ReNEW Fund Creating Innovative Approach to Nursing Education with Anmy Mayfield Western Governors University TRANSCRIPT
Release Date: 08/26/2025
Why Hospital Printers Have Become Targets for Cybercriminals with Jim LaRoe Symphion TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Jim LaRoe, CEO of Symphion, highlights an often overlooked cybersecurity threat posed by network-connected printers in a hospital setting. Modern printers are complex devices with numerous features that create vulnerabilities and potential access points to patient and hospital data for cybercriminals, yet they are generally managed outside of the IT security environment. The first step in ensuring printer security is to determine the number of printing devices on the network, their locations, and their configurations. Additionally, it is essential to ask the IT team to demonstrate...
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Why Hospital Printers Have Become Targets for Cybercriminals with Jim LaRoe Symphion
Empowered Patient Podcast
Jim LaRoe, CEO of Symphion, highlights an often overlooked cybersecurity threat posed by network-connected printers in a hospital setting. Modern printers are complex devices with numerous features that create vulnerabilities and potential access points to patient and hospital data for cybercriminals, yet they are generally managed outside of the IT security environment. The first step in ensuring printer security is to determine the number of printing devices on the network, their locations, and their configurations. Additionally, it is essential to ask the IT team to demonstrate...
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How Laboratory Robots Are Transforming Hydrogel Testing with Sinan Gölhan GelTech TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Sinan Gölhan, Founder and CEO of GelTech, describes the characteristics and applications for hydrogels, which are bio-friendly, super-absorbent materials similar to natural tissue. In cancer treatments, hydrogels offer a way to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to a tumor, which can significantly increase the accuracy and efficacy of the drug. GelTech has developed a robotic instrument to streamline the time-consuming testing process for new hydrogel treatments, automating repetitive actions, reducing inconsistencies, and enabling 24/7 testing capabilities. Sinan explains, "You could think...
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How Laboratory Robots Are Transforming Hydrogel Testing with Sinan Gölhan GelTech
Empowered Patient Podcast
Sinan Gölhan, Founder and CEO of GelTech, describes the characteristics and applications for hydrogels, which are bio-friendly, super-absorbent materials similar to natural tissue. In cancer treatments, hydrogels offer a way to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to a tumor, which can significantly increase the accuracy and efficacy of the drug. GelTech has developed a robotic instrument to streamline the time-consuming testing process for new hydrogel treatments, automating repetitive actions, reducing inconsistencies, and enabling 24/7 testing capabilities. Sinan explains, "You could think...
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Treating Autoimmune-Driven Dry Eye Disease with Immune Modulator with Elizabeth Jeffords Iolyx TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Elizabeth Jeffords, CEO and President of Iolyx Therapeutics, discusses dry eye disease and its connection to autoimmune conditions. The company's novel therapeutic topical immune modulator is designed to treat the root inflammation in the eye, which systemic drugs often fail to reach due to the blood-retina barrier. Patients with dry eye disease often have multiple comorbidities and are excluded from clinical trials, making this research even more significant in finding treatments for a growing population. Elizabeth explains, "Some people have physical dry eye, i.e., they have a dysfunction...
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Treating Autoimmune-Driven Dry Eye Disease with Immune Modulator with Elizabeth Jeffords Iolyx
Empowered Patient Podcast
Elizabeth Jeffords, CEO and President of Iolyx Therapeutics, discusses dry eye disease and its connection to autoimmune conditions. The company's novel therapeutic topical immune modulator is designed to treat the root inflammation in the eye, which systemic drugs often fail to reach due to the blood-retina barrier. Patients with dry eye disease often have multiple comorbidities and are excluded from clinical trials, making this research even more significant in finding treatments for a growing population. Elizabeth explains, "Some people have physical dry eye, i.e., they have a dysfunction...
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Using AI in Drug Development to Protect Brain Enzyme Linked to Parkinson’s Disease Progression with Gene Mack Gain Therapeutics TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Gene Mack, CEO and President of Gain Therapeutics, is combining AI-powered drug discovery with the development of allosteric modulators, drugs that bind to unique sites on proteins. The company's AI platform, Magellan, is crucial for accelerating drug discovery by reducing the time for computational screening of potential drug compounds. Their lead compound is showing promising results as a potential disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson's disease, aiming to halt the progression of the disease rather than just treating symptoms. Gene explains, "So allosteric modulators of protein,...
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Using AI in Drug Development to Protect Brain Enzyme Linked to Parkinson’s Disease Progression with Gene Mack Gain Therapeutics
Empowered Patient Podcast
Gene Mack, CEO and President of Gain Therapeutics, is combining AI-powered drug discovery with the development of allosteric modulators, drugs that bind to unique sites on proteins. The company's AI platform, Magellan, is crucial for accelerating drug discovery by reducing the time for computational screening of potential drug compounds. Their lead compound is showing promising results as a potential disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson's disease, aiming to halt the progression of the disease rather than just treating symptoms. Gene explains, "So allosteric modulators of protein,...
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Advancement in Abuse-Deterrent Opioids with Paul Howe Protega Pharmaceuticals TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Paul Howe, COO of Protega Pharmaceuticals, is focused on how abuse-deterrent technology can address the opioid crisis and the need for mandates for insurance coverage of safer abuse-deterrent formulations. The SentryBond technology was specifically designed for immediate-release opioids to make it difficult to manipulate pills for abuse via crushing, inhaling, or injecting. Protega partnered with software company Opus to offer a program that helps educate chronic pain patients, manage their treatment, and provides physicians with risk stratification data to improve care and reduce the...
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Advancement in Abuse-Deterrent Opioids with Paul Howe Protega Pharmaceuticals
Empowered Patient Podcast
Paul Howe, COO of Protega Pharmaceuticals, is focused on how abuse-deterrent technology can address the opioid crisis and the need for mandates for insurance coverage of safer abuse-deterrent formulations. The SentryBond technology was specifically designed for immediate-release opioids to make it difficult to manipulate pills for abuse via crushing, inhaling, or injecting. Protega partnered with software company Opus to offer a program that helps educate chronic pain patients, manage their treatment, and provides physicians with risk stratification data to improve care and reduce the...
info_outlineAnmy Mayfield, Vice President and Dean for the Western Governors University College of Nursing in the Michael O. Leavitt School of Health, discusses the university's mission to provide accessible, online nursing education to address the nursing workforce shortage and encourage a more diverse population of nurses. The ReNEW Fund, a collaborative initiative with Social Finance, provides zero-interest, forgivable loans to nursing students. This model appeals to a diverse student population, including working adults and career-changers, by offering flexibility and employment opportunities for graduates.
Anmy explains, "The ReNEW Fund is a collaboration with Social Finance, another nonprofit organization. And we have a shared goal of tackling the nursing shortage that is estimated to be about 30,000 to 40,000 fewer RNs entering the field compared to what's open to RNs. And there are a lot of barriers that can keep someone from becoming a nurse. And one of those is the cost of nursing school."
"We want to make sure that we can help in one way to help mitigate that barrier to becoming a nurse. And so it's trying to fill these gaps by placing an equal investment in return on employers. Also students get zero-interest loans that are forgivable if a graduate completes their program and then works at one of these ReNEW employer partners for at least three years. So it's a pay-it-forward model."
"One of the things that our program is focused on is ensuring that we're training a nurse workforce that is related or reflective of what the community looks like, because we've seen from research that patient outcomes are often improved when that happens. And so this means more men in nursing, different minority groups, etc., in nursing. We at WGU have seen a higher number of students who are first-generation, who are coming from the military, who are coming from underserved or underrepresented groups, and we're excited about that. And I think a lot of it has to do with our model. We offer our coursework online, and so a lot of times it's easier for our students to balance work and life."
#FutureOfNursing #ReNEWFund #UpskillingHealthcare #NursingWorkforce #PayItForwardEducation #WGUHealth
