Healthcare Unfiltered

Christopher Booth, MD, Professor in the Departments of Oncology and Medicine as well as a Health Services Researcher, Queen's University (Canada), brings a different perspective to the show on healthcare policy and where the cancer system may be failing patients. Dr. Booth shares the “desert island” hypothetical scenario he used in a previous publication in which he asked oncologists all over the world for their 10 cancer drugs they would take to the “island” to help their patients. Then, he shares his thoughts on the relatively novel concepts of the “value crisis” and “time toxicity” he sees in cancer care, how to reconcile benefit to individual patients vs patient populations, the translation from efficacy to effectiveness within treatments, ways to temper patient expectations when it comes to hype vs hope for treatments and recovery goals, and a whole lot more.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. Myriam Chalabi, a GI oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, joins the show after making waves at the latest ESMO Congress for her NICHE-2 study – an assessment of neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibition in locally advanced dMMR colon cancer. She shares the initial inspiration to give neoadjuvant immunotherapy for dMMR tumors, the surprisingly positive early results that led to expanding the study, her feelings and expectations leading up to her talk at ESMO, and her reaction to the Twitter phenomenon with the “Chalabi Plot” – how the medical community was in awe of her rare and exceptional waterfall plot. This episode is a good reminder of the value in executing a well-designed clinical trial and the benefits that patients stand to gain from good science.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

To tackle the relatively unknown topic of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), Chadi invites four experts from the Hyperemesis Education & Research (HER) Foundation: Kimber MacGibbon, RN, executive director and co-founder; Aimee Brecht-Doscher, MD, adviser and long-time supporter; Kelly Ryerson, MBA, chair of the board of directors; and Marlena Fejzo, PhD, survivor of HG and research advisor. The group begins by defining HG—with respect to the traditional definition as well as the modern understanding—and its prevalence among pregnant women today. The conversation evolves into the myths and misconceptions surrounding HG, the current research landscape and funding availability, progress in identifying and sequencing an important gene, drug development updates, and a whole lot more.Read more about the HER Foundation website.https://www.hyperemesis.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

Recurring guest Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Hematology, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, is today’s guest of honor to discuss and spotlight his just-published book: Drugs and the FDA: Safety, Efficacy, and the Public's Trust. Dr. Sekeres begins by sharing an anecdote of his experience on the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) for Avastin as an inspiration to write the book. Then, he delves into the detailed process of becoming an ODAC member and how conflicts of interest are handled in the screening process, how personal experience bias (rather than data) may influence ODAC members to vote to approve a drug, financial compensation allotted to ODAC members, and how ODAC members balance science with humanity when considering drugs for approval. The conversation ends with a commentary on the good and bad of DTC advertising, the future of clinical trial phasing and designing, and a few other interesting discussion points.Order Drugs and the FDA: Safety, Efficacy, and the Public's Trust.https://www.amazon.com/Drugs-FDA-Safety-Efficacy-Publics/dp/0262047314Check 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

In this somber and forewarning episode, Chadi hosts Jodi Odell, mother of the late Jackson Odell – actor and victim of an accidental drug overdose. Jodi tells the background of Jackson’s life—from his early childhood days up through his final days at 20 years old—as a backdrop for a commentary on the drug overdose pandemic and addiction. Then, she shares his journey from rehab to a sober home, recounts the harrowing details of his final moments alive, and details the weeks that followed, up through her viral LinkedIn post about Jackson. This episode is a reminder of the fragility of life and a call to spread awareness about the drug pandemic.Read more about Jackson’s death.https://people.com/tv/jackson-odell-cause-death-accidental-drug-overdose/See Jodi’s LinkedIn post about Jackson.https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jodiodell1_this-is-my-son-jackson-he-died-four-years-activity-6940291754835275776-7bBzView Jodi’s farewell video to Jackson.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEUKn6s0CjwCheck 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

Vivek Subbiah, MD, executive director of medical oncology research, MD Anderson Cancer Network, makes his triumphant return to the show to break down designing clinical trials for investigative therapies and the regulatory maze that follows before these therapies can find their way to the market. Dr. Subbiah begins by using precision medicine advances in lung cancer as a backdrop for the discussion on histology agnostic drug approvals. Then, he moves into the full regulatory flow map of how drugs make their way from phase I trials through FDA approval. The accelerated approval pathway, post-approval trials, synthetic control arms, off-label data, real-world data, and assessment bias are all discussion points given ample attention in this truly informative interview.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 convenes yet another expert roundtable to discuss CLL with a few returning guests as well as a physician-patient: Liz Brem, MD, assistant clinical professor of hematology, UC Irvine, Alan Skarbnik, MD, director of the lymphoma and CLL program, Novant Health (Charlotte, NC), and Brian Koffman, MDCM, FCFP, DABFM, MS Ed, executive vice president and chief medical officer, CLL Society. The group begins by stating that patients have little-to-no participation in treatment guidelines for CLL, positing whether treatment is necessary for early-stage disease at all, debating what testing procedures should be done after diagnosis, and concluding with what place MRD has in the treatment paradigm. Dr. Koffman shares his personal story of waiting as long as possible to begin his unconventional treatment course (including first remission allogeneic transplant) and the group discusses whether the limited evidence base for this course matters or not. Dissecting the intricacies of treating CLL, especially from the patient perspective, is no easy task and these experts do a very thorough job of detailing the discussion points that matter most.View more information on the CLL Society.https://cllsociety.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

Adam Cifu, MD, general internist and professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, is fresh off his rounds and ready to talk about the advantages and pitfalls of evidence-based medicine in today’s medical world. Dr. Cifu offers his thoughts on the level of evidence needed for vaccinations in children as well as the number of vaccinations and boosters needed for adults, what the evidence tells us about long COVID, whether mask wearing on planes and various other locations still carries any weight, and a general commentary on how evidence factors (or doesn’t) into Twitter discussions surrounding medicine.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

To explain and dissect the world of naturopathic medicine, Chadi hosts Nasha Winters, ND, FABNO, a renowned speaker and author on the topic. Dr. Winters shares her background of a devastating, terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis 30 years ago, the nontraditional care she received that put her on the road to recovery, and how that set things in motion for her career. Then, Dr. Winters expands on a system she has developed to understand the tumor “terrain” rather than the tumor itself, patient cases she’s dealt with and how integrative treatment approaches have been very powerful, the type of training she received to become qualified to consult and treat patients, and the ins-and-out of the curriculum for this training, among other things.View Dr. Winters’ website.https://www.drnasha.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

Nikita Mehra, medical oncologist in India, and Guilherme Perini, hematologist in Brazil, join the show to give a first-hand perspective on what it’s like to practice oncology in low and middle income countries. They begin by explaining variation in income levels and cancer care access within their own cities, expound on screening programs and ability to travel for care among their populations, share the testing and diagnostics procedures and availability, describe the market and supply of treatments in India and Brazil vs the US, comment on how their country’s regulatory bodies approve and set the course for reimbursement of new therapies, and a whole lot more.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