Democratizing Health: Everyone Has a Right to a Diagnosis
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 24, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Democratizing Health: Everyone Has a Right to a Diagnosis
Speaker: Sharon Terry and Ryan Taft
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
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Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
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Message from our President
Dear Fellow Members,
I trust that this letter reaches you in good health and high spirits. I am filled with a sense of gratitude and eager anticipation for the positive impact our Club continues to make in the lives of those around us, particularly in our healthcare-related programs. Our committed members' work, dedication, and passion have enabled us to raise crucial awareness about pressing healthcare issues and emphasize the vital importance of preventative care.
Moving forward, our primary goal is to consistently arrange enlightening virtual events, showcasing healthcare professionals who can impart their expertise and perspectives on various health-related subjects. As you know, our Club has set ambitious goals to improve the health and well-being of our global communities. However, while we have made significant progress, we also acknowledge that achieving these goals requires time, persistence, and commitment from each one of us. Nevertheless, our dedicated efforts thus far have laid a strong foundation for future work in this crucial domain, and I am confident that healthcare will remain one of our Club's top priorities in the new Rotary year as well.
In keeping with our core values of community and fellowship, I am delighted to remind you that our Club will be hosting a series of engaging online socials in the coming weeks. These events present an invaluable opportunity for us to connect, forge lasting friendships that transcend geographical barriers, and exchange experiences.
To this extent, I want to take a moment to reflect on the power of our shared experiences. As RI President Jennifer Jones eloquently stated in her March 2023 address, "the breadth of stories we encounter in Rotary is truly remarkable." Throughout our Rotary journey, I am sure we all have had the privilege to witness countless examples of dedication and selflessness that have shaped the lives of many. Each Rotarian's unique story brings a wealth of knowledge, insights, and perspectives that contribute to the collective narrative of our organization. These stories not only demonstrate our shared commitment to service but also inspire us to strive for even greater heights in our service efforts
Therefore, in light of President Jones' words, I encourage each of you to speak openly about your Rotary experiences and the stories you've encountered along the way. Share your successes, your challenges, and your moments of growth. By doing so, we can foster a sense of camaraderie, deepen our understanding of the diverse challenges faced by different people, and broaden our horizons as we learn from one another's experiences. Moreover, we should also celebrate the stories of those we serve – the individuals and communities who benefit from our collective efforts. Their journeys of transformation serve as a testament to the power of Rotary's ideals.
Let these stories serve as a catalyst for our continued dedication to service!
Finally, I would like to thank our Committee Chairs and Board Members for their work in ensuring the smooth functioning of our Club's key areas. Your suggestions, ideas, and tireless efforts have played a pivotal role in keeping our members engaged and motivated over the past months. Many of you have taken on significant responsibilities this year and have consistently risen to the occasion. Furthermore, to those who have worked diligently behind the scenes, I want you to know that your valuable input has not gone unnoticed.
Thank you for being the backbone of our Club!
Yours in Rotary,
Angelica Marotta, PhD
President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Rotary International District 5170
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Hen Thief
A minister in a little church had been having trouble with the collections.
One Sunday he announced, "Now, before we pass the collection plate, I would like to request that the person who stole the chickens from Farmer Condill's henhouse please refrain from giving any money to the Lord. The Lord doesn't want money from a thief!"
The collection plate was passed around and for the first time in months everybody gave.
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
This is a video from Google about its Timelapse tool in Google Earth. The visuals are powerful, and can prompt all sorts of discussions about what is happening to the world around us, as well as what Google might gain from making and sharing this video.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Have You Thought About "The Chunnel" Lately?
You will now! Here's a video on how the world's longest underwater tunnel was built. There's talk about a second underwater crossing for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system out here, but they still need to get ridership up to near pre-Covid levels. And San Jose just committed nearly a half-billion dollars to a deep-underground tunnel system for a BART extension.
Relay Time!
Hello All:
Let's toss out a big Woohoo! for Relay's arrival! This Saturday in Santa Clara, several of us will be at Townsend Field for the event, which will be full of food, friends, fun, and walking.
As you know from previous weeks and the email messages, it's also a time we honor those fighting cancer, and remember those we've lost.
As a club, we've connected with others helping with the cause, arranged ourselves to help with the food pick-up needs for the event, and raised money for the ACS. Those funds go toward research to find a cure for cancer, educational materials to help those with questions about the disease, and programs to support survivors and caregivers.
If you haven't pitched in yet, you can do so any of the ways below, and that gets you on the team!
Share a message with the name of someone you wish to honor or remember. Email that to Rushton (rushton(at)gmail.com).
Join the The Wild Walkers team (click here to do so) and plan to join our group at the event at Townsend Field in Santa Clara the afternoon of Saturday, April 29th, from 4:00-8:00. Email Rushton for details on that, too.
Donate as part of our effort. You can do so on this page, and any amount is welcome. These funds go to support research against cancer, help survivors and caregivers, and provide educational materials. (It says that it's "Robert's" page, which is Rushton's first name, and what has stuck in the ACS system.)
Honor a friend or family member with a luminaria (each costs $10). If you want to honor someone but are tight on funds (it happens!), you can email Rushton the name and a message, and he'll get it added to the group.
In May, we'll gather up the info of what we've accomplished and report back to you, along with the names of the ReCSV Relay '23 Team! Here's the group that's stepped up so far:
Alexandra, Cal, Carey, Christopher, Heather, Lisa, MikeK, Mitty, Nick, Rushton, SusanL, Tatiana, TerriS, Tzviatko, Yvonne; also friends of the club Christine, Josephine, Theresa, and Paul
(If you've done something and your name isn't in this list - apologies! Just let Rushton know, and he'll get you added.)
A few images from last year's event:
Let's support ACS as they provide information, answers, and hope.
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
ROTARY SERVICE PROJECT OPPORTUNITY IN MEXICO
Charter member Keith Marsh is organizing a Rotary project to Project Amigo in October for the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de los Muertos). The week-long trip to Cofradia, Mexico will include Rotary Service in the areas of International Service, Youth Service and Fellowship. It will also include cultural and travel photography of the festivities surrounding Day of the Dead. Space is limited. Click below to download the .pdf for more details and visit the Project Amigo website at: https://www.projectamigo.org/ Contact Keith or leave a comment below if you are interested in attending.
HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.
It has been a wild and wooly week. We had work done trimming our overgrown backyard and then put in a new front yard. Noisy, but fun.
PROGRAM: Democratizing Health: Everyone Has a Right to a Diagnosis
SPEAKER: Sharon Terry and Ryan Taft
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
There is a desperate need to make genomic medicine available to all individuals regardless of their social status, income, or geographic location. Across the globe, there are at least 250M people with an undiagnosed genetic condition – a public health crisis on the scale of the number of individuals with malarial infections each year.
iHope Genetic Health (iGH) will offer state-of-the-art genomic sequencing to tens of thousands of individuals in low- and middle-income countries and low-to-moderate income households every year. Leveraging more than one hundred million dollars in in-kind contributions of genomic sequencing technology, iGH will transform the deployment of genomic medicine in resource-limited areas and develop in-country solutions for communities with little to no access to this kind of care. In the process, we will open access to health and genomic data worldwide, as individuals, rather than institutions which decide to share or not.
Our speaker, Sharon Terry, is President and CEO of Genetic Alliance, an enterprise engaging individuals, families and communities to transform health. Genetic Alliance works to provide programs, products, and tools for ordinary people to take charge of their health and to further biomedical research. As "just a Mom" with a master's degree in theology, she co-founded PXE International, a research advocacy organization for the genetic condition pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), in response to the diagnosis of PXE in her two children in 1994. She is the author of 150 peer-reviewed papers, of which 30 are clinical PXE studies. Her story is the topic of her TED Talk and TED Radio Hour. She has created people-centered technologies, tools, and resources, and holds patents. She was instrumental in getting the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passed. She has many awards, including from the White House and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. She has found ways to unleash health data for the common good, regardless of the silos that institutions erect.
Ryan J. Taft, Ph.D., is VP of Scientific Research at Illumina, with a focus on the development and deployment of diagnostic whole-genome sequencing worldwide for children with rare and undiagnosed genetic disease. He leads a team within Population and Medical Genomics that includes the Illumina Clinical Services Laboratory. Previously, Ryan was a group leader and senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, where he still holds a partial appointment, and he is an adjunct associate professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of well-regarded journals and has led or contributed to teams responsible for the discovery of six genetic conditions. Ryan is passionate about finding a diagnosis for every sick child in the world.
Members and guests, please welcome Sharon Terry and Ryan Taft!
To learn more about iHope Genetic Health, go to:
https://ihopegenetichealth.org
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
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