Health as an Investment: A Conversation with Samy Ahmar on World Health Day

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano interviews Judy Kuriansky, an award-wining journalist, clinical psychologist, lecturer, and United Nations NGO representative. They discuss sustainable development and global goals for education, health, peace, and gender equality.

About Judy Kuriansky 

Dr. Judy Kuriansky is an academic, a world-renowned clinical psychologist, a Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University Teachers College, a certified sex therapist, and a popular speaker. She is also the founder of radio call-in advice, a former television reporter, and a newspaper columnist. Dr. Judy, a humanitarian and philanthropist, is a first responder who has provided psychosocial support worldwide in the aftermath of major disasters such as the attacks on the US World Trade Center, school shootings, the tsunami in Japan, floods in St. Martin, and earthquakes in Iran and Haiti. She is the Policy Advisor to Sierra Leone's Mission at the United Nations and has been representing NGOs for over 20 years, advocating for mental health and well-being. She is a strong supporter of women's and girls' rights, having founded a Girls Empowerment Camp in Lesotho, edited a book called "Women Around the World," and backed the Sierra Leone First Lady's "Hands Off Our Girls" initiative.

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano interviews Nicholas Murdock, Sustainability Program Manager, NASA. They discuss how his experience in engineering, construction, and operations contribute to the multifaceted sustainability efforts at NASA.

About Nicholas Murdock 

Nicholas Murdock is NASA's Sustainability Program Manager, in charge of developing and implementing the agency's sustainability initiatives across all centres. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil/environmental engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Central Florida. At NASA, Nicholas recognizes the importance of pursuing and achieving the current administration's goals. He is passionate about problem solving, building strong teams, and creating a safe, collaborative, and inclusive environment. Prior to his current position, he worked in a variety of roles supporting environmental functions, engineering, construction, and operations and maintenance 

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano interviews Filip Neele, Lead Scientist at TNO in Utrecht, the Netherlands. They discuss carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology as a “key” in energy transition and its role in supporting global sustainability.

About Filip Neele

Filip Neele is the TNO's subsurface team's lead scientist on carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage. He holds a doctorate degree in Seismology and has been researching CCS technologies since 2006. His research focuses on the creation and management of CCS networks, as well as regional screening studies for CO2 storage capacity and detailed storage feasibility assessments. He is especially interested in the evolution of CCS networks, ship transport, and multi-asset storage networks. Dr. Philip is currently working on methods for monitoring operational CO2 projects that are both efficient and effective 

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano speaks to Gaythri Raman, Managing Director of Southeast Asia, LexisNexis. They talk about Ms. Raman’s efforts in leveraging AI-powered legal innovations in transforming the legal business and advancing the rule of law across Southeast Asia, with the goal to address statelessness and enabling access to justice through key projects with world leaders committed to social justice even in remote jungles across Borneo.

About Gaythri Raman  

Gaythri Raman is the Managing Director of LexisNexis Southeast Asia, responsible for the adoption of online solutions for litigation across government and corporate segments throughout Southeast Asia. She is a strong advocate for the transformation of the legal business by leveraging legal innovations, and her vision has led the way for the legal industry in Southeast Asia. As a changemaker, Gaythri has led the print-to-digital transformation of a 90-year-old business in the last five years. Under her leadership, her team have successfully created and launched multiple award-winning AI-powered solutions for legal professionals in Malaysia and Singapore, enabling the use of cutting-edge Large Language Model on premier local legal content.  

Gaythri is passionate about advancing the rule of law. She believes technology can be a powerful enabler in providing access to justice, improving She and her team have worked on multiple rule of law projects, notably with Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Laureate and State Counsellor of Myanmar in the nation’s democratisation process prior to the coup in 2021, working with the United Nations Global Compact to launch the Business for the Rule of Law Framework and key projects across Asia to provide transparency in laws. She and her team have been supporting the Mobile Court of Sabah and efforts to address statelessness and enabling access to justice in the jungles of Borneo since 2018.  

Gaythri is a purposeful leader and believes in leveraging the skills and passion of her followers to make a positive impact in society. She welcomes all opportunities to collaborate to change the world for the better and sees herself as a lifelong student with the world as her inspiration.  

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano and David Emmett, from the Biodiversity Partnerships team at the Hempel Foundation, engage in a deep conversation. They discuss the importance of biodiversity conservation, and how our efforts toward preserving wildlife species should not ignore the human communities that surround and rely on them.

David Emmett

For the past two years, David has been a driving force at the Hempel Foundation, where he has helped champion the protection of some of the world's most precious ecosystems. David is also involved in management of a pipeline of Impact Investment Fund opportunities. Prior to his move to Europe, David held the role of Senior Vice President for Conservation International, Asia-Pacific, from 2011 to 2019. From teaching biology and tropical agriculture in rural Malawi to conducting biodiversity surveys in Tanzania, Madagascar and Cambodia, he has explored many places to learn about and safeguard their complex ecosystems. As a public speaker, published author, and esteemed advisor, David Emmett embodies the ideals of conservation and sustainability.

In this episode of “The World We Want” podcast, Robert Skinner, Deputy Director and Chief of Partnerships and Global Engagement at the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Global Communications, reminds us that it is not too late to take action against climate change. In a lively conversation with Márcia Balisciano, he touches upon the importance of spreading awareness about the SDGs and making sure that global policymakers and stakeholders understand how imperative it is to act, and act now.

Robert Skinner

Robert Skinner is the Deputy Director and Chief of Partnerships and Global Engagement in the Outreach Division of United Nations Department of Global Communications. Prior to this, Robert was the Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Washington, DC. He has also held the posts of Senior Special Advisor in the UN’s Department of Global Communications, focusing on the UN’s COVID-19 Communications Response Initiative, and Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships.

Prior to joining the UN, Robert was the Executive Director in the New York Office of the United Nations Foundation. Before joining the Foundation in 2006, Robert held several positions in the United States Department of State. Before starting his diplomatic career, Robert was an attorney in the Office of the Cook County Public Defender, Chicago, Illinois.

"We're no acme or pinnacle of anything, we're just simply evolutionary steps," says this week's "World We Want" podcast guest, Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, of the human hubris surrounding climate change. In a long conversation, Márcia Balisciano and Dr. Filippeli, author of Climate Change and Life, touch upon the history of the world, both in terms of climate change and in the patterns of evolution and extinction, as well as what the presently changing climate means for human beings. Balancing pragmatism and optimism, this episode serves as a stark look at the reality of climate change and the will—political, environmental, and personal—needed to adapt.

Gabriel Filippelli

Dr. Gabriel Filippelli is a Chancellor’s Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director of the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute. Filippelli is a biogeochemist with broad training in climate change, exposure science, and environmental health. Filippelli has published broadly, including publications in Science, Nature and Geology as well as in specialty journals and in popular press. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the journal GeoHealth,. a Fellow of the International Association of Geochemistry, a 2022 Fulbright Distinguished Chair, and former National Academy of Sciences Jefferson Science Fellow, where he served as a Senior Science Advisor for the U.S. Department of State.

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast, Márcia Balisciano speaks to Dr. Christian Leitz, Managing Director, Secretary of Corporate Culture and Responsibility Committee, and Group Historian and Lead for Long-Term Archives at UBS. During the course of their conversation they cover the challenges to achieving sustainability from all aspects—from historical lessons to providing financial impetus to invest in sustainability.

Christian Leitz

Dr. Christian Leitz is Managing Director, Secretary of Corporate Culture and Responsibility Committee, and Group Historian and Lead for Long-Term Archives at UBS. He is the firm's first corporate historian. He coordinates UBS's sustainability reporting and regularly gives workshops and presentations on the topic of sustainability, both at UBS and the broader world. He also serves as a center of competence for questions relating to historical concerns at the firm. Before joining UBS in 2003, Christian taught history at universities in the UK and New Zealand. He has written and edited a large number of articles and essays, as well as six books. 

On the occasion of World Hepatitis Day 2023, this "World We Want" podcast episode focuses on the public health threat of hepatitis and the urgent need to address it to achieve SDG3: Good Health and Well-Being. Here, Márcia Balisciano speaks to Rob Brierly, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology to understand the ongoing challenges to achieving this goal, including medical, infrastructural, financial, and other roadblocks.

Rob Brierley

Rob Brierley is Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. Rob studied molecular and cellular biochemistry and clinical pharmacology at the University of Oxford, and clinical oncology at the University of Birmingham. Rob has worked in the publishing industry since graduation, first as a technical editor for the Journal of Molecular Biology, before working on a series of viral hepatitis textbooks for a book publisher. Rob joined The Lancet Group in 2004, first at The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet, before joining The Lancet Oncology as Senior Editor in 2008 and then Deputy Editor in 2012. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology launched in 2016. Rob’s interests include gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary cancers, viral hepatitis, and inflammatory bowel diseases.

In this episode of the "World We Want" podcast series, Márcia Balisciano speaks to Professor Lora Fleming, Professor Lota Creencia, Professor Helena Solo-Gabriele, and Jake Keast who advocate the need for a world where protecting the seas, the coasts, and the oceans is essential for human health and wellbeing.  

Lora Fleming 

Professor Lora Fleming is the founder of the European Centre for Environment and Human health and Chair of Oceans, Epidemiology and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School. Professor Fleming  is an occupational and environmental health physician and epidemiologist with more than 30 years of experience and expertise in environment and occupational exposures and human health research and training. She is the recipient of the 2013 Edouard Delcroix Prize and the 2015 Bruun Medal of the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and an ASPIRE principle fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Lota Creencia 

Professor Lota Creencia is the organization lead for Western Philippines University, Philippines. holds a PhD in Fisheries Science and MS in Fisheries Science from Kagoshima University, Japan and MS from Siliman University, Philippines. Western Philippines University. Her experience spans various programs and projects in line with fisheries management and aquaculture. She has served as a principal investigator/project leader/coordinator with funding from USAID-STRIDE, Malampaya Foundation Inc., Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCIEERD), Commission on Higher Education (CHED-DARETO & NAFES), Department of Agriculture- Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR). She specializes in abalone biology and culture, marine biology, mangrove ecology and management, integrated seaweed farming and community-based fisheries management and aquaculture.

Helena Solo-Gabriele 

Helena Solo-Gabriele is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the University of Miami. She is an environmental engineer who evaluates problems that relate to the domains of public health and environment. She focuses on environmental measures and actively engages with epidemiologists and other public health professionals to get to know the possible links between environmental exposures and illness. 

Jake Keast 

Jake is a medical student at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. In addition to being a medical student, Jake is also an elite athlete and an oceans and human health researcher who spends time over performance improvements and exercise physiology. He has recently co-authored a textbook on Oceans and Human Health, and is working with local projects to bring young people and vulnerable adults to the sea for sports and education.