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Dr. John Yates is the Ernest W. Hahn Professor in the Departments of Molecular Medicine and Neurobiology at The Scripps Research Institute in California. He is also a member of the PCC’s Scientific Advisory Board and a world-renowned expert in proteomics. In this episode, he discusses his career path, his research, impacts of the global pandemic, and potential applications of advanced analytical approaches such as tandem mass spec, bioinformatics, and proteomics for anti-doping.

Moira Weinberg is Vice President of Investigations and Deputy General Counsel at Major League Baseball (MLB). In our interview, she discusses the formation and organization of Major League Baseball’s Department of Investigations, some of the different types of cases they handle, the general process involved in conducting investigations for anti-doping and other cases, key anti-doping programs and resources for players, and some of the major challenges and priorities for MLB investigations.

Dr. Matthew Fedoruk is Chief Science Officer at the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). In this interview, we talk about USADA’s new remote drug testing program, how USADA has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, major challenges the global anti-doping community is currently facing, and his role in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s Strategic Testing Expert Group focused on preparing for future crises.

Ali Jawad is an accomplished British powerlifter and Board Member of the Commonwealth Games Team England. He was awarded a bronze medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, a silver medal in the 2016 Paralympic Games, and gold medals in the 2015 IPC Powerlifting European Championships and 2014 IPC Powerlifting World Championships. Ali discusses his career, some of the challenges he has faced, his perspective on anti-doping as an elite athlete, and his work as a Member of the Start Up Group with Global Athlete.

Dr. Jonathan Finnoff is Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). In our interview, he discusses the timeline of events leading up to the postponement of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the broad spectrum of effects this pandemic has had on athletes, new protocols and safety measures in place at training centers, anti-doping and COVID-19 testing procedures, and how the USOPC has been dealing with some of the major challenges that have arisen during this pandemic. 

Andy Levinson is Senior Vice President of Tournament Administration at PGA TOUR and Executive Director of USA GOLF. In our interview, he provides an insider look at how PGA TOUR has navigated some of the major challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the new protocols and restrictions they have put in place to protect players, staff, and spectators. He also discusses their innovative solution to addressing issues surrounding COVID-19 testing for players, impacts on their anti-doping programs, and more.

Jon Coyles is Vice President of Drug, Health and Safety Programs at Major League Baseball (MLB). In this episode, he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at some of the biggest challenges that MLB has faced as a result of COVID-19, the safety protocols they developed in response to the pandemic, how these protocols were developed, MLB’s COVID-19 testing requirements and logistics, as well as the impacts of the pandemic on MLB’s anti-doping programs, their regular season, and the postseason as it begins.

Dr. Laura Garvican-Lewis is Director of Science at the US Anti-Doping Agency. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University. She was awarded a PCC Research Grant in 2015 and a PCC Fellowship in 2018. We discuss her work on haematological responses to altitude training and iron supplementation, how these impact the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), her recent work validating a model that addresses blood plasma volume variance in the ABP, and her experiences as a PCC Fellow.

Dr. Lori Bestervelt is Director of Business Development & Partnerships at ChemFORWARD, a nonprofit collaboration of brands, retailers, and NGOs providing high quality, actionable data on chemical hazards. She was formerly Executive Vice President & Chief Science Officer at NSF International, an independent, global, accredited inspection organization. Lori discusses anti-doping issues related to dietary supplements, how supplements are regulated, and her work to create the NSF Certified for Sport Program.

Dr. Ed Merrens is Chief Clinical Officer and a Hospitalist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, and Board Member of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He shares his perspective on challenges in anti-doping, the impacts of COVID-19 on sport, and exciting developments in anti-doping. Ed also discusses his role on the Board of USADA and his experiences as a team physician for U.S. Biathlon and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Michael Ask is CEO of Anti-Doping Denmark and Chairman of the International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations (iNADO). He discusses intelligence-based anti-doping, different types of evidence they collect in anti-doping cases, the goals and objectives of iNADO, the importance of anti-doping education, the wide variety of disciplines that come together in anti-doping, and how his previous career in law enforcement with the Danish National Police Force has helped him in his current roles.

Michael Pearlmutter, MBA, is Executive Director of the Partnership for Clean Competition (PCC). In this episode, Michael provides an update on how the PCC and the anti-doping community have been impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the PCC’s recent partnerships to support COVID-19 testing and research, and the PCC’s dedication to public health and ensuring the health and safety of all athletes during this challenging time.

Francesco Botrè, PhD, is Director of the WADA-Accredited Laboratorio Antidoping Federazione Medico Sportiva Italiana (FMSI Anti-Doping Lab). He shares the history of FMSI Lab and the complex process of how samples are collected, delivered, anonymized, processed, analyzed, and interpreted by the lab. Francesco also discusses his research on doping masking agents, metabolic modulators, and drug-drug interactions, as well as his experiences running testing in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.

Dr. James Hopker is a Reader in Exercise Physiology, Director of Postgraduate Research, and Acting Head of School for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kent. He is an expert on exercise training, and he has been studying applications of performance monitoring in anti-doping. We discuss how an Athlete Performance Passport may complement the Athlete Biological Passport, the role of technology in performance monitoring, and strengths and limitations of this approach in anti-doping.

Gabe Baida is currently Executive Director of InnoVero, and he was formerly UFC and Premier Sport Director at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. In this episode, he discusses his prior work with USADA, issues with maintaining the security and integrity of samples and sample collection equipment, the security features and benefits of the new InnoVero Safe System, the importance of collaboration in developing novel anti-doping products, and the need for continued innovation in anti-doping testing and equipment.

Dr. Judy Su is Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering, Optical Sciences, and the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona. She is developing novel sensors that use light to detect extremely low concentrations of substances. She shares how the sensors are made, how they work, and how they could be used in testing for doping. Beyond their high sensitivity, the sensors deliver results rapidly, require low sample volumes, and are better suited to detecting microdosing and drugs with a short half life.

Susan Backhouse, PhD is Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Nutrition as well as Director of Research for Sport and Exercise Science, Leisure, and Tourism at Leeds Beckett University. She discusses the bystander effect and an anti-doping bystander intervention program she helped develop, creating the largest coach-centered doping education program in the world, issues with therapeutic use exemptions for asthma, aspects of the behavioral science of whistleblowing and reporting doping in sport, and more.

Dr. Lindsey Mackay is General Manager at the National Measurement Institute in Australia. She tells us what reference materials are, how they are used in drug testing labs, why they are critical for anti-doping, how they are made, how they are distributed, and more. She also shares major challenges in making reference materials and a recent project in which they created new reference materials to differentiate between testosterone-related steroids from external sources versus made naturally by the body.

Dr. Mike McNamee holds Professorships at Swansea University, UK; and KU Leuven, Belgium, and he is Programme Director of the world’s only Master Degree in Sport Ethics and Integrity, sponsored by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme. He is a renowned expert in sports ethics, sports integrity, and anti-doping policy. We discuss a variety of ethical issues related to fair sport, including athlete privacy concerns in providing whereabouts, security issues for athletes’ data, use of advanced technology and prosthetics in sport, match fixing, and more in this episode.

Channing Cash is an accomplished Team USA Paracanoe Athlete, and she tells us the incredible series of events that led to her becoming a professional athlete. We cover her early childhood in a small village in Laos, the many struggles she has overcome, constructive ways to cope with roadblocks in performance, her experiences with anti-doping education and testing programs as an athlete, challenges athletes face with inadvertent ingestion of banned substances in supplements and other consumables, and more.