Healthcare Information Security (with Jack Kufahl, Chief Information Security Officer at Michigan Medicine)

1. What were the origins to your approach and how does it differ from the more traditional way of framing research about the onset and development of Alzheimer's disease?

2.  Statistical techniques such as factor analysis and canonical correlation were used in research to take a large number of measures of variables and allow those statistical techniques to sort out which of those variables covaried and which patterns emerged that could suggest relationships to be looked at more closely.

In your approach using "big data" do you have a particular notion of which variables you select ought to covary? In other words, do you have a "pre-theory" that guides your selection of variables?

3.  Alzheimer's is nearly always associated with the aging process, perhaps implicitly arguing that the aging process alone is a causal agent for the onset and progression of the disease. More recently and not without some controversy, some researchers have suggested that aging itself should be considered a disease. From your perspective, does the question of age influence your view on how to go about framing analyses of data bearing on the inception and development of Alzheimer’s?

4.  In your career to date, how has the leadership of organizations in which you have worked influenced you and your research? Are there characteristics of persons who hold leadership roles that you single out as especially important to your work?

Over the past year, several INNOVATORS were devoted to learning more about the state of pediatric research. In this podcast, we learn about a breakthrough in the development of tissue from silk for use in the treatment of children born with spinal bifida. 

Dr. Carlos Estrada holds appointments at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and was instrumental in the development and use of a new type of tissue. He earned his undergraduate degree from College of the Holy Cross and the MD from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residencies at Rush University Medical Center, then accepted a fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital from which he accepted an appointment to the faculty there. He earned an MBA from MIT. He focuses his research on tissue engineering and neurogenic bladder dysfunction.

In today’s podcast, he responds to the following questions:

1. How did the four institutions of the consortium come together to seek to establish a data science initiative and why?

2. What is the scope of the AUC Data Science Initiative and what outcomes are being pursued?

3. You and your staff are tasked with integrating data science into and across the curricula of four separate institutions and therefore have to know how courses and curricula are made. How do you go about making change take place? Moreover, aren’t you also changing faculty?

4. As a mathematician and data scientist yourself, it seems likely that you have looked at data on the relative success of cross-institutional, multi- and inter-disciplinary curricular and instruction initiatives such as you are directing. What do the data tell you?

5. A final question is prompted by good news for you and your colleagues. The National Science Foundation announced that Clark Atlanta University will be awarded a $10 million grant to establish the National Data Science Alliance. The new Alliance will extend the University’s efforts to expand participation in data science to the nation’s HBCU institutions and increase the numbers of credentialed Black data scientists. 

1. What have been the primary accelerators of discovery, innovation, and invention in materials science during your career?
2. Which are the principal “engines” producing new knowledge in materials science – universities, large governmental and non-governmental laboratories, or industry?
3. The interdisciplinary nature of materials science research is quite remarkable: How did that feature come about?
4. What are the attributes of administrators and executives that make for effective leadership to enable solid research in materials science?
5. What does the near-term future hold in terms of new advances in materials science?

While the dispute over the causes and sources of climate change continues, few doubt the need for action to deal with the consequences of climate change. And action can best be guided by findings from solid scientific research. 

James Arnott, Ph.D. makes the case that science can contribute to not only policy but action. But for that to occur, science will need to be more transparent and inclusive to meet the challenge of coping with the effects of climate change.

Dr. Arnott earned his doctorate in Environment and Sustainability from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Principia College. His research explores how science can become more actionable for decision making. This involves studying how different approaches to collaboration, science translation, and funding can influence how research becomes used and to what end.

Listen to his comments and responses to the following questions:

1. Is it too cynical to argue that the failure to marshal collective efforts to deal with climate change is a matter of politics and economics, not science; that there are vested interests for maintaining the status quo, not challenges to research or the scientific method?
2. Is it the case that even the very best science being devoted to climate change struggles to be interpreted in terms lay persons and governmental officials can comprehend fully?
3. What is “actionable science”? How does it differ from what scientists do now and with what effect? Do you view it as something akin to what Thomas Kuhn termed a “paradigm shift” in science?
4. If actionable science calls for researchers who either have experience with and/or understand the perspectives of those persons to whom the scientific results are presented, how might ways change in order to prepare the next generation of scientists?
5. Actionable research in the contexts of achieving community, national, and global sustainability is compelling in many respects. How does adopting such an approach influence the attributes of those persons who lead scientific centers and laboratories with emphases on climate change? 

Innovators is a podcast production of Harris Search Associates. 

*The views and opinions shared by the guests on Innovators do not necessarily reflect the views of the interviewee's institution or organization.*

Hard work, family support, and education are often cited as key elements in the success of most of the immigrants to the United States. These hold true for many Hispanics and Dr. Rivera-Mills of Ball State and her experiences and success exemplify that formula. Her success affords evidence to suggest just how Hispanics can achieve similar results.

We spoke with Dr. Rivera-Mills and asked her to draw on her journey as a first-time Hispanic college attendee as well as her academic and administrative achievements to respond to the following questions: 

1. The term “Hispanic” is “stretched” to encompass a multitude of nationalities and cultures of people in the United States. Does the term do justice to the complexity and diversity of persons to whom it is applied? Who is encompassed by the term?
2. How do your experiences as a Hispanic woman compare and relate to what might be typical for today’s Hispanic students?
3. How do Hispanic women fare in American higher education?
4. Except for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the only other federally-designated ethnic or racial higher education institutions are the more than 550 Hispanic-serving institutions in the U.S. How critical a role do these latter colleges and universities play in advancing the educational opportunity and achievement of Hispanic students?
5. If you were an advisor to an American president or state governor and had the opportunity to propose government focus and resources that you believe would accelerate the progress of Hispanic students at any level of education – primary, secondary, postsecondary – what would be your top three recommendations?

Dr. Rivera-Mills earned the B.A. and M.A. from the University of Iowa and the Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. She joined the faculty of Oregon State University where she served as a department chair, associate dean, and vice provost. At Ball State, her work focuses on student success for ALL students, and ensuring equitable access to educational opportunities.

Innovators is a podcast production of Harris Search Associates. 

*The views and opinions shared by the guests on Innovators do not necessarily reflect the views of the interviewee's institution or organization.*

Even as the COVID pandemic continues to plague the world, assessments of the effects of the virus and its variants are in order. Healthcare systems have borne some of the brunt of the effects and those associated with the preparation of health professionals have had to adapt “on the fly” to what are sometimes profound changes to the ways they deliver care and conduct education and training.

Brian Burnett shared his experience and perspective on how COVID impacted the University of Alabama and its healthcare system in answering the following questions:

1. What are the ways by which universities involved in the health professions, including medicine, affiliate with or develop the healthcare facilities and experiences needed to educate and train those professionals?
2. How were the human and physical infrastructure of medical schools, clinical facilities, and administrative staff affected by the pandemic?
3. In light of demands placed on healthcare delivery by COVID and its variants and the looming shortage of some physician specialties, new medical schools have been established with more on the way. How do you view this development and what advice would you give to a university, a community, and or a state government considering launching a new medical school?
4. Just how important were remote learning and working to comprehensive universities such as UAB? Do you see these as more or less permanent parts of the landscape?
5. In 10 years, how will the financial and administrative aspects of universities have changed?

Brian Burnett joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in 2021 from the University of Maryland where he was interim associate vice president and chief financial officer. He worked in similar posts with the University of Colorado System, the University of Missouri System, and the University of Minnesota.

Innovators is a podcast production of Harris Search Associates. 

*The views and opinions shared by the guests on Innovators do not necessarily reflect the views of the interviewee's institution or organization.*

1. How do we tackle the challenges of the unintended (and undesired) effects of healthcare inventions and innovations for patients?
2. How do the perspectives of leaders of inventors/innovators/developers, regulators, and researchers in healthcare vary from one another in evaluating the importance of the work they oversee?
3. What are the attributes of effective leaders of healthcare organizations that are more or less generic and which are more specific to organizations engaged in drug and device development, in regulating healthcare innovations, and in evaluating the effectiveness and safety of new products and services?
4. Where do you see the newest frontiers for breakthrough developments stemming from digital health?

Immediately prior to joining the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Dr. Perakslis was senior vice president and head of the Research & Development Institute of Takeda Pharmaceuticals and that company’s work in oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, and other fields.  Previously, he also held positions at: Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; senior vice president at Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceutical R&D Information Technology;  and ArQule, a drug development company acquired by Merck.

Innovators is a podcast production of Harris Search Associates. 

*The views and opinions shared by the guests on Innovators do not necessarily reflect the views of the interviewee's institution or organization.*