Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Nate Wood, a Yale School of Medicine internist and trained chef, to discuss his work combining lifestyle guidance with hands-on training in making healthy, tasty food. Harlan shares new guidance on what counts as a healthy blood pressure; Howie provides an update on rising health insurance costs. Links: Blood Pressure Harlan Kumholz, "Severe Hypertension: The Next Never Event" JACC: 2025 High Blood Pressure Guidelines Resources "Trial of Intensive Blood-Pressure Control in Older Patients with Hypertension" Obesity Drugs "Semaglutide and Tirzepatide for Obesity: Effectiveness and Value" "Institute for Clinical and Economic Review Publishes Evidence Report on Treatments for Obesity" Harlan Krumholz and Jason Abaluck, "Changes in Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Health Care Expenditures Among Patients Prescribed Semaglutide" Culinary Medicine "Culinary Medicine: The Secret Ingredient to Good Health" American College of Lifestyle Medicine "How each lifestyle medicine pillar supports good nutrition" Dr. John La Puma "What to know about 'hyperpalatable' foods" Food is Medicine Coalition: Our Model American Academy of Family Physicians: Shared Medical Appointments/Group Visits Cleveland Clinic: GLP-1 Agonists Yale New Haven Hospital: Irving and Alice Brown Teaching Kitchen "Bringing Culinary Medicine to Yale's New Teaching Kitchen" Dr. Nate Wood Nate Wood on Instagram Health Insurance Costs Kaiser Family Foundation: 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey "Health Benefits In 2025: Family Premiums Rise 6 Percent, Large Employers Increase Coverage Of GLP-1s For Weight Loss" "Annual Family Premiums for Employer Coverage Rise 6% in 2025, Nearing $27,000, with Workers Paying $6,850 Toward Premiums Out of Their Paychecks" "8 Things to Watch for the 2026 ACA Open Enrollment Period" "ACA Insurers Are Raising Premiums by an Estimated 26%, but Most Enrollees Could See Sharper Increases in What They Pay" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, a leading authority on vaccines and long COVID. Harlan reflects on America's crisis of trust in federal agencies; Howie provides some good news about bird flu.  Links: Losing Trust Harlan Krumholz: "When Your Patient Dies" "Federal Agents Stage Raid on Canal Street in New York City, Arresting 9" "White House expands East Wing demolition as critics decry Trump overreach""Americans' Job Ratings of Six Key U.S. Agencies Worsen" "NEJM and public health group are launching rival to CDC's MMWR publication" "South Carolina measles outbreak rises as schools with low vaccination see new cases" Akiko Iwasaki Health & Veritas Ep. 9: Dr. Akiko Iwasaki: Is Long COVID One Disease or Many? "The Long COVID Puzzle: Autoimmunity, Inflammation, and Other Possible Causes" "A New Kind of Clinical Trial: Bringing Long COVID Research Into Patients' Homes" "New Evidence Supports Autoimmunity as One of Long COVID's Underlying Drivers" "Scientist Dr. Akiko Iwasaki Joins SPEAR Study Group to Investigate Monoclonal Antibodies for Long COVID and COVID-19 Post-Vaccination Syndrome" "Long Covid: A parallel pandemic" "Effectiveness of Colchicine for the Treatment of Long COVID" Akiko Iwasaki and Harlan Krumholz: "Nirmatrelvir–ritonavir versus placebo–ritonavir in individuals with long COVID in the USA (PAX LC): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 2, decentralised trial" "Does Paxlovid Reduce Long COVID Symptoms? Yale-Led Trial Finds Out" Akiko Iwasaki: "Unexplained post-acute infection syndromes" "Post-Acute Infection Syndromes Will Be the Focus of New YSM Center" CDC: ME/CFS Basics "Varicella-zoster virus reactivation and the risk of dementia" Akiko Iwasaki and Harlan Krumholz: "Immunological and Antigenic Signatures Associated with Chronic Illnesses after COVID-19 Vaccination" "A small study on Covid vaccine safety sparks an online tempest" "We have 'post-vaccination syndrome.' We are tired of being used to score anti-vax points" Health & Veritas Ep. 162: Paul Lombardo: Reckoning with the Dark History of Eugenics Health & Veritas Ep. 163: Michael Dunne: Confronting the Antibiotic Resistance Crisis Mayo Clinic: Alpha-gal syndrome Akiko Iwasaki: Woman shares what it's like to live with alpha-gal meat allergy triggered by tick bite" "'Explosive increase' of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis" "Why Is Martha's Vineyard Going Vegan? It's All About Tick Bites." "Beneficial Bloodsucking" Akiko Iwasaki on X Bird Flu "Bird Flu Is Back" CDC: H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation "RNA replicon vaccination confers long-lasting protection against H5N1 avian influenza in 23 zoo bird species" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Rajlakshmi Krishnamurthy, Associate Dean for Population Health at Yale, discusses her experience building innovative care systems. She shares insights from her work with community health workers to reduce emergency department overcrowding. Raj highlights the importance of integrated care models learned from her time at the VA and her efforts in Boston and Chicago to implement value-based care initiatives. She also delves into global health access, particularly regarding weight-loss drugs, showing her commitment to improving healthcare outcomes.

Howie and Harlan discuss the roots of the crisis in emergency departments, the lack of oversight for hydration spas, new approaches in blood pressure treatment, an ingenious method to prevent malaria, and the CDC's backward steps on vaccines. Links: Emergency Departments "I'm an ER doctor. JD Vance's claims about immigrants and wait times are just wrong." "It's Just a Virus, the E.R. Told Him. Days Later, He Was Dead." Video of Ron Paul: "Should society let uninsured die?" American College of Emergency Physicians: Understanding EMTALA "Explaining the G.O.P.'s Misleading Talking Point on the Looming Shutdown" Centers for Medicare and Medicaid: Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) Health & Veritas Ep. 188: Kate Heilpern: Jumping into the Deep End Health & Veritas Ep. 47: Dr. Jeremy Faust: Is COVID Over? It's Complicated. Jeremy Faust: "Inside Medicine Read-Through: Commentary on the New York Times article about a tragic ER case" Harlan Krumholz: "Early Warning Scores With and Without Artificial Intelligence" Howard Forman: "Why Hospitals Need to Stop Boarding Patients in Emergency Rooms" Howard Forman: "How to Keep Emergency Rooms Focused on True Emergencies" The Revolving Door "Peter Marks, FDA vaccine regulator ousted by RFK Jr., joins Eli Lilly" Peter Marks Resignation Letter "Peter Marks, FDA's top vaccine regulator, forced out" "Fired C.D.C. Director Describes Clashes With Kennedy and Turmoil at Agency" "Ex-CDER chief Patrizia Cavazzoni becomes Pfizer's chief medical officer" Hydration Spas Howard Forman: "State Policies and Facility Practices of IV Hydration Spas in the US" Health & Veritas Ep. 123: Margo Harrison: Women's Health as a Path to Empowerment "Hydration spas are largely unregulated, study finds" New Developments in Blood Pressure Treatment "Baxdrostat met the primary endpoint in Bax24 Phase III trial in patients with resistant hypertension" "AstraZeneca's $1.3B bet yields 2nd phase 3 blood pressure win, bolstering differentiation case" Harlan Krumholz: "The Disquieting Plateau" "Under new guidelines, more Americans meet the criteria for high blood pressure" "2025 AHA/ACC/AANP/AAPA/ABC/ACCP/ACPM/AGS/AMA/ASPC/NMA/PCNA/SGIM Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines" "Permethrin-Treated Baby Wraps for the Prevention of Malaria" AI in Medicine: Doximity, OpenEvidence, and UpToDate "OpenEvidence raises $210M, unveils AI agents built for advanced medical research" Health & Veritas, Ep. 183: Seth Berkowitz: The Power Problem "Doximity buys Pathway Medical for $63 million to help doctors get AI-powered answers" "A long-trusted physician's reference finally catches the AI wave" Congenital syphilis Health & Veritas Ep. 178: Sarah DeSilvey: Creating Space for Healing "Are STIs truly declining, or is our data just not very good? What the 2024 CDC STI report really shows" "Why Syphilis Cases in Newborns Are Rising Even as STIs Decline" MMR Vaccine "Acting CDC director calls to 'break up' the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three shots" "Worried about splitting up the MMR vaccine into three separate shots? You should be, this doctor says" "More measles cases confirmed in South Carolina, Michigan as US total climbs to 1,563" Nobel Prizes and Science at Yale "Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Is Awarded for Work on Immune Systems" "Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025" "Yale's Michel H. Devoret wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Vanessa Cooper, a Yale School of Medicine neurologist, to discuss the causes of migraines and promising new treatments for the disorder. Harlan discusses his approach as a journal editor to the use of AI in academic writing; Howie reports on the premium tax credits for insurance purchased through Affordable Care Act exchanges that are at stake in the government shutdown.  Links: The Government Shutdown "Government Shutdown Live Updates" "The US government has shut down. Here's what to know"  "Watch: Hegseth rails against 'beardos' and 'woke' at gathering of US generals"  Harlan Krumholz: "Tools, Not Ghosts: Artificial Intelligence, Writing, and Responsibility" Headaches "The global prevalence of headache: an update, with analysis of the influences of methodological factors on prevalence estimates"  "Migraine with aura"  "General neurology: Current challenges and future implications" "Eleven Reasons People Decide to Choose Headache Medicine: There May Be a Headache Medicine Provider Shortage but there are Ways to Foster Interest" "How to Find the Right Doctor for Proper Migraine Management" Cleveland Clinic: Chronic Migraine Mayo Clinic: Cluster headache Mayo Clinic: Trigeminal neuralgia" "Migraine With Aura" American Headache Society: Types of Aura "Rethinking migraine with aura: Why cortical spreading depolarization (depression), not aura, causes headaches" "Effects of anti-epileptic drugs on spreading depolarization-induced epileptiform activity in mouse hippocampal slices" "CGRP Inhibitors" "Top migraine medication effective for preventing migraines, treating drug-induced headaches is hard to access"  "Review: An Update on CGRP Monoclonal Antibodies for the Preventive Treatment of Episodic Migraine"  International Neuromodulation Society: About Neuromodulation American Association of Neurological Surgeons: Vagus Nerve Stimulation Cefaly Gammacore American Headache Society: First Contact: Headache in Primary Care ACA Tax Credits and the Government Shutdown "Why ACA tax credits for 22 million Americans are at the center of the government shutdown drama" "Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance 101" Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Medicare Monthly Enrollment Medicaid.gov: June 2025 Medicaid & CHIP Enrollment Data Highlights "ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Would More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire" "The Estimated Effects of Enacting Selected Health Coverage Policies on the Federal Budget and on the Number of People With Health Insurance" "How an ACA Premium Spike Will Affect Family Budgets, and Voters" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate Heilpern, president of Yale New Haven Hospital, to discuss the innovation and adaption needed to lead NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how Yale New Haven Health structures itself to provide quality care across five hospitals. Harlan reflects on the many biotech startups emerging from Yale; Howie responds to the Trump administration's assertion of a link between acetaminophen and autism.  Links: Biotech at Yale and Beyond "Investors Flock Back to Biotech After a Long, Cold Spell "Boom, Bust and Recover: What Happens Next as Biotech VC Cycle Resets". "Pfizer to Buy Weight-Loss Drug Developer Metsera for Up to $7.3 Billion" Yale Ventures Health & Veritas Ep. 80: Josh Geballe: Turning Yale Innovation into Startups Yale Ventures Annual Report 2025 Cloverleaf Bio Allyx Therapeutics EvolveImmune Therapeutics Normunity Inozyme Pharma "BioMarin to buy rare disease drugmaker Inozyme for $270M" "Estimated Research and Development Investment Needed to Bring a New Medicine to Market, 2009-2018" Kate Heilpern "Yale New Haven Hospital announces new president" "Yale New Haven Health announces Katherine Heilpern, MD, as the new president of Yale New Haven Hospital" "Heilpern sees society reflected in the busy ER" "Meet the Heroes Fighting on the Front Lines Against Covid-19" "'Adrenaline, Duty, and Fear': Inside a New York Hospital Taking on the Coronavirus" Health & Veritas Ep. 116: Christopher O'Connor: Hospital Leadership in Trying Times "Saving America's ERs" "The 600 Pathways Yale New Haven Health Takes to Improved Care Delivery" Tylenol and Autism "Trump Issues Warning Based on Unproven Link Between Tylenol and Autism" "Trump links autism and Tylenol: is there any truth to it?" "Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children's Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability" "Study reveals no causal link between neurodevelopmental disorders and acetaminophen exposure before birth" "Does Stress Cause Ulcers?" "The Effect of Vitamin E and Beta Carotene on the Incidence of Lung Cancer and Other Cancers in Male Smokers" "The U.S. government has jumped the public health shark" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine geriatrician Barry Wu, who provides a framework for family caregivers and physicians to understand the needs of older adults. Harlan reports on Congress's shifting approach to funding research; Howie reflects on a survey showing that many college students believe that violence is an acceptable way to protest a campus speaker. Links: Congressional Directives on Funding Research House Appropriations Committee Press Release: "Committee Approves FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act" "Report of the Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives" "House Committee on Appropriations Approves FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor HHS) Appropriations Bill & Accompanying Report" Supporting Older Adults John A. Hartford Foundation: Age-Friendly Care Barry Wu: "Medical students applying the 4Ms during their first week of school" "Caregiving from 460 Miles Away: A Geriatrician's Experience Caring for His Mother" "2020 Census: 1 in 6 People in the United States Were 65 and Over" "The Paradoxical Decline of Geriatric Medicine as a Profession" Violence and Speech "What You Need to Know About Charlie Kirk's Assassination" "Student acceptance of violence in response to speech hits a record high" "Yale Political Union attendees challenge King's son on nonviolence" ACA Subsidies "ObamaCare fight meets shutdown politics: What to know"  "Congressional District Interactive Map: How Much Will ACA Premium Payments Rise if Enhanced Subsidies Expire?" "Explaining the Muddle on ACA Tax Credits" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by physician, scientist, and author Eric Topol to discuss his new book, Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity; the potential of individualized polygenic risk scores; and the dangers of the protein craze. Links: Health & Veritas Ep. 58: Dr. Eric Topol: Pushing Medicine into the Future Eric Topol: Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity Eric Topol: "The Drivers of Age-Related Diseases" Eric Topol: "A Review of Outlive" Eric Topol, Ground Truths podcast: "Peter Attia: Our conversation about his hit book Outlive, Medicine 3.0, promoting healthspan, GLP-1 drugs and more" Eric Topol: The Creative Destruction of Medicine Eric Topol: The Patient Will See You Now Eric Topol: Deep Medicine Eric Topol: "Our Preoccupation With Protein Intake" The Daily podcast: "How America Got Obsessed with Protein" "High-protein diets increase cardiovascular risk by activating macrophage mTOR to suppress mitophagy" "Identification of a leucine-mediated threshold effect governing macrophage mTOR signalling and cardiovascular risk" "5 Takeaways From Kennedy's Senate Hearing" Eric Topol on the Dr. Hyman Show: "How AI Could Change Your Next Doctor Visit Forever!" Eric Topol: "The Business of Promoting Longevity and Healthspan" The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy Eric Topol, Ground Truths podcast: "Tyler Cowen: The Prototypic Polymath" "How a scientist who studies 'super agers' exercises for a longer life" Eric Topol: "Our Sleep, Brain Aging, and Waste Clearance" "Alzheimer's genes: Are you at risk?" Eric Topol: "The Breakthrough Blood Test for Alzheimer's Disease" Eric Topol: "Predicting and preventing Alzheimer's disease" Eric Topol: "The personal and clinical utility of polygenic risk scores" Eric Topol: "Polygenic Risk Scores: Ready for Prime Time?" "Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 18 and Over: United States, 2020" "Wellderly" studies Eric Topol: "What My Two 98-Year-Old Patients Taught Me About Longevity" Eric Topol, Ground Truths podcast: "Mike Osterholm & Eric Topol Discuss The Big One book" "Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy" Eric Topol: "Lithium and Its Potential Protection from Alzheimer's Disease" Eric Topol: "High-performance medicine: the convergence of human and artificial intelligence" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan discuss Dr. Vinay Prasad's departure from the FDA after a backlash against his decisions on Sarepta's Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy. Also examined: AI in clinical settings, changes in NIH grantmaking, and the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. Links: Sarepta and the FDA "STAT breaks down the confusing, heartbreaking Sarepta saga" "Sarepta Therapeutics' Duchenne therapy faces 'arduous' path back to market, senior FDA official says" "For many Duchenne families, halt to gene therapy is heartbreak upon heartbreak" "FDA launches probe into new Elevidys death as Sarepta, Roche stress gene therapy not at fault" "FDA Recommends Removal of Voluntary Hold for Elevidys for Ambulatory Patients" "FDA takes U-turn on Sarepta's Elevidys, backing Duchenne gene therapy again in ambulatory patients" "Controversial FDA official Dr. Vinay Prasad departs agency" "Top F.D.A. Vaccine Official Resigns, Citing Kennedy's 'Misinformation and Lies'" "Vinay Prasad Is a Bernie Sanders Acolyte in MAHA Drag" "Timeline: The Rise and Fall of Vioxx" "What have we learnt from Vioxx?" THC in pizza dough "C.D.C. Ties 85 Cases of THC-Related Symptoms to Wisconsin Restaurant" "Tetrahydrocannabinol Intoxication from Food at a Restaurant — Wisconsin, October 2024" NIH funding "NIH is shrinking the number of research projects it funds due to a new Trump policy" NIH: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications "Fearful of AI-generated grant proposals, NIH limits scientists to six applications per year" "Trump budget draft proposes NIH consolidation and 40% spending cut" Raw milk "Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium Infections Linked to Commercially Distributed Raw Milk — California and Four Other States, September 2023–March 2024" "The Dangers of Raw Milk: Unpasteurized Milk Can Pose a Serious Health Risk" AI in healthcare update "Ambience Healthcare Announces $243 Million Series C to Scale its AI Platform for Health Systems" "As ambient scribes face off, Doximity lures doctors with a free option" Aidoc: "AI Empowering Radiologists" "Clinical Implementation of a Combined Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing Quality Assurance Program for Pulmonary Nodule Detection in the Emergency Department Setting" "Large Language Models as an Inexpensive and Effective Extra Set of Eyes in Radiology Reporting" "Current Trends in Remote and Flexible Work Options in Radiology and Perception of Impact on Radiologist Well-being" Medicare and Medicaid 60th anniversary CMS' program history "Medicare and Medicaid turn 60 – and face historic cuts decades in the making" UnitedHealth and Medicare Advantage "UnitedHealth says 2025 earnings will be worse than expected as high medical costs dog insurers" "UnitedHealthcare to exit certain Medicare Advantage markets as costs balloon, impacting 600K enrollees" "Novo Nordisk slides further on US competition, new CEO concerns" "Dems Must Really Fix Medicaid, Not Just Undo Trump's Damage to It"   Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by public health communicator Katelyn Jetelina for updates on COVID-19 and other issues, and to discuss how her emails to students and colleagues in the early days of the pandemic turned into a platform with global reach. Harlan looks at how AI is being used on both sides of the battle between providers and insurers over claims; Howie reports on a setback with a promising gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Links: Insurance Claims, AI, and Wearables "Elevance Health Reports Second Quarter 2025 Results" "Elevance lowers profit outlook, warns things will get worse for health insurers ""Blue KC wrongfully denied medical diagnoses, hospital alleges in AI-driven claims lawsuit" "Oscar Health cuts full-year guidance, estimates 2025 loss as ACA marketplace stumbles" Whoop "WHOOP Delivers Innovative Blood Pressure Insights for a Deeper Look at Your Well-Being" "Introducing Heart Screener: A smarter way to stay connected to your heart health" "Whoop says FDA is 'overstepping its authority' with warning about blood pressure feature" FDA: WARNING LETTER, WHOOP, Inc. "RFK Jr. wants everyone to use wearables. What are the benefits, risks?" "Apple to Sell Watches With Blood-Oxygen Feature Disabled After Legal Setback" Your Local Epidemiologist Your Local Epidemiologist "Poll: Trust in Public Health Agencies and Vaccines Falls Amid Republican Skepticism" "Popular epidemiologist lays out future path of public health communication" Yale School of Public Health: PopHIVE Katelyn Jetelina: "NIH: The quiet engine of science is being dismantled" Katelyn Jetelina: "Covid-19 in pockets, sugar cane isn't better, ticks march on, rescission cuts (vs. everything else), bright spots, and more" Mayo Clinic: Norovirus infection Katelyn Jetelina: "The show must go on..." Katelyn Jetelina: "Harassment against scientists is out of control" Katelyn Jetelina: "Medicaid cuts: The how and why" CDC: H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation CDC: Current Epidemic Trends (Based on Rt) for States" CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks Treating Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Cleveland Clinic: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) "FDA approves Sarepta's Duchenne gene therapy for nearly all patients" "AAV gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy: the EMBARK phase 3 randomized trial" "Patient dies in Sarepta gene therapy trial, adding to safety concerns" "FDA Requests Sarepta Therapeutics Suspend Distribution of Elevidys and Places Clinical Trials on Hold for Multiple Gene Therapy Products Following 3 Deaths" "In surprise reversal, Sarepta Therapeutics says it will pause shipments of Duchenne gene therapy" "Sarepta to lay off about 500 employees after Duchenne gene therapy setbacks" Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.