Nextopic

What are we learning from COVID-19 and how can we prepare for a future pandemic?As global coronavirus cases rise and we experience a second wave, there is an increasing need to address biopreparedness and response for hospitals. Join us on this episode as the Senior Director of the System-wide Special Pathogens Program at NYC Health + Hospitals,  Dr. Syra Madad, walks us through the current efforts being undertaken to make hospitals better prepared for a global crisis like the one we're in and outlines what we must do as a nation in order to avoid a future pandemic.This session was recorded at Nextopic: Future of Pandemics in May.

In our last panel from Nextopic: Future of Pandemics, we will be learning about the various efforts it takes to eradicate a disease. Why are vaccines important and when can we realistically expect one? Is there such a thing as disinfecting too much? Find out all the answers now. Here are Distributed Bio, Centivax, and VivaVax's biotech entrepreneurs Dr. Jacob Glanville, Sarah Ives, and Julia Peng on a panel once again moderated by health and science journalist Dr. Nazli Senyuva.

These days we are all anxious about contracting COVID-19 from any surface we touch. Some of us even use hand sanitizer after every single thing we touch, so in this chaos how will we reach some semblance of normality? Find out the answer biotech entrepreneur Julia Peng as she lays down the latest facts on how long the coronavirus lasts on various surfaces and talks about her work on creating a long-lasting antiviral coating as the co-founder and CEO of VIvaVax.

It’s been almost a year since we’ve been introduced to COVID-19 and since that day we’ve all been asking ourselves the same thing: When and how does this pandemic end? One possible solution is the discovery of therapeutic antibodies for the novel coronavirus and one startup stands out in the race to find them: Distributed Bio. In this episode the co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jacob Glanville takes us on a mission to end this and all future pandemics. From his experiences growing up in Guatemala to becoming a champion for radical transparency in biotech, Jake shares with us his journey in discovering broad-spectrum anti-COVID antibodies and his inspiring mission to make medicine affordable worldwide. 

Is it possible to create a universal vaccine?⁠ If yes, this will change the lives of thousands if not millions of people. Find out the answer from immune engineer extraordinaire Sarah Ives, the Director of Contract Research for Distributed Bio. Sarah and her research are featured prominently in the chilling Netflix docuseries "Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak". Her talk from Nextopic takes us through the journey to create the Centivax broad-spectrum flu vaccine.

Join us on this sub-session from Nextopic: Future of Pandemics, where digital epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Radin, fake news researcher Dr. Khudejah Ali, and emergency medicine doctor Dr. Adnan Hussain come together in a panel moderated by health and science journalist Dr. Nazli Senyuva to discuss what it takes to contain a pandemic from a technological, medical, and media perspective.

Have you ever wondered how frontline healthcare workers are navigating the COVID-19 outbreak? ⁠⁠“So the first case of COVID-19 was identified on January 21st in the US. I work in the Amita system which is a health system in the Chicagoland area and in the US the 2nd and 6th cases were in the Amita system. For us in particular that ended up being important because it laid the early groundwork for the response and preparation for COVID-19.”⁠⁠The pandemic through the eyes of an emergency medicine doctor. In this episode, Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet’s Dr. Adnan Hussain shares the journey as a frontline worker through an unprecedented crisis.⁠

During the pandemic, we’ve all seen false stories on social media about how drinking alcohol can protect you against COVID-19 or how 5G mobile networks cause the spread of the virus. While these fake news have been disproven by numerous public health organizations, people continue to share them and engage with them. So what makes fake news tick? What makes it easy for them to trick us and be shared faster than factual public health information? And lastly, what can public health officials do in times like this to spread the right information at the right time? Find out the answers in this exceptional talk from Dr. Kadijaw Ali, an assistant professor in the School of Business at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. 

Have you ever wondered how COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases are tracked in our communities? In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Radin, an epidemiologist at the Scripps Research Translational Institute's digital medicine division, explains the current metrics that help track respiratory diseases and how wearable technology may offer much faster results. Listen now.

In the pièce de résistance of our first sub-session from Nextopic: Future of Pandemics, 'Analyzing an Epidemic', sociologist and political economist Dr. Mauro Guillén, historian of early modern medicine Dr. Nükhet Varlık, and clinical psychologist and author of ‘The Psychology of Pandemics' Dr. Steven Taylor join forces in a panel led by technologist and moderator Phil Lelyveld to discuss the economic, sociological, historical and psychological aspects of the pandemic and its impact on the world and society today and tomorrow.

Sociologist and political economist, Dr. Mauro Guillén joins us for a talk on the sociological and business impacts of the pandemic. Will people want to live in cities in the future?How does globalization affect manufacturing during a crisis? And what role does the pandemic play in women's rights? The Wharton School's Dr. Guillén goes on a brilliant exploration of trends that will change the way we live, work, and play in this new strange world. Listen now.

Historian of early modern medicine, Dr. Nükhet Varlık takes us on a trip through past pandemics, shedding light on the Black Death of 1346, the Spanish Flu of 1918, and the dynamic relationship between societies and epidemic diseases. How did our ancestors learn to live with a pandemic? And weirdly enough, why was the 1918 pandemic erased from society’s memory? Listen now to find out what we can learn from the past and apply to the future of pandemics.

Clinical psychologist and author of ‘The Psychology of Pandemics’, Dr. Steven Taylor explores the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak through modern and historical lenses. Does the hoarding of toilet paper seem odd to you? Are you curious about the validity of claims that untested drugs or home remedies can cure the coronavirus? Dr. Taylor offers his thoughts on these phenomena and explores with us the history of the human pandemic response, corporate profiteering from pandemics in the past and present, and the interaction between society, technology and government during times of crisis. 

It’s no secret that COVID-19 has severely stressed the healthcare system both in the US and abroad. America has been enacting new policies and applying short-term solutions during this time in order to get through the pandemic. Will we treat this as a one-off or effect lasting change in the healthcare industry? This week on Nextopic: As the world navigates the COVD-19 pandemic, RA Capital Managing Partner Peter Kolchinsky dissects the shortcomings of the US healthcare system which have become a point of heated debate. A biotechnology investor by trade and a Ph.D. in Virology, Peter walks us through the world of biotechnology entrepreneurship and investment, sheds a light on some lesser-known pandemics, and reviews the state of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. He further discusses the economic incentives (or lack thereof) that influence the ability of individuals to receive proper healthcare. “The reality is America’s doing the best job in the world of funding innovation and it’s doing a pretty bad job in making that innovation affordable to all of its own citizens,” he says. Peter explores new and innovative ideas on how to incentivize biotechnology research and modify healthcare policy to better serve us all through the nation-wide adoption of a universal healthcare system. Listen now and subscribe so you don’t miss out.