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Saloni Dattani

Chronological feed of everything captured from Saloni Dattani.

podcast_episode / 3d ago

Hard Drugs: Lenacapavir: The miracle drug that could end AIDS

<p>Lenacapavir is a new HIV drug that blocks infections with an efficacy rate of nearly 100%, and it could completely change the fight against HIV worldwide. Saloni and Jacob talk about the development and prospects for this new drug, as well as the history of HIV, the initial discovery of retroviruses, and how HIV was transformed from a death sentence to a manageable condition.</p><p>Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Open Philanthropy about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.</p><p>Chapters:</p><p>00:00 Intro <br>03:52 How was HIV discovered...

podcast_episode / 3d ago

EAG Talks: The data that shapes global health | Saloni Dattani | EAG London: 2025

<p>Watch on YouTube</p><p>Saloni Dattani makes the case that data collection isn’t just an academic concern; it’s crucial for policymaking, journalism, and industry, and, in some cases, a matter of life or death.Data collection has changed our understanding of diseases like cholera, tuberculosis and snakebite envenoming; and has been crucial in tracking progress over time and identifying emerging problems.In this talk, Saloni focuses on key global health datasets and how they've helped us grasp the scale, distribution, and changes in disease burden. It will also discuss some of the risks posed by recent fund...

podcast_episode / 3d ago

Hard Drugs: Will AI solve medicine?

<p>Artificial intelligence is transforming how we discover and develop new medicines. But how far can it really take us? In this episode, Jacob and Saloni trace the path of drug development from discovery to testing, manufacturing, and delivery. They explore where AI could speed things up, and where it still hits the limits of biology, data, and economics. They ask what it would take, beyond algorithms, to actually cure and eradicate diseases.</p><p>Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Open Philanthropy about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.</p><p>...

podcast_episode / 3d ago

Hard Drugs: The history of vaccines

<p>Before vaccines became routine, they were risky experiments. In this episode, Jacob and Saloni travel back to the world of smallpox, cowpox, and cow-based “vaccine farms” to see how scientists stumbled toward the first vaccines against infectious diseases: smallpox, rabies, TB, polio, and more. Through the stories of milkmaids and aristocrats, secret lab notebooks, microscopes and cell culture, they explore how trial and error turned gruesome folk practices into the science of immunization, and how it all began with a single pustule.</p><p>Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical inno...

podcast_episode / 3d ago

Hard Drugs: Should everyone be taking statins?

<p>Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but it’s also one of medicine’s biggest success stories. Since the 1950s, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease has fallen dramatically, thanks to public health efforts, emergency care, medical innovation, and surgeries.</p><p>In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore the cholesterol revolution: from statins discovered in fungi to new drugs that cut LDL cholesterol by 60% and last for months, driven by breakthroughs in genetics, monoclonal antibodies, RNA therapies, and modern medicinal chemistry. They talk about how cholesterol travels through the bloodstream, how it causes atherosclerosis and...