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"External scientific review gives us a better chance of identifying proposals that might have a big impact on the wellbeing of our community," says Margaret Schneider, director of the Pilot Studies program at the University of California Irvine. Schneider discusses her role in the creation of the CTSA External Reviewer Exchange Consortium (CEREC), which coordinates scientific review for funding applications submitted to centers that are part of the national NIH-funded CTSA consortium, which includes Harvard Catalyst.

Florian Eichler, MD, discusses his work studying childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a progressive demyelinating disease of the brain. Eichler is director of the Center for Rare Neurological Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, and part of a team that recently received pilot funding from us to improve early detection of this disease.

"Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world," says David Friedman, director of the glaucoma service at Mass Eye and Ear. Friedman discusses his current Harvard Catalyst pilot grant to improve glaucoma treatment by studying a contact lens that can deliver medication.

"Hallucinations are often associated with greater delusions, which leads to poor performance in processing visual information, " says Paulo Lizano, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Lizano discusses his recent Harvard Catalyst pilot grant to improve visual processing in patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses using non-invasive brain stimulation.

"For vision-impaired people, visual aids are very important and can be lifesaving," says Gang Luo, PhD, Schepens Eye Research Institute. Luo discusses the expense of these aids for patients – more than $15,000 – and his Harvard Catalyst pilot grant to develop a free smartphone app to detect myopia.

Special guest host Karen Emmons, PhD, faculty lead for our Community Engagement program, interviews Sheila Dillon, chief of Housing and director of Neighborhood Development for the City of Boston, and Jessie Gaeta, chief medical officer for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Dillon and Gaeta discuss their combined efforts to help protect Boston's homeless population from COVID-19. This episode was produced in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Initiative on Health and Homelessness.

“It is always about the patient's safety first,” says Alexa Kimball, MD, MPH, CEO and president of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Kimball discusses how COVID-19 has affected her work as a both a dermatology researcher and CEO and challenges associated.

"Phase 1 clinical trial is the first step when you're translating a discovery in the lab to humans," says Katy Stephenson, MD, MPH, director of the Center of Virology and Vaccine Research Clinical Trials Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Stephenson discusses her past work in clinical trials and her team's current involvement in a clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine.

"There are still mysteries out there that we need to understand," says Yonatan Grad, MD, PhD, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, on his work addressing the spread of COVID-19 and possible interventions to help combat this pandemic.

"There is no drug therapy to prevent or treat calcific aortic valve disease, " says Elena Aikawa, director of the Vascular Biology Program at the Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Science. Aikawa discusses her research on developing new therapies to treat this disease.

"Team science is more important than it ever has been, and we’re trying to make a difference in this really challenging time,” says Jane Wilkinson, senior director of the Genomics Platform in alliance and project management at the Broad Institute. Wilkinson discusses her career studying genomics and the Broad's work to aid in COVID-19 research and testing.

"Virtual reality is very effective because we can create these scenarios that simulate real world situations,"" says Lotfi Merabet, OD, PhD, MPH, of Massachusetts Eye and Ear. Lotfi discusses his recent pilot grant from Harvard Catalyst to improve outcomes for patients with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD) and work using virtual reality and brain imaging techniques to improve detection. "

"Can we use improving sleep to improve blood pressure?" asks Janet Mullington, program director of the Clinical Research Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Mullington discusses her work evaluating whether sleep behavioral interventions help reduce blood pressure and the effects of COVID-19 on her research.

"We need to empower not just future physicians, but all individuals in our society to understand that we can use our voice to make a change," says Isaiah Cochran, MD, of Halifax Health. Cochran discusses his past experience as a Harvard Catalyst intern, describes his work in health policy and politics, and shares his career aspirations as he begins his residency in family medicine.

"The aim is to give opportunities to students who normally wouldn't have these kinds of opportunities," explains Alex Lin, PhD, director of the Center for Clinical Spectroscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Lin discusses his role as a mentor in the Harvard Catalyst Visiting Research Internship Program (VRIP) and the importance of mentor-mentee relationships.

"I treat pancreatic cancer and only 1% of those patients respond and the rest don't," says Osama Rahma, principal investigator at the Center for Immuno-Oncology and Gastroenterology Cancer Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Rahma discusses his research in cancer immunotherapy and his development of novel immunotherapy drugs.

"Microbes are amazing chemists,” says Emily Balskus, PhD, of Harvard University. Balskus discusses her research on the chemistry of microorganisms, including the microbiome, and how they affect human health and disease.

COVID-19 has affected all of us. How has it affected your research? Using the voice memo app on your smartphone, record yourself telling us how the pandemic has changed the way you're working. Send the file to: onlineeducation@catalyst.harvard.edu and we may use your voice in an upcoming episode. Please try to keep your submissions to around 2 minutes. Thank you!

Food in the U.S. is cheap. It's very accessible; it's very unhealthy. And it's strongly marketed to us," says Sara Bleich, professor of public health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Bleich discusses her research evaluating policies related to obesity and diet in vulnerable populations in our latest podcast.

"It's astonishing to understand how little we know about how people become pregnant," says Caroline Mitchell, MD, MPH, director of the Vulvovaginal Disorders Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. In our latest podcast, Mitchell discusses her research with IVF patients to identify how the vaginal microbiome impacts fertility.