Raise the Line

To his father’s occasional befuddlement, Dr. Zeke Emanuel’s prolific, eclectic, and high-profile career in medicine, academia, and government has been driven less by strategy than basic curiosity: “I do what interests me at the moment,” he tells host Dr. Rishi Desai. The impulse has at times put him at odds with the conventional wisdom, whether it was espoused by a Harvard Medical School dean or the World Health Organization. But he says his contrarian tendencies have also helped him anticipate dramatic turns in the world of healthcare from emerging bioethical quandaries around end-of-life care, to best-practices for allocating scarce medical resources on a global scale. “Trying to anticipate our problems and trying to solve them: That's been an approach I like to say has fueled my career,” he says. Tune in to learn from one of the country’s leading authorities on healthcare reform how we can simplify the U.S. healthcare system, distribute vaccines more ethically, and why Benjamin Franklin is “the most brilliant person ever born on the North American continent, bar none.” 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

“If you want to reach marginalized populations in general, but in healthcare as well, you've got to build a bridge based on trust,” says Dr. David Carlisle whose mission, as leader of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, is to train people from underserved communities to return home to provide healthcare. From Carlisle’s perspective, the pandemic has highlighted the longstanding and devastating disparities in health status tied to race and ethnicity, which has added urgency to efforts to reach and improve care for these populations. As he has witnessed with testing and vaccination programs held at CDU, affinity is a key ingredient in building trust. “When the surrounding community became aware that there were people on campus who spoke the same languages, shopped at the same shopping centers and attended the same churches, our numbers skyrocketed.” Listen in to learn what how the Delta variant is impacting education this semester, and for a riveting, impassioned plea to the unvaccinated to protect themselves and their communities as well as the frontline healthcare workers who are risking their lives to treat COVID patients. 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 issue of prevention needs to be pushed harder,” Dr. Johannes Vieweg asserts, drawing from his experience growing up in Europe. Smart growth and smart leadership are two of Dr. Vieweg's favorite topics, and ones that he knows a thing or two about through his work founding a new medical school and training the next generation of healthcare leaders. In this episode of Raise the Line with host Shiv Gaglani, discover how Dr. Vieweg and his team took advantage of starting from scratch to build a unique and up-to-date active-learning-based curriculum that connects business and medicine and underscores community connection. Tune in to learn about the “threshold for innovation” and why Dr. Vieweg believes we have a way to go yet in the implementation of value-based medicine. Plus, hear his inspiring message about healthcare being a human right, not a privilege, and his advice to students on being nimble and pursuing their goals. 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

Discovering your ancestry through a DNA saliva test is commonplace and very popular today, but when 23andMe started offering the service to consumers in 2007, it was breaking new ground. “We started 23andMe with this mentality of being an activist brand. I want to empower people with their own genome. Then I want to empower people to essentially come together and be the world's largest community that's driving research forward,” says Anne Wojcicki, Co-founder and CEO of the company. In the past 14 years, she’s largely achieved that founding vision with 11.6 million people using the product and 80% of those consenting to have their information used in research. And, as Wojcicki tells host Shiv Gaglani, a trove of research papers and a constant stream of new genetic information is allowing 23andMe to move into developing therapeutics. The ultimate goal? “I want people to be able to use their genetic information to change their behavior and live to be 100 without any chronically-managed disease,” she says. Don’t miss this revealing discussion from a pioneer in direct-to-consumer healthcare about the impact of digital health, eliminating hierarchy in healthcare and the role providers can play in battling the swamp of medical misinformation. Spoiler: it might involve them learning to dance. 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

"Please don't ever forget why you are becoming a nurse," urges Bonnie Barnes of the DAISY Foundation. "Hold that in your heart always." Barnes has experienced firsthand the tremendous impact that a nurse's skillful and compassionate care can have on patients and families. In this episode of Raise the Line, join host Jannah Amiel, RN to discover how a family tragedy became the impetus for Barnes and her husband to start a foundation dedicated to recognizing and honoring the outstanding work of nurses—an organization that now partners with over 4,000 healthcare facilities in 29 countries. Tune in to learn about the strategic value of recognition, hear about Barnes' new book, Shining the Light on All the Right: Celebrating the Art of Nursing Around the World, and find out why Barnes thinks public support is essential in creating funding for nurse education. Plus, hear why Barnes believes the public ought to be listening more to nurses. 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. Iman Abuzeid and Rome Portlock co-founded Incredible Health after observing a disconnect: The doctors Abuzeid knew complained about understaffing at their hospitals, and yet the nurses Portlock knew complained that it could take months to get a job. “We're like, ‘Okay, this doesn't make any sense,’" Abuzeid tells host Dr. Rishi Desai. While a shortage of nurses is clearly a factor, their research determined the U.S. healthcare industry’s antiquated staffing tools were a big part of the problem. “We just figured there has to be a better way—a faster, more efficient, more scalable way to hire, and that's how Incredible Health started.” That better way involves a blend of automated screening, custom matching, focusing on ‘customer delight’ and turning the tables by having employers apply to the talent. The result is a hiring process that drops from 80 days to no more than 20. Stay tuned to find out why Abuzeid pivoted to business after earning her medical degree, the three things she thinks you can optimize for in your career, and why she considers values to be the ‘operating system’ of her company. 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

“I'm really proud of the global response from nurses to this pandemic. They really have stepped into a situation that is high risk, but they continue to care in the most difficult situations,” says Elizabeth Iro, a lifetime nurse and midwife who was appointed Chief Nursing Officer of the World Health Organization in 2017. Her arrival marked a new focus on nursing and midwifery at the WHO that was captured in several comprehensive reports on the challenges they face and the greater role they could play in improving global health. Based on that data, the World Health Assembly recently adopted a resolution on strengthening nursing and midwifery, something that Iro says will help guide a post-COVID future for nursing. “We have some real solid policy options that we can take in the next five years to support countries and make a difference,” she tells host Shiv Gaglani. Iro sees a future of greater connection between nurses and midwives internationally to advance their impact and also serve as a source of psychosocial support. “The pandemic tested all of us – as a profession, as a community, as family members, and as individuals.” Take advantage of a rare opportunity to hear from one of the world’s leading health officials on critical issues such as vaccine hesitancy, vaccine equity and the importance of having nurses fully involved in setting COVID response policy. 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

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.americantelemed.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

“I don't want doctors to get ripped off. They are wonderful people dedicated to healing the sick and injured, and they're getting taken advantage of way too often,” says emergency physician James Dahle. His own series of bad experiences with financial advice prompted a flurry of self-education, and he decided to make a business out of sharing what he learned called the The White Coat Investor. One surprising thing he learned, which motivates his work to this day, is that even though the average physician earns $8 million over the course of a 30-year career, 25% end up with a net worth under $1 million. Why? “Doctors are busy people and we’ve got a lot on our mental plates and this is something else we feel like we have to do, so it sits in the background.” He says people also don’t realize the power of getting their finances under control. At mid-career, Dahle has achieved financial freedom and has the flexibility he thinks many doctors want and need to have at that stage of their lives. “The combination of financial literacy and financial discipline is so rare, it’s like having a superpower,” he adds. Check out this valuable conversation with host Rishi Desai for tips on managing student debt, common mistakes to avoid, and the critical importance of having a plan especially as health care careers are growing more unpredictable. 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 is the nature of our profession to be flexible, because our roles can change,” explains longtime PA and educator Dr. Kevin Lohenry. Physician assistants have had the chance to showcase that flexibility during the pandemic, quickly adjusting and moving into COVID-related roles like ICU support and vaccine efforts. In this episode of Raise the Line, learn about Dr. Lohenry's career path from the military to medicine to education, and why he thinks being a PA is such a great career in terms of impact on others and work-life balance. Listen in as Dr. Lohenry and host Dr. Rishi Desai discuss teamwork, how the approach to teaching critical thinking skills has changed over the years, and how COVID has served as a wake-up call on the need to address systemic racism. “If we don't invest heavily in a different kind of educational process to allow for equity among all peoples, I think we're hurting ourselves.” Tune in to find out more about his perspective on this, and why he advises students to stick initially with a single interest or organization. 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