On this episode: Talking with Dr. Moupali Das on leading breakthrough research into a new drug for HIV prevention, the impact it could have for women—and the push to reach those most affected.For each episode of the Don’t Pretend We’re Dead podcast, I’ll be talking with women doing interesting work right now in the fields of advocacy, arts and culture, food, science and technology. Ladies who give me a shred of hope in these dark times—and who doesn’t need more of that. Subscribe for free to learn about new episodes.Mentioned in this episode with Dr. Moupali Das:2024 Breakthrough of the Year, Science, December 12, 2024.“This Woman of Color Led a Groundbreaking New PrEP Study,” TheBody.com, June 24, 2024.Dr. Paul Farmer: World-renowned infectious disease doctor, anthropologist, and global health visionary, PIH.orgMoupali Das, MD, MPH, is Vice President, HIV Prevention and Virology Pediatric Clinical Development at Gilead Sciences. She is the Franchise Head for HIV Prevention and oversees Gilead’s landmark PURPOSE program, which is evaluating the efficacy and safety of lenacapavir for HIV prevention. In 2024, the unprecedented positive results from the PURPOSE 1 and PURPOSE 2 trials were published in The New England Journal of Medicine and led Science Magazine to name lenacapavir its 2024 “Breakthrough of the Year.”Since joining Gilead Sciences, Moupali has leveraged her clinical HIV and ID expertise, clinical trial design and epidemiology skills, and passion for coaching and mentoring to build and lead high-performing cross-functional teams in HIV treatment and prevention. For the past approximately five years, Moupali has led the PURPOSE program and HIV Prevention Clinical Development with passion and empathy, revolutionizing how Gilead develops drugs, innovating in the science and in health equity, and laying the groundwork for global access. Her scholarly and intentional approach to clinical trial design and implementation with a focus on diversity and equity has been celebrated internally and externally by the scientific and advocacy community, as this brief profile on TheBody.com highlights: https://www.thebody.com/article/moupali-das-designed-len-study-with-black-brown-girls-in-mindMoupali has committed her entire educational and professional career to HIV. After completing her A.B. in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard College, medical school and internal medicine residency training at Columbia University and New York Presbyterian Hospital, she came to University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for fellowship training in Infectious Diseases and to University of California, Berkeley for her MPH in Epidemiology. She cared for HIV patients at San Francisco General’s storied Ward 86 clinic and attended on the inpatient ID Consult Service. Her research prior to joining Gilead included the development of a novel population-based indicator, community viral load (CVL), to evaluate the impact of treatment as prevention. Her CVL research was the basis for measuring CVL and using viral suppression to evaluate the effectiveness of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). She served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Data Systems for Monitoring HIV/AIDS care. See here for a brief profile of Moupali’s pre-Gilead career: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_07_13/caredit.a1200079 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit corinazappia.substack.com

For each episode of the Don’t Pretend We’re Dead podcast, I’ll be talking with women doing interesting work right now in the fields of advocacy, arts and culture, food, science and technology. These are ladies who give me a shred of hope in these dark times—and who doesn’t need more of that. Subscribe for free to learn about new episodes.Mentioned in this episode with writer and chef Marie Mitchell:Kin: Caribbean Recipes for the Modern Kitchen by Marie Mitchell“Black Joy, Our Greatest Form of Activism,” by Marie Mitchell, Resy LondonChishuru, the West African restaurant in London from Adejoké (Joké) Bakare, the UK’s first black female Michelin-starred chefLondon restaurant recommendations from Marie Mitchell:“Where the chefs eat: Marie Mitchell shares her 7 favourite London restaurants,” Glossary MagazineMarie Mitchell is a writer, chef and was the co-founder of Island Social Club – a space that was aimed at filling the void left by the erosion of London’s once thriving Caribbean social scene. Through her cooking, Marie explores Caribbean culture and food with authenticity and without limits. Conscious of driving British-Caribbean cuisine, and thus culture, forward, she develops her dishes by focusing on history, geography, and contemporary ingredients found in her locale and home in London. Marie is a champion of social, economic and political equity, inclusivity, sustainability, and supporting and creating spaces for self-care and mental health awareness.Marie has written for Observer Food Monthly, Guardian Feast, Borough Market, Waitrose Food and Resy London. She’s spoken live at the DO Lectures, featured on Sunday Brunch, Broadcasting House, BBC Radio 4, and Jamie Oliver’s Meat Free Meals. Her first cookbook, Kin, a collection of recipes from the Caribbean and its diaspora was published in 2024 by Particular Books, and will be published in 2025 by Norton.Thanks for reading Don't Pretend We're Dead! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit corinazappia.substack.com

For each episode of the Don’t Pretend We’re Dead podcast, I’ll be talking with women doing interesting work right now in the fields of advocacy, arts and culture, food, science and technology. Ladies who give me a shred of hope in these dark times—and who doesn’t need more of that? Subscribe for free to learn about new episodes.Mentioned in this episode with Ruth Mukwana:Shadow King by Maaza MengisteHalf of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieBeasts of No Nation by Uzodinma IwealaThe Refugees by Viet Thanh NguyenStories and Humanitarian Action (SAHA) podcast—check out this episode I really liked: Championing Women and Girls: A Conversation with UN Gender Advisor April PhamRuth Mukwana is the former Chief of Section, Asia & Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York. She has held several positions with OCHA including as Chief of Duty of Care, Wellbeing and Capacity Development in the Executive Office and Deputy Head of Office for Sudan. Her experience includes training, protection, internal displacement, voluntary repatriation, advocacy, access and refugee status determination. Currently she is the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, where she teaches humanitarian advocacy. Ruth is also a fiction writer and was the 2020 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil NYC Emerging Fellow. Her work has appeared in several magazines including Bomb, Solstice, Consequence and Black Warrior Review, and she has just completed a novel. She is also the creator and host of the podcast Stories and Humanitarian Action (SAHA), which explored how fiction can be used to raise awareness on humanitarian crises and drive action with a particular focus on war. Set in her home country of Uganda against the backdrop of conflict, poverty, and totalitarian regime, Ruth’s short stories explore what happens when women rise up and dismantle the status quo and become heroes of their own stories. Thanks for reading Don't Pretend We're Dead! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit corinazappia.substack.com