First Opinion Podcast

Jeff Karp, a Harvard Medical School and MIT biomedical engineer, shares how his undiagnosed ADHD transformed from a struggle into a 'superpower,' fostering creativity and emotional connections. He emphasizes the importance of neurodiversity in research and education. Joan Conjurella, from NYU, discusses innovative medical education reforms, including a three-year MD program designed for efficiency and accessibility. Together, they explore life ignition tools and the ways personalized approaches in learning and medical training can inspire future generations.

About 75% of U.S. hospitals use chaplains, who are either employed by the health care center or are spiritual leaders from the local community. Physician Robert Klitzman and chaplain Molly O’Neil Frank join today’s podcast to discuss why chaplains are a critical part of patient care. Perhaps counterintuitively, they say, chaplains' roles have become even more important as religious affiliation has declined in the country.

When Randi Johnson was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, her husband, Brian, often felt at a loss to help. But then, when he and Randi met with a surgeon to discuss reconstructing her breast, he was struck by something he could do. The Midwestern father of five, a lifelong tinkerer, decided to make his wife the best possible prosthetic nipple.“The nipple solution is actually very elusive,” Randi said. “Surgical nipples tend to flatten. Tattoos fade. Or they still don't have dimension. The … prosthetic nipples that were around when we started, they looked really fake, and they'd fall off. And that's really kind of a deal breaker.”After Brian made one for Randi, the two of them decided to offer the service to others. Today, they make affordable, realistic nipples for dozens of people a year, largely reaching potential customers through word of mouth.One of their sons, Justin, recently chronicled their work in his new documentary “Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory,” now available for rent or purchase on streaming platforms. (Watch the trailer here.)

Torie speaks with Carmel Shachar, an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Law and health policy expert, about how the second Trump term might differ from the first, how the health policy world is preparing, and her work on reproductive health, telehealth, and vaccines.

No matter who wins the 2024 presidential race, one thing is clear: Political anxiety and division will remain high for the foreseeable future. So just before Election Day, Torie spoke with Kevin Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska who studies the intersection of political attitudes, biology, and evolution. In 2019, he and colleagues published a study that found almost 40% of Americans reported experiencing stress over politics, 11.5% thought their physical health had been affected, and 4% reported suicidal thoughts. They talked about political anxiety, tribalism, and how much our political attitudes might be driven by biology rather than environment.

This close to Nov. 5, we are being battered with promises that this race will determine the future of the country.But Christine Dehlendorf wants people to remember that as important as Election Day is, it won’t be the end of discussions about reproductive health. Dehlendorf is a family physician and professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and directs the Person-Centered Reproductive Health Program. Recently, she co-authored a First Opinion arguing that primary care providers and family physicians should have more training in providing abortion care.

Medicare policy has been conspicuously absent from the 2024 presidential race. Health policy scholar Paul Ginsburg thinks this is because both Democrats and Republicans understand that the reforms needed in the Medicare system are not going to be popular.

Mark Cuban, co-founder of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs, joins the podcast along with STAT's Matthew Herper. They talk with Torie about pharmacy benefit managers, the 2024 presidential campaign, and how the health care industry should work. "This is literally the easiest industry to interrupt, to disintermediate, that I’ve ever been involved with, Cuban said.

For several years now, newspapers have been moving away from a longstanding tradition: endorsing candidates for political office. But Scientific American is bucking the trend. In 2020, for the first time, the 179-year-old magazine endorsed Joe Biden for president. They followed suit this year, endorsing Kamala Harris. Both times, the move spurred a great deal of discussion about scientific objectivity, journalistic objectivity, and the point of endorsements. To learn more about the decision to endorse and the process behind it, Torie spoke with Scientific American editor-in-chief Laura Helmuth and opinion editor Megha Satyanarayana (formerly of STAT).

Every four years, someone says “This is the most important election ever.” But it’s hard to question the long-term impact Election Day 2024 will have — from the top of the ballot on down.So the first five episodes of the fall 2024 season of the “First Opinion Podcast” will grapple with the campaign and its intersection with health, medicine, and the life sciences. I’ll speak with experts on issues that have come up on the campaign trail, topics that candidates should focus on, and what a second Trump or first Harris administration might hold. Think of it as “First Opinion Podcast Hits the Trail,” perhaps, except I’m staying home in the swing state of Pennsylvania fending off campaign texts.For the debut episode, I spoke with Kathleen Kelly Daughety, vice president of campaigns and civic engagement for Inseparable, a mental health advocacy organization with a strong focus on policy.