In this episode of Let’s Talk About That, Anirvan Ghosh speaks with Gabriela “Gaby” Ochoa, an energetic and passionate marine conservation leader and founder of Ilili, about what it really takes to protect sharks—and the coastal communities whose lives are intertwined with them.

Gaby’s path began far from the ocean, growing up in Honduras with a love of animals and biology. What followed was an unexpected journey through turtle conservation, coral reef restoration, and eventually into one of the most complex conservation challenges in Central America: shark and ray protection in La Mosquitia, where marine ecosystems, indigenous communities, and local livelihoods are deeply connected.

The conversation explores why sharks matter ecologically, why their populations are in steep decline, and why conservation cannot succeed without understanding the people behind the fishery. Gaby shares how Ilili combines field science, fisheries monitoring, policy advocacy, public education, and trust-building with local communities to create a more durable model for conservation.

An engaging conversation about sharks, systems, and the kind of leadership required to protect both biodiversity and human dignity.

In this episode of Let’s Talk About That, Anirvan Ghosh speaks with Sam Blackman—pediatric neuro-oncologist, biotech founder, and storyteller—about the patients who shaped his life’s work and his search for a cure for children with brain cancer.

As a physician caring for children with brain tumors, Sam witnessed firsthand the limits of existing treatments—and the urgency felt by families facing devastating diagnoses. That experience became a driving force behind his decision to help build a different kind of biotech company: one focused not on adapting adult drugs for children, but on developing therapies specifically for them.

That vision led to the creation of Day One Biopharmaceuticals and ultimately to the development of tovorafenib, a targeted therapy approved in 2024 for children with low-grade glioma, the most common form of pediatric brain cancer.

This is a conversation about compassion as a catalyst for innovation—and how one doctor’s commitment to his patients helped turn unmet need into a new medicine.

In this episode of Let’s Talk About That, Anirvan Ghosh speaks with Tracy Dixon-Salazar—neuroscientist, geneticist, and one of the most powerful advocates working to transform how we understand severe childhood epilepsy.

Tracy’s journey began as a mother. When her daughter Savannah was two and a half, she began having unexplained seizures that eventually developed into Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS)—a rare and devastating form of childhood epilepsy marked by multiple seizure types, developmental challenges, and a high risk of premature death.

Determined to understand what was happening to her child, Tracy returned to school, eventually earning a PhD in neuroscience. Her scientific training helped uncover the genetic mechanisms underlying Savannah’s epilepsy and led to a precision-medicine insight that dramatically reduced her daughter’s seizures—giving Tracy a decade in which she could truly reconnect with her child.

Today, Tracy serves as Executive Director of the Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome Foundation, where she is pushing the field to move beyond symptom control toward treating epilepsy at its biological roots.

This conversation explores the intersection of science and lived experience—and how one mother’s determination is reshaping the future of rare disease research.