How An FBI Intelligence Analyst Ended Up Transforming Pharma R&D - Tara Austraat-Churik - Partner, Blue Matter

Send a textDr. Javad Shabani, Ph.D. ( https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/javad-shabani.html ) is Professor of Physics; Director of the Center of Quantum Information Physics ( https://as.nyu.edu/departments/physics/research/center-for-quantum-information-physics.html ); Director of the NYU Quantum Institute; and member of the Affiliated Faculty, NYU-Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Global Innovation and Research Institute ( https://www.nyu.edu/research/nyu-kaist.html ).Dr. Shabani’s team of engineers is focused on building hybrid semiconductor–superconductor systems designed to make quantum bits — or qubits — more stable, scalable, and ultimately practical.Dr. Shabani’s work ( https://wp.nyu.edu/shabanilab/ ) sits at the intersection of materials science, condensed matter physics, and quantum engineering — and could determine whether quantum computing becomes a transformative technology for medicine, materials discovery, cryptography, and beyond.Dr. Shabani received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2011. After two years of research on semiconductor-based qubits at Harvard University, he joined UC Santa Barbara. There, he worked closely with Microsoft research on hybrid semiconductors/superconductors heterostructures to study topological superconductivity. Dr. Shabani is also Co-Founder and CSO of QuantumMatter Inc. ( https://quantummatter.com/ ), a quantum hardware startup developing high-performance components that will power the next generation of quantum tech.#QuantumComputing #QuantumPhysics #QuantumTechnology #QuantumHardware #Majorana #TopologicalQubits #QuantumMaterials #QuantumDevices #QuantumSensing #QuantumCommunication #QuantumInternet #SuperconductingQubits #CondensedMatterPhysics #FutureOfComputing #NYUResearch #QuantumInnovationSupport the show

Send a textTara Austraat-Churik is a Partner at Blue Matter ( https://bluematterconsulting.com/ ), a strategic consulting firm serving the life sciences industry, bringing new approaches to consulting with original ideas that deliver a meaningful impact. Tara began her career as a counterterrorism intelligence analyst at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where she prepared strategic assessments for senior policymakers, Cabinet officials, and members of the intelligence community. Trained in structured analytic tradecraft and foreign denial and deception, she worked in environments defined by incomplete information, high stakes, and institutional bias.Tar would later bring that analytical lens into the life sciences sector — first at IBM Watson Health during the early wave of AI in drug discovery, where she led major enterprise partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies. From there she went on to senior leadership roles at EY, advising C-suite leaders on R&D transformation, innovation ecosystems, and AI-driven operating model redesign.Tara has a robust background in consulting, which also includes roles at Booz Allen Hamilton, Navitas, WPP, and IBM. Today, as a Partner at Blue Matter, Tara is building the firm’s first dedicated R&D strategy and transformation practice. Blue Matter has advised more than 320 biopharma clients — including 18 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies — and has supported more than 300 therapies across the molecule-to-market continuum.Tara holds a BA and MA from the University of Notre Dame and an MSc in Translational Medicine from the University of Edinburgh.#AIinPharma #DrugDiscovery #BiotechInnovation #PharmaR&D #ArtificialIntelligence #HealthcareAI #FutureOfScience #BiotechPodcast #RareDiseaseResearch #PharmaStrategy #HumanAI #ConsultingCareers #DrugDevelopment #LifeSciences #TechInHealthcareSupport the show

Send a textFor most of the history of computing, software systems were written by humans and—at least in theory—understood by humans.But with AI coding assistants now embedded in everyday development workflows, we may be entering an era where large portions of production software are generated, modified, and extended by machines.Pramin Pradeep is the Co-Founder and CEO of BotGauge ( https://www.botgauge.com/ ), an autonomous “QA-as-a-Solution“ company focused on using AI to improve software testing and observability in modern development environments.Pramin’s background sits at the intersection of AI-driven development and quality assurance. Prior to founding BotGauge, he held product leadership roles at Sauce Labs, one of the leading platforms for automated testing and continuous quality in enterprise software. Earlier in his career he was a founding product leader at AutonomIQ, an AI-based low-code testing platform that was later acquired by Sauce Labs.Across these roles, Pramin has focused on a central challenge in modern software engineering: as development accelerates through automation and AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and Gemini, organizations are increasingly deploying code that no single engineer fully understands.Pramin's work explores how this emerging layer of AI-generated logic—what some are calling “shadow code”—may introduce new security risks, operational blind spots, and governance challenges inside complex software systems.Today we’ll talk about what happens when software systems start evolving faster than our ability to fully comprehend them.#AI #AICoding #ShadowCode #BotGauge #SoftwareSecurity #Cybersecurity #EnterpriseSoftware #AIgeneratedCode #RuntimeObservability #SoftwareTesting #CriticalInfrastructure #TechnicalDebt #AIrisks #TechLeadership #InnovationSupport the show

Send a textKabir Nath is Chief Executive Officer of Compass Pathways  ( https://compasspathways.com/ ), a biotechnology company pioneering evidence-based psychedelic innovation for serious mental health conditions.Kabir brings nearly three decades of leadership experience across the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. Before joining Compass, he served as Senior Managing Director of Global Pharmaceuticals at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., and previously as President and CEO of Otsuka’s North America Pharmaceutical Business, where he led the development of therapies and digital solutions addressing complex mental health needs. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Bristol Myers Squibb.Under Kabir’s leadership, Compass has advanced COMP360 — a synthetic, proprietary formulation of psilocybin — through two pivotal Phase 3 trials in treatment-resistant depression. The program has demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in depression severity, potentially positioning COMP360 to become the first FDA-approved psilocybin-based treatment.Kabir holds an MA from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD.#PsychedelicMedicine #Psilocybin #DepressionTreatment #MentalHealthInnovation #CompassPathways #COMP360 #TreatmentResistantDepression #Biotech #Neuroscience #FutureOfPsychiatry #ClinicalTrials #MentalHealthResearch #PsychedelicTherapy #BiotechInterview #DrugDevelopmentSupport the show

Send a textLacey Stone is Chief Development Officer at USA for UNHCR ( https://www.unrefugees.org/about-us/ ), the U.S. partner of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR - https://www.unhcr.org/ ), the UN Refugee Agency.UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights, and building better futures for refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people. It provides life-saving assistance (shelter, food, medical care) and works in over 130 countries to ensure safety and human rights, often deploying within 72 hours of a crisis.Lacey is a mission-driven leader with more than two decades of experience mobilizing partnerships, philanthropy, and storytelling to address some of the world’s most urgent humanitarian challenges. In her role, she leads strategy across private philanthropy, corporate and foundation partnerships, and national engagement efforts that amplify refugee voices and generate critical support for displaced communities worldwide.Lacey’s career spans influential leadership roles with organizations including UNICEF USA, PATH, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where she built cross-sector collaborations advancing global health, children’s wellbeing, and humanitarian response.Today’s conversation will also focus on the Building Better Futures ( https://www.unrefugees.org/building-better-futures/ ) initiative — a women-led philanthropic effort supporting higher-education scholarships for refugee women and girls — and the broader movement redefining who gives, who benefits, and how philanthropy can drive lasting systemic change.Lacey holds an M.A. in International Relations from Villanova University and dual B.A. degrees in International Relations and Rhetoric & Communication from the University of Pittsburgh.#LaceyStone #USAforUNHCR #UNHCR #BuildingBetterFutures#RefugeeEducation #WomenLed #InternationalWomensDay#GlobalHealth #Rwanda #HumanitarianLeadership #WomenSupportingWomen #Philanthropy #SystemsChange#RefugeeWomen #ProgressPotentialPossibilitiesSupport the show

Send a textDr. Tomasz Beer, MD is a nationally recognized medical oncologist and clinical research leader who serves as Chief Medical Officer for Multi-Cancer Early Detection at Exact Sciences Corporation ( https://www.exactsciences.com/ ), a molecular diagnostics company focused on the eradication of cancer by preventing it, detecting it earlier, and guiding personalized treatment.Before joining Exact Sciences, Dr. Beer spent decades at the forefront of academic oncology, including serving as Deputy Director of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, where he helped build one of the country’s leading precision cancer programs.A prostate cancer specialist by training, Dr. Beer has led numerous clinical trials, authored hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, and been a driving force in advancing biomarker-guided cancer therapy. His career has spanned the evolution of oncology—from empiric chemotherapy to precision medicine and now toward population-scale cancer detection.Today, Dr. Beer is helping lead one of the most ambitious shifts in cancer care: moving from late-stage treatment to early detection across multiple tumor types through advanced molecular diagnostics and blood-based screening technologies.#MultiCancerEarlyDetection #CancerInterception #LiquidBiopsy #PrecisionOncology #CancerPrevention #Immunotherapy #EarlyDetection #OncologyInnovation #CancerResearch #MCEDSupport the show

Send a textDr. Sharron Gargosky, Ph.D. is Chief Clinical Officer of Spinogenix, Inc. ( https://spinogenix.com/ ), a clinical-stage company pioneering a new class of therapeutics designed to reverse synaptic loss and dysfunction in the brain.Spinogenix is advancing two first-in-class oral small molecules. Tazbentetol is a synaptic regenerative therapy shown to regrow brain synapses — the vital connections between neurons. Clinical data have demonstrated rapid and significant improvements in memory and thinking in Alzheimer’s disease, as well as clinically meaningful slowing of disease progression in ALS. The therapy is also being evaluated in schizophrenia, with a Phase 2 trial underway. Tazbentetol has received Orphan Drug Designation from both the U.S. FDA and the European Medicines Agency for ALS, and the company has established an Expanded Access Program to provide investigational treatment options to eligible ALS patients.Spinogenix’s second program, SPG601, is a synaptic corrective therapy for Fragile X Syndrome — the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability and a known genetic driver of autism. Clinical data have shown normalization of abnormal brain activity patterns and improvements in attention and focus. SPG601 has received Orphan Drug and Fast Track Designations and is advancing toward late-stage development.Dr. Gargosky brings more than 25 years of global development leadership experience across small molecules, biologics, cell therapies, and diagnostics. She has overseen regulatory, CMC, non-clinical, clinical, and medical affairs programs across more than 15 countries, and has led multiple orphan and accelerated approval pathways.Previously, Dr. Gargosky held senior leadership roles at OncoSec Medical, Prima Biomed, Hyperion Therapeutics, Pfizer, and served in academia at Stanford University and Oregon Health & Science University.#Spinogenix #SynapticRegeneration #FragileX #AlzheimersResearch #ALSResearch #Neuroscience #BrainHealth #BiotechInnovation #Synaptopathy #ClinicalTrials #RegenerativeMedicine #Neurodevelopment #SharronGargoskySupport the show

Send a textPaul Woodward ( https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2813295/ ) is a filmmaker, storyteller, and advocate whose deeply personal work has touched audiences around the world.Paul is the producer of the feature documentary The Little Things ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZDDw4yYl_w ), a film that invites viewers behind the doors of Derian House Children's Hospice ( https://www.derianhouse.co.uk/ ) — not to witness sadness, but to witness love and the remarkable humanity that unfolds in the most challenging of circumstances.Inspired by his own experience as a parent, Paul began this project to say thank you to the hospice that cared for his son Kalel for seven years. What started as a personal tribute evolved into a powerful documentary that challenges common misconceptions about hospice care, celebrates the relationships between families and caregivers, and shows how places like Derian House become a bridge through grief — offering connection, compassion, and dignity when it’s needed most.Since its release — including streaming on Amazon Prime — The Little Things ( https://www.primevideo.com/detail/The-Little-Things/0TOUFVXP6JTZZTM28LEA8TS19H ) has moved audiences with its honesty, heart, and belief that the smallest moments can reveal the deepest meaning.Paul now serves as a Patron of Derian House, continuing his mission to spark conversation, awareness, and empathy for families navigating the unthinkable.Paul holds an MA in Professional Acting from the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA), has over ten years of work spanning TV, film, theatre, and UK tours, and co-owns Old Swan Films ( https://oldswanfilms.com/ ), a company that focuses on human stories with emotional honesty.We’re honored to have Paul on the show to talk about the story behind the film, the lessons of love and presence he’s learned along the way, and what it truly means to find light in life’s hardest places.#TheLittleThings #ChildrensHospice #PaulWoodward#PediatricPalliativeCare #GriefAndLove #EndOfLifeCare#HospiceCare #Fatherhood #Bereavement #DocumentaryFilm #LifeAndLoss #CompassionSupport the show

Send a textDr. Allison Reiss, MD is an internal medicine physician, molecular biologist, and educator whose career sits at the critical intersection of inflammation, cardiometabolic disorders, and neurodegeneration.Dr. Reiss serves as Associate Professor of Medicine and Head of the Inflammation Laboratory at the NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine ( https://medli.nyu.edu/faculty/allison-b-reiss ).  She is also a Member of the Medical, Scientific & Memory Screening Advisory Board of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.For more than 25 years, Dr. Reiss' research has explored how immune and metabolic dysfunction contribute to neuronal loss in Alzheimer’s disease and accelerated atherosclerosis in conditions such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes — helping illuminate the biological links between brain health, vascular disease, and aging.Clinically trained and board-certified in internal medicine, Dr. Reiss brings a rare translational perspective, connecting bedside observations with molecular mechanisms. Beyond the lab, she is a dedicated mentor and educator, directing translational research training for medical students and actively inspiring the next generation of clinician-scientists.Dr. Reiss' work has been recognized by organizations including the American Heart Association and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, and she serves in editorial leadership roles across several journals focused on cardiovascular disease, aging, and neurodegeneration.On this episode, we explore the evolving science of neuroinflammation, the metabolic roots of Alzheimer’s disease, and how understanding immune-brain-vascular crosstalk may unlock entirely new therapeutic strategies for aging populations.#AlzheimersDisease #Neuroinflammation #BrainHealth#DementiaPrevention #MetabolicHealth #VascularHealth#LongevityScience #Neurodegeneration #MedicalResearch #PhysicianScientistSupport the show

Send a textDr. Kevin Rynearson, Ph.D. is a medicinal chemist and translational neuroscientist focused on developing disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.Over more than a decade, Dr. Rynearson's work has centered on the design and optimization of gamma-secretase modulators, an approach aimed at altering amyloid biology in a safer and more physiologically balanced way than earlier generations of therapies.During his time at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Dr. Rynearson helped advance mechanistic understanding of gamma-secretase activity, tau phosphorylation, and structure-activity relationships guiding next-generation Alzheimer’s drug design.Dr. Rynearson currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer of Acta Pharmaceuticals ( https://www.linkedin.com/company/acta-pharmaceuticals/ ), where he leads development of a clinical-stage gamma-secretase modulator emerging from decades of collaborative research, including work with renowned Alzheimer’s researcher Rudy Tanzi.In parallel, Dr. Rynearson is Head of Research at CogniSHIELD Global ( https://cognishield.com/ ), exploring preventative strategies and interventions aimed at supporting brain resilience and healthy cognitive aging.Dr. Rynearson’s work sits at the intersection of medicinal chemistry, neurobiology, and preventive neurology — with a focus on shifting Alzheimer’s treatment from late-stage symptom management toward early intervention and disease prevention. #AlzheimersDisease  #BrainHealth #Neurodegeneration #LongevityScience #CognitiveHealth #PreventAlzheimers #Neuroscience #BiotechPodcast #GammaSecretase #AmyloidBeta #Neuroinflammation #BrainAging #DementiaResearch #HealthyAging #TranslationalMedicine #DrugDevelopment #PrecisionMedicine #MemoryLoss #BrainResilience #FutureOfMedicineSupport the show