INTERVIEWS

Jeannette Bankes, President & GM, Global Surgical Franchise at Alcon, a global leader in eyecare, discusses sustainability and Alcon’s recently released Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments and their 2021 Corporate Responsibility report. Jeannette also discusses how the Surgical business is addressing emission and waste, including packaging reduction programs like GreenIST – the Green Innovations Surgical Team (GreenIST). She also talks about the unique challenge healthcare organizations face with sustainability and single-use medical products and the responsibility and opportunity for eye care companies to create sustainable initiatives. Please visit www.alcon.com for more information.

Dr. Andrea Bozoki, Division Chief and Professor of Memory and Cognitive Disorders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Susan Dickinson, CEO of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) discuss frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a rare neurodegenerative disease that strikes people in their 40’s and 50’s, is the most common dementia among people under 60, and is often misdiagnosed as a mental illness. They talk about symptoms, diagnosis, testing, and treatment options.

Returning guest, Rebecca Seidel, President, Cardiac Ablation Solutions Operating Unit at Medtronic discusses the recent acquisition of Affera, Inc, a medical technology company, which expanded Medtronic’s atrial and ventricular arrhythmia disease management portfolio to  include its first-ever cardiac mapping and navigation system.   She talks about how this acquisition will  impact and benefit patients and physicians.

Dr. Michael Miller, MD, FACC, FAHA,  Chief of Medicine at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia  discusses new data  from the REDUCE-IT study, which were presented at a late-breaking scientific session at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress, on VASCEPA ®/VAZKEPA ® (icosapent ethyl) in patients with cardiovascular disease and in another study, with patients who smoke.    

Dr. Shannon Westin, MD, MPH, FACOG, gynecologic oncology physician at Lyndon Baines Johnson Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston discusses low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) which impacts younger women compared to other forms of ovarian cancer and how she is working to raise awareness amongst the medical community about this rare cancer by encouraging peers to educate their patients on the signs and symptoms as well as paying close attention to the patients that may be displaying said signs. There are no screening tests or prevention methods and there is minimal funding and effective treatment options. To check your symptoms online, visit https://www.staaroc.org/symptoms.html

Dr. Tanya Dorff, medical oncologist and section chief, Genitourinary Disease Program at City of Hope, a leading-edge cancer research and treatment organization, discusses new targets in prostate cancer beyond prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), the use of CAR T cell therapy in patients with prostate cancer, and the different combination of drugs that have shown efficacy. She also comments on the newest clinical trials happening in this space and their significance.

Sara Koenig, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology and cell biology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, discusses a discovery of rare genetic mutations that affect good cholesterol. Through a unique clinician-scientist collaboration program, Ohio State researchers used genetic testing to solve the medical mystery of a healthy, active man who suffered a heart attack in his 20s and continued to have heart-related problems. They discovered a rare genetic mutation that had never been identified before and that it was preventing good cholesterol from effectively clearing out bad cholesterol, leading to advanced coronary artery disease. Now, researchers have identified certain drugs that promote a healthy HDL function and are working to develop a new therapeutic drug that could provide an alternative treatment option for millions of Americans with high cholesterol.

Nadim Ahmed, ​President and ​CEO of Cullinan Oncology, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a diversified pipeline of potential first​ ​- and best-in-class targeted therapies for patients with cancer, discusses his perspective on the future of the oncology treatment landscape, as well as what Cullinan Oncology is specifically doing for patients with unmet needs and to advance its diverse portfolio of differentiated oncology assets.

Dr. Tomasz George, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Virax Biolabs, a global biotechnology company that focuses on the detection and diagnosis of viral diseases, discusses the development of a proprietary T cell testing platform – Virax Immune. As the diagnostics space moves towards more T cell-based testing, Virax expects to augment the patient/user experience by launching the Virax Immunity mobile application, which can help individuals track their immune status and provide suggestions to improve their health and lifestyle. Virax has commercially available tests for COVID-19 and recently announced the introduction of monkeypox and varicella-zoster viruses real-time PCR detection kits.

Dr. Stephen Williams, Chief Medical Officer at SomaLogic, a global leader in proteomics (the study of proteins), discusses what proteomics is, how it is used in both drug discovery and in prognostic and diagnostic testing, and how it differs from genomics. He will also discuss the company’s technology platform, which houses one of the largest clinical proteomic databases in the world, and why this is significant. To illustrate the power of proteomics to healthcare, Dr. Williams will discuss a blood test the company has developed for cardiac disease that can predict whether someone is at high risk for a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, or if they are dying from one of these conditions within a 4-year period. The test measures the individual’s proteins in real time. By predicting acute events tailored for an individual patient, SomaSignal tests may help improve medication adherence or inform other interventions – empowering physicians through the implementation of precision medicine. This ensures patients receive optimal therapies, thereby reducing waste and unnecessary costs within our health system, including reducing hospitalizations, and avoiding readmissions and other costly health complications.