Thinkresearch

Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, there has been a lot of debate about the pros and cons of the bill. Ben Sommers, MD, PhD from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, joins us as to talk about his work in health care reform and the national debate regarding the ACA.

We are joined by Tamarra James Todd, PhD from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who will talk to us about how chemicals can lead to the development of chronic disease as well as the racial and ethnic disparities in environmental chemical exposures.

Hear from Mark Shrime, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, on the challenges and hidden costs of making surgery available in low-income countries, despite overwhelming demand.

Bill Hanage, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses efforts to predict when and how certain types of bacteria may become resistant to treatment.

Conor Evans, PhD, and Haley Marks, PhD, both from Massachusetts General Hospital, join us to talk about the S.M.A.R.T. bandage project. They describe how a visit to a military hospital in Texas led to the development of a product that would ultimately allow doctors to use a smart phone app to see how a wound or burn is healing.

Cell phones assist in the fight against malaria. In the next podcast, hear Caroline Buckee, D.Phil, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, explain how her team is using cell phone data to make predictions about how malaria is transmitted through different areas of a country.

Air quality is the degree to which the ambient air is pollution-free. In countries such as Uganda, cooking and certain lighting sources can make the indoor air quality worse than it is outdoors. Later this month, Peggy Lai, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses her work on improving air quality inside homes in Uganda.

The DNA blue print of the human body is a complex system that is under assault every moment of the day. Zac Nagel, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, joins us to talk about his efforts to study DNA repair to ultimately prevent, anticipate, and treat diseases like cancer.

Sara Bleich, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, joins us to discuss her career in obesity prevention and control. Hear about the range of public health issues she has tackled throughout her career, including her efforts to reduce children’s consumption of sugary drinks, and her time as senior policy advisor to the former First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative.

South Africa has the largest prevalence of people living with HIV but only about half are seeking treatment. Dr. Ingrid Katz, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has been working since 2008 to understand the reasons behind this disparity. She joins us to talk about her work and how a peer support program that she piloted has led to more people starting and staying in treatment.

We talk with Dr. Ankur Pandya, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, whose research centers on the decision-making process behind the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Hear how asking the right questions can lead to more cost-effective and effective medical decisions.

Shortly before she was supposed to receive her PhD, Dr. Corrie Painter, of the Broad Institute, was diagnosed with a little known and aggressive form of cancer that would ultimately change not only her life, but her career. In the latest ThinkResearch podcast, she explains how she turned a devastating health crisis into an opportunity to raise awareness about and improve the treatment of two rare forms of cancer.

Dr. Anupam Jena, of Mass General Hospital, explains the intersection of economics and medicine, including why some physicians are more likely to purchase larger homes and how the inequalities that exist in health care could impact the treatment of patients.

The headlines are everywhere: sedentary behavior can be a health risk. On the next episode of ThinkResearch, Dr. I-Min Lee, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses what recent studies actually reveal and how scientists are working to increase physical activity, not just in the U.S. but all over the world.

Dr. Rebekka Lee, ScD, and the Harvard Prevention Research Center aim to find community-based solutions to obesity through interventions around nutrition and physical activity with local children in after-school programs.

In the latest episode of ThinkResearch, BWH senior epidemiologist Dr. Julie Buring, ScD, explains the techniques behind using clinical trials to determine the efficacy of health treatments and provide potentially life-saving answers to research questions.

Vitamin D is known for promoting bone health, and now Dr. JoAnn Manson believes it could also reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Hear how she started a nationwide clinical trial with nearly 26,000 participants to determine the additional benefits of vitamin D and omega-3s.

What do discoveries made by the German aircraft industry have to do with the treatment of kidney stones? Dr. Peter Steinberg explains the connection and how kidney stones impact the economy on the next episode of ThinkResearch.

Join us as we talk with Dr. Jeffrey Karp, a top medical innovator, who draws on his engineering training and nature’s own ingenuity to create products and devices that improve human health. This is his story. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud and our website www.catalyst.harvard.edu/thinkresearch

Join us as we discuss with Dr. Laura Riley, the “ins and outs” of a growing international epidemic, Zika virus. How is it transmitted? If I get the virus, what information is available about the short and long term effects?