Episodes

Professor and senior associate dean of engagement Janet A. Jokela discusses her article "." Janet shares harrowing memories from her time as a medical student in the mid-1980s, recalling the fear and stigma that surrounded the early days of the AIDS...

Health care strategist Dana Y. Lujan discusses her article "" Dana explains how the rising cost of living and subscription fatigue are challenging the retail model of direct primary care for middle-class families. She contrasts this fragility with the...

Otolaryngologist Alan P. Feren and patient advocate Joyce Griggs discuss their article "Why health self-advocacy is an essential life skill." Alan and Joyce share the personal journey of becoming a "chief health executive" and explain why managing medical care should be treated with the same seriousness as financial planning. They outline the eight core pillars of advocacy, ranging from health literacy to financial navigation, and argue for the creation of condition-agnostic tools that help pati...

Medical oncologist, geriatrician, and physician scientist GJ van Londen and Chief of Genetic and Genomic Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Gerald Vockley discuss the article " FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients ." GJ and Gerald explore the complex regulatory impasse where the U.S. Food and Drug Administration denied standard approval for elamipretide despite a positive advisory committee vote, creating a financial crisis that threatens to cut...

President and chief executive officer of the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) Leah M. Howard discusses her article " Pharmacy benefit manager reform vs. direct drug plans ." Leah analyzes the recent emergence of direct-purchase drug programs and argues that while innovative thinking is welcome, it cannot replace the need for deep systemic change. She advocates for bipartisan legislative solutions such as the Safe Step Act to address the root causes of high costs in the U.S. health care system...

Premedical student Samah Khan discusses her article "." Samah draws a powerful parallel between the medical exodus in Pakistan and the doctor deserts of California's Central Valley, revealing how structural neglect drives providers away from the...

We have a special sponsored episode from MagMutual. We welcome William Kanich. He's an emergency physician and currently the executive chairperson of MagMutual Insurance Company. We explore how physicians can navigate unexpected medical outcomes while preserving trust with their patients. Through Dr. Kanich's clinical and leadership experience, the conversation examines common challenges, practical approaches, and the role of structured support programs like the Preserve Program. The discussion ...

Health care executive Jason Griffin discusses his article "." Jason explains how rural providers in the U.S. face critical infrastructure failures and staffing shortages that threaten their ability to serve communities. He explores why standard...

Physician executive Christina Johns discusses her article "." Christina explains how clinicians in the U.S. are facing unprecedented burnout due to administrative burdens that detract from patient care. She explores how artificial intelligence can...

Emergency physician Kenneth Ro discusses his article "." Kenneth explains why men between 40 and 60 often visit clinics requesting hormone testing when they are actually suffering from a profound loss of identity and purpose. He distinguishes being...

Board-certified pediatrician and certified coach Jessie Mahoney discusses her article "." Jessie explores the unique psychological weight carried by firstborn women who are taught early on to hold everything together at the cost of their own...

Internal medicine and pulmonary physician Bharat Desai discusses his article "." Bharat shares the shocking moment he realized an obsolete pituitary extract from 1952 was being sold for the price of a house. He explains how pharmaceutical companies...

Certified coach and professor Kathleen Muldoon and co-founder of Ryan House and Children's Respite Homes of America Jonathan Cottor discuss the article " The need for pediatric respite care ." Kathleen shares the personal story of raising her son Gideon who lives with over 42 medical diagnoses and explain why the family had to move across the country to find safety. They highlight the critical difference between taking a break and surviving the relentless cycle of 24/7 medical vigilance required...

Orthopedic surgeon Kevin J. Campbell discusses his article "." Kevin explains how the current medical system is stuck in an obsolete pipeline model similar to early internet directories where human gatekeepers create dangerous delays in communication....

Psychotherapist and patient advocate Sara Rands discusses her article "." Sara shares her harrowing journey of finding a lump at age 32 despite having no family history and receiving a stage 3C diagnosis. She highlights the terrifying reality that...

CEO, president, and founder of the Clinician Burnout Foundation Jodie Green and physician advocate and physical therapist Kim Downey discuss their article " Why wellness programs fail health care ." Jodie and Kim explain why traditional wellness initiatives often add to the burden rather than relieving it for exhausted medical professionals. They introduce the concept of the quicksand effect where meaningful help becomes impossible to grasp amidst systemic failure and advocate for immediate prac...

Orthopedic surgeon Yoshihiro Katsuura, medical student Mark Polemidiotis, and premedical student Cyrus Nasr discuss their article, " Why young people need to care about bone health now ." Yoshihiro, Mark, and Cyrus explain that osteoporosis is not just an old person's disease but a result of peak bone mass missed during youth. They use the powerful metaphor of a "retirement account" to describe skeletal metabolism, where deposits must be made before age twenty to prevent a "moth-eaten" structure...

Palliative care physician and certified physician development coach Christie Mulholland discusses her article, " Reclaiming physician agency in a broken system ." She shares her personal story of leaving a prestigious academic position after realizing that "being a good doctor" was impossible within the constraints of corporate health care. Christie explains how for-profit entities now control seventy-eight percent of hospices, leading to worse patient care and deep moral injury for clinicians. ...

Psychiatrist Farid Sabet-Sharghi discusses his article, "." Farid explains how the human psyche is evolutionarily wired for connection, making the current climate of hostility and division deeply traumatic. He connects the panic and anxiety seen in...

Interventional physiatrist Francisco M. Torres discusses his article, "." He shares his vulnerable story of undergoing a robot-assisted radical prostatectomy and the unexpected shame and "erosion of dignity" caused by severe urinary incontinence....

Vascular surgeon Xzabia Caliste discusses her article, "." She shares the heartbreaking personal story of witnessing both her aunt and uncle lose their limbs to peripheral artery disease (PAD), a preventable condition that causes over 400 amputations...

Pediatric endocrinologist Shara Bialo discusses her article, "." She highlights that back-to-school visits are a critical window to screen for type 1 diabetes (T1D), a disease where sixty-two percent of new cases currently result in life-threatening...

Double board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist Erica Bove discusses her article, " Why do high-quality IVF embryos fail ." Erica explores the heartbreaking reality of recurrent implantation failure, challenging the assumption that it is a rare phenomenon. She analyzes the physical factors often missed in standard studies, such as chronic endometritis, silent endometriosis, and adenomyosis, while explaining why the endometrial receptivit...

Physician advocate and physical therapist Kim Downey and counselor Shari Morin-Degel discuss their article, " Why burnout prevention starts with leadership ." Shari shares her personal journey from a trauma-exposed mental health professional to a burned-out leader who initially expected her team to just "push through." The conversation highlights how she reached a breaking point and realized that true recovery requires more than just individual resilience, it requires systemic support. Kim and S...