激情快播

Danish Bhatti

Position at 激情快播: Associate professor聽of medicine

Hometown: Lahore, Pakistan

Alma Maters:聽King Edward Medical聽University, M.D.
University of Nebraska聽Medical Center, residency聽and movement disorders聽fellowship

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Luis Favela

Position at 激情快播: Associate professor of聽philosophy and 肠辞驳苍颈迟颈惫别听蝉肠颈别苍肠别蝉

Hometown: Los Angeles/San Diego,聽California

Alma Maters: University of Cincinnati,聽Ph.D. in philosophy and聽M.A. in experimental聽psychology
San Diego State University,聽M.A. in philosophy
University of San Diego,聽B.A. in English

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Danish Bhatti: Luis, as an associate聽professor of philosophy and 肠辞驳苍颈迟颈惫别听蝉肠颈别苍肠别蝉, how do you see the relationship聽between creativity and logic?

Luis Favela: I think they can go hand聽in hand. Creativity is just the spark,聽these 鈥渁ha鈥� moments. The reasoning聽part is, 鈥淲ell then, how do I make that聽understandable to myself and to others?鈥澛燬o as someone interested in the history聽of science, (I鈥檝e seen) this has been the聽process in many ways.

Alan Turing was considered the聽鈥渇ather鈥� of modern computers. He was聽trying to think in these abstract ways聽about how rules and systems fit together聽to solve any problem, and that required聽creativity and imagination. Then he聽formulated it with the math and then the聽logic, and that let him convey it to other聽people in an understandable way. I hope聽one day to be able to do it as well 鈥� maybe聽10% as well as Turing.

DB: Medicine is much more restrictive聽in terms of the practice, and even in聽research it鈥檚 very heavily regulated and聽constrained. My clinical practice and聽research relate to movement disorders,聽such as Parkinson鈥檚 disease, which is my聽main focus.

I think the creativeness in clinical聽practice research is more on the聽implementation side, listening to the聽patient on how therapies, tools and聽diagnostics can be implemented better.

Luis, you were recently selected for聽a fellowship that aims to understand聽brain-related issues and solutions. What聽is the significance of that collaboration?

LF: I was selected by the Research聽Corporation for Science Advancement聽for a Scialog Fellowship, which is聽examining issues related to the molecular聽basis of cognition. The organization is聽bringing together people with different聽backgrounds for four days to get us聽to think really hard about developing聽risk-taking projects and ideas to move聽science forward in this area. This聽work will contribute to a variety of聽brain-related issues, such as recovering聽from brain injuries and learning how to聽prevent neurodegenerative disease, and聽advance neuromorphic computing.

I was really honored to be selected,聽especially as one of three philosophers聽among all these scientists. It鈥檚 great, but聽where else can we have opportunities like聽these to work with people so different聽from you?

DB: Yes. The two areas where I聽personally work with other teams include translational medicine, where聽we look at taking concepts from the lab to聽see how they can be used in a clinical trial.

The other is in the area of better聽diagnostic tools. A lot of medicine is聽trying to develop biotechnology through聽things like at-home monitoring and聽wearable devices, where you have to work聽with other experts in mechanical and聽electrical engineering, software, artificial聽intelligence (AI) and machine learning.聽Medicine will change significantly with AI聽and machine learning.

LF: In philosophy of science, this topic is聽called automation of discovery. You may聽want to test various kinds of medications,聽but you only have so many participants聽and people to run the experiments.聽But if you were to test virtual patients聽with virtual medications, you could test聽combinations so much faster. There are a聽lot of interesting issues with experiment聽and science, and how do we know these聽[tests] are reliable?

DB: There are still many areas we need to聽develop to understand brain health.聽We need to improve the reliability of聽diagnosis for many conditions, and we聽need more treatment options available聽for patients. For instance, once you聽have lost brain cells, there is still no聽way to reverse that, so at best what聽we are struggling for is to find ways聽to prevent ongoing cell loss.

LF: What are some preventative聽measures for maintaining brain聽function as we age?

DB: Most things that help improve brain聽health are the same things that help聽health in general. Cardiac health is the聽best [according to studies]. People who聽exercise regularly, especially in their聽20s and 30s, have a much lower risk of聽Parkinson鈥檚 than those who don鈥檛. Healthy聽diets, lots of vegetables, (maintaining) low聽cholesterol 鈥� things like that.

The only substances known to reduce聽the risk of Parkinson鈥檚 are coffee and tea;聽they鈥檙e cousins. The more you drink, the聽lower the risk.

Reading, being active socially and聽(an active) physical lifestyle are all聽preventative. That鈥檚 not only true for聽Parkinson鈥檚, but it鈥檚 also true for all聽neurological disorders, dementias and so聽on and so forth.

LF: From the theoretical philosopher聽of science perspective, we don鈥檛 have an聽overarching theory of brain function,聽cognition, consciousness or anything聽like that. It鈥檚 an interesting tension聽because that absence of understanding聽doesn鈥檛 prevent us from exploring and developing medications and treatments,聽but I imagine that it might help聽somewhere down the road. And I find that聽disheartening sometimes, but mostly I聽find it really fascinating and interesting聽because there鈥檚 so much work that we still聽need to do.