Best Penn Science Policy Podcasts (2025)

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85 - Dr. Alex Beschloss - Insights, Policy, and Practice 49:09

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1d ago49:09

49:09

Today, we’re taking with Dr. Beschloss. Dr. Beschloss is a resident physician in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and Wharton School, where he earned his MD/MBA. A Williams College alum, his work sits at the intersection of clinical care, health polic…

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84 - Dr. Kevin Volpp - Behavior, Incentives, & Systems 30:14

17d ago30:14

30:14

In this episode of the PennHealthX Podcast, Habib sits down with Dr. Kevin Volpp to discuss his career as a physician–economist and his pioneering work at the intersection of medicine, economics, and behavioral science. Dr. Volpp is the Mark Pauly President’s Distinguished Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with joint appointments at the …

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83 - Dr. Rachel Kelz - Surgery, Equity, & Innovation 48:56

30d ago48:56

48:56

In this episode of the PennHealthX Podcast, hosts Ziad Hassan and Habib Akouri sit down with Dr. Rachel Kelz to discuss her path into surgery and the wide-ranging impact of her career. Dr. Kelz is the William Maul Measey Professor of Surgery and Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. She also directs Pe…

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Episode 25 Part 2: Bridging the Gap: Community Policing's Role in Recovery and Crime Reduction 15:08

1M ago15:08

15:08

Part 2 is here! In this follow-up episode, we take a deeper look at the Madison Area Recovery Initiative (MARI). Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska (Penn State), Captain Joe Balles (retired, Madison Police Department), and Captain Diana Nachtigal (Madison Police Department) share how evidence-based outreach, peer recovery partnerships, and innovative diversio…

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Episode 25 Part 1: Bridging the Gap: Community Policing's Role in Recovery and Crime Reduction 12:59

2M ago12:59

12:59

You know what time it is - new episode! This one takes a deep dive into how community policing supports recovery and crime reduction, specifically within the Madison, Wisconsin area. The host, Michael Donovan, sits down with Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska from Penn State, Captain Joe Balles, and Captain Diana Nachtigal of the Madison Police Department to …

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82 - Dr. Daniel Hashimoto - Surgery, Innovation, & AI 45:46

2M ago45:46

45:46

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Daniel Hashimoto, Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Biomedical Informatics. Dr. Hashimoto shares his journey at the intersection of surgery and artificial intelligence, exploring how computer vision and machine learning are resha…

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Episode 24: The Opioid Crisis: Destigmatization and Recovery 27:28

2M ago27:28

27:28

We are back! We have a discussion with Denise Holden, founder and CEO of the RASE Project, a recovery community organization that has since expanded outside of Pennsylvania and Dr. Sarah Kawasaki, the Chief of Addiction Medicine, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine at Penn State Health. This episode discusses the opioid cris…

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81 - Dr. Ryan O'Keefe - From Podcast to Practice 1:03:28

3M ago1:03:28

1:03:28

In this episode, hosts Ziad Hassan and Habib Akouri sit down with Dr. Ryan O'Keefe for an engaging conversation that takes the podcast back to its original roots.Ryan O'Keefe, MD, MBA, is a hospitalist at Penn Medicine and creator of Point of Care Medicine. Point of Care Medicine is an online educational reference for students and physicians alike …

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80 - Dr. Ryan Henrici - Biotech & Global Health 51:03

5M ago51:03

51:03

In this episode, hosts Ziad Hassan and Habib Akouri sit down with Dr. Ryan Henrici for an engaging conversation that bridges science, innovation, and personal journey. Ryan Henrici, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist specializing in infectious diseases and hematology. A former Marshall Scholar, he serves as Vice President of Discovery Medicine at Bi…

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79 - Michael Karamardian & Medha Sharma - Leveraging the MD/MBA in a Dynamic Medical Landscape 41:07

6M ago41:07

41:07

Today's episode is a conversation between hosts Ziad Hassan and Habib Akouri and guests Michael Karamardian and Medha Sharma, previous Co-Presidents of PennHealthX.By PennHealthX

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Episode 24: Research Translation Platform: Virtual Panel – Approaches to Addressing Substance Use Disorders in Justice-Involved Populations 55:28

7M ago55:28

55:28

Supporting Recovery, Strengthening Families, & Fostering Healthier Communities: Effective Approaches to Addressing Substance Use Disorders in Justice-Involved Populations Summary: The substance use epidemic in the United States remains a significant public health concern. The rate of drug overdose deaths has increased substantially over the past de…

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China's Response to COVID-19 – Yanzhong Huang 1:30:55

10M ago1:30:55

1:30:55

Perhaps the historic event of our time, the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare every country's particular health care vulnerabilities and regulatory deficiencies, more starkly than in any other circumstances. In this episode, Neysun Mahboubi discusses with Yanzhong Huang, a preeminent expert on China and global health, the historical background to and dee…

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Episode 23: The Adolescent Health Network from Penn State PRO Wellness

1+ y ago

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We’re back! The Evidence-to-Impact Podcast is back with a new episode where we discuss The Adolescent Health Network (AHN) from Penn State PRO Wellness. This episode features a conversation with Dr. Deepa Sekhar, executive director of Penn State PRO Wellness, Victoria Smith, career coordinator at Hershey High School in the Derry Township School Dis…

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Episode 22: A Government-Research Partnership in Action 1:00:56

2+ y ago1:00:56

1:00:56

We're closing out this semester's season with a conversation about prevention and partnerships. We focus on a discussion between a long-standing collaborative relationship between Penn State and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth government, which targets interventions and prevention work targeted towards youth and families. Our episode covers a wide sp…

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Episode 21: The Knowledge Mobilization Problem

2+ y ago

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For this month’s episode, we did something a little different. We spoke to two researchers with two different approaches to tackling the same problem: knowledge mobilization. In essence, the concept of knowledge mobilization focuses on making knowledge, resources or practices that exist in one space and making them accessible to specific audiences.…

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Episode 20: Chronic Diseases: Underserved Communities, Prevention, and Genetic Factors 34:29

3y ago34:29

34:29

This month's episode tackles a fascinating combination of topics involving the impact of biological and social factors on chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, and the prevention and treatment efforts for those chronic diseases through state and local government programs. We spoke to Lindsay Fernández-Rhodes, Assistant Professor of Biobehavio…

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Reporting From a Rising China – Edward Wong 2:22:21

3y ago2:22:21

2:22:21

Western media presence in China has been vastly reduced since February 2020, the consequence both of political tensions and the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Chinese government finally begins to dismantle its "zero-Covid" policy in December 2022, the prospect of Western journalists returning to on-the-ground reporting from China appears more promising …

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Episode 19: Mental Health Screenings for Adolescents in the K-12 School System

3y ago

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This month's episode discusses mental health screenings for adolescents in the K-12 school system. We spoke to Deepa Sekhar, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine, and Executive Director, Penn State PRO Wellness; Perri Rosen, PhD, NCSP, Consulting Psychologist, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Servi…

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Episode 18: The Perfect Storm: College Students, Mental Health, and the Sense of Belonging on Campus 44:40

3+ y ago44:40

44:40

The end of the spring semester marks the release of another episode! This month, we tackled the tough topic of mental health among college students. We talked about how COVID-19 has impacted college students seeking mental health services, the challenges for counselors and administrators working in university mental health centers, policy solutions…

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Episode 17: Digging Deeper into the Juvenile Justice System

3+ y ago

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We're back for our third season! Kicking off the 2022 season, we explore the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania. We spoke to Megan Kurlychek, Professor of Sociology, Criminology and Public Policy and Associate Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center at Penn State, and Rick Steele, Executive Director of the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commi…

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U.S. Human Rights Policy Towards China – Amy Gadsden 1:54:55

3+ y ago1:54:55

1:54:55

While the Chinese government's actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong lately have been the subject of particular scrutiny from U.S. policymakers, systematic attention to China's human rights practices, more broadly, has been a consistent feature of U.S. policy towards China in recent decades, through successive Democratic and Republican administrations.…

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China's Overseas NGO Law – Mark Sidel 2:08:01

4y ago2:08:01

2:08:01

In recent years, and especially under the administration of Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has "securitized" all manner of relationships between its citizens and outsiders. An important marker of this trend, which continues to generate intense concern, was the 2016 passage of the Overseas NGO Law, a new legal framework for managing the domestic…

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Episode 16: Debunking the U.S. Census 46:33

4y ago46:33

46:33

This month's episode tackles all things related to the U.S. Census. We discussed the decennial Census, the data products created and released from the U.S. Census Bureau, the current demographic trends and challenges, and measuring hard-to-reach populations. We spoke to Raeven Chandler, Ph.D., Director of the Pennsylvania Population Network (PPN) a…

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Episode 15: Innovations In Healthcare: Enhancing Value, Health Equity, And The Social Determinants Of Health

4y ago

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In this month’s episode, we tackled innovations in healthcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen a focus on various healthcare innovations and technology like artificial intelligence, cloud-enabled solutions, and inpatient telehealth, but other innovations are important, too. Some of these focused on in Pennsylvania include how we can…

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Episode 14: Navigating Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare System And Issues Of Child Maltreatment

4y ago

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This month marks the beginning of the third season of this podcast! We're kicking things off by exploring the opportunities and challenges of Pennsylvania's child welfare system. For the past several years, there has been an ongoing partnership between Penn State researchers and government partners to change the Commonwealth's county-based child we…

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Episode 13: The Pandemic Perspective: Examining The Hardship Of Unemployment And The Pandemic Labor Market

4+ y ago

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For this month's episode, we explore a topic that we have wanted to cover for some time: unemployment and the pandemic labor market. As the nation begins to "reopen" and the economy begins shifting, many states have begun ending pandemic-era unemployment insurance benefits. For many, unemployment insurance was the only thing keeping them afloat fol…

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Episode 12: The Pandemic Perspective: Revealing the Hidden Crisis of Food Insecurity

4+ y ago

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For this month's episode, we examined how the pandemic has revealed the "hidden crisis" of food insecurity throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the country. According to the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money or other reso…

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Episode 11: The Pandemic Perspective: The Challenges and Opportunities of the Childcare System

4+ y ago

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This month, we return to our Pandemic Perspective series and explore the state of the childcare system in Pennsylvania during the pandemic. We discuss the challenges and opportunities to funding, access, and quality for the childcare system. We spoke to Karen Grimm-Thomas, Director of External Relations at the Pennsylvania Office of Child Developme…

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Episode 10: Exploring PacMAT, The Pennsylvania Coordinated Medication-Assisted Treatment Program

4+ y ago

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This month, we are taking a break from our Pandemic Perspective series to examine an existing working relationship between academia and government. Since we talk a lot on this podcast about how the research community and government partners or policymakers can work together more effectively, it made sense for us to dig into an existing policy colla…

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78 - Josh Makower - A Career of Innovation in Med Tech and Venture Capital 1:02:41

4+ y ago1:02:41

1:02:41

Today’s episode is a conversation between Sope Eweje, one of the VP’s of Entrepreneurship and Ventures for Penn HealthX, and our guest, Dr. Josh Makower. Josh currently leads medical device investment as a general partner at NEA, one of the world’s largest and most active venture capital firms. Josh is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of Exp…

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Episode 9 - The Pandemic Perspective: The Local and State Government's Response to COVID-19, the 2020 Election, and Everything in Between (Part 2)

5y ago

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This month's episodes feature everything but the kitchen sink! We're tackling how government, primarily at the local and state levels, transitioned to remote work, unemployment and the recession, the messaging behind school closings/mask wearing, the 2020 Election, COVID-19 vaccines distribution, and everything in between. As part of our new series…

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Episode 8 - The Pandemic Perspective: The Local and State Government's Response to COVID-19, the 2020 Election, and Everything in Between (Part 1)

5y ago

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This month's two part (!) episode features everything but the kitchen sink! We're tackling how government, primarily at the local and state levels, transitioned to remote work, unemployment and the recession, the messaging behind school closings/mask wearing, the 2020 Election, COVID-19 vaccines distribution, and everything in between. For the seco…

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Episode 7 - The Pandemic Perspective: Examining the Delivery of Special Education Services During COVID-19

5y ago

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The Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative Podcast is offering a new series called The Pandemic Perspective, where we examine how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and various aspects of our society, institutions, and other systems have collided, changed, and even collapsed in the last nine months. For the first episode of this series, we spoke with three ex…

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China's Rise and IR Theory – Yan Xuetong 1:22:16

5y ago1:22:16

1:22:16

No foreign policy topic currently garners more attention in the United States than its relationship with China, especially in light of China's rise over the past few decades as an economic, technological, military, and strategic power and rival. In this episode, Neysun Mahboubi discusses with Yan Xuetong, one of China's leading experts on internati…

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77 - Sandy Varatharajah - Planning For a Career to Transform Healthcare Via Digital Health 57:17

5y ago57:17

57:17

Today’s episode is a conversation with one of my colleagues, Sandy Varatharajah. Sandy is a 2nd year MBA student and a member of the Healthcare Management program at Wharton. In the episode, we discuss what drew her to the healthcare space, her previous experiences, including interning at the white house, consulting, and working for CityBlock. We a…

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Episode 6 - Examining Income Inequality in Pennsylvania: Why We Need More (and Better) Data

5y ago

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In this month's episode, we spoke to Alexis Santos, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, and David Saunders, Director of the Office of Health Equity for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, about different disparities throughout the Pennsylvania Commonwealth and how the lack of good data impacts what we …

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Episode 5 - The Stigma of the Opioid Crisis

5y ago

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What is there left to say about the opioid crisis that has not already been said? It's claimed thousands of lives, torn apart families and communities, strained our country's already fractured healthcare system, and cost the economy billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars. If burning a path through communities for the last twenty years was not enou…

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76 - Dr. Arpan Parikh - Using Business Skills to Improve The Future of Psychiatry 56:22

5y ago56:22

56:22

Today’s episode is a conversation I had with Dr. Arpan Parikh. Dr. Parikh was a colleague of mine at Wharton last year. He has since graduated and moved on to a role with CareMore Health. Dr. Parikh got his MD at Ohio State, and completed his residency in Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai in New York City. In the episode, we discuss what drew him to medicine…

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75 -Adam Lessler - From EM Residency to Consulting and Venture Capital/Growth Equity 1:05:12

5y ago1:05:12

1:05:12

Today’s episode is a conversation I had with Dr. Adam Lessler, who is currently a Principal at Evidity Health Capital in New York City. He is a licensed physician with residency training in emergency medicine and over a decade of healthcare industry experience counseling Boards and senior leadership teams.Prior to joining Evidity, Adam was an engag…

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74 - Kwaku Owusu - CEO of DrugViu - Eliminating the Underrepresentation of POC in Clinical Trials 46:04

5y ago46:04

46:04

Today’s episode is one I co-hosted with Mariam Alausa, who is the current co-VP of Curriculum for Penn HealthX. Our guest was Kwaku Owusu, who is the founder and CEO of DrugViu and TrialViu. Drugviu aggregates patient-related outcomes for people of color who take specific pharmaceutical drugs. TrialViu is a companion site that then educates those s…

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73 - Erik Maltais, CEO of IMMERTEC - Innovation in Surgical Education Using Virtual Reality 54:09

5y ago54:09

54:09

Today’s episode is with Erik Maltais, who is the founder and CEO of IMMERTEC, which is a company using virtual reality tools to bring remote surgeons and trainees into the OR to teach them skills and how to use certain medical devices. He has a really cool background in both the business and medical worlds, and it was a pleasure to speak with him t…

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72 - Catherine Bryt - Creating a Healthcare Services Marketplace with Sibi Health 51:11

5+ y ago51:11

51:11

This episode is a conversation I had with one of my friends and Wharton colleagues, Catherine Bryt. Catherine is the CEO and founder of Sibi Health. Put simply, Sibi Health is a marketplace for healthcare services, now serving the Philadelphia area. You can compare local doctors and pre-set service prices for both in-person and video visits, select…

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Episode 4 - The Chronic Crisis of Housing

5+ y ago

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and unemployment benefits for many Americans decrease significantly at the end of July, many Americans will be unable to pay rents and mortgages and may face eviction. Given the severity of this particular crisis, July's episode focuses on multiple issues related to housing in America, like the lack of affordable …

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71 - Dr. David Nash - A Deep Dive Into Population Health and the Future of the U.S Healthcare System 56:34

5+ y ago56:34

56:34

In this episode, back by popular demand, is Dr. David Nash. Dr. Nash was a guest back in March for episode #45 when we spoke about how population health transforming the healthcare system. We decided to have him back to continue the conversation and delve deeper into how clinicians are actually utilizing data being collected, and what the future ho…

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70 - Zack Gray - Co-Founding Ophelia to Improve Access for Patients Addicted to Opioids 44:29

5+ y ago44:29

44:29

In this episode, I interview Zack Gray, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ophelia, which seeks to address the opioid epidemic by making medication-assisted treatment (MAT) private, convenient, and affordable for patients. Zack is a graduate of Columbia where he studied Astrophysics and Philosophy. After being in the working world for a few years, he…