Stay ConnectedPodcast interviews with genius-level (top .1%) practitioners, scientists, researchers, clinicians and professionals in Cancer, 3D Bio Printing, CRISPR-CAS9, Ketogenic Diets, the Microbiome, Extracellular Vesicles, and more.
Subscribe today for the latest medical, health and bioscience insights from geniuses in their field(s).
Copyright: © Richard Jacobs
The traditional pathway to what's considered a "successful" career is becoming less and less popular, and for some who find themselves under circumstantial constraints, it's nearly impossible. But at the intersection of the rapidly changing worlds of employment, education, and technology, seeking alternative routes to a successful life has never made more sense, and perhaps never been so potentially lucrative. But how do we know where to begin, and how do we know what type of support will be necessary along the way?
According to Hamoon Ekhtiari, the answers might be simpler than we think: "We need to have a Google Maps for the future of working and learning; just like Google Maps helps us navigate the physical world, we need something to help us navigate the unpredictable world of work and learning," he says, and as the CEO of FutureFit AI, this is exactly what he's creating. Imagine being able to locate yourself in terms of the skills and experience you currently bring to the table, set a career, income, or educational destination, and then sit back while AI algorithms use millions of data points to deliver a variety of potential pathways based on your specific requirements; it's quite literally like a roadmap to your future life. That's not all: you'll also receive mentorship, support, and coaching for arising needs or unexpected roadblocks along your route.
FutureFit AI is currently working with numerous employers, enterprises, and government institutions that want to help their employees upscale and rescale their jobs alongside the changing landscape of work and technology, expanding the realm of possibilities to include more than just promotion-based career advances. Interested in learning more? Tune in and visit futurefit.ai.
John Kupice, chief executive officer of H-Source (h-source.com), provides an interesting overview of the important work his company is doing to help hospitals and clinics save money so they can do what they do best—provide quality healthcare to their communities.
As Kupice explains, H-Source is a hospital to hospital/ medical facility to medical facility marketplace. As he states, shockingly, the medical marketplace in the United States has a ten billion dollar waste problem, regarding medical supplies and products with an expiration date, and an additional five billion in non-controlled pharmaceuticals. Kupice's company, H-Source, has created a cloud-based marketplace in which hospitals and medical facilities can exchange equipment and products, etc., instead of throwing them out or having them end up in landfills. As Kupice describes, H-Source is sort of an Amazon meets Linked In approach to a forward-thinking marketplace that is changing the industry.
Kupice is the CEO of H-Source and serves on its board of directors as well. Prior to becoming the company's chief executive, Kupice assisted its founder with the capital raise and development of their business model. Kupice has a storied career in business, notably leading many formidable companies in multiple industries. He was VP of Development for TruCare Solutions, Inc. where he played a vital role in the consolidation and analysis of crucial patient outcome data for alternative treatment modalities. Outside of the healthcare industry, Kupice was chief executive officer for a successful entertainment technology company and was instrumental in attaining company goals regarding reseller and supplier relationships, capital acquisition, and merger and acquisition of competitors. Additionally, Kupice put ten years in at Ernst & Young, LLP, most recently as national director of the Lawson Practice where he provided program management and implementation assistance for clients in a myriad of industries, including healthcare. Kupice holds a B.A. in accounting from the University of West Florida.
Kupice discusses the many and various types of products that are regularly thrown out from catheterization laboratories and operating rooms, etc. due to physician preference, supplier demands, and other issues. Through H-Source, hospitals and medical facilities can now recover up to forty cents on the dollar or more for their items, whereas previously they were total write-offs, tossed out at a total loss, donated, or sold off at lower rates, perhaps ten to twenty cents on the dollar or lower. Kupice outlines how hospital margins are narrowing, with rising costs, especially in labor costs, and thus mid-sized to large hospitals are having significant problems staying in business, keeping their doors open. Thin margins are making hospital administrators critically rethink every expenditure, and all waste and H-Source is seeing an influx of new customers regularly.
As many hospitals have been forced to downsize their labor staff, Kupice states that some are actually bringing new staff on board, specifically to utilize H-Source and its tools to find ways to cut other costs and create value. Kupice muses about how the changes are bringing key players together to create a unified healthcare industry that works more efficiently and provides savings for everyone. But beyond the dollars and cents, and the economic metrics, there is another wonderful aspect of H-Source's marketplace, and it pertains to jobs and patient care. As many large hospitals can benefit by selling off items and cutting their financial waste, small community healthcare facilities often become the buyers of these items. Allowing small community facilities an opportunity to buy as they need, and avoid costly large orders, it often makes the difference between keeping a part-time nurse on staff and letting him or her go. Thus, the economics and savings create better financials for small facilities that enable them to keep their staff gainfully employed, which means more quality care for small communities in need.
H-Source's innovative marketplace model is improving the healthcare industry across the board, from the largest city hospitals to the small town community clinics. And Kupice is excited about the future possibilities that will help bring quality healthcare to more people by cutting waste and increasing opportunity.
Troy Hickerson, global nutrition activist and co-founder of Active For Good (activeforgood.com), delivers an important, informative overview of the crucial work that needs to be done, and what we can all do, to save malnourished children globally.
Troy Hickerson is a passionate business leader. For nearly twenty years Hickerson has applied his in-depth knowledge of problem-solving and opportunity creation to help small to mid-sized companies utilize technology to succeed. As a cloud services expert, Hickerson wanted to find a way to merge his technology experience with his personal goals of serving those who suffer from extreme poverty and malnutrition. As Hickerson states, one-quarter of children in the developing world are malnourished.
Hickerson splits his time between assisting startups and established businesses with service business operations, positioning and strategy, business model analysis, and problem-solving, and pushing his organization, Active For Good, forward on its mission to assist in the global nutrition problem. Hickerson explains the connection his organization makes between the world's populations, between those who want to lose calories and those who need calories. Through a series of programs Active For Good runs, for every calorie someone burns when they are working to stay active can equate to a calorie of food given to a malnourished child. By creating activities and teams, users of the platform are motivated to help themselves while simultaneously helping others in the world.
Making a difference is what Active For Good is all about. Hickerson talks about the important issues that Active For Good tackles in its mission to create change and help people globally. Active For Good was initiated by the founders of MANA Nutrition, a non-profit organization that manufactures RUTF (Ready to Use Therapeutic Food) used to combat severe acute malnutrition and childhood death. Hickerson explains how MANA ships over 500,000 packets of RUTF per day as they provide life-saving therapeutic food via partners such as Save the Children, World Vision, Doctors without Borders, UNICEF, and USAID.
Through the Active For the Good app, wellness teams, individuals, and employee groups can take the challenge, sign up online, and get started with healthy activities that will not only improve their health but will generate much-needed revenue so life-saving nutritional foods can be delivered to those in need. Activity is tracked through Google Fit, Apple's HealthKit, or similar tracking tools, and company employees, friends, or whomever, can engage in competition that keeps it fun while working toward personal goals, and goals for humanity. Through the point system, points count toward meals for children. And the app shows you what the process is like and creates an educational opportunity to learn about the areas of the world where people are truly in need.
Hickerson discusses the enthusiasm he sees in people when they get a sense of how their small actions can make an enormous impact on children's lives globally. As he states, nutrition is critical in a child's developing years, and there can be severe consequences if a child is malnourished, even if they survive. Thus the Active For Good mission provides an opportunity for companies, groups, and individuals to lend a hand to those who need it, which is a vital part of the human experience.
Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, MD, founder, and CEO of Diet Doctor (dietdoctor.com), delivers an informative presentation on the nutrition to health connection.
Dr. Eenfeldt is a Swedish medical doctor who specializes in family medicine. As founder and CEO of Diet Doctor, Eenfeldt leads a team of forty coworkers. For more than ten years, Dr. Eenfeldt has maintained the biggest health blog in Sweden with a tremendous following, and he is the author of a best-selling book on nutrition that is now available in eight languages. Throughout his extensive career as a family physician, he has treated many patients with low-carb, high-fat diets and has helped many people with obesity and type 2 diabetes. With a sense of urgency to get his message to a larger audience, Dr. Eenfeldt sought new opportunities to spread the word thus Diet Doctor was born. Diet Doctor is growing daily and is the largest low-carb and keto website in the world, now with more than 350,000 visits daily.
Dr. Eenfeldt discusses how nutrition is not really a major focus of study in medical school curriculums, and as such medical students interested in the nutrition to health connection must largely study it on their own. He talks about the effect of nutrition and diet on individuals as they age. With conditions such as diabetes and blood pressure, diet becomes even more important he states.
As their mission states, taking back your good health in an often-unhealthy world requires some critical thinking, and acting differently. We must put our trust in science and nature and avoid the fads and quick fixes. Changing lifestyle choices and increasing good nutrition can truly make an impact almost as quickly as you begin, but it takes dedication. Diet Doctor seeks out the most credible, trustworthy science and practical knowledge about health, and provides it to readers and subscribers in an easy, interesting manner. Their goal is to make low carb an option for anyone who wants to give it a chance and see a difference, to empower people to tune into their health and make positive changes. For as they state, regardless of any attempt to do so, you cannot outrun a bad diet.
The Diet Doctor CEO talks about successes he is proud of, as many patients are able to decrease or discontinue certain medications when their test results show that his methods have brought their lab levels back into normal ranges. Dr. Eenfeldt talks about the many ways that his website provides valuable information and options for individuals, and he discusses some of his hopes for the future in healthcare and nutrition, including a possible clinic that can offer direct community outreach.
Dr. Eenfeldt discusses some of the current trends in the diet and nutrition area. He talks about the fallacy of fats, and how avoidance of natural fats is not a good thing. He discusses the trend of moving back to natural fats such as real butter and eggs, and the trend of moving away from the concept of calorie counting. He states that calorie counting doesn't work. But with a low carb diet, when you remove the sugar and remove the starch, people tend to eat less spontaneously, and the benefits naturally occur. And with a low carb diet that drives insulin levels lower, the body burns excess fat more easily.
The Diet Doctor discusses hormonal changes and how it affects a low carb diet. He cautions against empty calorie drinks and foods that offer no nutritional value. Additionally, Dr. Eenfeldt provides his analysis on aging and hormonal issues that can certainly make the challenge of maintaining the weight of our youth a bit more difficult. But Dr. Eenfeldt is a firm believer of the view that as long as our health is good and we feel great, it may be best to accept that our bodies have changed outwardly somewhat. Our health is the most important thing of all, and nutrition is the key to reaching optimum health. Ultimately, diet and lifestyle are the essential key elements to achieving good health, and Dr. Eenfedt is dedicated to the mission of bringing quality health education and methods to everyone.
Emeran A. Mayer, MD, Ph.D., David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, delivers an informative overview of the brain to gut connection. Dr. Mayer serves as director,G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience (CNSR); co-director, CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center; and is an experienced professor of medicine, physiology, and psychiatry.
Dr. Mayer attended the Ludwig Maximilian's University in Munich, Germany where he received his MD/ Ph.D. Dr. Mayer completed his residency at the Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, Canada and his GI fellowship training at the UCLA/VA Wadsworth Training Program. With a lifelong fascination for research, Dr. Mayer has applied his extensive knowledge toward a career studying the clinical and research aspects of brain-body interactions, with a particularly intensive focus on bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut in regard to health and disease.
Dr. Mayer discusses his long career and findings that led to the decision to write his new book, The Mind-Gut Connection. He details particular studies that influenced the material that is discussed in-depth in his books, such as one study that involved testing of individuals who were given a probiotic cocktail and then observed regarding their symptoms and brain function. His surprising findings in this study pushed him to include the gut microbiome in all of his studies thereafter.
Dr. Mayer is considered to be one of the world's top expert investigators of the many brain-gut microbiome interactions in GI disorders, with specific regard to functional and inflammatory bowel disorders as well as obesity. Dr. Mayer's exceptional work has been noted worldwide and as such he has enjoyed continual funding for his important research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1989.
The digestive research expert reveals his findings on multitudinous studies of microbial function. He details the use of interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in his studies, specifically regarding gastrointestinal maladies such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and others. His findings indicated that the CBT was instrumental in improving symptoms for IBS significantly. Dr. Mayer's work concluded that the brain has incredible influence on microbial composition. Dr. Mayer relates how the autonomic nervous system affects the environment of the gut, thus stressors in our lives have a direct impact on our digestive system's functioning, from secretions to peptides, to blood flow, and beyond.
Dr. Mayer speaks about causality and the models that they have studied to explain microbiome disorders. He discusses the circular process in which the brain sends signals to the gut, the back and forth signaling that impacts functioning. Further, he discusses in detail gene expression profiles, proteins, metabolites, etc., and the connections between various elements of his research, as well as the collective research, being done globally in regard to these brain/gut issues.
The neurobiology researcher provides some background on other studies that focus on teaching the brain to send different signals, as well as diet in regard to gut microbial function. Dr. Mayer states that plant-based diets are by far the best diets for functioning, and the microbiome in general, according to epidemiological studies. He discusses how metabolites are affected by diet, and how gut function will revert when special diets are changed or discontinued. He provides detailed information on specific diets and his thoughts regarding them. As Dr. Mayer states, exposure to antibiotics and dietary patterns of pregnant mothers, etc. all impact microbiomes. He explains the differences that exist in the microbiomes of various and diverse populations of people, and how diet can impact our gut functioning rather quickly once changes are made, for example switching from fast food to a Mediterranean diet, etc.
Dr. Mayer is the director of the Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress, and is currently PI of a NIH Center grant on the sex differences in functional GI disorders, on a consortium grant of brain-bladder interactions, and a RO1 grant on brain imaging in IBS. As a leading expert in microbiome studies, Dr. Mayer seeks to continually dig deeper into the connections between the brain and the gut in his quest to find new ways to improve health for everyone.
"A little west goes a long way," says Andrew Walker, echoing the slogan of the company he and his wife founded about six years ago. With just one brick and mortar shop in Los Angeles, California, Little West is a favorite among those seeking a variety of superfoods alongside the company's main focus: locally-sourced and nutrition-packed juices. The menu includes 14 different no-sugar-added, cold-pressed juices packed with minerals, vitamins, and anti-inflammatory roots with varying levels of sweetness to meet anyone's preference. They also offer a variety of cleanses and kits, some for beginners and some for those seeking more advanced, "master" cleanses.
Walker discusses the details of the Little West juice-making process, the differences between each cleanse offered and why one may be better suited for some individuals than others, the importance of preparing for and coming off of cleanses, the benefits of small-batch cold pressing versus the methods used by most other juice bars, and the connection between food sensitivities and gut health.
Interested in trying it for yourself? Tune in and visit littlewest.com to order from anywhere in the nation.
Organ failure is the ultimate cause of almost every death, and while organ transplantation can be a successful option, the need for organs significantly outweighs the supply. For the past 50 years or so, efforts have been focused on immunosuppression strategies and the development of mechanical devices capable of mimicking the function of biological organs and processes. However, even when available, these solutions aren't permanent or without the risk of complication. Now there's a new solution in the works, one with a lot more promise: bioengineered organs.
As an associate professor and member of both the Next Manufacturing Center and Bioengineered Organs Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, Adam W. Feinberg joins the podcast to discuss how living cells and tissue components can be designed for implantation into the human body, allowing for tissue regeneration with the use of the body's own cells. Though it'll still take years to get there, the grand vision is to 3D bioprint partial or entire organs for transplant, which is a technology that's recently received funding from the FDA.
Tune in to learn more about the current projects Dr. Feinberg and his team are working on, the successes they've already had, and the challenges they plan to overcome. Keep up to date on the latest developments at regenerativebiomaterials.com and engineering.cmu.edu/organs/index.html.
Doron Pinhas, the visionary chief technology officer of Continuity Software (continuitysoftware.com), provides a detailed overview of the constantly evolving IT world and explains why businesses and entities need to ensure that their computing services function properly 24/7. For in today's demanding tech world, people have high expectations and accept no excuses.
Since 2005, Pinhas has helped lead Continuity Software as its innovative CTO. Pinhas has more than 17 years of extensive experience in the future-forward, exciting areas of data and storage management, operating system design and development, real-time applications, and open system and networking architecture definition. Notable past experience on his impressive resume includes significant time as chief operating officer at Xpert Integrated Systems LTD., a leading Israeli SI. While at Xpert Integrated Systems LTD., Pinhas was instrumental in the development and formation of the Business Continuity Solutions division. Additionally, Pinhas is a veteran of the Israeli Defense Force where for 10 years he served as senior product developer and system architect.
Pinhas discusses Continuity Software's mission: to help large enterprises provide 24/7 computing services. The company is comprised of a team of IT infrastructure and data protection experts who have the essential skills to help companies prevent unplanned IT outages across their entire IT infrastructure, including high availability, cloud, and disaster recovery environments.
Pinhas details the specifics of computing services, and the problems enterprises and companies face. With over 400 clients worldwide, all of which are Fortune 500, or equivalent, it's clear that Pinhas and his team are providing value. He recounts how large entities have literally tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of servers globally, and how it is becoming more and more challenging for them to keep up and maintain their services as they grow exponentially. Continuity Software is a proven leader in IT Resilience & Service Availability Assurance. Their award-winning solution enables IT teams to take control, and prevent infrastructure outages and detrimental data loss incidents. Getting ahead of the curve in regard to early, active detection of IT resiliency risks allows enterprises/companies, etc. to mitigate their exposed risk via remediation of configuration errors and deviations from policies— before the problems become problems, and before they become potentially costly issues.
Pinhas provides examples of many companies' services, outages, etc. that can be devastating problems in a 24/7 demand society. As people and customers in general are more connected, Pinhas explains that service delays and outages are simply no longer acceptable. Today, a large volume of social media complaints can sometimes even elicit direct comments from a CEO, also via social media, to explain, apologize, etc; whereas in our recent past not so many years ago, as a society, we were much more forgiving of these issues. Those days are long gone.
With millions of moving parts and thousands of servers, Pinhas explains that testing and redundancy in IT is extremely involved and important. He outlines a handful of the types of problems that could arise due to failures and system errors, as well as power outages, etc. However, according to Pinhas, there are many ways to intelligently circumvent these failures by improving resiliency and redundancy every step of the way in the entire system, and Pinhas's team works to help clients modernize their IT systems. From server updates to software upgrades, and so much more, Pinhas explains that although the problems are complex, they are not insurmountable. With proper management, it is entirely possible to maintain order and control quality.
By combining the knowledge, tools, and approaches of computer science, engineering, and environmental studies, several students at the Data Science Institute at the University of Virginia are implementing drones in the collection of geospatial data involving ozone levels across the Blue Ridge Mountains. This is just one example of the practical applications of interdisciplinary studies, and the nature of the work being led by Philip E. Bourne, who serves as Stephenson Chair of Data Science, Director of the Data Science Institute, and professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia.
Intrigued by the development of data science and its increasing number of important applications in modern society, Dr. Bourne runs an institute that thrives off of the benefits of interdisciplinary work and carries out projects in the fields of digital humanities, social sciences, finance, transportation, environmental studies, biomedicine, and engineering.
Dr. Bourne discusses a variety of exciting topics, including aspects of evolutionary computation, what distinguishes data science from computer science, ethics associated with the use of data, the connection between the study of proteins and precision medicine, and how an analysis of electronic health record and DMV data could lead to more accurate, potentially life-saving interventions in trauma surgery.
Tune in for the full conversation and reach out with questions via email at peb6a@virginia.edu.
We've all been there: wrestling with that conundrum of what to order off the menu, and feeling unable to decide which sounds the best while trying to visualize the options. Wouldn't it be great if we could just see the options right there on the table before us, prior to ordering? Now we can, and Kabaq is making it happen.
Established just two years ago by Alper Guler, Kabaq is a company that's putting to use what so many major tech companies are investing in to enrich our lives: augmented and virtual reality technology. Realistic, actual-size depictions of various food items can now be visualized in 3D with the use of a tablet or your personal phone by scanning item-specific codes through social media platforms such as Snapchat and Facebook.
"We believe the next generation content is 3D...and we are creating the next generation content for food," says Guler. But this content includes more than just an image of the food, he explains; Kabaq is taking it a step further by augmenting the space surrounding the 3D preview with stories and information about the food and the way in which it was sourced.
Kabaq is already working with 150 restaurants and is growing in popularity as positive feedback continues to flow in. Interested in checking it out for yourself? Hit play and visit kabaq.io to learn more.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
