Raise the Line

One night, Suzanne Peek was awoken by her son who thought he was having a heart attack. That began a drawn-out ordeal of misdiagnoses and ER visits until he was properly diagnosed with Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome, a rare disorder which results from a constriction of blood flow to organs in the upper abdomen. Fortunately, Peeks had an easier time than most navigating our complicated medical system due to many years practicing as a certified massage therapist. As she worked diligently to get her son the appropriate treatment, she formed relationships with others in the MALS community. “Some of these people have had the condition for five years, ten years or longer because it was misdiagnosed,” she tells host Dr. Rishi Desai. She now leads the National MALS Foundation, which seeks to spread awareness among medical professionals about rare disorders. Tune in to hear how patient advocacy groups organize, what COVID has meant for people with rare disorders, and how to mitigate the forces that can hinder an accurate diagnosis. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.malsfoundation.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

One of the most urgent issues Dr. Sanjay Desai sees in medical education is how to bring historically minoritized people into the physician workforce. “We need to have a physician workforce that resembles the patients that we care for,” he urges. In Dr. Desai's former role as program director of the prestigious Osler Medical Residency at Johns Hopkins University, he and his team more than doubled the number of minority recruits into their program. Tune in to this episode of Raise the Line with host Shiv Gaglani to learn about the data and research- based approach they took to achieve that aim, as well as improving student and resident well-being. Find out about Dr. Desai's route to medicine via consulting, and hear what he has seen change for the better in his time as a medical education leader. Plus, hear about the opportunity the current moment offers to use technology to personalize education, learn more about the American Medical Association's mission and impact, and discover why Dr. Desai thinks medical education needs to become more continuous. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

The good news is researchers have established a tremendous amount about how human memory is acquired, organized, and deployed. The bad news, according to Dr. Stephen Kosslyn, is this information has pretty much stayed in technical journals and textbooks and not been applied in classrooms. Adding to the problem is that popular misconceptions about learning abound, so most of us are not learning nearly as effectively or efficiently as we could. Kosslyn, one of the world’s leading researchers on the science of learning, has long been concerned by the inadequacies of our education systems. Through public-facing books, and institutions he helped create like Minerva University and Foundry College, he has dedicated much of his life to bringing what researchers understand about learning into real world practice. Tune in to this fascinating conversation with host Dr. Rishi Desai to hear how our education systems could be improved by applying active learning and by teaching critical thinking skills, among other changes. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“It's impossible to be a physician and not be able to speak the language of medicine, which really is anatomy,” says Dr. Marios Loukas, who, in addition to his current role as a medical school dean, has written several books on anatomy and is former president of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists. In this episode with host Dr. Rishi Desai, find out how Dr. Loukas became interested in the subject, and how the goal of making a bigger impact ultimately led to pursuing a career in administration. Learn about St. George’s University School of Medicine -- the largest source of doctors in the United States healthcare system -- and what sets it apart, including its island setting, its investment in teaching ultrasound, and its vision to be an international hub for the development of primary care providers. Tune in to discover what Dr. Loukas thinks students get wrong about studying, and hear about best practices for learning, including what makes visualization so powerful. Plus, hear why Dr. Loukas thinks students should be exposed to medicine before they start medical school.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.sgu.edu/academic-programs/school-of-medicine/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Listening to veteran healthcare entrepreneur and investor Carly Stockdale, the Co-Founder and CEO of BestLife Holdings, you get the feeling she is living her best professional life.  With BestLife -- a platform of age management organizations, including the Foundation for Healthy Aging and Cenegenics -- Stockdale has created a perch from which she can blend her interests in healthy aging, women’s health and hormone therapy, and have a national impact to boot. “Our north star metric is improving people's biological age through the education of other health care providers and through membership in our programs such as Cenegenics, and other programs that we're looking to start,” she tells host Shiv Gaglani. Cenegenics is a peak performance and longevity membership program with a 25-year history of developing personalized heath programs through deep analysis of biomarkers and other data it collects from members on a quarterly basis. The company plans to publish data later this year examining trend lines of improvement based on 3,500 patients who have gone through the program. Tune in to this informative conversation to learn about the unique path Stockdale has carved in healthcare, positive trends she’s seeing in women’s health, and addressing the persistent information asymmetry between doctors and patients.Mentioned in this episode: https://cenegenics.com If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“You don't have to change yourself culturally to be brilliant,” asserts Dr. Russell Ledet, a Black U.S. Navy veteran who has earned an MD-MBA as well as a PhD in Molecular Oncology and Tumor Immunologyand now works to remove barriers for those who want to follow in his footsteps. In this fascinating interview with host Dr. Rishi Desai, learn how Dr. Ledet went from being a security guard in a hospital, to a medical student at that same hospital, to starting The 15 White Coats, an effort sparked by an unforgettable photo taken at a former slave plantation. The group, which provides funding and other support to aspiring Black physicians, has grown rapidly and garnered international attention in its short life. Tune in to learn how Ledet’s 9-year-old daughter provided the spark for the project, marvel at his remarkable personal journey, and learn why having more Black physicians will improve health outcomes.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.the15whitecoats.org If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Dr. Tom O’Callaghan thinks he’s already seen the future of medicine in this tech-heavy age, and it looks a lot like the personal, trusted healthcare he saw his father providing in the small community in Ireland in which he was raised. As he tells host Rishi Desai, if you have a good family doctor “you're far more likely to have a better healthcare outcome to every illness you have in your life.” It’s not that O’Callaghan is anti-technology. For one thing, he thinks wearables and remote monitoring will actually facilitate a needed transition from hospital-based to community-based care. But perhaps a greater proof point is he leads a specialty online medical education company called iHeed that leverages the latest technology, tools and educational approaches to make post graduate education for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in 65 countries across Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa more accessible and affordable. The company, part of the Cambridge Education Group, also develops national scale residency programs in countries including Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to spur the evolution of primary care in underserved communities. Tune into this revealing conversation for a global take on medical education, to hear why developing more nurses is key to tackling the gaping healthcare worker shortage, and for some wisdom he’s drawn on in his own career as a family practitioner that he discovered on a slip of paper in the bottom of the doctor’s bag his father carried for decades. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.iheed.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

How can digital health benefit an ordinary patient? Today's guest, Tobias Silberzahn, enjoys taking a citizen perspective in his work in digital health—a field that, as he emphasizes, is far from a monolith, comprising over 25 categories from digital therapeutics to patient remote monitoring, to disease management. Tune in to this episode of Raise the Line with host Dr. Rishi Desai to learn how Silberzahn became interested in biochemistry and immunology and landed where he is today. Find out about the biohacking he did to uncover his own micro habits, learn what he's discovered about people's attitudes towards their personal data being used, and hear where he sees Europe and Asia in terms of digital health and well-being. Learn, too, about the phrase “digital health ecosystem” and what that model means for patients. Plus, discover how the city of Amsterdam created a multi-stakeholder alliance to achieve ambitious health and well-being goals, learn about the discussion that is currently being held in Germany about the public electronic patient record, and hear why Silberzahn is excited about digital health's future disease-prediction and interception possibilities. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Telehealth has become ubiquitous, but Andy Flanagan thinks the word telehealth will soon disappear. “It’s just care,” said the CEO of the remote psychiatry service, Iris Telehealth. Flanagan anticipates that, just as concepts like “online banking” are now indistinguishable from what it simply means to use a bank, telehealth will soon be baked into the healthcare system. “The very best of it will be integrated, and the rest will be discarded,” he tells host Dr. Rishi Desai. In the process, he hopes to help revolutionize how medical systems are structured, how patients with the most challenging mental health conditions receive care, and help doctors establish a work-life balance that is all too rare today. Tune in to hear about how telehealth services can seamlessly augment a patient’s medical team, and how Iris Telehealth works to empower its employees to take more personal initiative, and be less scared of failure. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

With new medical products constantly entering the market, it can be difficult for doctors to keep up. Interventional radiologist Dr. Aaron Fritts has experienced this first hand in his career, and often found himself calling friends and former colleagues with questions about how to use new devices he encountered. Realizing doctors everywhere are in the same boat he launched BackTable, a podcast platform in which doctors from various specialties discuss the latest procedures, technologies, and conditions in their field of practice. As he tells host Dr. Rishi Desai, listenership shot up during the pandemic because for many physicians, podcasts supplanted the role of conferences where such matters are typically discussed. The still-expanding podcast network aims to connect different, sometimes-isolated aspects of the medical community and provide a new way for doctors to learn. Tune in to also hear about the power of interventional radiology, what it would mean for physicians to communicate in an open and responsible way with industry, and how to become a better communicator.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.backtable.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast