Let’s Talk About That

Dr. Elora López-Nandam is a young evolutionary biologist and a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, whose work spans the ecology, evolution, and conservation of marine ecosystems. Her work has ranged from studying the sustainability of sea cucumber fisheries in Fiji, to the mysteries of coral bleaching in American Samoa, and how we can restore coral populations. Now, at the California Academy of Sciences, she combines cutting-edge genomics with hands-on aquarium husbandry to guide how we can better steward and reintroduce vulnerable marine life.

In this conversation with Anirvan Ghosh, she talks about the biology and diversity of corals, their role in sustaining marine ecosystems, and how they are being decimated by rising ocean temperatures. She also discusses the fascinating and groundbreaking work she and her colleagues are doing to grow coral in labs and reintroducing them into the oceans to restore coral populations

Dr. Randy Schekman is a Nobel Laureate and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Dr. Schekman's discoveries on the mechanisms by which proteins are trafficked to different parts of the cell are in every cell and molecular biology textbook and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013, which he shared withJames Rothman and Thomas Südhof. Beyond his laboratory research, he has been passionate about access to scientific research —serving as Editor-in-Chief of PNAS and founding editor of eLife, helping to redefine peer review and scientific publishing.

In this episode Dr. Schekman discusses the fundamental discoveries in his lab that have shaped our understanding of how cells work, the importance of making research openly and freely available, and recent insights from Parkinson's Disease research on how risk mutations can lead to the death of neurons and disease progression.

Dr. D. Sangeeta is the founder and CEO of Gotara, a global business and leadership accelerator that is redefining how individuals in corporate settings can increase their impact and transform their careers. Her platform now serves more than 33,000 members across the globe, offering confidential,24/7 guidance from experienced leaders—and is helping companies understand the value of talent development and close the persistent gender gap in science and technology.

In this conversation, Sangeeta sits down with Anirvan to discuss her professional journey from starting out as a bench scientist, and going on to executive roles at GE, Amazon, and Nielsen and what she has learned about unlocking individual potential. We learn how her experiences shaped her mission to eliminate the structural and everyday hurdles that hold back talented individuals in corporate settings, and how her company Gotara is working with individuals and companies to enable that transformation.

Dr. Sophie Kornowski is a BioPharma leader, strategist, and global dealmaker whose career spans senior leadership positions at Merck and Roche, a healthcare investor with Gurnet PointCapital, and CEO at Boston Pharmaceuticals. She has helped shape the partnerships behind some of the most successful therapies in recent years. Here she sits down with Anirvan Ghosh to discuss her leadership journey and how science, business, and partnerships converge to enable the development of new and transformative medicines.

Dr. Sandeep “Bob” Datta is a Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School whose work blends neuroscience, behavior, and machine learning to decode how the brain controls behavior. Here he sits down with Anirvan Ghosh to discuss the fascinating series of discoveries that led to the identification of MS4A6D as a critical protein that regulates the spread of Tau pathology, a major driver of Alzheimer's disease. He goes on to candidly discuss how recent decisions on federal research funding at Harvard led to a sudden termination of his research grants, and how that is threatening promising research on a devastating disease that affects millions of people around the globe.

Remy Reya is a young Jewish-Indian-American leader who is passionate about social justice. Here he sits down with Anirvan to talk about his Jewish and Indian ancestry and how that has informed his identity and sense of belonging. Remy shares his views on the importance of approaching disparate complex challenges such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and homelessness in American cities with empathy to create a more just and caring society. He also touches on his recent work on how the emergence of AI can be a force of positive change in the world.

Dr. Katie Travis is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist whose research focuses on improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable among us: children born preterm. Here she sits down with Anirvan Ghosh to discuss how early life experiences—everything from a baby’s first sensory encounters to complex medical interventions—shape the developing brain and influence long-term outcomes. She also discusses the critical importance of sustained federal funding and being able to recruit the best people from around the world to drive this work forward, and the threat it is facing today.

Mike Robbins is a leadership coach and the author of five books, including Bring Your Whole Self to Work and We’re All inThis Together. He’s an expert on team performance andcompany culture, and his keynotes and seminars have inspired audiences around the world. Here he sits down with Anirvan to discuss teams as being the foundational units of organizations, and what makes a great team. Mike draws on his experiences working with companies like Google and Microsoft to highlight the importance of creating an environment of psychological safety and fostering healthy debate in getting teams to click, be engaged, and deliver great results.

Dr. Chris Mihos sits down with Anirvan Ghosh to discuss his work exploring the mysteries of the universe from galaxy evolution to the birth of stars, and how astronomical observations driven by curiosity were foundational to Newton's insights into gravity and the laws of motion. These discoveries in turn have been critical for the success of our space program and inform the rockets we are designing today to travel to Mars some day.

Distinguished scientist and UCSB professor Dr. Craig Montell sits down with Anirvan Ghosh to discuss his journey from growing up poor in New York and then in a Bay Area commune to becoming a successful microbiologist and geneticist. They discuss how research on fruit flies revolutionized genetics, and the work Dr. Montell is doing to engineer sterile mosquitoes to reduce the prevalence of pathogenic mosquitoes that lead to millions of deaths each year. They also discuss the cuts to federal research grants that threaten America's scientific leadership.