 right, what’s the other really bad Cold War era building? The government building.
Carmen: I’m not sure.
Justin: Morton. Tear down Morton, yeah. I feel like there are couple statues I think it’s a little overkill but I’m not going to get into that. We don’t have time for the statue debate right now. But yeah, I think my biggest, or I guess I should say my greatest desire for William & Mary is that we truly become the inclusive, welcoming place that we claim we aspire to be, like actually do it and stop simply saying this is what we want to do and this is what we’re trying to do. Just do it.
01:59:00 If you want to make this place welcoming, that means you need to have a top down change. If you want to be able to attract more diverse students then you have to have the staffing and the faculty that also reflects that desire. It’s a top down, bottom up, side to side change that’s necessary. But I do think the potential is obviously there. I think the infrastructure is there. It just has to happen. What else? Recruit more students from the South Side of Virginia. Recruit more rural students. Those are things that can be done.
Carmen: Sure. And since we’re on the topic and you’ve spoken a little bit to this right now, but as you know we’re in the midst of celebrating 50 years of African Americans in residence. And as you’re talking about just increasing, of course, diversity, but diversity in kind of all directions, can you talk just a little bit about what you believe to be the value and impact of diversity and inclusion on a campus like William & Mary?
Justin: You said the value—what was the question, the value and the…?
Carmen: Yeah, impact of having a diverse and inclusive space.
Justin: Okay. All right, so the value and impact of having a truly diverse and inclusive place. So all right, I’ll use myself as an example. There was a lot of energy I exerted towards activism that I could have put towards classroom conversations, towards relationship-building with my peers. If William & Mary had been a truly diverse and inclusive place, I wouldn’t have had to direct that energy in other places and there are other students who wouldn’t have had to do the same, and so I feel like there are whole parts of ourselves that we aren’t able to contribute in other areas because we’re having to direct it towards advocacy.
02:01:08 And so even for white students, their learning experience isn’t the same as it could have been if we felt as if we could bring all of ourselves to that exchange, to that relationship. So in many ways even white students are losing out because students of color don’t feel completely welcome or included. I think just from kind of like a realistic perspective we know certain shifts are happening across society. And for William & Mary to truly claim this position of leadership, then they have to prepare leaders for this increasingly changing society.
02:02:03 We’re a couple decades away from…significant parts of Virginia will be majority Latinx. Is that reflected at William & Mary, a leading public university in the state of Virginia? That’s not represented here.
If we’re going to prepare students to be leaders of the United States or the world, then they have to be able to navigate and understand how the world works, and the way the world is working is it’s more diverse, it’s smaller, and you need to be able to have exchanges with people who may be different from you. So that’s like a learning outcome that William & Mary should really focus on if they want to adequately prepare students for the world. So that’s like a practical thing after graduation.
02:03:02 I think, too, so we call ourselves the alma mater of the nation, and we have all these ideals that we espouse, and we’re very proud of helping craft the fabric of this country. We’ve said so many great things, but we’ve never truly lived up to those ideals. And so if we are the alma mater of the nation, let’s actually walk the walk, right? And so if we like to look at ourselves as the origin of these pretty lofty goals, then shouldn’t we also take the lead on fulfilling those goals? And I think we should.
Carmen: Yeah, that’s great. Thank you. Very well said.
Carmen: So I have come to the end of my list of questions, but I want to open it up now to you, if there’s anything else you want to talk about now that we haven’t so far or something you thought I’d ask you but I haven’t.
Justin: I think we covered quite a bit, actually. That’s a really great list of questions and some pretty great research you’ve done. Yeah, I think I’ve pretty much said everything I wanted to say.
As an alumni, my love for William & Mary is not unconditional. I have no problem saying that. I do not unconditionally love the College of William & Mary. I conditionally love William & Mary. And I have certain conditions that I want to see and I have certain conditions that I want to see the institution work toward. But I can’t blindly and unconditionally love anything, right? Except, well, no, some relatives, right, obviously.
Carmen: You have to.
Justin: But even though you might disagree with some things they do, right? But I think alumni should hold William & Mary accountable, and I think they should push the university to be better. And the same way I don’t believe in blind patriotism. I think the best thing you can do is lovingly critique and push something forward. I’m happy with that. But that’s me. That’s the type of alum I’m going to be towards the college.
And so in thinking about the things I’ve said today, I never had a moment of oh, I love William & Mary to the point where I knew I had to come. I’m always amazed by the folks that have that experience because I can’t imagine…I mean, I guess I could imagine, but I feel like I’d have to be a completely different person. But yeah, I don’t think that’s the type of love William & Mary needs, and I don’t think it’s really helpful, either.
02:05:58 I think you can lovingly critique the things you really care about, and so that’s what we need more of.
Carmen: You were wanting to mention one other individual.
Justin: Okay, it’s the woman I’m currently dating and have been dating for the last three years now and is a William & Mary alumna. And I met her during freshman orientation. We did not date in college. We were both kind of like all over the place. But we remained friends after we left William & Mary.
And I guess I would say like there’s some quote out there, some cliché quote about friendships and relationships and love and all that stuff, so that’s what happened for us. And so hopefully soon we’ll have like a legal love story, I guess you could say, from William & Mary. But that’s one of the greatest things I’ve gained from my time at William & Mary, meeting my partner.
02:07:00 Irène Mathieu is her name, and we’re both class of 2009. And so regardless of whatever critiques and feelings I have about William & Mary, I’m definitely thankful for providing the space for us to meet each other.
Carmen: Sure. That’s wonderful. Well, thank you so much for participating and talking to me for so long today.
The investigative agent mavacamten may be safe and effective in patients with non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), researchers reported.
In the primary safety endpoint of the MAVERICK HCM trial, 10.3% of patients in the mavacamten group experienced one or more serious adverse events (AEs) versus 21.1% of placebo patients, reported Carolyn Ho, MD, of Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, at the virtual American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting.
Overall, 89.7% of patients on mavacamten experienced treatment-emergent adverse events (TRAEs), although 76% of those TRAEs were considered mild, and 21% were considered moderate, Ho said during an online presentation. In comparison, 68.4% of patients on placebo experienced TRAEs, most commonly palpitations, dizziness, and fatigue.
Ho and colleagues also reported some favorable biomarker changes with mavacamten treatment, specifically statistically significant reductions in serum NT-proBNP (P=0.0005) in the intent-to-treat population. NT-proBNP is a well-established biomarker of cardiac wall stress, associated with increased mortality in HCM patients.
At the conclusion of the 16-week treatment period, the reduction in the geometric mean of NT-proBNP among those receiving mavacamten was 53% versus 1% in the placebo group, the authors stated, adding that a significant drop in NT-proBNP occurred within the first 4 weeks of treatment and was maintained throughout the treatment period.
Mavacamten treatment also resulted