Causes or Cures
Dr. Eeks
"For the Nerds and the Nerd Nots"Causes or Cures is a health podcast hosted by Dr. Eeks—an independent, grassroots show driven by curiosity and a passion for breaking down complex health topics into bite-sized, easy-to-understand insights. Dr. Eeks (ErinKate Stair, MPH, MD) works as a consultant in the realm of public health, applied epidemiology, and health communication. She's all about making science relatable and often uses a blue-collar sense of humor to drive the message home.On this podcast, Dr. Eeks talks with experts from around the world (doctors, researchers, public health pros, and more) to dive into the latest hot topics in health and research, all in a down-to-earth kind of way. She also includes people with compelling stories of healing and "characters" because life is too boring and short to leave out characters. ;)DISCLAIMER: Some topics are more controversial than others, so keep in mind that this is information only and not health advice. If you are battling an individual health issue, always check in with your doctor & don't run with anything on podcast as advice. Dr. Eeks doesn't endorse any of her guests' views, and despite a strict health routine, nor does she endorse any products, supplements, oils, magic socks or potions. (If an episode is sponsored by a company she likes, she will say so in the show notes.) While she has a MD, she does not practice medicine (she's a full-time public health nerd) so she does not give out medical advice nor should you treat anything on this podcast as medical advice. Causes or Cures is not a "news site." It's about having conversations, and Dr. Eeks is confident that she can have a respectful conversation with anyone, even people who think far differently than she does. (At least that's been her experience at hole-in-the-walls & on the NYC sidewalks.) The point is to not take anything here as Gospel. Sometimes Dr. Eeks' dog Barnaby makes his opinion known, but the good news is that he's a smart dog. Most importantly, she hopes this podcast encourages folks to stay curious, empathic, hopeful, compassionate, honest, open-minded, and engaged. Freedom of discussion is a beautiful thing, delightfully messy, and one that many take for granted.*The views on this podcast do not reflect the views of anyone she contracts with or consults for on various public health projects. You can help keep Causes or Cure independent and ad-free by hitting the "Support" button in the upper corner.You can contact Dr. Eeks through her website, bloomingwellness.com.SIGN UP for her Newsletter HERE: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/xnqmy06
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 1, 2022 • 23min
A mRNA vaccine for Lyme Disease is in the Works: With Dr. Erol Fikrig
Send us a textWe have heard a lot about mRNA vaccines in relation to COVID-19, but researchers are studying the technology to see if it can be used to make vaccines for other diseases. Lyme Disease is one of the most prevalent vector-borne diseases in the US that can have both short-term and long-term consequences, like chronic fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, arthritis, kidney dysfunction, constant muscle pains and more. In this episode Dr. Erol Fikrig, an infectious disease expert and professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine who runs a lab studying vector-borne diseases, explains his preclinical research on an mRNA vaccine for Lyme Disease. He explains what is in the vaccine; how it works (differently than ANY other vaccine out there), results from his research conducted in animals, current studies and whether or not he sees this as something that might come to humans. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Dec 17, 2021 • 23min
Prescribing Food as Medicine, with FarmboxRx CEO Ashley Tyrner
Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Ashley Tyrner, CEO of FarmboxRx, a company that helps get healthy and fresh foods to low-income and senior communities. Physicians can prescribe these food boxes for their patients, and Farmbox is partnering with a growing number of health insurance companies. Farmbox recently partnered with the USDA.Ashley was a single, Hispanic mother who started out in fashion and struggled herself with access to healthy foods. Passionate about connecting marginalized communities to healthy, affordable foods that are shown to cut down on rates of chronic illness, Ashley went on to create Farmbox. Here she discusses the beginnings of Farmbox, how the program works, the types of food in one box, successful case studies and current research, partnerships with health insurance companies and how anyone interested can sign up with Farmbox. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Dec 15, 2021 • 41min
Former CIA Officer Discusses His Experience with Havana Syndrome, a Mysterious Illness Targeting the Intelligence Community
Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with former CIA officer Marc Polymeropolous about his experience with the mysterious Havana Syndrome that has impacted many people in the intelligence community. Marc discusses when he was first impacted in Moscow, his symptoms, the CIA's response, what he thinks might have happened to him and what he hopes to accomplish by sharing his story. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Subscribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Nov 28, 2021 • 25min
COVID-19 Spillover into White-Tailed Deer & What it Means for the Pandemic, with Dr. Suresh KuchiPudi
Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi about his newly published research on the presence of SARS-Cov-2 ( COVID-19) in white-tailed deer. He will discuss how they conducted the study, its findings and what they could mean for viral transmission, the "spillover" of SARS-Cov-2 from humans to deer and how it most likely happened, the symptom profile in deer, how multiple hosts may complicate mitigation efforts, and what this may mean for the trajectory of the pandemic. Dr. Kuchipudi is a clinical professor at Penn State University's College of Agricultural Sciences and is Associate Director of the Animal Diagnostic Laboratory where he oversees the microbiology department. He is a trained veterinarian and a board-certified specialist in virology and immunology. His research focuses on infectious diseases, zoonotic and emerging viruses, viral pathogenesis, diagnostic assay development and pathogen-host interactions. Currenty his lab is focused on SARS-Cov-2. Recently he was named the prestigious Huck Chair of Emerging Infectious Diseases. You can learn more about him and see his publications here. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Nov 28, 2021 • 37min
Dr. Nikolai Petrovsky Discusses His New Protein Subunit Vaccine for COVID-19
Send us a textMost people are focused on the mRNA vaccines ( Pfizer-BioNTech & Moderna) or the viral-vector vaccines, like J&J, but many researchers and companies are working on protein subunit vaccines for COVID-19. Dr. Petrovsky and his company, Vaxine, created a protein subunit vaccine for COVID-19 that was tested in randomized controlled trials in Iran and just recently approved for use there. ( I believe it is the first protein subunit vaccine approved for use anywhere.) In this podcast he will discuss how it was made, efficacy and safety results, possible side effects, where it is currently available, if it is easily updated and more. In the second half of the podcast he shares his experience of the political situation in Australia. I can't comment on that, because I don't know exactly what is happening in Australia, but it sounds concerning. Dr. Petrovsky is a doctor, vaccine researcher and director of endocrinology at Flinders Medical Centre in Australia. He is vice-president and secretary-general of the international immunomics society. He is the founder and chairman of Vaxine, a company funded by the NIH to create new vaccine technology. Dr. Petrovsky has developed vaccines for influenza, hepatitis b, malaria, rabies and more. He is author of over 90 papers and book chapters. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Nov 16, 2021 • 1h 22min
Misinformation, Dissent & Censorship, with Dr. Joe Schwarcz
Send us a textIn this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks discusses "misinformation vs dissent" with Dr. Joe Schwarcz. Topics discussed include: who/what are credible sources; censorship; who is doing the fact checking; who defines what misinformation is/isn't; how do you weed out scientific dissent from misinformation; what to do with anecdotes; and how one measures the potential impact of misinformation. Dr. Schwarcz is Director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society which has the mission of "separating sense from nonsense." The office is currently focused on determining what is misinformation and what is not regarding COVID-19. Dr. Schwarcz is also a spokesperson for ScienceUpFirst, a national initiative funded by Public Health Canada, whose mission is to weed out COVID-19 misinformation. Dr. Schwarcz is also a chemistry professor, hosts "The Dr. Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD and has appeared hundreds of times on The Discovery channel, CTV, CBC, TV Ontario and Global Television. He is also a magician. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subscribe to her newsletter here!.Support the show
Oct 23, 2021 • 47min
Highly-Vaccinated Singapore with Surging Cases & Rising Deaths: What Happened?
Send us a textIn 2020, Singapore was the model country when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic. They had exceptionally low case numbers and an almost non-existant death rate. Many people in the US, a country with high case and death numbers, would ask, "Why couldn't we do it like Singapore did it?" In Dec'2020, I had Dr. Walid Abdullah, a professor and researcher in Singapore, on the podcast to discuss Singapore's model response. Unsurprisingly, Singapore also had a very successful vaccination campaign, having quickly vaccinated over 80% of their population. But fast forward to today and cases are surging in Singapore. Their death rate, while still low, is increasing. That does not make sense to a lot of people. What went wrong? Dr. Abdullah came back on Causes or Cures to explain what happened in Singapore. Dr. Abdullah is a professor of social sciences and researcher at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He recently published a critical assessment of Singapore's response to COVID-19. His areas of research include political systems and elections, state-religion relations, political Islam and Southeast Asia politics.To contact Dr. Eeks, do so through bloomingwellness.comOr follow her on Instagram here.Twitter here.Or Facebook here.Subscribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Oct 19, 2021 • 28min
Big Pharma Has Our Privileged Selves Between Its Teeth
Send us a textCome one, come all, with your sarcasm hats and senses of humor, while Dr. Eeks provides pandemic updates and her perspective on why Big Pharma has our privileged selves between its teeth and is prolonging the pandemic. *Opinions do not reflect anyone Dr. Eeks works for.Don't be so serious, it's unbecoming & no one gets out of here alive. You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or Twitter.Read Manic Kingdom here.Listen to her short audio parody on the wellness industry here.Subcribe to her newsletter here!Support the show
Sep 17, 2021 • 25min
The COVID-19 Booster Battle: A Public Health Perspective
Send us a textIn this podcast, Dr. Eeks discusses the current battle over the COVID-19 vaccine boosters, and how that ties into mandates, building the public's trust and what's happening in the rest of the world. Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or TwitterOr YoutubeContact her through her website here: Blooming Wellness Support the show
Aug 17, 2021 • 40min
Viral Variants, Kids & Masks, Vaccines and More: Perspectives on the Pandemic with Dr. Jonathan Baktari
Send us a textIn this episode, Dr. Eeks (Dr. ErinKate Stair) chats with Dr. Jonathan Baktari about the rise of the Delta variant and the changing recommendations regarding masks; Delta and kids and whether kids should be required to wear face masks; issues with testing; vaccines and vaccine equity; natural immunity and what he thinks the future of the pandemic looks like. Dr. Baktari is a pulmonary and critical care medical doctor who also serves as CEO of e7Health and US Drug Test Centers. He has served as clinical faculty for several medical schools, including the University of Nevada. You can read more about his bio here. Follow Dr. Eeks on Instagram here.Or Facebook here.Or TwitterOr YoutubeContact her through her website here: Blooming Wellness Support the show
