World-renowned hematologist and scientist Dr. Katherine High has spent much of her career focused on achieving a goal few believed was possible: developing gene therapies and getting them to patients. Dr. High joins Madeline to talk about her journey from idea to breakthrough – and what it was like to create Spark Therapeutics, a company based on her innovations.

The idea of repairing birth defects before babies are born seemed like a radical one to many. But Dr. Scott Adzick, Director of CHOP’s Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, was determined to pursue it – and today, he’s considered a pioneer in the field of fetal surgery. He shares insights from his remarkable career with Madeline and reveals some of the incredible breakthroughs that are on the horizon for his team.

Strange symptoms with no clear cause. Medical histories that mystify even the most experienced doctors.  Dr. Ian Krantz, Co-Director of CHOP’s Roberts Individualized Medical Genetics Center, specializes in solving “medical mysteries” – and he and his team have found answers for many patients who had almost given up hope. He joins Madeline to discuss the latest advances in precision medicine, why it’s important to share data with other scientists, and more.

How do the COVID-19 vaccines work? How concerned should we be about the new COVID-19 variants? Dr. Paul Offit, Director of CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center, is one of the leading voices in the vaccine conversation. On this special bonus episode, he joins Madeline to discuss the COVID-19 vaccines, the cutting-edge technology used to make them, and what the future might look like as more people get vaccinated.

In the spring, doctors began noticing a mysterious inflammatory condition in children that involved fever, rashes, diarrhea and vomiting. Now known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C, the rare syndrome seems to be a postviral inflammatory response to COVID-19. Dr. Edward Behrens, Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and Director of the Immune Dysregulation Frontier Program, discusses what his team has discovered about MIS-C and what gives him hope for the future.

Could dogs’ noses hold the answer to a better COVID-19 diagnostic test? Dr. Audrey Odom John, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at CHOP, discusses her efforts to develop a COVID-19 breathalyzer test with help from some four-legged friends – and shares the questions CHOP researchers most want to answer about the disease.

Testing is one of the most important tools we have to track and stop the spread of COVID-19, but it comes with many challenges. Dr. Rebecca Harris, Director of CHOP’s Infectious Disease Diagnostics Laboratory, shares the story of how CHOP developed its own COVID-19 test early in the pandemic and describes how her team is finding ways to do more tests, faster, as the pandemic continues.

While many institutions across the country were modeling the trajectory of COVID-19 at the national level, Dr. David Rubin, and his colleagues at CHOP’s PolicyLab took a more innovative approach: They mapped the spread of the virus at the county level. More than 500 U.S. counties are included in the PolicyLab model, which has been used by local and state policymakers, as well as the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Dr. Rubin discusses how the model came to fruition and shares the most surprising – and important – thing researchers have learned from it.

What makes COVID-19 different from other infectious diseases? Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Susan Coffin, discusses her research on how the SARS-CoV-2 virus is transmitted, talks about how the virus affects children, and shares advice to help parents and families make decisions about everything from playdates to sports.

In “Where We Are Now,” a five-episode special series, Madeline Bell speaks with five CHOP researchers about the COVID-19-related work they are leading – and about what gives them hope during this challenging time. With episodes focused on everything from a modeling tool that forecasts the spread of the virus across more than 500 U.S. counties to a unique COVID-19 test developed in the CHOP labs, the series takes listeners on a journey from the beginning of the pandemic to where we are now.