Today's guest was recorded while on location with a client in Germany, Imre Varju MD, PhD, MPH, CHES

Imre Varju aims at improving health on every level - from molecules to whole populations. Imre Varju, Fulbright Scholar holding an MD and a PhD in molecular medicine, a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree with a certificate in Health Communication from Columbia University, and a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) certification. Over the past 10+ years, Imre Varju has gained insight into a range of areas:

-As a health communications specialist and behavior strategist for a major, multi-award winning healthcare and pharma advertising company, he helped design medical and health education strategy for a variety of drugs based on clinical trial data, using behavior science as well as adult learning and health literacy principles.

-As a health communications consultant for public health NGOs, Imre has carried out needs assessments and helped design health promotion interventions and online social marketing campaigns to tackle widespread health issues such as diabetes, social isolation, or the opioid crisis with the help of artificial intelligence and chatbot development.

-As a health advocate and health/science communicator, he published in public print media, hold webinars and give TV interviews, using his experience in public speaking to translate complex scientific topics for a range of lay audiences from Budapest (European Night of the Researchers events, OzoneTV) to New York (Fulbright Association events).

-At the same time, as a seminar lead and lecturer in higher education, Imre Varju has been teaching and assisting 1000+ medical and public health students from all around the world, in three languages, within the areas of medical biochemistry, environmental, biological, and social determinants of health, leadership development, and strategy in health communications. 

Behavioral Health & the Policies Practiced: focused on how health behavior is at the heart of COVID reactions

Public Health Policy around 'a new world' - we spend some time on this with so many different aspects of policy around the world that it is hard to generally discuss: but we can talked about why policies alone are not a perfect solution (if people feel they are forced to do something they don't believe in)

This Pandemic is Different, much different 

The lack of Health Literacy & the Pharmacist's Opportunity 

Herd Immunity in promoting "Evidence Based Data" (fighting Fake News) 

To Mask or Not to Mask shouldn't be a discussion but it needs addressed 

References: 

https://jhealthcomm.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/why-we-are-not-listening/

https://fulbrightsplitscreen.com/articles/imre-varju/

http://science-union.org/articlelist/2020/3/28/in-conversation-with-dr-imre-varju-medical-scientist-amp-public-health-communiation-specialist

Also, random fact that in my past academic research I had been focusing on neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which are now suspected as part of the pathogenesis of COVID complications.

https://www.cshl.edu/global-network-studies-role-of-immune-cells-in-covid-19-deaths/

Review on NETs: https://www.thrombosisresearch.com/article/S0049-3848(19)30326-3/fulltext

Special Intro from Senator Bill Frist, M.D. from "A Second Opinion Podcast" 

https://asecondopinionpodcast.com/about/ 

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