzheimer's and dementia, caregiver mental health and loneliness, the emerging care economy, CAREGenome and spatial AI - and ultimately, whether technology can help us build a future in which caregivers are not invisible, unsupported and overwhelmed, but recognized as one of the most important parts of our society. Footage Of Emma Heming Willis, Lauren Miller Rogen And Seth Rogen Courtesy Of Richard Lui / MS NOW #RichardLui #Caregiving #Alzheimers #Caregiver #Dementia #CareEconomy #Aging #AgeTech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #CAREGenome #MentalHealth #Loneliness #Purpose #Healthcare #HealthTech #CareTech #AgingInnovation #NBCNews #MSNOW #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities #PPP #IraPastor Support the show

  5. Sep 28

    Can Robots Understand Us? From Physical AI to Social Intelligence | Brian Hartzband - President, U.S. Operations, GMEX Robotics

    Send us Fan Mail A robot can see you. It can recognize you. It can track where you're moving. But can it understand what you're trying to do? Because humans don't simply move through the world - we constantly interpret one another's intentions, expectations, emotions and behavior. And as AI-powered robots move from factories into restaurants, hospitals, hotels, stores and eventually our homes, that may be one of the hardest problems they have to solve: Can a machine actually understand the humans around it? Brian Hartzband is President of U.S. Operations for GMEX Robotics ( https://www.gmexrobotics.com/ ), a physical-AI company developing what it describes as a "Terminal + Brain" robotics platform. GMEX's initial commercial focus includes the Bon Vivant kitchen robot through its 2F Culinary AI line, while the company is also pursuing social-intelligence capabilities through its planned strategic investment in MediaMeta.Ai. Brian brings a somewhat unusual path to this emerging field. He spent nearly a decade in capital markets with UBS and Merrill Lynch, where he worked with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients and built an international client book. He subsequently founded and led the U.S. expansion of an international consumer-products manufacturer, and then spent nearly four years at TEKsystems working with government and higher-education organizations on technology, IT talent and workforce strategy. Now Brian is applying that combination of finance, entrepreneurship, technology and market-building to GMEX's effort to establish its U.S. robotics business. #PhysicalAI #EmbodiedAI #Robotics #ArtificialIntelligence #SocialIntelligence #HumanoidRobots #Robots #AI #RoboticsTechnology #FutureOfRobotics #HumanRobotInteraction #MachineLearning #AutonomousRobots #FutureOfAI #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities Support the show

  6. Sep 28

    What Does AI Actually See? The Next Generation Of Biometrics | B. Scott Swann - CEO, ROC

    Send us Fan Mail Your face can now be turned into a mathematical representation, searched against enormous databases, and potentially matched in fractions of a second. But what happens when AI moves beyond recognizing your face - and starts understanding everything happening around you? B. Scott Swann is CEO of ROC ( https://roc.ai/ ), formerly known as Rank One Computing, a company developing AI-powered biometric identity, video analytics and Vision AI technologies. Scott brings a particularly unique perspective to this conversation. He spent nearly two decades at the FBI, where his work included leadership roles involving biometrics, identity management, technology evaluation and strategic planning, as well as serving as a liaison to federal interagency efforts focused on biometrics and identity intelligence. Scott subsequently moved into senior leadership at MorphoTrak and IDEMIA National Security Solutions, where he worked at the intersection of biometrics, video analytics, government and national security, before becoming CEO of ROC in 2021. Today, ROC develops technologies spanning facial, fingerprint and iris recognition, video analytics, object and threat detection, and what the company calls a unified Vision AI platform. Its algorithms have also been evaluated extensively through NIST biometric testing. So Scott has spent much of his career watching this field evolve from the inside - from relatively specialized biometric identification systems to today's increasingly sophisticated AI systems capable of extracting identity and intelligence from the visual world. #Biometrics #FacialRecognition #VisionAI #ArtificialIntelligence #ComputerVision #AI #IdentityTechnology #BiometricSecurity #AIInnovation #MachineLearning #VideoAnalytics #DigitalIdentity #IdentityVerification #Cybersecurity #NationalSecurity #FutureOfAI #PhysicalAI #Technology Support the show

  7. Sep 23

    Can We Cure PBC? Inside the Race to Stop an Autoimmune Liver Disease | Carol Roberts - President, The PBCers Organization

    Send us Fan Mail Imagine being exhausted all the time, dealing with an itch that can become unbearable, and worrying about progressive liver damage - yet having everyone around you tell you that you look perfectly healthy. That's the reality for many people living with Primary Biliary Cholangitis, or PBC. But here's the fascinating question: if PBC is fundamentally an autoimmune disease, can we eventually do more than treat the consequences - can we actually teach the immune system to stop attacking the liver? Primary Biliary Cholangitis, or PBC, is a rare, chronic autoimmune disease that damages the small bile ducts within the liver and can ultimately lead to progressive liver damage. Carol Roberts is President of The PBCers Organization ( https://pbcers.org/ ), the patient-led organization that has spent three decades supporting people living with PBC, their families and care partners, while working to increase awareness, reduce stigma and advance the patient voice in research and treatment. Carol has been involved with PBCers for more than two decades and has become one of the organization's leading voices for the PBC community. She brings not only years of patient advocacy experience, but also her own lived experience with PBC. We're speaking with Carol during PBC Awareness Month following the release of the organization's new Voice of PBC national survey, which captured the experiences of 210 people living with the disease. The findings provide a remarkable window into the reality of PBC - from debilitating fatigue and itching to anxiety about disease progression, financial strain, and the stigma that can come from having an illness that often isn't visible to other people. We'll talk about what PBC actually is, why it is so often discovered through routine bloodwork, why fatigue and pruritus can be so devastating, what has changed in the treatment landscape, and what patients still need from researchers, physicians and the broader healthcare system. And perhaps most importantly, we'll talk about what it means to live with a disease that you often can't see - but that can profoundly shape virtually every aspect of a person's life. #PrimaryBiliaryCholangitis #PBC #PBCAwareness #AutoimmuneDisease #LiverDisease #RareDisease #WomensHealth #LiverHealth #Autoimmunity #Immunology #DrugDevelopment #Biotech #Biopharma #MedicalResearch #PatientAdvocacy #ChronicDisease #HealthcareInnovation #FutureOfMedicine #PBCers #ProgressPotentialAndPossibilities Support the show

  8. Sep 23

    AI Is Leaving the Screen - Enter the Age of Embodied AI | John Fowler - CEO, MBody AI

    Send us Fan Mail Imagine walking into a major hotel or casino and discovering that the building already has a workforce you barely notice. Robots are cleaning floors, navigating around people, responding to changing conditions and reporting back on what they've accomplished. Now imagine those robots aren't operating independently - they're being coordinated by an AI system that can manage an entire fleet of machines. That is the idea behind MBody AI ( https://mbody.ai/ ) - and it raises a much bigger question: Could AI eventually become the operating system for the physical workforce? John Fowler is CEO of MBody AI, a company developing what it describes as the intelligence layer for autonomous workforces. MBody AI is focused on embodied AI - combining artificial intelligence with physical robots to automate repetitive, labor-intensive operations in environments such as hotels, resorts and casinos, with plans to expand into areas including outdoor services, warehouses, offices and healthcare. Rather than manufacturing its own robots, MBody AI is developing a hardware-agnostic software platform called Orchestrator, designed to coordinate robots from multiple manufacturers, optimize their tasks and routes, verify their performance, and ultimately allow fleets of autonomous machines to operate as a coordinated workforce. The company has already deployed its technology in major hospitality environments, including MGM and Caesars properties, and most recently completed a pilot at Mohegan Sun that has transitioned into a paid commercial deployment. MBody AI says its platform has now been used in cleaning operations covering roughly 600 million square feet. And this is a particularly interesting time to have John with us because MBody AI recently completed its business combination with Check-Cap and is now a Nasdaq-listed company trading under the ticker MBAI. John previously served as CEO of Blaise Ventures and, before that, as President and CEO of The Supreme Cannabis Company, where he helped build the 7ACRES cannabis business, raise more than $200 million through the public markets, and ultimately oversee its $435 million acquisition by Canopy Growth. John began his career as a lawyer and holds a JD, summa cum laude, from the University of Ottawa. #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Robotics #EmbodiedAI #AutonomousRobots #RoboticsAI #FutureOfWork #Automation #PhysicalAI #MachineLearning #RoboticsTechnology #MBodyAI #HospitalityTechnology #FutureOfWork #Innovation Support the show

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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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