Thinkresearch

Subha Ramani, MBBS, MPH, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, discusses her research on how feedback can be used to improve medical education.. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3xFXfIG Correction: A previous version of this episode incorrectly identified Dr. Ramani as Assistant Professor of Medicine.

"One way to unlock the potential of AI is to enable AI researchers to find the problems where they could have an impact," says Milind Tambe, PhD, Google Research India. Tambe discusses his work using artificial intelligence (AI) for social good, including his past research using AI to promote HIV prevention among homeless youth.

Mark Siedner, MD, Division of Infectious Diseases at MGH, discusses his research in Uganda and South Africa working to improve health and quality of life for those living with HIV.

Senthil Muthuswamy, PhD, director of the Cell Biology Program at the Cancer Center at BIDMC, discusses his use of organoid models to grow 3D cancer tumor cells and his current clinical trial "Harnessing Organoids for Personalized Treatment" (HOPE). Transcript: https://bit.ly/3ckagz7

Samirah Musah, PhD, stem cell biologist and bioengineer, discusses her lab's research and work to create a functional model of the kidney using "organ on a chip” technology. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Rnm3p3

Ayesha Cammaerts, MBA, Boston Children’s Hospital Office of Community Health, and Hae In Kim, MPH, former intern in our Community Engagement program student practice placement initiative, discuss Kim's experience as an intern working under the guidance of Cammaerts and what makes student practical placements successful. Rebekka Lee, ScD, our Community Engagement program director, serves as guest host. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3yWvQU9

"We're surrounded everyday with the realization that patients and their diseases can teach us something," says David Sykes, principal investigator of Sykes Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. Sykes discusses a system he's developed to transfuse neutrophil progenitors for patients and a new disease he discovered called TEMPI.

Junaid Nabi, MD, MPH, a senior researcher at Harvard Business School, shares his research investigating healthcare access and quality of care.

Jorge Chavarro, MD, ScD, ScM, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses his research studying the impact of nutrition on fertility.

Gyongi Szabo, MD, PhD, Hon. ScD, chief academic officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses her research on the effects of alcohol on the liver.

Neurologist Samuel Frank, MD, discusses his work studying Huntington's disease, dystonia, and Parkinson's disease, as well as his involvement in clinical research studies to help better diagnose and treat patients with these movement disorders.

"42.4% of U.S. adults have the disease of obesity," says Fatima Cody Stanford, obesity medicine physician scientist, educator, and policy maker at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Stanford discusses her research and policy work on obesity and weight discrimination laws.

"External scientific review gives us a better chance of identifying proposals that might have a big impact on the wellbeing of our community," says Margaret Schneider, director of the Pilot Studies program at the University of California Irvine. Schneider discusses her role in the creation of the CTSA External Reviewer Exchange Consortium (CEREC), which coordinates scientific review for funding applications submitted to centers that are part of the national NIH-funded CTSA consortium, which includes Harvard Catalyst.

Florian Eichler, MD, discusses his work studying childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a progressive demyelinating disease of the brain. Eichler is director of the Center for Rare Neurological Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, and part of a team that recently received pilot funding from us to improve early detection of this disease.

"Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world," says David Friedman, director of the glaucoma service at Mass Eye and Ear. Friedman discusses his current Harvard Catalyst pilot grant to improve glaucoma treatment by studying a contact lens that can deliver medication.

"Hallucinations are often associated with greater delusions, which leads to poor performance in processing visual information, " says Paulo Lizano, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Lizano discusses his recent Harvard Catalyst pilot grant to improve visual processing in patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses using non-invasive brain stimulation.

"For vision-impaired people, visual aids are very important and can be lifesaving," says Gang Luo, PhD, Schepens Eye Research Institute. Luo discusses the expense of these aids for patients – more than $15,000 – and his Harvard Catalyst pilot grant to develop a free smartphone app to detect myopia.

Special guest host Karen Emmons, PhD, faculty lead for our Community Engagement program, interviews Sheila Dillon, chief of Housing and director of Neighborhood Development for the City of Boston, and Jessie Gaeta, chief medical officer for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Dillon and Gaeta discuss their combined efforts to help protect Boston's homeless population from COVID-19. This episode was produced in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Initiative on Health and Homelessness.

“It is always about the patient's safety first,” says Alexa Kimball, MD, MPH, CEO and president of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Kimball discusses how COVID-19 has affected her work as a both a dermatology researcher and CEO and challenges associated.

"Phase 1 clinical trial is the first step when you're translating a discovery in the lab to humans," says Katy Stephenson, MD, MPH, director of the Center of Virology and Vaccine Research Clinical Trials Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Stephenson discusses her past work in clinical trials and her team's current involvement in a clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine.