Episode 112. Aran Shetterly, Chasing a Good Story
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Aran Shetterly, author and self-professed late bloomer, took a year off in the middle of his studies to work and travel and study Spanish. After college he pursued an Echoing Green fellowship, which allowed him to set up a nonprofit in Costa Rica to link volunteers to environmental organizations there. He then decided to pursue a master's in American and New England studies from the University of Southern Maine. However, after completing his masters, he realized he needed to explore the world in a different way. He moved to New York and worked as an editorial assistant. A year...
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111. Philip Nikolayev, The Poetry of Language
The 92 Report
Philip Nikolayev, a Russian historian, poet, and marketer went directly into grad school in the history department at Harvard, where he received a master's degree. However, his field of medieval Russian history collapsed during his PhD due to funding dwindling after the fall of the USSR in 1992. From Russian History to Search Engine Marketing Philip was interested in studying Russian history from a Western analytical perspective. He quit his graduate program at Harvard when he realized his studies in Russian history didn’t translate into paying work. A polymath with a child on the way,...
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110. Kellie Magnus, Executive Director of Caribbean Culture Fund
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Kellie Magnus has been working in Jamaica for over 30 years. She returned to Jamaica after completing grad school in Colombia, where she worked in consulting and nonprofits. Since returning to Jamaica, she has been working in nonprofits and with international development partners, focusing on development-related issues. She is now the executive director of the Caribbean Culture Fund, a new entity raising money for arts and culture in the Caribbean. On the Board of NGOs During Kellie's time in New York, she attended the Ed School and business school, worked in person consulting, and...
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109. Michael S. Chen, Interventional Cardiologist
The 92 Report
Michael S. Chen graduated with a degree in investment banking. He worked at Hambrecht Quest, a smaller investment bank focusing on high tech and healthcare companies in New York City. After two years in investment banking, he decided to pursue medicine, inspired by his father's career as a cardiologist. He then went on to study internal medicine at UCSF, Cleveland Clinic, and then joined cardiac associates in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He has been with the practice for 18 years and is now the Chair of Cardiology at Shady Grove Medical Center, and Medical Director of the Cardiac...
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108. David Tavárez, Historian and Linguistic Anthropologist
The 92 Report
David Tavárez, originally from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, completed a degree in anthropology and visual environmental studies. He had several ideas for his future career, wavering between being a scientist or a filmmaker. He secured a place at the Writers Workshop in Iowa and an internship at the American University in Cairo. He spent a year in Cairo after graduation and supplemented that summer by writing about the Baltics for the Let’s Go Europe travel series. Studying Indigenous Culture and ChristianityDavid worked as a journalist for a couple of years then decided to pursue a PhD at the...
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107. J.J. Bartlett, Fighting for Fishing Families
The 92 Report
Show Notes: J.J. Bartlett kicks off the conversation with a short explanation on how his wife shaped his career in various ways. He took healthcare management in graduate school and his primary reason for this was his interest in extending healthcare coverage. The President Clinton and Hillary Clinton Health Plan had just failed in 1994, and he was interested in finding new ways to extend coverage. Health Coverage for Fishers J.J. shares his connection to the fishing industry, which includes individual fishermen working on boats as independent contractors. The majority of these individuals are...
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106. Alison Umminger Mattison, Spiritual Director and Retreat Facilitator
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Alison Umminger Mattison talks about a 20-year stint as an English professor, a marriage, a 13-year-old daughter, and publishing a book. She also pursued a master's in Christian spirituality and spiritual direction certification, focusing on spiritual direction, work, retreat, ministry, and facilitating silent retreats with themed content. She has moved around the world, from Boston to London, DC to Missouri, Indiana to Atlanta, and now resides in Carrollton, Georgia. She also discusses her master's degree and her spiritual guidance and retreat ministries. A Journey in Spiritual...
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105. John Knepper, To the White House and Back to Wyoming
The 92 Report
John Knepper thought he would pursue a career in theater after graduating and performing at the Harvard Radcliffe summer theater. However, after moving to Memphis, Tennessee, he took a left turn and started working in the marketing department of the nation's fifth largest security guard company. After nine months there, John quit his job and traveled around the country for six months. Working in Washington on Immigration Laws On the last leg of his travels, he was in Washington where, by chance, he met the assistant to the Chief of Staff for Senator Al Simpson of Wyoming. Six months...
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104. Christiane Pendarvis, Challenges and Responsibilities in Retail Merchandising
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Christiane Pendarvis found her career passion in retail and retail merchandising in Neiman Marcus department stores in Dallas, Texas. She started working in a high-end department store, and after working in the retail industry, she went back to business school and earned an MBA. Experience as a Team Lead and Mentor After business school, Christiane worked at Procter & Gamble in their brand management arena, but she missed retail and has been there ever since. Throughout her career, she has worked for various large brands and has moved across the country,...
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103. Robert Frost, Never Left Home
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Robert Frost married his high school girlfriend 10 days after graduating. After moving back to New York, Robert worked at a consulting company called A.T. Kearney. He was interested in business and thought consulting would be a good way to go while working towards becoming a CEO. However, three weeks in, he realized consulting wasn't for him. From Columbia University to Real Estate Robert worked with Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, which provided political advice to senior leaders in business and advised governments on business practices. He worked on projects...
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Julie Lin was a medical student at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons when she met her future husband. It was the first day of medical school and they met while attending a class where they were both serious amateur classical musicians. Julie talks about their shared love of music and how they planned to have a family quartet.
The All-state Orchestra Model
Julie shares her story of starting an orchestra at medical school, which initially had a traditional weekly rehearsal and concert. However, they found that the show rate was low as exam time approached, leading to the creation of the Allstate orchestra model. This model involved distributing music and parts ahead of time, having a three or four-hour rehearsal, and playing in front of an invited live audience.
Experiences at Medical School
Julie initially thought she would be a clinician, but during her nephrology fellowship program, she trains to become a specialist in kidney medicine, she also became interested in clinical research. This realization led her to pursue academic nephrology, which was life-changing for her. After her husband's residency and postdoctoral training in Boston, Julie started working as an instructor at Harvard Medical School and attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital. As part of her job offer, she negotiated for funding from the nephrology division to obtain a Master's in Public Health from Harvard, focusing on quantitative analysis rather than policy.
Working in Nephrology Research
Julie worked as an investigator in the Channing laboratory at Brigham and Women's Harvard, where they had ongoing cohort studies of health professionals for over 10 years. She was one of the many NIH-funded investigators in the Nurses Health Study, a cohort study of >120,000 US nurses who signed up in 1976. A subset of women in the study had submitted blood and urine samples, which allowed for analyses of change in estimated kidney function over 11 years between 1989 and 2000.
Kidney Function Decline Research
Julie's research included looking at diet, nutrients, foods, and dietary patterns and how they impacted kidney function and change. Work that gained the most media attention was diet work. Her research found that drinking two or more servings of artificially sweetened drinks, likely soda, was associated with a faster kidney function decline in women over 11 years. This was about three times faster than normal aging alone. The researchers adjusted for factors like diabetes and high blood pressure, which are big risk factors for kidney function loss. Julie also talks about research on the Mediterranean diet vs. Western dietary patterns.
Diet for Kidney Health
The conversation turns to the concept of the blue zone, which has been associated with longevity and longevity, but that many people living over 100 years in these areas may have exaggerated their age due to poor record keeping. This leads Julie to remark that a main concern for scientists is how well information is being captured and measured. Julie shares tips on the best diet for kidney health. Low sugar intake is recommended, as it can lead to weight gain and diabetes. Vegetarian diets are also healthy, and fish is recommended as the main source of animal protein.
A Clinical Research Career in Industry
Julie talks about the reduction in academic research funding, and why she decided to continue her clinical research career in industry, working on clinical trials and developing new drugs. She has worked with Amgen, Genzyme, a rare disease company, as well as at a gene therapy startup called Dimension Therapeutics, which was acquired by Ultragenyx. Her current role is as global project head at Sanofi. She talks about her role and the importance of assessing efficacy and safety of new therapies.
Playing in Community Orchestras and Chamber Music
Julie explains that, as an amateur musician, she has found it to be a great outlet for her stress and the intense work she had to do while working and taking care of her children when they were younger. She joined a community orchestra in 2012, since then she has played in a number of community orchestras, including New Philharmonia, Longwood, and Brookline Symphony. Julie has also played with the Mercury Orchestra, founded and conducted by Channing Yu, Class of 93. Recently, she decided to focus on chamber music, which has been her true love. She has a lot of local musician friends to play with. Julie explains that playing chamber music brings a sense of flow and connection to others, making it a great gift.
Influential Harvard Professors and Courses
Julie shares her experiences in Harvard's music 180 class, taught by Leon Kirchner and Lynn Chang, which was an intense experience. She also recalls a class where a modern and atonal piece was played by an advanced violinist, which changed her view of Schoenberg's music. She also mentions Helen Vendler's poetry class.
Timestamps:
05:38 Medical school experiences, including a non-linear podcast format and a successful orchestra performance
09:30 Career paths in medicine, including becoming a physician scientist, with insights on negotiation for benefits and research in nephrology
16:31 Diet and kidney function, with findings on artificial sweetened drinks and Mediterranean diet
21:17 Aging, nutrition, and kidney health with a former academic researcher turned pharmaceutical industry professional
28:36 Musical experiences and focus on chamber music
33:01 Music, Harvard, and the importance of flow
Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-lin-md-mph-fasn-71796b2a/
Featured Non-profit
The featured non-profit of this episode is Esperanza Shelter, recommended by Caribou Honig who reports “Hi, I'm Caribou Honig, class of 1992. The featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 report is Esperanza shelter. The shelter does incredibly important work, enabling people and very importantly, their children, to escape abusive relationships throughout northern New Mexico. Equally important, is that they provide a wide range of services to help those survivors get back on their feet, providing everything from emergency shelter to transitional housing to counseling and life skills. My wife and I have been donating to Esperanza shelter since 2020. You can learn more about their work at Esperanza shelter.org. Esperanza for those of you not in the know is the Spanish word for hope. And now here's Will Bachman with this week's episode.
To learn more about their work, visit https://esperanzashelter.org/.