Halteres Presents

On this followup minisode, Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea are again interviewing Jennifer Leib, founder of Innovation Policy Solutions, to follow up on several key pieces of legislation related to the diagnostics industry, and where that legislation goes from here. This episode was recorded in the spring of 2023 to touch base on how the new session of Congress has (or hasn't) changed the outlook for some key legislation that will have wide-ranging effects on the diagnostics industry. Jennifer Leib is a board-certified genetic counselor and experienced government affairs professional with an expertise in genomics and precision medicine policy, having studied at the undergraduate program at University of Michigan and the masters program at Johns Hopkins University. Innovation Policy Solutions (iPolicy) is a leading government affairs consulting firm that promotes innovation through policy change. The firm actively advises and advocates on behalf of patients, providers, and innovators in laboratory medicine, precision medicine, public health, synthetic biology, gene therapy, neuroscience, rare diseases, and more. Grounded in a foundation of scientific expertise, iPolicy identifies data-driven solutions to health and science policy issues and builds coalitions of support to drive the adoption of clinical advances and enhance patient access to cutting-edge diagnostics and therapeutics. iPolicy is headquartered in Washington and supports clients across the country. For more information, visit www.ipolicysolutions.com.

On this episode, Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea are interviewing Jennifer Leib, founder of Innovation Policy Solutions, to dissect several key pieces of legislation related to the diagnostics industry. This episode was recorded in the last days of 2022 to capture the hot-off-the-presses developments at the end of the last session of Congress.  Jennifer Leib is a board-certified genetic counselor and experienced government affairs professional with an expertise in genomics and precision medicine policy, having studied at the undergraduate program at University of Michigan and the masters program at Johns Hopkins University. Innovation Policy Solutions (iPolicy) is a leading government affairs consulting firm that promotes innovation through policy change. The firm actively advises and advocates on behalf of patients, providers, and innovators in laboratory medicine, precision medicine, public health, synthetic biology, gene therapy, neuroscience, rare diseases, and more. Grounded in a foundation of scientific expertise, iPolicy identifies data-driven solutions to health and science policy issues and builds coalitions of support to drive the adoption of clinical advances and enhance patient access to cutting-edge diagnostics and therapeutics. iPolicy is headquartered in Washington and supports clients across the country. For more information, visit www.ipolicysolutions.com.

In this week’s episode, Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea are interviewing Dr. Paul Keim, who was recently featured in the noteworthy 2022 Netflix documentary "The Anthrax Attacks", about his essential and pivotal scientific research used in the FBI’s 2001 anthrax letters investigation. While the Netflix series focused on the twists and turns of the nationwide manhunt, here on Halteres Presents Dr. Keim is able to more thoroughly delve into the science behind his laboratory’s analysis of the 2001 anthrax letters, and to explain why there may never be a true “smoking gun” in this infamous case. Dr. Paul Keim is the executive director of the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI) at Northern Arizona University (NAU), a joint program between NAU and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) which uses genomic tools to protect America against dangerous pathogens, in particular Bacillus anthracis (anthrax). A graduate of NAU himself, where after 34 years on the faculty he holds the Cowden Endowed Chair in Microbiology and is a Regents Professor, Dr. Keim was trained as a protein biochemist before moving into molecular microbiological genetics and genomics as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah. Dr. Keim is an elected fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy for Microbiology. The National Institutes of Health appointed him to the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity in 2004 and served as its chairman for two years. He has published over 450 scientific research articles that have been cited over 30,000 times. The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute (PMI): https://joinpmi.com "The Anthrax Attacks" on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81213109

In a special 3-part season premiere, Halteres Presents is spotlighting tuberculosis diagnostics worldwide, and where things stand in the field today. In Part Three, Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea are interviewing Dr. Shibu Vijayan, the Medical Director for Global Health Practice at Qure.ai, a healthtech company that uses artificial intelligence assistance for medical imaging diagnostics. Dr. Vijayan is a senior clinician in Community and Public Health Services with over 25 years of experience in developing, monitoring, and evaluating public health projects, including developing healthcare-related proposals in both private and not-for-profit organizations. He is also an accredited International general Tuberculosis (TB) expert by the TB team hosted by WHO and Stop TB Partnership. Prior to Qure.ai, Dr. Vijayan was at PATH and has also worked with the WHO as Technical Consultant for the TB Control Program in India and was associated with Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF, Netherlands) as a field Epidemiologist in Ethiopia.

In a special 3-part season premiere, Halteres Presents is spotlighting tuberculosis diagnostics worldwide, and where things stand in the field today. In Part Two, Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea are interviewing Dr. Peter Small, the Chief Medical Officer at Hyfe.ai, an acoustic epidemiology company which uses machine learning to build acoustic tools for respiratory diagnostics and monitoring. For more than a decade, Dr. Small was responsible for building and running the innovative TB program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, performing seminal work on clinical, epidemiologic, evolutionary, and genetic aspects of tuberculosis. He has deep expertise in translating cutting-edge science into drugs, diagnostic methods, and vaccines, as well as the business and public health processes to get innovative tools to those in need. Dr. Small holds a BA from Princeton University and a MD from the University of Florida, and he is also the Founding Director of the Stony Brook University Global Health Institute.

In a special 3-part season premiere, Halteres Presents is spotlighting tuberculosis diagnostics worldwide, and where things stand in the field today. In Part One, Rich Thayer and Mickey Urdea are interviewing Dr. Morten Ruhwald, who leads the TB Programme at FIND in Geneva, Switzerland. He trained as a medical doctor at Copenhagen University Hospitals, Denmark and obtained his PhD in TB Immunology at Copenhagen University. Prior to joining FIND, Morten served as CMO and Head of Human Immunology at Statens Serum Institute of Denmark, overseeing the clinical development of the TB and chlamydia vaccine programs. Morten's research interests include molecular and immunoassay development for TB and TBI diagnostics, non-sputum-based diagnostic approaches, biomarkers, digital tools, and personalized medicine in TB. FIND Tuberculosis Programme: https://www.finddx.org/what-we-do/programmes/tuberculosis/ World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report, 2022: https://www.who.int/teams/global-tuberculosis-programme/tb-reports/global-tuberculosis-report-2022