Fulbright PULSE

Prof. Dr. Rainer Storb (Pioneer of the Stem Cell Transplantation)

In this episode, we are joined by Prof. Dr. Rainer Storb, one of the trailblazers who established bone marrow and stem cell transplantation as an effective treatment for diseases like leukemia, lymphoma and aplastic anemia.
Rainer is a medical doctor, physician and professor for hematology and oncology at University of Washington's School of Medicine, pioneer of the blood stem cell transplantation, and one of the most impactful biomedical scientists and research translators of our time. He is also a founding member of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, heading its transplantation biology program and its clinical research division. As a physician, he has been treating patients himself with therapies he has discovered, designed, studied, and standardized.
We talk about the seemingly hopeless case he and his colleagues took on when he first entered the field in the 1960s, the adversarial circumstances under which they were conducting their research, the challenges they faced, how he dealt with these challenges, and how first transplantations in humans started to work consistently. We also find out how stem cell transplantation evolved into a procedure that has been performed more than 1'000'000 times around the globe since Rainer and his colleagues laid the ground-breaking foundations.
And we talk about how Rainer envisions a cancer treatment, free of aggressive radiation and heavy chemotherapy, on the path to eliminating cancer.

Vera Kostiuk Busch & Dr. Hanna Shvindina (Charity/NGO Founders in Support of Ukraine)

Vera is the founder and president of Pro Ukraine e. V., a charitable organization in Germany supporting Ukraine. As an American Fulbrighter going to Germany, Vera completed her Master's studies at Middlebury College in Mainz. For her outstanding commitment of over twenty years to relieve poverty in Ukraine, she has received the Mulert Award by the German Fulbright Alumni Association.
Hanna is the founder and CEO of the Lifelong Learning Center, an NGO in Sumy, Ukraine, and she is a professor of Management at the American University of Kyiv, also teaching at Sumy State University. As a Ukrainian Fulbright going to the US, Hanna conducted post-doctoral research at Purdue University in Indiana.
We talk about daily life in Ukraine in the face of Russia's ongoing invasion, about how Hanna and her organization have helped residents in her city, how Vera and her organization have helped Ukrainian pupils, and how their work has changed since Russia's war against Ukraine.

Mark Brzezinski (US Ambassador to Poland)

In this episode, Fulbright Poland alumni Madalyn Fernbach and Jeremy Wexler talk to Mark Brzezinski, diplomat, lawyer, and the current Ambassador of the United States to Poland since 2022.
Mark graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts, earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia Law School, and obtained a PhD in political science from Oxford. 
He studied on a Fulbright grant in Warsaw from 1991 to 1993 and was later named by President Obama to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
During his career, he also served as the US Ambassador to Sweden and as a director of Bill Clinton's National Security Council in the White House.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (MdB, Deputy Chairman of the FDP Parliamentary Group & Designated German Ambassador to Russia)

In this episode, we talk to Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, historian, diplomat, politician, and one of Germany's most accomplished public figures in questions of foreign policy.
Alexander is currently a Member of the Bundestag, Deputy Chairman of the FDP-Fraktion, and designated German Ambassador to Russia. He studied at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington DC on a Fulbright grant in 1993 and was then trained and served as a diplomat for 10 years, served as a member and in various high-ranking roles at the European Parliament for 13 years, and has been a member of the Bundestag for 6 years.
We talk about how the United States changed during the time he served in the German Embassy in Washington DC, about European Integration, Europe's future role on the world stage as China and the United States compete for political supremacy, and his vision for Europe.
We also talk about his past in the Russia department in the German Federal Foreign Office in the early 2000s, and the role he can play as a German Ambassador in Moscow in times of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Interviewed by Mohamed Kari (mkari.de).

Dr. Jeffrey M. Peck (President of the Association of Friends and Sponsors of the German-American Fulbright Program)

In this episode, Dr. Jeffrey M. Peck is interviewed by Alexandra Schaller. Jeff is the President of the Association of Friends and Sponsors of the German-American Fulbright Program and Europe Director of the higher education strategy consultancy AKA Strategy.
He was a Professor at University of Washington, Georgetown University, York University, Université de Montréal, and City University of New York, and at Humboldt University of Berlin on a Fulbright grant in 2006/2007.
Interview led by Alexandra Schaller.

Dr. Avery Wang (Co-Founder of Shazam, Principal Research Scientist at Apple)

In this episode, Dr. Avery Wang, founder of Shazam and nowadays Principal Research Scientist at Apple, is our guest.
Avery co-founded Shazam, invented the ground-breaking algorithm behind the music identification app and served as a Chief Scientist for the following 18 years until Shazam was acquired by Apple for a reported 400 million dollars. 
Avery graduated with four Mathematics and Electrical Engineering degrees from Stanford, conducted neuroscientific research on a Fulbright grant at the Ruhruniversität Bochum in Germany from 1990 to 1992, before then finding his way into Silicon Valley's startup scene.
We talk about his path and find out about the moonshot problem he faced at Shazam, his responsiblity in the founding team, how he struggled with it, and how he eventually solved it with an algorithm that has been used 70 billion times since he invented it.
Interviewed by Mohamed Kari (mkari.de). 

Dr. Juliane Kronen (Founder of Innatura and Former Partner at Boston Consulting Group)

In this episode, Dr. Juliane Kronen is our guest. 
Juliane undertook her Fulbright in 1984 and ‘85 at the University of Missouri, before obtaining a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Cologne.
Juliane is a member of the jury of the right livelihood award, sometimes called the alternative noble prize. We talk about its mission, some of the inspiring laureates (incl. Krishnammal Jagannathan), and the impact of the award.
We also talk about her transition from being a partner, directing manager, and executive at Boston Consulting Group to becoming a social entrepreneur and founder of the Non-Profit Organization Innatura.
We find out more about Innatura, and that time they sent diapers to Prince Charles.
Interviewed by Mohamed Kari (mkari.de).

Dr. Philip Häusser (Science Communicator and Chief Technical Officer at Ablacon)

In this episode, Dr. Philip Häusser is our guest. 
With Fulbright, Philip earned a Master’s degree in Physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2014, before then obtaining a PhD in Computer Science and Machine Learning from the Technical University of Munich. 
Philip is a science communicator, hosting TV shows on major German TV channels incl. SWR, BR, ZDF, WDR, and ARD, producing YouTube videos for the YouTube channel Breaking Lab that now has more than 450’000 subscribers, publishing books. 
We talk about what drives his work, about his latest book „AI explained for everyone“, the impact of artificial intelligence, and more generally the role of science in society.
We also talk about Philips role as the Chief Technology Officer at Ablacon, a HealthTech start-up, that has closed a 30 Million Dollar funding round in the past year.
And we find out about the decisions that brought him there.
Interviewed by Mohamed Kari (mkari.de).

Prof. Dr. Daniel Cremers (Head of the Chair of Computer Vision & Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich)

In this episode, we hear from Prof. Daniel Cremers, Head of the Chair of Computer Vision & Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich and one of the most renowned scientists in his field.
We talk about what drives him as a researcher and we hear what inspires his work. He has received numerous grants and prizes, incl. the renowned Leibniz Prize as the highest German scientific awards and multiple 7-figure European Research Council grants. 
We also talk about his start-up, artisense.ai, and technology start-ups in general.
His personal path includes education and research in Virgina, Indiana, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin, Mannheim, Los Angeles, Princeton, Bonn, Cambridge and Munich, and in this interview, we cover some these stages and decisions in his career including his experience with Fulbright in 1994 and 1995 in Indiana and New York, his time as a highly recognized post-doctoral researcher at UCLA, and as a researcher in industry at Siemens Corporate Research. 
Interviewed by Mohamed Kari (mkari.de).

Bettina Luescher (Former Chief Spokesperson of the UN World Food Programme and News Anchor at CNN International)

In this episode, we hear from Bettina Luescher. Bettina was the chief spokesperson of the United Nations World Food Programme.
We talk about the people she has met in that role - sometimes the world leaders, sometimes the world's poorest. We also talk about her work as the first German news anchor at the CNN international, where Bettina delivered the news to 180 million viewers around the world.
And we find out what drove Bettina to apply for a Fulbright scholarship, and about the unusual encounter that put her on the track for CNN.
Interviewed by Mohamed Kari (mkari.de).