In the latest installment of Talk of the Towne, we sat down with Melanie Paris, M.A., MPH, the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Kidney Disease Education at the American Kidney Fund (AKF). In the discussion, we got her insights into the types of kidney disease, treatment disparities, and the importance of clinical research in the field. She also shared many valuable resources for individuals and their loved ones living with kidney disease, which are linked here.

Our tenth installment of Talk of the Towne is a special one, as it's our first live episode! We recently attended SCOPE 2024, where we met up with our partners at Rare Patient Voice and had a great conversation with their Senior Vice President, Pam Cusick. They had the opportunity to chat about the mission of Rare Patient Voice, how the organization helps patients and their loved ones, and the advancements their work has made in research and representation. We’re also thrilled that this episode is coming out just in time for Rare Disease Day, which takes place on February 29th. Be sure to give this special episode a listen!

This episode features Nancy Lynn, the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at the BrightFocus Foundation, one of the members of Antidote’s partner network. For the past 50 years, the BrightFocus Foundation has funded worldwide research to defeat Alzheimer’s disease, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, in addition to providing resources and support to patients and their loved ones. Rich and Nancy had an energetic discussion about her work at BrightFocus, with a special focus on recent research breakthroughs and Alzheimer’s clinical trials.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, which provides the perfect occasion to feature Dr. Reggie Tucker-Seeley and Kris Bennett from ZERO Prostate Cancer. Dr. Tucker-Seeley, Vice President of Health Equity, and Kris, Director of Health Equity and Community Organizing, have devoted their careers to advancing representation, reducing barriers to health equity, and building communities to improve the patient experience.

In this episode, Rich explores these areas of expertise focusing on their relevance to the prostate cancer patient community. The conversation touches on research developments, the importance of medical research, and ways in which industry professionals can adopt a patient-centric approach to all aspects of the clinical trial process. Listen to the episode below or scroll further to read the transcription.

Our seventh episode, recorded during Melanoma Awareness Month, features Dr. Marc Hurlbert, the Chief Executive Officer of the Melanoma Research Alliance.MRA is the world’s largest private nonprofit funder of melanoma research, and through investing in research, they are advancing their mission to cure melanoma and prevent new diagnoses from taking place.

In this episode, we chat with Marc about all things melanoma, highlighting recent breakthroughs, research developments, and the landscape of melanoma clinical trials. Listen to the episode below, or scroll down to read the transcription.

Antidote’s podcast, Talk of the Towne, focuses on the ultimate sweet spot: that special place where science and patients converge. Our host, Rich Towne, PharmD, was trained in pharmacy and currently works in Clinical Informatics at Antidote. In each episode, Rich welcomes a new guest from an organization with which Antidote is working, and takes an in-depth look at particular therapeutic areas or topics, zeroing in on the story that Antidote's data is telling about how best to connect patients and research.

For our sixth episode, we sat down with Risa Arin, Founder and CEO of XpertPatient.com, an award-winning educational website that provides support to newly-diagnosed cancer patients. This sharp, informal conversation focused on oncology patient education, with an emphasis on ensuring cancer patients are aware of all treatment options, from those currently FDA-approved to those still in the research stages. 

To learn more about XpertPatient, visit: https://www.xpertpatient.com/.

To learn more about Antidote and to connect with clinical trials near you, visit: https://www.antidote.me/.

Antidote’s podcast, Talk of the Towne, focuses on the ultimate sweet spot: that special place where science and patients converge. Our host, Rich Towne, PharmD, was trained in pharmacy and currently works in Clinical Informatics at Antidote. In each episode, Rich welcomes a new guest from an organization with which Antidote is working, and takes an in-depth look at particular therapeutic areas or topics, zeroing in on the story that Antidote's data is telling about how best to connect patients and research.

For our fifth episode, we sat down with Allison Kalloo, MPH, CD, Founder/CEO of Clinical Ambassador, and Founder of iParticipate. This sharp, informal conversation focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion in clinical research, covering what Antidote’s race and ethnicity data reveals about who is searching for trials, what Allison recommends to drive DEI in clinical trials, and what cues others in the industry should take from her work. This episode is co-hosted by Toore Adebajo, MPH, Antidote's Clinical Content Associate.

To learn more about Allison's work, visit: https://www.i-participate.org/ and https://clinicalambassador.com/. 

To learn more about Antidote and to connect with clinical trials near you, visit: https://www.antidote.me/.

Antidote’s podcast, Talk of the Towne, focuses on the ultimate sweet spot: that special place where science and patients converge. Our host, Rich Towne, was trained in pharmacy and currently works in Clinical Informatics at Antidote. In each episode, Rich welcomes a new guest from an organization with which Antidote is working, and takes an in-depth look at particular therapeutic areas, zeroing in on the story that Antidote's data is telling about how best to connect patients and research.

For our fourth episode, we sat down with Tonya Winders, the President and CEO of Allergy & Asthma Network, to learn the latest on allergy, asthma, and atopic disease research initiatives.

Listen to the episode to enjoy a dynamic discussion between Rich and Tonya about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the allergy and asthma research space, exciting ways that Allergy & Asthma Network is working with patients and sponsors, and why she has a personal connection to the allergy and asthma advocacy community:

To learn more about Allergy & Asthma Network, visit: https://allergyasthmanetwork.org/

To learn more about Antidote and to connect with clinical trials near you, visit: https://www.antidote.me/

Antidote’s new podcast, Talk of the Towne, focuses on the ultimate sweet spot: that special place where science and patients converge. Our host, Rich Towne, was trained in pharmacy and currently works in Clinical Informatics at Antidote. In each episode, Rich welcomes a new guest from an organization with which Antidote is working, and takes an in-depth look at particular therapeutic areas, zeroing in on the story that Antidote's data is telling about how best to connect patients and research.

For our third episode, we sat down with John Lewis, the Executive Director of Heart Valve Voice US, to learn more about heart valve disease research initiatives.

Listen to the episode to enjoy an electric discussion between Rich and John about the current challenges surrounding heart valve disease clinical trials (and recruitment), insights into the future of heart valve studies, and how Heart Valve Voice US serves the whole heart valve community.

To learn more about Heart Valve Voice US, visit: https://www.heartvalvevoice-us.org/

To learn more about My Valve My Voice, a community support network for people with heart valve disease, visit: https://myvalvemyvoice.com/

To learn more about Antidote and to connect with clinical trials near you, visit: https://www.antidote.me/

Antidote’s new podcast, Talk of the Towne, focuses on the ultimate sweet spot: that special place where science and patients converge. Our host, Rich Towne, was trained in pharmacy and currently works in Clinical Informatics at Antidote. In each episode, Rich welcomes a new guest from an organization with which Antidote is working, and takes an in-depth look at particular therapeutic areas, zeroing in on the story that Antidote's data is telling about how best to connect patients and research.

For our second episode, we sat down with Albert Roy, the Executive Director of Lupus Therapeutics, an affiliate of the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) that was established by the LRA to advance lupus clinical research by finding more effective and safer treatments for people living with lupus. Albert is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating the organization’s core business operations and LRA’s clinical trial endeavors.

Listen to the episode to enjoy a compelling conversation between Rich and Albert about the current state of lupus research and clinical trials, as well as insights into the future of lupus studies.

To learn more about Lupus Therapeutics, visit: https://lupustherapeutics.org/about/

To learn more about the Lupus Research Alliance, visit: https://www.lupusresearch.org/

To learn more about Antidote and to connect with clinical trials near you, visit: https://www.antidote.me/