Our guests Kevin Kertscher, a filmmaker, and Audrey Kertscher, a freshman at Johns Hopkins, will discuss "Cornering Malaria; A Revolutionary Approach."

Energizing this father & daughter's interest in finding a cure for malaria is the reality that, despite existing preventatives, the disease is expanding and now kills over 500,000 children each year. Since 2019, Kevin has worked on a documentary tracking a Brown researcher's bid to turn a groundbreaking discovery into a vaccine and a whole new class of medicines. Kevin, himself laid low by malaria years ago, will relate how the discovery in Jake Kurtis lab was made and how, despite strong results in animal testing, funding for human testing has been elusive. Audrey, who worked in the Kurtis lab for four summers while a student at Dartmouth High, will share how her experience led to her co-authoring a paper on a drug candidate for pediatric malaria.

The founder of Big Ocean Studios, Kevin has worked on numerous feature films & documentaries, including several projects with Ken Burns. Audrey, who is studying public health along with molecular and cellular biology, believes that the drug she helped develop could revolutionize malarial medicine.