Thank you, Pedro Rodriguez for hosting us on your Neglected Stories podcast. This interview was aired Dec 6, 2025.

We believe the most important stories are often the ones told in unexpected spaces.

This interview, that space is the intersection of science, art and public trust. At Penn’s Institute of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics - ITMAT - researchers are pushing life-saving research forward. But they are asking a radical question: How do we make medical science understandable, relatable and accountable to people it is meant to serve?

Through ITMAT’s Artist-in-Residence program, ceramicist Marguerita Hagan works alongside scientists, using storytelling, clay and the metaphor of the “Shield” to help young researchers rethink how they communicate with communities. She’s joined Dr. Carsten Skarke, physician-scientist who created the program to break down the barriers between labs and real life.

This is a conversation about trust, storytelling and why science needs art more than ever.