Healthcare Unfiltered

Dr. Ed Livingston, renowned surgeon, educator, and researcher, who was a former deputy editor at JAMA, found himself out of a job after a JAMA podcast he hosted with Dr. Mitch Katz that discussed, among other items, structural racism as a contributor to the high mortality in minorities from COVID. This incident led to a series of lawsuits, some of which were highly publicized. Ed shares behind the scenes events, incidents, and what transpired in 2021, and how the AMA handled the situation. In this episode, Ed shares his background, career path, passion for education and medicine, and his disappointment at how everything was handled by the AMA. This is a rare discussion with some information being shared for the first time ever with listeners and viewers. The AMA declined the request to comment and provide their side of the story. Superior court ruling Livingston v AMA (AMA declares that physicians not entitled to due process, rules that the AMA committed libel and defamation): https://rulings.law/rulings/judge-curtis-a-kin/22stcv09441-2022-10-13.html Unanimous Appellate decision regarding libel and defamation by the AMA, Adds an additional finding of false light and invasion of privacy https://www4.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B324638.PDF X post summarizing the Appellate decision (the court refers to the AMA as disingenuous): https://x.com/ehlJAMA/status/1852551140799291817 Article summarizing the Appellate decision (““[d]rawing all reasonable inferences in his favor, Livingston has made a prima facie case that the gist or sting of the accusation in statement [that the podcast ‘denied the existence of structural racism in medicine,’ was not true.”): http://www.metnews.com/articles/2024/defamation_11042024.htm Court orders Livingston to pay $110,000 to AMA despite his prevailing on the key allegations: https://rulings.law/rulings/judge-joseph-lipner/22stcv09441-2025-04-08.html Article from the lawyer representing the AMA declaring that the process the AMA used against Livingston is abused “the widely abused anti-SLAPP statute.”: https://www.law.com/therecorder/2019/06/03/calif-high-court-ruling-good-news-for-defamation-plaintiffs/?slreturn=20250722074004 X post with links to the various rulings: https://x.com/ehlJAMA/status/1913584194405425374 Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Ben Casavant, co-founder and CEO of Tasso, joins the show to discuss how he transformed the idea of patient-led blood collection into a reality through devices like Tasso+. He explains how Tasso’s self-collection kits—designed to be easy, virtually painless, and used anytime at home—solve the scalability issues of mobile phlebotomy while improving patient convenience, adherence, and access to care. Casavant also details the company’s growth journey, its FDA-cleared and CE-marked products, the broad customer base that includes healthcare providers, labs, insurers, and pharma companies, and how Tasso adds value not only through affordability, but by streamlining logistics, boosting compliance, and enabling seamless integration of patient-collected data into care systems. Read more about Tasso. https://www.tassoinc.com/ Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Dr. Pallawi Torka of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center joins to share highlights from ASCO and EHA 2025 on the evolving landscape of B-cell lymphomas, including Hodgkin lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and follicular lymphoma. She offers in-depth insights on the STARGLO study and its recent ODAC review, the POLARGO trial, a rare T-cell leukemia (T-LGL) study, and new data supporting nivolumab-AVD in frontline Hodgkin lymphoma. Additional discussion includes the inMIND trial for follicular lymphoma, the growing role of ctDNA in managing DLBCL, advances in CAR-T cell therapy for CNS lymphoma, and how she is adapting treatment strategies based on favorable vs. unfavorable disease features. Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Dr. Ben Derman of the University of Chicago Medicine joins the show to unpack major updates in multiple myeloma presented at ASCO and EHA 2025. He discusses the growing role of quadruple therapy across all patient populations and its implications for the future of autologous stem cell transplant, including insights from the MIDAS trial on MRD-guided transplant decisions. Additional highlights include MRD-negativity as a potential off-ramp for maintenance therapy, evolving data from frontline triplet vs. quadruplet studies, real-world referral trends, CARTITUDE-4 subgroup outcomes, and the expanding utility of bispecifics and trispecific antibodies, particularly for extramedullary disease. Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Joe DePinto, MBA, Head of Cell, Gene & Advanced Therapies at McKesson, joins the show to discuss InspiroGene, McKesson’s end-to-end platform built to address the complex delivery, coordination, and commercialization needs of cell and gene therapies. He breaks down how InspiroGene integrates logistics, specialty pharmacy, patient support services, and real-time data tracking to close critical gaps in the CGT ecosystem—especially around why many eligible patients are still not being identified, referred, or treated. He also explores the broader vision: enabling scalable access to these therapies as they move from rare diseases to larger populations, and what it will take—from providers, payers, and pharma—to meet that future. Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Chadi sits down with Lou Weisbach, entrepreneur and founder of the American Center for Cures, who shares his ambitious mission to raise $750 billion through an innovative public-private bond model to accelerate the prevention and cure of chronic diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson’s. Weisbach discusses how his model is designed to align incentives across government, industry, and research institutions, bridging political divides and pharmaceutical interests to focus on cure-based rather than treatment-based outcomes. He also reflects on two decades of groundwork, key milestones achieved, and how the initiative operates day-to-day, including the development of disease-specific platforms poised to transform biomedical research and public health. Find out more about his cause. https://theamericancenterforcures.org/ Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Dr. Vivek Subbiah returns for another edition of Vivek’s Takes, offering his expert insights on the standout science from the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting. He breaks down key developments including trispecific antibodies, the growing role of radioligand therapies, a new standard of care in small cell lung cancer, and paradigm-shifting data in adjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer. The discussion also highlights a long-term exercise intervention, adjuvant vaccine studies, ctDNA and MRD integration, resistance mechanisms, artificial intelligence, and other emerging trends shaping the future of oncology. Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Dena Marrinucci, PhD, co-founder and COO of Truvian Health, joins the show to discuss her mission to transform blood diagnostics through a point-of-care device that delivers rapid, actionable results. She shares the origin story of founding Truvian in 2015—coincidentally just weeks before the Theranos exposé—and reflects on navigating industry skepticism in the post-Theranos landscape. Marrinucci also outlines the company’s FDA submission process, the importance of empowering immediate patient-provider decision-making, and what the initial panel of 30+ lab tests offers for routine care, among so much more. Read the article on the Truvian Health blood test. https://www.newsweek.com/truvian-lab-company-blood-test-device-theranos-health-care-1997422 Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf returns to the show for an in-depth discussion on the integration of artificial intelligence into regulatory processes, including how AI is currently being used—and should be used—in drug and medical device approvals, the detection and review of fraudulent data, and clinical decision support systems. He also explores the boundaries between algorithmic automation and human judgment, emphasizing the importance of maintaining transparency, accountability, and trust in an increasingly data-driven regulatory landscape. Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Last week, Chadi and researchers explored the KETO-CTA study, which investigated the effects of the ketogenic diet on coronary plaque formation in Lean Mass Hyper-Responders (LMHR), or individuals who experience significant LDL cholesterol elevations on low-carb diets. This week, the other side of the conversation is presented. A leading cardiologist joins the show to critically examine the KETO-CTA study findings, questioning their clinical significance and broader applicability. What do these results really mean for cardiovascular risk in the general population? Should elevated LDL in the context of good metabolic health be treated the same as traditional hyperlipidemia? This episode dives into the nuances of lipidology, the role of LDL in atherosclerosis, and the complexity of applying study findings to real-world patients. Whether you're a clinician, researcher, or just interested in the science behind diet and heart health, this conversation is essential listening. View the KETO-CTA study. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772963X25001036 Check out Chadi’s website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA