University of California Audio Podcasts (Audio)

The Honorable David Shulkin served as the 9th Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2017 to 2018. An experienced healthcare executive, Shulkin had been CEO of several hospitals and had served as the VA’s undersecretary. So he was entirely prepared for stepping into the role of leader of the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system (and was confirmed by the Senate 100-0). Yet, soon after he began, he realized that he was not fully prepared for the realities of the role in the Trump administration. A group of political appointees committed to privatizing the VA system began – subtly at first, more brazenly later – to undercut Shulkin’s authority, using back channels that have now become a familiar theme. Ultimately, he was fired by President Trump…by tweet. In this wide-ranging interview, he covers all of this, along with his experience as the “Lone Survivor” for the State of the Union Address and standing by the President’s side after the news of Charlottesville hit. Series: "American Politics" [Show ID: 35508]

Bradley R. Cairns, PhD, discusses his lab's work creating a transcriptional cell atlas of the developing human testis during puberty, revealing dramatic developmental changes in both germ and somatic niche cell lineages. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Show ID: 35452]

Nationally, there are approximately 18,000 patients on the liver transplant list. Annually, about 6,000 patients receive a liver transplant. Because of the organ shortage, many patients waiting for liver transplants die on the list or become too sick to undergo transplant. Dr. John Roberts offers these solutions: expanded criteria donors, split livers and living donors. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Show ID: 35233]

Digital tools including mobile apps, wearable sensors, and social network platforms offer unprecedented opportunities in health research and healthcare. However, this rapidly emerging sector is outpacing existing regulatory structures and challenging norms for ethical practice. Camille Nebeker, EdD, MS, Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine & Public Health at the UC San Diego School of Medicine describes how technologies, including wearable sensors and artificial intelligence, are leveraged to capture personal health data and infer health status. Nebeker presents the ethical considerations specific to informed consent, risks of harm and potential benefits while underscoring the role that funding agencies, policy makers, researchers, ethicists, and editors have in creating the infrastructure needed to advance safe digital health research and practice. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Show ID: 35144]

The 1981 premiere of John Adams' "Harmonium" signaled the arrival of a major new talent. A "choral symphony" based on poems by John Donne and Emily Dickinson, this piece marked Adams' pursuit of a new path as a composer, one that employed some of the techniques of minimalism in service of a new harmonic language. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35504]

The ocean plays a major role in regulating Earth’s temperature through exchange of chemicals and microbes with the atmosphere. When waves break, ocean-derived biological species including viruses and bacteria are transferred into the atmosphere. These species can ultimately form clouds, altering precipitation and climate. Highlights will be presented of novel experiments being conducted in a unique ocean-atmosphere simulator developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE). Kimberly Prather, Professor of Climate, Atmospheric Science, and Physical Oceanography at UC San Diego will focus on recent CAICE studies aimed at advancing our understanding of how the oceans influence human and planetary health. New insights will be discussed as well as future studies designed to unravel human versus microbial impacts on the changing Earth’s system. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Show ID: 35000]

How wisdom is defined and measured in the laboratory, the biology of wisdom, its dynamic relationship with culture, wisdom and aging, wisdom and health, and how we might build wiser societies. THis animation is based on "The New Science of Practical Wisdom" published by Johns Hopkins University Press in the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Show ID: 35488]

Thomas Nee Commission recipient Celeste Oram presents a new concerto for orchestra, violin soloist Keir GoGwilt, and three offstage voices. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35502]

Virtuoso violinist Keir GoGwilt is the featured soloist in Robert Schumann's vibrant "Violin Concerto in D Minor." Once rescued from an early undeserved obscurity, this piece quickly became one of the most popular in the violin repertoire. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35503]

Biological anthropologist Katerina Semendeferi describes how the human brain's extraordinary powers of social cognition may predispose only humans to conditions like autism and how she aids the search for the neurophysiology underlying these conditions. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34330]