Ideagen Radio

Send us Fan Mail The health workforce shortage is real, but the pipeline isn’t just about filling jobs, it’s about developing leaders who can communicate, collaborate, and earn trust. George talks with Elizabeth Carnesi-Hudson Executive Director of Washington HOSA and Chair-Elect for the HOSA Western Region, about how a student organization can shape careers from the first competition to the first...

Send us Fan Mail A stroke gets treated in a hospital, but recovery can fall apart at home because of mold, missed meals, or the fear of eviction. That’s the gap we dig into with Marko Mijic, Vice President for Community Health at Kaiser Permanente, whose path to national health leadership starts in HOSA Future Health Professionals and a mentor who taught a surprisingly powerful lesson: how you sho...

Send us Fan Mail The fastest way to expand mental health access isn’t a new slogan or a shiny app—it’s trust built where people actually live their lives. We sit down with leaders from the American Psychiatric Association Foundation and CCNA to unpack how national strategy meets neighborhood reality and why moving at the speed of trust turns concepts into care. We start with a clear map: wellbeing...

Send us Fan Mail Big promises don’t move communities—trusted partnerships do. We sit down with Dr. Jean Accius, CEO of Creating Healthier Communities (CHC), to unpack why collaboration operates like currency when resources are tight and needs are rising. From mental health in the workplace to maternal health and social isolation, Dr. Accius explains how shared goals, shared power, and shared accou...

Send us Fan Mail A window into brain health can start with the eye. We sit down with Dr. Diane Bovenkamp, Chief Scientist and VP of Scientific Affairs at BrightFocus Foundation, to explore how cutting-edge research is converging across Alzheimer’s disease, glaucoma, and macular degeneration—and why this intersection is where diagnostics, prevention, and care can leap forward. Diane shares how AI a...

Send us Fan Mail The fastest way to lose a policymaker is to sound like science fiction. We sit down with Joe Eannello of Capital Counsel LLC to show how brain health innovators, clinicians, and advocates can speak with one voice—and turn breakthrough ideas into bipartisan policy that sticks. Joe lays out a practical blueprint for coalition building that avoids the trap of “boil the ocean” agendas...

Send us Fan Mail The applause fades. The cameras cut. What’s left when your identity has been welded to a jersey, a title, or a scoreboard? Marcus Smith II joins us at the Ideagen Global Wellbeing Summit with a candid look at life after peak performance and the quiet unraveling that can follow. He opens up about stepping away from the NFL, finding a therapist, and returning to “eight-year-old Marc...

Send us Fan Mail Alzheimer’s science is moving fast, but the care most families experience still feels stuck, confusing, and late. We sit down with Phyllis Ferrell, Senior Advisor to the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, to unpack the real bottleneck: diagnosis. When half of people may never receive a diagnosis and many others learn the truth only in late stage disease, breakthroughs in drugs and d...

Send us Fan Mail A flash of light and a pulse of sound might sound too simple for a disease as complex as Alzheimer’s, but the science behind 40 Hz brain stimulation is forcing a serious rethink of what treatment can look like. We’re joined by Christian Howell, CEO of Cognito Therapeutics, to unpack how non-invasive sensory stimulation aims to modulate brain activity in the gamma band and why that...

Send us Fan Mail Want a real look at how health care decisions get made? We sit down with Dr. Salil V. Deshpande, Chief Medical Officer at United Healthcare, to trace a morning of rapid-fire problem solving—resolving dialysis transport delays, auditing provider incentive rosters, and making the case to fund doula support in Texas Medicaid even when it is not a covered benefit. Along the way, we co...

Send us Fan Mail Curiosity is a spark, but community turns it into a flame. We sit down with Dr. Aamr Hasanjee—physician scientist, ENT surgeon, health tech co-founder, and proud HOSA alum—to trace how early leadership experiences evolved into a career that blends clinical precision, engineering creativity, and startup execution. From the first state conference that made ambition feel normal to gl...

Send us Fan Mail When life falls apart, slogans don’t help—tools do. We sit down with life coach and author Emma Barker to unpack a grounded approach to mindset that works on the days when energy is scarce and fear is loud. Instead of preaching “just stay positive,” Emma shows how to choose optimism with small, repeatable actions that hold up under real pressure. Emma shares what thriving actually...

Send us Fan Mail How do we transform raw data into actionable insights that drive meaningful change? Gallup's Managing Director Ilana Ron-Levy takes us on a fascinating journey through the evolving landscape of research and leadership. Ron-Levy's path to data-driven leadership began with her natural talent for asking probing questions and seeking evidence-based conclusions. She shares ho...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn a school that feels unsafe into a place students can’t wait to enter each morning? Michael Bower, COO of UP Education Network, takes us inside a concrete model for K–8 transformation—one built on sharp priorities, family partnership, and immersive STEM experiences that connect classroom learning to real careers. We unpack why UP moved from seven schools a...

Send us Fan Mail Big problems don’t yield to siloed effort. From the floor of the Idea Gen Global Summit in Athens, we sit down with future global leader Evangelia Safakis to unpack why cross-sector collaboration is the most reliable path to real, lasting impact—and how leaders can make it work without jargon or guesswork. We move beyond platitudes to lay out the mechanics: aligning incentives, sh...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to lead through storms and build something that lasts? We sit down with Basilio Pekidis to explore how a childhood in Panama, years of volunteer leadership with AHEPA, and the gritty realities of energy infrastructure shaped a clear, actionable approach to leadership and impact. The conversation moves from hands-on philanthropy to the mechanics of LNG storage in...

Send us Fan Mail Leadership is more than a title; it’s a system that turns pressure into progress. We sit down in Athens with naval officer‑turned‑founder 2025 Global Impact Summit: Konstantinos Michanetzis to unpack how disciplined service, hard data, and startup speed can reshape everything from careers to crisis response. The story begins with a bold move: building Greece’s first structured car...

Send us Fan Mail What if the internet became a living world that learns with us, not a feed that extracts from us? We sit down with Constantino Roselli, founder and chief metaverse officer of NTZNS, to explore a metaverse that breathes: AI-native inhabitants, privacy-first design, and communities that co-write their future. This isn’t escapism—it’s a rehearsal studio for better systems. We unpack...

Send us Fan Mail Some leaders chase the spotlight; others build trust, recover fast, and keep everyone moving toward a clear mission. From the Ideagen Global Impact Summit at ACS Athens, we sit down to unpack the traits that actually move teams: empathy that listens, humility that invites honest data, resilience that turns setbacks into systems, and mission focus that cuts through noise. Along the...

Send us Fan Mail From Athens, we sit with George Sifakis to unpack a simple truth with big consequences: the world’s hardest problems yield when we bring unlikely partners to the same table. Government, business, nonprofits, and academia each carry their own language, incentives, and blind spots. When those worlds converge with respect and clear goals, stale roadblocks turn into shared wins—and li...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to stay credible when outrage travels faster than facts? We sit down with Alexandros Kostopoulos—Secretary General of the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce and founder of Foresight—to unpack how leaders navigate toxic narratives, collapsing silos, and a digital sphere where deepfakes and polarization test every message. The conversation moves from first princ...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to build health systems that actually serve people where they work—and hold up under real pressure? We invited Dr. Charles Williams, Chief Medical Officer for Global Medical Services at Lockheed Martin, to unpack how corporate health, public service, and cutting-edge technology come together to protect and empower large workforces. We start by redefining future-r...

Send us Fan Mail Healthcare keeps calling for job-ready talent while classrooms graduate learners who still need months of ramp-up. In this episode, we sit down with Mona Morales, Founder & CEO of E2i Partners—a performance advisory and partnership brokerage helping education and industry co-create the future of work—to unpack what it really takes to close that gap. Drawing on 25 years across...

Send us Fan Mail Curious how today’s students can jump the gap from classroom learning to real healthcare impact? We sit down with Emily Todd, Senior Manager for Career Partnerships at Pearson, to unpack a practical blueprint: engage employers earlier, leverage AI and simulations to widen access, and build the soft skills that carry across every care setting. Emily explains why middle school is no...

Send us Fan Mail The hardest part of a clinical trial often happens before it even begins: matching the right patient to the right protocol at the right time. This conversation unpacks why pre-screening has become the chief enrollment bottleneck—and how purpose-built AI, secure platforms, and real partnerships can turn that choke point into a fast lane for access to care. Together with Hamza Hasan...