38 – Impacts of Altitude and Iron Supplementation on Haematological Responses – Laura Garvican-Lewis, PhD
Dr. Laura Lewis is Director of Science at the US Anti-Doping Agency. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University. She was awarded a PCC Research Grant in 2015 and a PCC Fellowship in 2018. We discuss her work on hematological responses to altitude training and iron supplementation, how these impact the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), her recent work validating a model that addresses blood plasma volume variance in the ABP, and her experiences as a PCC Fellow.
Support This Podcast
Interested in sponsoring the Anti-Doping Podcast or have a guest recommendation?
37 – Dietary Supplement Certification to Protect Athletes – Lori Bestervelt, PhD
Dr. Lori Bestervelt is Director of Business Development & Partnerships at ChemFORWARD, a nonprofit collaboration of brands, retailers, and NGOs providing high quality, actionable data on chemical hazards. She was formerly Executive Vice President & Chief Science Officer at NSF International, an independent, global, accredited inspection organization. Lori discusses anti-doping issues related to dietary supplements, how supplements are regulated, and her work to create the NSF Certified for Sport Program.
36 – Physician Committed to Clean Sport and Athlete Safety – Ed Merrens, MD, MHCDS
Dr. Ed Merrens is Chief Clinical Officer and a Hospitalist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, and Board Member of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). He shares his perspective on challenges in anti-doping, the impacts of COVID-19 on sport, and exciting developments in anti-doping. Ed also discusses his role on the Board of USADA and his experiences as a team physician for U.S. Biathlon and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
35 – Intelligence-Based Anti-Doping and International Anti-Doping Efforts – Michael Ask
Michael Ask is CEO of Anti-Doping Denmark and Chairman of the International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations (iNADO). He discusses intelligence-based anti-doping, different types of evidence they collect in anti-doping cases, the goals and objectives of iNADO, the importance of anti-doping education, the wide variety of disciplines that come together in anti-doping, and how his previous career in law enforcement with the Danish National Police Force has helped him in his current roles.
34 – Executive Director Update on the PCC’s Response to COVID-19 – Michael Pearlmutter, MBA
Michael Pearlmutter, MBA, is Executive Director of the Partnership for Clean Competition (PCC). In this episode, Michael provides an update on how the PCC and the anti-doping community have been impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the PCC’s recent partnerships to support COVID-19 testing and research, and the PCC’s dedication to public health and ensuring the health and safety of all athletes during this challenging time.
33 – An Inside Look at a WADA-Accredited Laboratory – Francesco Botrè, PhD
Francesco Botrè, PhD, is Director of the WADA-Accredited Laboratorio Antidoping Federazione Medico Sportiva Italiana (FMSI Anti-Doping Lab). He shares the history of FMSI Lab and the complex process of how samples are collected, delivered, anonymized, processed, analyzed, and interpreted by the lab. Francesco also discusses his research on doping masking agents, metabolic modulators, and drug-drug interactions, as well as his experiences running testing in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.
32 – Potential Applications of Performance Monitoring in Anti-Doping – James Hopker, PhD
Dr. James Hopker is a Reader in Exercise Physiology, Director of Postgraduate Research, and Acting Head of School for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kent. He is an expert on exercise training, and he has been studying applications of performance monitoring in anti-doping. We discuss how an Athlete Performance Passport may complement the Athlete Biological Passport, the role of technology in performance monitoring, and strengths and limitations of this approach in anti-doping.
31 – Driving Innovation in Sample Collection Equipment – Gabe Baida
Gabe Baida is currently Executive Director of InnoVero, and he was formerly UFC and Premier Sport Director at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. In this episode, he discusses his prior work with USADA, issues with maintaining the security and integrity of samples and sample collection equipment, the security features and benefits of the new InnoVero Safe System, the importance of collaboration in developing novel anti-doping products, and the need for continued innovation in anti-doping testing and equipment.
30 – Using Optical Sensors to Detect Doping – Judy Su, PhD
Dr. Judy Su is Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering, Optical Sciences, and the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona. She is developing novel sensors that use light to detect extremely low concentrations of substances. She shares how the sensors are made, how they work, and how they could be used in testing for doping. Beyond their high sensitivity, the sensors deliver results rapidly, require low sample volumes, and are better suited to detecting microdosing and drugs with a short half life.
29 – Developing Evidence-Informed Interventions to Enhance Anti-Doping Programs – Susan Backhouse, PhD
Susan Backhouse, PhD is Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Nutrition as well as Director of Research for Sport and Exercise Science, Leisure, and Tourism at Leeds Beckett University. She discusses the bystander effect and an anti-doping bystander intervention program she helped develop, creating the largest coach-centered doping education program in the world, issues with therapeutic use exemptions for asthma, aspects of the behavioral science of whistleblowing and reporting doping in sport, and more.
28 – All About Anti-Doping Reference Materials – Lindsey Mackay, PhD
Dr. Lindsey Mackay is General Manager at the National Measurement Institute in Australia. She tells us what reference materials are, how they are used in drug testing labs, why they are critical for anti-doping, how they are made, how they are distributed, and more. She also shares major challenges in making reference materials and a recent project in which they created new reference materials to differentiate between testosterone-related steroids from external sources versus made naturally by the body.
27 – Exploring Key Issues in Sports Ethics and Integrity – Mike McNamee, PhD
Dr. Mike McNamee holds Professorships at Swansea University, UK; and KU Leuven, Belgium, and he is Programme Director of the world’s only Master Degree in Sport Ethics and Integrity, sponsored by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme. He is a renowned expert in sports ethics, sports integrity, and anti-doping policy. We discuss a variety of ethical issues related to fair sport, including athlete privacy concerns in providing whereabouts, security issues for athletes’ data, use of advanced technology and prosthetics in sport, match fixing, and more in this episode.
26 – Paracanoe Athlete Shares Her Path to Competing on Team USA – Channing Cash
Channing Cash is an accomplished Team USA Paracanoe Athlete, and she tells us the incredible series of events that led to her becoming a professional athlete. We cover her early childhood in a small village in Laos, the many struggles she has overcome, constructive ways to cope with roadblocks in performance, her experiences with anti-doping education and testing programs as an athlete, challenges athletes face with inadvertent ingestion of banned substances in supplements and other consumables, and more.