In 2017 a doctor told Brian Wallach he might only have six months left to live. He was only 37, but he’d started having trouble grasping a pen. His hands would shake. His wife Sandra was the one who told him he had to see a doctor. That’s when he learned he had ALS. Instead of turning inwards Sandra and Brian, both former Obama staffers, are using their uniq ... Show More
Jul 2025
A Love Story 18 Years in the Making
Lischele and Derrick met in college back in 2000. They clicked instantly but never dated. Life took them in different directions. They both married other people, started families, and kept in touch only occasionally over the years. Then, in 2018, a birthday message reopened the d ... Show More
33m 17s
Jul 2025
What If the Love of Your Life Had Been Sitting Right in Front of You for a Decade?
Ciji and Travis spent ten years as each other’s ride-or-die—co-chairs, creative collaborators, best friends—without realizing they were also soulmates. They met through the Urban League of Greater Atlanta as ambitious young professionals and shared countless late-night meetings, ... Show More
47m 48s
Nov 2022
A Deeply Personal Race Against A Fatal Brain Disease
In the mornings, Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel's first job is to get their two garrulous kids awake, fed and out the door to daycare and kindergarten. They then reconvene at the office and turn their focus to their all-consuming mission: to cure, treat, or prevent genetic prion ... Show More
13m 35s
Feb 2023
Episode 162 - Augie's Quest: A Tribute to the CEO of ALS Research, Augie Nieto
He couldn't walk, but he moved mountains. He couldn't speak, but he said so much. He couldn't write, but he left behind countless messages, and his last one, which appeared a few days ago, showing up in hundreds of email boxes, contained the simple aching phrase: Keep me in your ... Show More
26m 24s
May 2024
My quest to cure prion disease — before it's too late | Sonia Vallabh
Biomedical researcher Sonia Vallabh's life was turned upside down when she learned she had the genetic mutation for a rare and fatal illness, prion disease, that could strike at any time. Thirteen years later, her search for a cure has led to new insights about how to catch and p ... Show More
18m 13s
Nov 2022
What to Do With the Time We Get
<p>Ari Diaconis knew a bright future lay ahead of him. He was a gifted athlete with a well-paying job at a Wall Street law firm, and a partner, Dunia, with whom he shared a deep connection. But a neurological illness shifted his vision for the path ahead and shined a spotlight on ... Show More
18m 44s
Jul 2024
My quest to cure prion disease — before it's too late | Sonia Vallabh
Biomedical researcher Sonia Vallabh's life was turned upside down when she learned she had the genetic mutation for a rare and fatal illness, prion disease, that could strike at any time. Thirteen years later, her search for a cure has led to new insights about how to catch and p ... Show More
18m 23s
Nov 2022
Science Couldn't Save Her, So She Became A Scientist
The first time Sonia Vallabh understood something was very wrong with her mother Kamni was on the phone on her mom's 52nd birthday. She wasn't herself. By the end of that year, after about six months on life support, Kamni had died. The disease she died from would upend Sonia and ... Show More
13m 59s