World Health Organization’s Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove Speaks About the Global Pandemic

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

Female : Welcome to Conversations on Health Care with Mark Masselli and
Margaret Flinter, a show where we speak to the top thought leaders
in health innovation, health policy, care delivery, and the great minds
who are shaping the hea lthcare of the future.

This week Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove ,
COVID - 19 Technical Lead at the World Health Organization. She
discusses the enormous challenges that remain in containing the
COVID - 19 pandemic, including the deadly surge going on in India now
leading to record numbers of deaths , and the need to generate more
equitable vaccin e distribution around the world, a n d initiatives are
growing out of this pandemic that will better prepare the world for
the next public health crisis.

Lori Robertson also checks in , the Managing Editor of F act C heck.org
looks at misstatements spoken about health policy in the public
domain separating the fake from the facts . W e end with a bright idea
that's improving health and well being and everyday lives. If you have
comm ents, please email us at [email protected] or find us on
Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Y ou can also
hear us by asking Alexa to play the program. Now stay tuned for our
interview with Dr. Mar ia Van Kerkhove of the WHO here on
C onversations on Health Care.

Mark Masselli: W e're speaking today with Dr. Maria Van K erkhove COVID - 19
T echnical L ead at the World Health Organization. She's an infectious
disease epidemiologist at the WHO Health Emergenc y Program .

Margaret Flinter: Dr. Van K erkhove is the head of emerging diseases and zoonosis at the World Health Organization. She served there for more than 12 years battling MERS, Ebola, influenza, yellow fever and Zika as well. Dr. Van K erkhove, thank yo u so much for joining us today on
Conversations o n Health Care .

Dr. Van K erkhove: Thank you so much for having me. It's a real pleasure.

Mark Masselli: W e just marked a milestone in the pandemic, more global COVID - 19
cases were reported in the past two wee ks than during the first six
months of the outbreak. I'm wonder if you could just tell our listeners about the crisis in India and other regions of concern that are really driving these current numbers.

Dr. Van Kerkhove: Yeah, well, the global situation is really fragile that we're seeing right
now that the numbers of cases that are being reported, which are
clearly an underestimate of the true number of infections that are actually happening worldwide are at some of the highest levels we've seen since the start of this pandemic. Last week alone, there were 5.4 million cases reported , the week before 5.7 million cases, we should
not be in a situation like this 17 months into a pandemic.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

There are worrying countries hotspots in every single region of the
plan et. Right now you're hearing a lot about the incredibly challenging
situation that we are seeing in India. But don't forget, we have had
really horrific outbreaks in Brazil. The countries in the s outhern c one
of the Southern South America are having some i ncreasing in
transmission. There are countries across Europe in the eastern part of
Europe that are seeing very worrying trends across the Middle East,
Iran, Iraq, even in Africa, I mean, a n d in Southeast Asia, they're at
different levels of intensity of t ransmission around the world .

T he situation in India where we've seen a really rapid increase in
cases , b ut even at the sub national level, there are differences at the
sub national level. There are common factors, number one is that we
have now seen the e mergence of these virus variants . W e've had now
have four variants of concern that we are tracking globally. All of
these variants of concern have demonstrated increased
transmissibility . I t means more people can be infected . T hey have
mutations that, for example, allow the virus to bind to the cell more
easily and infect the cell. I f you have more cases, you'll have more
hospitalizations. If you have more hospitalizations, you will have more
deaths. I n situations where hospitals are already overburdened, y ou
will see that be reflected in morbidity and mortality.

The other challenging factor is 17 months in, we are all tired, we're
sick and tired of this virus and we want it to be over , but this virus is
not done with us yet. A dhering to public health and so cial measures,
really having cohesive consistent use of them becomes quite
challenging. I n many parts of the world t hey're not applied
consistently or coherently. T he last challenge is uneven and
inequitable vaccine distribution. T his combination of factor s is really
dangerous. This combination of factors is affecting all of us. Even
countries that have controlled COVID remain at risk b ecause when
any of us are at risk, all of us are at risk .

Margaret Flinter: Well, Dr. Van K erkhove , certainly it brings us back to the first month
of the pand emic here in the United States, a nd just the enormous
stress of there aren't going to be enough ventilators , there’s not going
to be enough ICU beds , there’s not going to be enough personal
protective equipment and that's multiplied thousands of times over
when we look at a country in a population the size of India . I think the
whole country has learned much more this year about public health
for sure, but also about the work of the World Health Organization.

I'm curious , I think we tend to think of the World Health Organization
in terms of policies and interventions. But what is the organization
able to do in terms of marshaling resources and getting them to these
hardest hit countries? What can the World Health Organizati on do?
How are you marshaling resources around the world to try and help

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

these countries that are experiencing their worst moments ever r ight
now ?

Dr. Van Kerkhove: Well, we are having a huge number of cases being reported
worldwide . W e know a lot more abo ut this virus 17 months in, so
we're not in the same position. With regards to supplies , I mean, one
of the things that WHO does is we were a member state organization,
we work with everyone everywhere around the planet, we develop
the norms and standards around what needs to be done in terms of
guidance , how to use some of these supplies, like personal protective
equipment, like oxygen and safe oxygen use , different types of
therapeutics. W e work with partners around the world to ensure that
those material s are received where they are needed.

Part of this and in the beginning of the pandemic we really struggled
with supply . I'm sure you can recall, back to the early days when we
were thinking about even just medical masks, medical masks in
enough quantity d id not exist. W e worked with many partners around
the world to increase production. Y ou can swap out masks with
respirators. I f you think of all of this tiny little materials that would be
required to actually use oxygen for someone and you think of the
tu bes that are necessary to actually administer that oxygen to
someone, all of that needs to be sourced.

W e work with people around the world, we work with institutions
around the world , member states around the world that help us not
only increased that cap acity to set up that global supply chain, that
was really broken i n the beginning of this pa ndemic. W e're still
working to fix it. A huge amount of work has been done to do that,
an d we do that with partners with UNDP, with UNICEF, with Chai
Foundation, bu t many, and it's about getting them to where they are
where they are needed most.

I f you also remember in the beginning of the pandemic, there were no
flights. A ctually working with W FP and getting planes, to be able to
put materials on those plane, get th ose planes into the countries that
are necessary. We have a hub in Dubai with a lot of supplies and
making sure that that is stocked, so that it's easily accessible to where
they are needed. It's a massive chessboard where supplies are
needed. I f you think now, one of the things we're telling all countries
to do now is to surge your capacity . We've been saying this, and I'm
accused of being a broken record, and I will continue to be , surge your
capacities now , b uild that infrastructure from surveillance act ivities,
through your testing, making sure you have the right supplies, making
sure you have a community workforce that can do contact tracing,
make sure that your health workers have some rest period, in some
kind of rotation, make sure that your hospital facilities are prepared,
because not only is this critical for COVID, it will be critical for the next

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

one, and I'm afraid there will be a next one. W e need countries to
learn from this trauma that we're in right now to build in surge those
capacities . N o t after it's over , b ecause we will move on to the next
problem. It needs to happen now , a nd we have the attention. We
have the political will , a nd in many respects we have a lot of finances
that could be used for this, we need to build that now.

Mark Masse lli: W ell, that's such a great piece of advice. I don't know where we're
headed in terms of these variants. You were talking about a couple
that were on your eyes, a n d the in the World Health Organization just
declared the B1617 a variant of concern, which is part of that group of
three or four that you'd mentioned earlier . I'm wondering how we
should be thinking about these variants of just trying to get our
conceptual mind around the l ethality and transmissibility a nd also the
efficacy of three or four va ccines that are out there.

Y ou have a unique understanding of how variants could change the
trajectory of the pandemic as a specialist in emerging threats. What's
most concerning about the latest variants, and it probably won't be
the last variant that we hear about, but it's the one that is currently
on everyone's mind.

Dr. Van Kerkhove: V iruses evolve, viruses mutate, they change , t his is completely
expected. I think if I'm talking to the general public, if I'm talking to
my family at home, my husband, my child, all SARS, CoV - 2 viruses are
dangerous. We need to do everything we can to protect ourselves
from getting infected, prevent us from spreading it for infected and
do everything we can for those who are infected, to ensure that they
don't progress to severe disease and death. It doesn't matter if it’s a
virus, a variant, a variant of concern, all of them are dangerous.

What we are looking at specifically when we're looking at mutations is
to track these mutations, which ones are important and why. F rom
the beginning the virus has been changing. A round the new year we
started to see some variants emerge, which are classified now as
variants of concern, we have the B117 t hat was first identified in the
UK , t he B1351 f irst identified in South Africa, the P 1 which was first
identified in Japan, and we now have the B617. What we are looking
for in these variances, is there any demonstration of a change in the
way the virus behaves? Is it more transmissible? Does it cause any
differences in disease presentatio n or severity, which would change
our countermeasures or medical countermeasures? Does it evade?
Does it render our diagnostics or therapeutics and our vaccines
ineffective? That's what we're really looking for.

F or us, as an agency, we're working with par tners around the world to
track these changes. We need good sequencing so that we have good
eyes and ears to detect them. T hen we have working groups that we
work with to collaborate and coordinate on the studies that need to

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

be done to answer those questi ons that I just posed. W e look at the
epidemiology, do we see something in lethality and do our diagnostics
therapeutics and vaccines work? T he big question is, as you said, d oes
my vaccine work?

F or the four variants of concern that we are tracking so far with the
information that we have, because this is a rapidly changing, it's fast
and furious, it's every day . S o far, our public health and social
measures work . T he viruses spread the same way. We know what we
need to do to protect ourselves and to preve nt the spread . Our
diagnostics still work, our therapeutic still work, although there are
some question of some of the monoclonal antibodies, and our
vaccines still protect against severe disease and death. A nyone that's
out there that's listening, when it 's your turn, get the vaccine, this is
very, very important. A nything that changes with that we will inform .

Then what worries me , what your question was, what worries me is
that we could come to a point where a variant emerges that will
evade our vaccines . W e need to be in a good position to be able to
anticipate this , a nd this is what we're trying to do by looking at
specific mutations and constellation of mutations to inform vaccine
composition. W e are thinking about that ahead of time and working
with m anufacturers and regulators around the space so that we can
anticipate that this might happen at some point. We just need to be
ready.

Margaret Flinter: Well, Dr. Van K erkhove , good news. We have a vaccine t hat's
effective. Good news, we're ramping up prod uction , a nd now we're
seeing certainly President Biden's recommendation around lifting the
intellectual property restrictions to accelerate production around the
world. W e know COVAX is doing its very best to get vaccine out there.
Here in the United State s, as you know, demand really beginning to
fall off , some plateauing going on . A cross the globe , I think , childhood
immunizations in particular over these last 10 , 15 , 20 years has been a
huge success story i n terms of our efforts to eradicate disease .

A re we hearing the same messages of hesitancy and resistance to
taking the vaccine in countries around the globe that we're hearing
here in the United States? I mean, these are countries who in the last
generation or two have seen what it means to really get a handle on
childhood diseases like measles that we thought we might never get a
handle on. Are we seeing resistance to the COVID vaccine in all
countries?

Dr. Van Kerkhove: Well, in fact, what we are seeing is many countries are asking for this
vaccine, b egging for this vaccine. W hat we're not seeing is the sharing
of the vaccine around the world. T hrough COVAX and with our
partnerships, we are trying to work towards vaccinating those who
are most risk around the world , so they are health workers and

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

peopl e of advanced age , people who have underlying conditions . W e
don't see those vaccines reaching all countries, we need everyone in
every country who is at risk to receive that vaccine as opposed to
everyone in only a couple of countries.

Of course, there is vaccine hesitancy, and there are questions that
people are asking rightly so we hear a lot about how fast these
vaccines have been developed. But really, I mean, these have been
developed over decades with investments and science. I mean,
science has real ly delivered . On day one, when we learned of this
cluster of pneumonia and when we had the full genome sequence,
the vaccine development really accelerated, but we have safe and
effective vaccines, which is a t riumph o f science.

Now what we need to do is t o work to understand , what is the reason
for the hesitancy ? W h at are the questions that people have? How can
we work through that? We're doing this through a number of
different ways of working with different communities, different youth
groups, different religious groups and really trying to get the demand
up. What I do have to say , if you look at this on a global level, it's the
opposite. We see a majority of the world who want this vaccine who
don't yet have access. I t's a little bit of a rephrasing and a reshift , a nd
that's what we need to work on.

Mark Masselli: W e're speaking today with Dr. Maria Van K erkhove COVID - 19
Technical Lead at the WHO. Y ou also had an interesting perch as being
one of the few scientist that were allowed to travel to Wuhan, Chi na,
early as the Coronavirus first emerged back in February of last year
when so much was unknown. O bviously, there's been a lot of concern
over whether observers were given adequate access to the scientific
data. But I also think that WHO is trying to fig ure out how to improve
the pandemic surveillance system, trying to take lessons learned from
whatever happened back in February in Wuhan , trying to build this
more global collaborative, transparent and efficient communication
model between all countries. T ell us a little bit about that work,
because it's so important to our long term success.

Dr. Van Kerkhove: Yeah, I mean, how much time do you have ? I mean, we could spend
the next 10 days talking about this.

Mark Masselli: That’s right, you’re going to wri te number of papers on this I know but
---

Dr. Van Kerkhove: W hat you're talking about in sort of learning from this, like every
instance of this is an opportunity to learn to do better. I mean, we
know that most viruses emerging reemerging viruses are zoo notic ,
t hey come from animals. There are many different pathogens that
circulate in wildlife and bats, for example . S ome of these viruses
spillover , what we call spillover , they transmit between an animal to a

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

human, sometimes between an intermediate host. M ost of my
professional life has been around emerging and reemerging diseases,
and really around that time of emergence . W hen there is a spillover,
how do we detect that rapidly? P art of the surveillance is not just in
humans, it's in the animals themselv es.

W e wo rk with agencies like FAO and OIE to be able to have better
surveillance in wildlife, but also in domestic animals. T here are certain
species that we look , we pay more attention to like bats, for example,
because we know Coronavirus es many, many d ifferent coronaviruses
circulate in bats. But what are the factors? What are the
characteristics that result in a spillover event ? T hat's what many,
many people are working on, to be able to understand those factors
so that we can be in a better position t o detect them rapidly. T hen in
many situations, do some early investigations, rapid response
outbreak investigation .

M y whole career has been on outbreak investigation , a nd it was done
under this one health approach . B efore , it was even called O ne
Health , i t just meant multidisciplinary. You worked with veterinarians,
you worked with clinicians, you work with community leaders, and
the village chief , and t he surveillance needs to improve. But it's not
only the surveillance, it's the alert system . W hen somet hing is out of
the ordinary , h ow does that get reported? How does that sample get
taken? T hen we have a diagnostic that is done to be able to
determine , i s it something that we expect o r is it something truly
novel? T hen how do we raise that alert up from a district level, for
example, all the way up through national?

What normally happens in these types of situations is that you have
an individual who is infected , who's disease d to sick, and you have an
astute medical professional, a clinician, a nurse tha t notices
something out of the ordinary, and that's how it gets detected. SARS
MERS, even this novel Coronavirus, COVID - 19. What we what we
want to do is move that back, instead of it being detected before
people when they're diseased, there could be a lot of small spillover
events that gets missed. T here's a lot that's happening in surveillance,
there's a lot happening in terms of the information systems that are
necessary to pick up those alerts. There's a lot that's happening in
diagnostics and early det ection in country. I f that doesn't happen,
how do we share those samples rapidly to be able to support
sequencing ?

S equencing has changed the game. I mean, in the last few years, the
ability to do a full genome sequence rapidly kickstarts diagnostic
develo pment therap eutics and vaccines, whereas few years back, this
will take years to happen. T here's a lot in this space, and it's about
partnership. It's about a one health approach. I t's about really starting

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

from the ground up, not from international down. We have a lot of
international will , a nd it's using those partnerships strategically wisely
and getting that best system that's out there . B ut it's a work in
progress. It will take time. But I'm hopeful that we're moving in the
right direction.

Margaret Fl inter: Well, Dr. Van K erkhove, I think you may actually be describing what
I've wanted to ask you about that I've been reading about which is the
World Health Organization's new initiative called the World Health
Organization H ub, this global collaboration of countries worldwide
partners to do all the things that you're talking about , new systems to
link data as it's coming in from many and diverse places to do the
analysis, monitor disease outbreak and control measures around the
country. I don't know how immediately you're engaged in that work ,
b ut we'd love for our listeners to have a chance to hear about this.

I think one of the things we ’ve really tried to do this year is just make
clear to the world , to our listeners, how much is going on all the time
to try and really protect the health of people around the globe. J ust
share with us a little bit about this hub .

Dr. Van Kerkhove: Yes, so there are several different initiatives that are underway that
are being enhanced , that are being established. W hen a pandemic
happens , when a big outbreak happens, everybody thinks, okay, what
do we need to do new? How do we start from scratch ? B ut what we
really want to do is enhance and nurture the systems that exist to
make them better. There are a number of differen t initiatives
underway. We have this system called EIOS the Epidemic Intelligence
from Open Sources , which is a way to pull in information around the
world, electronically, digitally, different languages, right, and rumors
and systems .

W e've just announced a couple of different things. One is this Berlin
H ub, I don't know if you're referring to the Berlin H ub, or the Bio Hub ,
because these are different initiatives . I n the Berlin H ub what we're
doing is pulling together ways in which we can have more rapid
information sharing. T here could be some innovations around pulling
together information, signals that may be existing how that can be
rapidly analyzed and used for public health decision making. The Bio
Hub is an initiative , it’s the volunteer basis of co untries to be able to
share specimens in labs around the world s o that rapid detection can
be made , rapid analysis and sequencing can be made to determine
what is it ?

One of the one of the five big questions we ask at the beginning of
any outbreak is what is it? How does it spread? Who is it infecting?
How much has it circulated so far , a nd what do we do to stop it? And
this what is it is a really critical -- maybe it sounds like an easy thing to
do , b ut in most parts of the world that's very, very difficul t to do. T he

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

Bio Hub is a way in which samples can be shared with a lab. W e hope
to have many different labs around the world that can accept these
types of samples and do some really rapid sequencing analysis to be
able to say, it's this , i t's that , it's not a Coronavirus, it's not influenza,
it's not -- and then say what it might be. There are several different
initiatives that are underway. I t's working with our member states to
be able to share those samples and so that we can release that
information t o everyone around the world for action.

Margaret Flinter: Great.

Mark Masselli: Let me get one last question in here. I was thinking as you were
talking about One Health and working the medical teams working
with the village leader, as well, I was thinking about the work that we
do in community health centers in this country, reaching underserved
populations, making sure that we include everyone and working with
the with the local leaders. T hose are the communities that have borne
the brunt of this outbreak h ere, at least in the states that I know
around the country , around the globe as well . W hat other countries
are relying on during the COVID? What are you seeing in terms of
strategies that are working with special populations using community
health worker s or other strategies? What's been effective tool in
terms of reaching vulnerable populations?

Dr. Van Kerkhove: I mean exactly as you point out, working at the community level
engagement, direct engagement is what works. There isn't a magic
solution here. It takes time, it takes effort . W hat we've seen with
vulnerable populations is finding the right community leaders to be
working with , tailoring the approach to what we do . At WHO we
develop global guidance , a nd it's meant to serve all of our member
state s around the world in every single context. But for specific
vulnerable populations and in living in certain types of conditions , i t
needs to be tailored, it needs to be adaptable to the local context and
make sure that it is achievable, implementable . I t doesn't change the
goal, but it means we have to work that much harder to make sure
that it can be implemented . It’s about engagement and it’s a constant
engagement and having communities be part of the solution. Instead
of going into a community and say h ere i s the solution, figure this out
yourself. It's working with them directly.

We spend a lot of time engaging with m any different groups around
the world, different sectors, different vulnerable populations. T his
pandemic has really highlighted inequitie s that existed far before this,
but it's really exacerbated them. I do see much more attention to this,
I do see a renewed attention to this, I hope we can progress this so
that we really get to some of the fundamental issues that COVID has
just exposed ag ain. But it's about a constant two way. For us what we
see is through community engagements about trust, it's about making

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

sure that they don't -- that they are part of the solution with us. It
isn’t a short answer, it is a one solution fits all.

I mean, I should probably turn the question back to you a nd you can
tell me what works best. But we just -- we work through our regional
offices and our country offices to ensure that what we do as an
organization to keep people safe reach everyone everywhere in th e
settings that they live in with the conditions that they have , with the
capacities to be able to respond and to deliver health care. I t is a work
in progress. It requires investment , financial investment resources,
and a continued willingness to adapt as necessary.

Margaret Flinter: We've been speaking today with Dr. Maria V an K erkhove, the COVID -
19 Technical Lead at the World Health Organization . Dr. Van K erkhove
w e want to thank you for being such a clear and compelling
communicator of expert knowledge during this incredible global crisis
and for your commitment to science and to seeking out the answers
that will help keep our world safe going forward. Thank you for all
you've done to confront this deadly pandemic , a nd thank you so much
for taking time o ut of your schedule to join us today on C onversations
on H ealth C are.

Dr. Van Kerkhove: Thank you so much.

[Music]

Mark Masselli: At Conversations on Health Care we want our audience to be truly in
the know when it comes to the facts about health care refo rm and
policy. L ori R obertson is an award winning journalist and managing
editor of FactCheck.org a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate
for voters that aim to reduce the level of deception in US politics. L ori ,
what have you got for us this week ?

Lori Robertson: W hen President Joe Biden announced plans to reduce US greenhouse
gas emissions by 50% by the end of the decade, he provided a few
examples, but no detailed plan about how that would be achieved.
Nonetheless, speculation by a British tabloid tha t it could include
reducing beef consumption led to a wave of outrage from Republican
officials and conservative media. Re publican Representative Lauren
Boebert tweeted that Biden's plan included , “ C utting 90% of red meat
from our diets by 2030. ” She added , “ Why doesn't Joe stay out of my
kitchen. ” But there is no such plan. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
said there was no plan by the administration to reduce beef
consumption .
nd
On April 22 d uring remarks at the V irtual Leaders Summit on
C limate, Biden s aid some of his infrastructure plan will help the US cut
greenhouse gases in half by 2030. That's compared with emissions
levels i n 2005. Biden talked about infrastructure for clean technology,

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

capping abandoned oil and gas wells, reclaiming abandoned coal
mines, stopping methane leaks and autoworkers building electric
vehicles. He didn't mention beef or cattle ranching, which does
account for some greenhouse gas emissions. But a story in the Daily
Mail speculated that Americans might have to cut back on ea ting red
meat by 90% citing a Michigan University study . T he study considered
diet scenarios that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including
one in which 90% of beef consumed in the US were replaced with
plant based alternatives. But two of the autho rs of the study told
Yahoo News that they didn't know of any connection between their
study and Biden's climate plan.

While R epublicans and social media users piled on with posts about
not being able to eat hardly any burgers, it was all a fake controversy .
It is true that livestock operations particularly cattle farming
contributes a significant amount to greenhouse gas emissions. The UN
estimates that globally 14.5% of all human caused greenhouse gas
emissions are due to livestock and cattle represent the majority of
that . A 2019 UN Climate Change R eport concluded that reducing red
meat consumption would lower greenhouse gas emissions and
promote better health. But Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said there's
no effort to limit beef consumption on the part o f the White House or
the USDA. T hat's my fat check for this week. I'm L ori Robertson,
Managing Editor of F act C heck.org .

Margaret Flinter: FactCheck.org is committed to factual accuracy from the c ountry’s
major political players and is a project of the Anne nberg Public Policy
Center at the University of Pennsylvania . I f you have a fact that you'd
like checked, email us at C H C R adio.com w e'll have FactC heck.org ’s
Lori Robertson check it out for you here on C onversations on Health
Care.

E ach week C onversations highlights a bright idea about how to make
wellness a part of our communities and everyday lives. If music
soothes the savage beast, the question they want to answer at the
Sync Project is how exactly? There are lots of anecdotal studies
supporting music ’ s ability to trigger memory or boost endurance or
focus. But virtually nothing is known about how music truly impacts
our physiological and neurological state.

This is the question that intrigued scientist Ketki Karanam Systems
Biology PhD from Harvard, who wondered how could music be
scientifically harnessed as a powerful precision medicine tool . They
formed the Sync Project with a cross - section of neuroscientist,
biologist audio engineers in some rock stars like Peter Gabriel, and
started by using artifici al intelligence systems to analyze existing
playlists that purport s or promote relaxation, induce sleep, enhance
focus or athletic performance.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

Ke tki Karanam : O nce we have this set of songs that our machine learning algorithms
predict to be effective for a specific activity, we can then run studies
using these devices like your heart rate m onitors , your s mart watches ,
your a ctivity t rackers, and actually look at how effective indeed is that
song for that purpose .

Margaret Flinter: K a ranam and her colleagues note that most of us self - medicate with
music already , s o why not harness this ubiquitous tool that's available
to all of us and develop strategies and systems that might replace
pharmacological interventions with musical ones. The Sync Project is
seeking a million volunteers to offer their music suggestions as well as
any information they can share on why these songs seemed to work
for them .

Ke tki Ka ranam: W e’re literally walking around with 14 million songs in our pocket
every single day. W e saw a great opportunity and really being able to
understand how music was affecting us to measure how different
types of music affect both our psychological h ealth as well as our
physiology.

Margaret Flinter: K a ranam and her team seen vast potential for reducing relia nce on
drugs by crafting personalized music interventions and the
management of a variety of complex conditions such as pain
management, PTSD, even Parkinson's disease.

Ket ki K a ranam: In Parkinson's disease, patients have trouble coordinating
movements. B y playing them the right kind of music, it can be an
external auditory support they have that's going to help them walk
more smoothly.

Margaret Flinter: The Sync Project , combining computer technology and neuroscience
physiology and musicology to harness th e healing powers inherent in
music to help manage a variety of human ills. Now that is a bright
idea.

[ Music ]

Mark Masselli: You've been listening to Conversations on Health Care. I'm Mark
Masselli.

Margaret Flinter: And I'm Margaret Flinter.

Mark Masselli : Peace and Health .

[Music]

Female : Conversations on Health Care is recorded at WESU at Wesleyan
University, streaming live at www.chcradio.com , iTunes, or wherever
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Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove
Health Center .