INTERVIEWS

Dr. Vivian Hernandez-Trujillo, a pediatric allergist, discusses potential challenges children with life-threatening food allergies may face as they return to school during the pandemic, recommendations for parents, teachers, and children, and options for treating severe food allergies such as an epinephrine auto-injector like kaleo’s AUVI-Q® (epinephrine injection, SP) which is the only compact epinephrine auto-injector with a voice instruction system that helps guide patients and caregivers step-by-step through the injection process and can be mailed directly to people’s homes – an ideal option for social distancing.

Dr. Kathleen Hawker, M.D., Group Medical Director, Neuroscience at Genentech discusses the recent FDA approval of Enspryng™ (satralizumab-mwge) and the findings from the clinical trial program for the treatment of adults living with anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody-positive NMOSD, a rare disabling neurological disorder often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis. She explains the unique mechanism of action of IL-6 receptor activity (which is believed to be a clinical hallmark of NMOSD) and the novel recycling technology which allows for subcutaneous dosing every four weeks. 

Dr. Maxime Descoteaux, Co-founder and CSO of Imeka, “the only company to combine diffusion and AI to map white matter integrity” discusses the use of white matter free water biomarker in Alzheimer’s disease and why scientists should change their focus from grey matter to white matter when it comes to evaluating Alzheimer’s disease.  He also comments on MRI’s analyzed from INmune Bio’s XPro1595Phase 1b Clinical Trial.

Returning guest, Donna Cryer, JD, founder and CEO of the Global Liver Institute discusses liver biopsies and the “Beyond The Biopsy” Awareness initiative to advocate for greater use of non-invasive liver testing alternatives such as blood tests, Ultrasound, and various different scans like shear wave elastography and MRE (magnetic resonance elastography).

Dr. Matthew Putman, Ph.D., co-founder, and CEO of Nanotronics, a science technology company, tells of his personal battle with COVID-19 and how he was inspired to create a bilevel positive airway pressure machine (BiPAP) device called nHale.  The device is designed for comfort and ease-of-use with the simplicity of one button. It’s designed for use in hospitals and other healthcare facilities, such as emergency care spaces for COVID-19 patients, prison infirmaries, and nursing care facilities.

Dr. Kaveh Safavi, M.D., Senior Managing Director – Consulting, Global Health at Accenture discusses a new report called “Digital Health Technology Vision 2020,” and its implications for healthcare companies and audiences.  He also talks about five key themes that are expected to spearhead innovations this year. 

Dr. Courtney DiNardo of the MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses the difficult to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML).  She shares findings from the phase 3 VIALE-A study published in the “New England Journal of Medicine” (NEJM Aug 2020) that showed that venetoclax combination with azacitidine helped newly-diagnosed AML patients ineligible for intensive chemo, live longer without progression of their disease than with azacitidine alone and how this combination is potentially a “practice changing” advance in AML treatment.

Returning guest, Dr. Keith Meyer, Medical Director, LifeFlight® Neonatal and Pediatric Transport Services at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital who treats patients in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit discusses COVID related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

There have been recent articles stating that nearly 100k children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 during the last two weeks of July.  Dr. Keith Meyer, Medical Director, LifeFlight® Neonatal and Pediatric Transport Services at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital who treats patients in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit discusses what they are seeing in children with COVID-19, what they know, how children do not respond to the virus the same as adults, and what the recommendations are to parents.

EDr. Meyeon Park, MD, MAS, Director of UCSF Polycystic Kidney Disease Center of Excellence and a Nephrologist discusses polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) a genetic disorder which can eventually lead to kidney failure. She also talks about how people living with this disease can manage their condition.