FORE Advocating Change - Part 2

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Part1: Dr. Ken Shatzkes, a fellow Rutgers University alumni and senior program officer at the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE), joins Fatu and Shekerah to share his journey through science. As a private foundation, FORE supports programs around the country focused on prevention, treatment, and recovery in response to the opioid crisis. Ken has developed programs, convened partners, and built collaborations with grantees covering a variety of different projects to meet FORE’s mission. While it has been challenging to develop the programs portfolio at FORE from scratch, Ken enjoys shaping his grantmaking to meet the direct needs of organizations on the ground and hearing touching anecdotes from grantees about how much their work has progressed with support from FORE. Although his training is in infectious diseases, he credits his ability to look at the complexity of the opioid epidemic and highlight innovation as part of his success in this new role.  

Part 2: Fatu and Shekerah continue their conversation with Dr. Ken Shatzkes exploring his journey more fully from his interest in science to gaining translational skills in government, at non-profits, and in academia. His journey into science started in 6th grade with an interesting science fair experiment that examined nicotine addiction. From high school on, Ken had several influential mentors who advised and supported him, including his graduate advisor who supported his decision to pursue a career outside of academia. After graduating with a doctorate in infectious diseases and immunology and starting his career journey, Ken hit a rough patch where his progress came to an unexpected halt. This moment of introspection forced him to re-evaluate what he wanted out of life, what he wanted out of his career, and how to care for his mental health.      


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Reach out to Ken: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kshatzkes/ 
Learn more about FORE and check out their grantees:
https://forefdn.org 

Reach out to Fatu: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatubm
Twitter: @fatu_bm 
and [email protected]

Reach out to Shekerah: 
www.linkedin.com/in/shekerah-primus 
and [email protected]

Music by TimMoor from Pixabay: Future Artificial Intelligence Technology 130
Music by ScottHolmesMusic https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes: Hotshot

Reach out to Fatu:
www.linkedin.com/in/fatubm
Twitter: @thee_fatu_b
and [email protected]

Reach out to Shekerah:
www.linkedin.com/in/shekerah-primus
and [email protected]

Music from Pixabay: Future Artificial Intelligence Technology 130 by TimMoor
Music from https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes: Hotshot by ScottHolmesMusic