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When we\\u2019re confronted with a challenging task, we reassure ourselves it\\u2019s probably achievable by saying, \\u201cWell, it\\u2019s not brain surgery.\\u201d\\xa0We say this because every single thing created by humans \\u2013 from the sewer system to satellites - ultimately came from the human brain. And yet how the brain works remains among the most vexing and mysterious elements of our existence.

Of course, not all humans are created equal.\\xa0There is a small group of men and women for whom the human brain is not a complete mystery. These folks devote their professional lives to understanding and unravelling its secrets.

One of these neuroscientists lives and works in New Orleans.\\xa0Dr. Nicolas Bazan is the founding director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU\\u2019s Health Sciences Center. He leads a team of 90 researchers in areas ranging from Parkinson\\u2019s Disease to Traumatic Brain Injury.

Dr Bazan\\u2019s team publishes multiple research findings each year. And Dr Bazan himself is the holder of around 120 patents in the area of neuroscience and the treatment of neurological disorders.

Notable even among all his other achievements in the field, Dr Bazan is the discoverer of a new class of biochemicals found in the brain, known as ELV\\u2019s.\\xa0In 2018, a year after he made this discovery, Dr. Bazan founded a local company, NeuResto Therapeutics, to research and develop the use of ELV\\u2019s in the treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury and stroke.

If you\\u2019ve ever been in the hospital, or have visited anyone who\\u2019s a hospital patient, you\\u2019ll be familiar with an IV.\\xa0Typically, one of the first things that happens to you as a hospital patient - or even in an ambulance on the way to the hospital \\u2013 is you get an IV line inserted into your arm or hand.\\xa0The reason for that is, intra-venous \\u2013 which is what IV stands for \\u2013 it means basically straight-into-the-vein - is the most efficient method of delivering fluids or drugs to someone who needs them.

But delivering drugs to a patient through an IV is not an exact science. It relies on a human operator getting it right.\\xa0In light of that, here are some sobering statistics.

Medical errors are reportedly the 3rd leading cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer.\\xa073% of medication errors involve what\\u2019s called \\u201cpush doses.\\u201d A \\u201cpush\\u201d is the rate that a person administers a drug through an IV.\\xa095% of IV push errors are the result of the drug being administered too quickly.

That\\u2019s why Tonia Aiken has invented a device she calls SafePush - which is also the name of her company.

SafePush, the device, is a small, disposable piece of equipment that fits on the tip of a syringe or an IV and precisely regulates the flow of a drug in a way that doesn\\u2019t let the person administering the dose push it any faster than the set rate.

SafePush, the company, was launched in 2019 and is looking at potential market of 137 million devices per year.\\xa0The cost of the device is $20 - about the same as a large pizza.\\xa0137 million-times-twenty is a lot of pizza.

At some point we\\u2019re going to have recalibrate how we think about and describe New Orleans.\\xa0As well as describing ourselves as the home of Mardi Gras and the Hurricane, we could equally legitimately call ourselves something like, \\u201cworld leader in medicine and medical technology.\\u201d

Nicolas Bazan and Tonia Aiken enjoy Mardi Gras and cocktails as much as the rest of us (Tonia was Queen of Krewe du Vieux!), but they\'re giving us a whole other reason to be proud of living here.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at\\xa0NOLA Pizza\\xa0in the\\xa0NOLA Brewing Taproom. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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