Invisible Forces

If you had lung cancer, you’d take one kind of drug. If you had liver cancer, you’d take another drug. Makes sense, right? But scientists have found another, more effective, more targeted way to treat cancer — one that you need a code to unlock. In this episode we look at the surprising history and the hopeful future of immunotherapy, and how the genetic code of cancer itself has been used to find a way to treat the disease.Featuring:Neeha Zaidi is a medical oncologist at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Mike Yee is Jefferies’ managing director and senior biotech analystNeville Sanjana is a core faculty member at the New York genome center and also an assistant professor of biology at NYU

Healthcare innovations aren’t just about drugs, but how care is delivered. But one of the fastest-growing areas of health care is focusing less on WHAT’s wrong with you, but WHERE the healing actually happens, and HOW doctors can deliver that care right to your home. In this episode we learn how a fitness craze from the 80’s is helping provide medical care right to a patient’s front door.Featuring:Raphael Rakowski is the founder of Medically HomeElizabeth Krupinski is a professor at Emory University and the co-author of the book Understanding TelehealthBrian Tanquilut is a healthcare services analyst at Jefferies

The discovery of DNA in the 1850s allowed us to see into the genetic code of individual humans. Now gene editing, a technique by which the gene or genes that make us susceptible to some diseases, allows that code to be rewritten. In this episode we look at the ways in which gene editing is being used to turn that century-old breakthrough into the future of medicine.Featuring:Pino Ciaramella is the chief scientific officer and president of Beam Therapeutics Paul Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Centre at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of the book You Bet Your Life: The Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation  Neville Sanjana is a core faculty member at the New York genome center and also an assistant professor of biology at NYUWill Sevush is Jefferies’ healthcare desk specialist

Thanks to modern medicine, we are living longer lives than ever before. But our longer lives have led to an increase in age-related degenerative illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s and ALS – neurological degenerative disorders that have proven very difficult to treat because of one of the strongest security systems in the human body: The Blood Brain Barrier. This episode looks at how an idea as old as the Trojan Horse could be used to finally break down that barrier for good.Featuring:Ryan Watts is the founder and CEO of Denali TherapeuticsMike Yee is Jefferies’ managing director and senior biotech analystRachita Sumbria is an associate professor at the Chapman University School of Pharmacy

We kick off this new season with a medical breakthrough story you might THINK you know, but isn't that straightforward. We dive into how the "speedy" development of mRNA vaccines is actually a story with decades of twists and turns. In this episode we look at the mRNA technology that is behind many COVID-19 vaccines, and how an idea that once looked like it was destined to fail got a new life just in time to save so many of ours.Featuring:Dr. Thomas Madden is a biochemist and founder and CEO of Acuitas TherapeuticsMike Yee is Jefferies’ managing director and senior biotech analystJoe Miller is a reporter for the Financial Times and the author of The Vaccine: Inside the Race to Conquer the COVID-19 Pandemic

Throughout this season, we are exploring some of the amazing medical breakthroughs that have changed lives – and continue to change what’s possible in the world of medicine. And all of this progress stems from investment: of time, of money, of research and ingenuity. In this episode, we’re looking at the common thread that links all the incredible stories we’ll be hearing over the coming season: that alchemy that brings about these life-saving innovations in healthcare.Featuring:Rachita Sumbria is an associate professor at the Chapman University School of PharmacyNeeha Zaidi is a medical oncologist at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Centre.Will Sevush Will Sevush is Jefferies’ healthcare desk specialistMike Yee is Jefferies’ managing director and senior biotech analyst

Invisible Forces is a podcast that investigates the unseen influences that drive our spending, our saving and our global economy. Hosted by Jefferies' insider Shannon Murphy, season three is all about one invisible force – the alchemy that can turn a series of unlikely events, surprises and setbacks into medicine’s biggest successes.We’ll hear from biotech industry leaders and our own Jefferies experts about some of the biggest breakthroughs in medical history – and the investments that brought them into reality. 

Culturally in 2020, the conversation around racial injustice has hit a breaking point. COVID-19 exacerbated inequities in health outcomes for Black and Latino Americans, and in the wake of George Floyd’s death, we’ve seen a massive movement for enduring change. The people have spoken. But how will businesses, markets and economies respond?Today, consumers are seeking ways to support the Black-owned businesses with their dollars, and companies are looking to hire more equitably and inclusively. Even our technology is getting a redesign – to correct biases built right into the programming of tech tools we use everyday.Hosts Shannon Murphy and Erin Shea are joined by colleague Nadia Batchelor to explore how this powerful movement can create lasting changes in businesses around the world. Featuring Nadia Batchelor, Head of Jefferies’ Global Corporate Access Team and the founder and head of J-NOBLE - Jefferies Network of Black and Latinx Employees.Also featuring:Kristina Liburd is the founder & CEO of Viageur and the organizer behind the Black Startup Collective, a directory of Black-owned startups in Boston.Stephanie Wemusa is the VP of Diversity and Inclusion for TalVista - a startup that develops tools to support equitable hiring.Boyuan Gao is the founder and principle of Project Inkblot, a design for diversity consultancy.Evie Cheung is a designer and researcher, exploring the biases built into AI-powered smart voice assistants.

2020 has been a year of instability and upheaval, so it’s no surprise many of us have been especially focused on our security. And that comes in many forms – securing our health, our homes, our finances, and even our digital lives. We used to talk about ‘safety in numbers’ – but during the pandemic as we’ve been in quarantine and isolation, we’ve had to rethink what security looks and feels like today.In this episode, hosts Shannon Murphy and Erin Shea explore how this need for fortification has been accelerated by work-from-home orders and lockdowns, and how this year has changed our idea of security for good. Featuring Dominic Lester, Jefferies’ European Head of Investment Banking, and Ramin Safai, Jefferies’ Global Head of Information Security.Also featuring:Christian Cerda is the CEO of Simplisafe. Thomas Smyth is the founder and CEO of Trim.Diana Anderson is a “dochitect,” a MD and M.Arch who specializes in the design of healthcare spaces. 

Consumers today, especially younger buyers, are in the market for more environmentally friendly products - and the good news is, their options are only growing. Hosts Shannon Murphy and Erin Shea look at how the trend towards conscious consumption is driving change in just about every industry, from fashion to food to home decor. In this episode we dig into how tech is powering green innovations in a wide range of industries. We hear from business leaders about how this force is not only good for the Earth, but good for your company's bottom line, and we ask: as the buying power of Gen Xers and Millennials grows into the trillions, how will this trend change our markets over the next decade? Featuring Jon Matuszewski, Jefferies' Equity Researcher, Simon Powell, Jefferies’ Global Head of Thematic Research and Dominic Lester, Jefferies’ European Head of Investment Banking.Also featuring: Erin Wallace is the VP of Integrated Marketing at thredUP.Tom Quinn is the President of Halio North America. Nick Green is the CEO and co-founder of Thrive Market.  

The global pandemic has made many of us think differently about the cities we live in. While lockdowns closed many of the amenities that make cities desirable, work-from-home orders showed us we can really work from anywhere. Hosts Shannon Murphy and Erin Shea are joined by equity researcher Jon Matuszewski, whose research shows that many city-dwellers are considering leaving for the suburbs – but will they really move?In this episode, we explore the future of our cities, and how the push-pull of urbanization will shake out over the coming years. What does the pandemic spell for the future of urban transportation? How can we safely return to the office – and what will the post-COVID office even look like? How can we take the lessons we’re learning from this crisis to build greener, healthier, more liveable urban settings? Featuring Nadia Batchelor, Managing Director and Global Head of Jefferies Corporate Access Team, Jefferies' Equity Researcher Jon Matuszewski, and Jefferies’ Global Head of Mobility Technology Storm Duncan. Also featuring: Taco Carlier is the co-founder of Dutch e-bike company Van Moof. Cindy Coleman is the Work Strategy Leader and Design Director at architecture and design firm Gensler. Bob Wislow is the Chairman and CEO of Parkside Realty. 

From the ads we see, to what we buy, and even how we're treated when we get sick, the world is getting more bespoke and personalized every day. For consumers, personalization offers the promise of a better, more intimate shopping experience and of products that are more finely tuned to their exact needs and interests. For businesses, personalization can be an effective way to boost sales, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, all while minimizing costs and overhead. In this episode, hosts Erin Shea and Shannon Murphy look at how the shift towards hyper-personalized goods and services is revolutionizing retail and completely transforming the consumer and healthcare landscape.  Featuring Cameron Lester, Co-Head of Global Technology Investment Banking at Jefferies, and Jefferies' Healthcare Strategist Jared Holz. Also featuring:Nick Green is the co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market.Chris Merkle is the co-founder of the personalized cosmetics start-up MIME.Dr. William Li is a physician and the author of the bestselling book Eat to Beat Disease.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed major weaknesses in our global supply chain. Governments, manufacturers, retailers, small businesses, individual consumers — all have been hit hard by the shutting down of international borders and travel stoppage. For some, supply has been the problem — how do you secure access to the products you need when shipping routes are closed and much of the world is on lockdown? For others, it’s been the opposite problem — how do you offload stockpiles of inventory when demand for your product has suddenly vanished?In the season two premiere of Invisible Forces, hosts Erin Shea and Shannon Murphy look at how everything from vital medical equipment to fresh produce to jigsaw puzzles are being made and transported differently in the wake of COVID-19 — and how the pandemic is rapidly transforming the $10 trillion global supply chain and fuelling a push towards localization in the process. Featuring Jefferies’ Chief Financial Economist Aneta Markowska and Jefferies’ Global Head of Mobility Technology Storm Duncan. Also featuring: Nagendra Raina is the CEO of Buffalo Games, the largest puzzle manufacturer in North America.Anne Williams is a puzzle historian and the author of The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Together a History.Jack Vessey is a fourth generation lettuce farmer in California.Evan Wiig is the Director of Communications and Membership at the Community Alliance with Family Farmers.Sharad Agarwal is the senior vice president of EasyMile.

The world is changing at a rapid pace. And many of the forces driving these changes can’t be seen at all. Hosted by Jefferies insiders Shannon Murphy and Erin Shea, Invisible Forces is a show about the unseen influences that are rapidly transforming our way of life and global economy. With surprising stories and expert interviews, we’re looking into the future at where we'll be living, how we'll be working, what we'll be buying ... and why. Season Two premieres July 28.

In our season finale, we take a step back and explore one invisible force that has underpinned every episode in the season so far: the brilliant entrepreneurs, thinkers, and founders behind groundbreaking and culture-shifting companies. We talk to three successful founders about the entrepreneurial spirit that drives their work: Aaron Rasmussen, who just launched Outlier.org and co-founded MasterClass, Angela Lee of 37 Angels, and Transfix CEO Drew McElroy. They share candid insights about what it takes to bring an idea to scale and tell their personal stories about what shaped their own interest and pursuit of entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we’re going inside an industry boom to understand what leads to value creation and sustained growth in today’s world — which is shaped increasingly by social media influence, e-commerce, and digitally native companies. We’re talking about the beauty industry. Jefferies analyst Steph Wissink will walk us through what’s been happening in this sector over the past decade. It’s an industry that just underwent a long boom period. But as Steph explains, the lifecycle of booms in the beauty industry is shortening, and this trend could replicate itself across industries well beyond beauty. Conor Begley, co-founder of Tribe Dynamics, shares why “Earned Media Value” is one of the most powerful metrics for companies in search of their “next big thing.”

Artificial intelligence is helping move the financial services sector into a new era of operation. We’ll learn about the invisible forces shaping how AI and other technologies could reinvent the industry in the coming years. Our hosts are joined by Jefferies Managing Director and technology lead Vaughn Harvey and Jesse McWaters, financial innovation lead for the World Economic Forum. We’ll also hear from Betterment CEO Jon Stein and IEX CEO Brad Katsuyama, two entrepreneurs already relying on AI to disrupt different areas of the financial space – from online financial advising to building better exchanges for the next decade. 

Consumers today have a very different relationship with the products they buy. Jefferies analyst Randy Konik explains that there are forces propelling consumer value beyond price points. More than ever, individuals’ core beliefs are coming into play when making purchasing decisions. And in response, brands are adjusting their products and their messages. We’ll get a look at how these shifts are playing out, from the diamond industry to sporting goods.

Our hosts sit down with Jefferies analyst Mike Yee and strategist Jared Holz to uncover the invisible forces driving change in a sector that affects us all: healthcare. We’ll learn about why biotech is on the precipice of an explosion of new drugs and treatments. We’ll meet a family whose life has already changed thanks to one of these advancements, and also hear from one of the doctors behind it.

The mobility sector makes up one of the world’s largest economies and the forces driving changes within it could result in trillions of dollars of value creation — or loss — in the future. Storm Duncan, Jefferies’ Global Head of Tech-Enabled Mobility, joins our hosts to explain the factors at work. We’ll also hear from two entrepreneurs disrupting different areas of mobility: Lime CEO Brad Bao and Drew McElroy, the CEO of Transfix. They weigh in with their personal experiences of how technology can continue to help improve efficiency.