Raise the Line

Like many academics, Dr. Peter Decherney wears many hats, but in his case you can also add a virtual reality headset.  That’s because in addition to being a professor of Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he’s also a filmmaker working in both the traditional “flatty” format and virtual reality, with subjects ranging from artists in Puerto Rico to a Jewish community in Ethiopia. Choosing which medium to use to tell which story is a newer part of the process he enjoys. “Filmmaking is often about this kind of obsessive control. It's a challenge to be able to give up some control and create lots of different opportunities and learning experiences for audiences,” he tells host Michael Carrese in this episode of Raise the Line. Using technology to create learning experiences is also a big part of his job as the Faculty Director of UPenn’s Online Learning Initiative, a role that put him at the center of perhaps the largest, quickest, and most significant change in higher education in modern times when the pandemic forced the universal use of remote learning. “The pandemic was a moment of reflection and it was kind of amazing to see people across campus just think about education and pedagogy in a really deep and new way.” Check out this wide-ranging conversation to find out what that new thinking is leading to, what he likes about online instruction himself and one of the most important things universities learned about themselves during the pandemic.

Mentioned in this episode: 

Information on Film About Ethiopia: https://www.dreamingofjerusalem.org

Kalobeyei Refugee Settlement Video: https://youtu.be/1y-FM5o1xdU

Personal Website: decherney.org

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“Curriculum is at the heart of everything a university does, so it only makes sense to architect the solution we provide based on the core offering of the universities,” says Greg Vanclief, President & CEO of Elentra.  The tech industry veteran and his team are on a mission to transform the delivery of higher education and nurture life-long learners through an end-to-end platform featuring a wide range of tools to support everything from scheduling to curriculum mapping to testing and accreditation management. The global reach of Elentra’s advanced education management system is growing in part because it allows universities to consolidate multiple existing software tools into one.  Join host Michael Carrese as Vanclief provides a peek into the tech support underpinning successful student journeys, and shares his passion for entrepreneurship and transforming higher education.

Mentioned in this episode: https://elentra.com/

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In medical school, when taught about differential diagnoses, students are often taught, "if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras” says Rebecca Aune, the Director of Education Programs at National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD).NORD, she says, represents twenty-five million American zebras living with rare diseases every day, many of whom undergo a deeply frustrating and isolating odyssey as they seek an accurate diagnosis. The reasons for this are numerous, Dr. Edward Neilan, the organization’s Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, tells host Michael Carrese. But NORD is working to address many of these problems at once -- at the level of the patient, the doctor, the research, and the medical system as a whole. Tune in to hear how a 1980s law dramatically increased research into rare disorders, how the human genome project has revolutionized their treatment, and what a future of better diagnostics could look like.

Mentioned in this episode: https://rarediseases.org/

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The Student National Medical Association has been fighting for equity and diversity in the medical field for almost 60 years. Unfortunately, it’s a need as pressing today as it was when the association began, with Black doctors making up only 5% of the physician workforce in the nation.  And beyond making sure Black Americans are aware of the path to, and through, medical school, SNMA Executive Director Bridgette Hudson also works closely with her team to make sure medical students have the opportunity to be great leaders as well. “We have an amazing pipeline of learners who are going to be primed to be physician leaders to make sure positions and influences are diversified not just on the floors of the hospital systems, but also in those decision-making suites and in our accreditation spaces.” On this episode of Raise the Line, Hudson joins host Michael Carrese to discuss the importance of maintaining support for the record number of first-year medical students who are Black to ensure they graduate, how SNMA supports diversity in medical research and the role of medical educators in breaking down stereotypes about race and health.

Mentioned in this episode:
https://snma.org/

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The current interest in using psychedelics for mental health treatment is a ‘back to the future’ moment for Dr. Jim Fadiman, a pioneer in psychedelic research known as the father of microdosing. “The method that's been developed for administering high doses in a supervised environment is replicating exactly what we developed in the 1960s,” he tells host Shiv Gaglani.  At that time, the federal government approved his research, but when the Nixon administration criminalized this class of drugs for political reasons, all research stopped, creating a wide belief that they are unsafe when actually, he says, they’re among the pharmacologically safest drugs. In the absence of government-sanctioned research, what Fadiman calls “citizen science” has been thriving.  Hundreds of thousands of people have self-reported through social media and other means that the drugs improve their functioning and have no serious side effects. Other countries are sponsoring research yielding the same results. In the context of a deepening mental health crisis, Fadiman believes it makes sense to integrate psychedelics into treatment, especially when the pharmaceuticals in use are only modestly effective for a minority of patients. Make sure to listen through to the end of the episode to learn about his new book, Symphony of Selves on harmonizing different aspects of our personalities to reduce stress and increase empathy for others. This is a deeply-informed, revealing and fun conversation you won’t want to miss. 

Mentioned in this episode:
https://www.jamesfadiman.com/

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As a child, Dr. David Perlmutter developed an uncommon familiarity with the human brain. Exploring the surgical ward -- and eventually, the operating room -- with his neurosurgeon dad, he observed the possibilities of modern brain medicine, but also its limits. After becoming a neurologist himself, he grew dissatisfied with the medical status quo which he says tended to react to brain diseases like Alzheimer’s after they took effect. The numerous bestselling books he has since written draw on the latest science to explain how the brain interacts with the rest of the body and give readers the tools to adapt accordingly. The latest example is Drop Acid: The Surprising New Science of Uric Acid - The Key to Losing Weight, Controlling Blood Sugar and Achieving Extraordinary Health. Dr. Perlmutter’s work reflects a commitment to questioning the scientific status-quo. “I'm not saying to be iconoclastic day in and day out,” he tells host Shiv Gaglani. But he wants to “look at long-held tenants and recognize that nothing is sacrosanct. There's nothing there that can't be overturned.” Tune in to learn about a powerful new tool in everyone’s toolkit for keeping our brains healthy, and how doctors can get patients to actually follow through on their lifestyle recommendations. 

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.drperlmutter.com/

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast