Standard Deviation EP2: Domino Effect

The second episode of Standard Deviation hits harder than the first.

Dr. Oliver Bogler sits down with Dr. Nikki Maphis, a neuroscientist whose grant to study Alzheimer’s was literally thrown in the trash. Not rejected. Deleted. Her application—designed to fight one of the deadliest diseases on Earth—was marked as “unreviewable” and dumped into a holding pen at the NIH. No feedback. No next steps. Just a dead end.

Nikki’s story is about about the absurdity of a system that rewards compliance over courage. She’s a first-generation college graduate from an underserved community who fought her way into science because her grandmother had Alzheimer’s. She didn’t get in for the glory. She got in to help.

And the machine chewed her up anyway.

Oliver brings a rare empathy to this conversation. He’s been in the trenches. He understands what it feels like when bureaucracy suffocates discovery. The story turns from outrage to resolve when Nikki teaches kids about science the same week her career was nearly erased.

She jokes about her grandmother confusing “New Mexico” with “Mexico.” She keeps going because someone has to.

That’s the point of Standard Deviation on Out of Patients. It’s for the scientists who refuse to quit even when the lab lights go out.

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EPISODE LINK ➡️ https://www.outofpatients.com/standard-deviation-ep2-domino-effect/