Fernanda Heitor, MD, a geriatrician and instructor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, discusses how the Northwestern Medicine Geriatrics team has evolved in response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including shifting to telehealth and working to keep COVID-19 out of nursing home facilities.

James Walter, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care and Medical Director of the Lung Rescue Program, shares lessons his team has learned while treating some of the most critically ill patients suffering from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Walter discusses how the team is using evidence-based therapies such as prone positioning, early mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19 and protect staff from exposure.

Jing Jin, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and his team work to identify pathological mechanisms of kidney and vascular diseases. His work with the therapy ACE2-Fc was recently included in an article published by Robert Kruse, MD, PhD in F1000 Research discussing a potential therapy for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. In this episode, Jin explains how the therapy could potentially be used to guard against and treat COVID-19 and highlights the important role cross-collaboration plays in facilitating discovery.

Recent promotion by several countries, including the United States, of hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment for COVID-19 has left patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) facing a severe shortage of the medication they rely on. How should rheumatologists balance the supply of hydroxychloroquine for testing and potential use in COVID-19 with its critical use in the treatment of lupus? How should they allocate the drug to their patients?Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman, MD, discusses key considerations for rheumatologists in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the risks for patients with rheumatic conditions such as lupus and how Northwestern Medicine Rheumatology is evolving care.

Northwestern Medicine has rapidly evolved to ensure the safe and effective treatment of pregnant women during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, George H. Gardner Professor of Clinical Gynecology and vice-chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, explains new protocols in place for safe labor and delivery and how physicians can provide reassurance to their pregnant patients during COVID-19.

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University has rapidly evolved to develop new protocols and a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) response team to ensure the safe and effective treatment for cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, Leonidas C. Platanias, MD, PhD, director of the Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University, explains the protocols in place to minimize risk, and how the team is safely delivering critical treatment and providing emotional support for patients during this time.

Igor Koralnik, MD, FAAN, FANA, chief of Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology and professor of Neurology at Northwestern Medicine, discusses the neurological manifestations of patients with COVID-19, the risks for those with neurological diseases that impair the respiratory system such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease, and how Northwestern Medicine is evolving care during this pandemic.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory, multisystem disease of unknown cause that affects between 1.5 and 2 million people in the United States. In this panel, Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman MD and Mary Mahieu MD discuss The Northwestern Medicine Lupus Program and how it aims to improve care for patients with lupus by improving clinical outcomes, developing and testing new treatment strategies and working towards a cure for lupus.

In this Better Edge podcast, Kara N. Goldman, MD, assistant professor of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, and Mary Ellen G. Pavone, MD, MSCI, associate professor of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, discuss the latest advances in fertility preservation. They share reasons why patients may decide to explore fertility preservation options, why it is important for physicians to appropriately refer patients and discuss recent advancements in fertility preservation options available at Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine.[Note: The number of states that mandate insurance companies to cover fertility preservation has increased from 8 to 10 since the time this podcast was recorded.]

Arthur M. Mandelin MD/PhD, RMSK, RhMSUS discusses ultra-sound-guided synovial biopsy. He examines the RhEumatoid Arthritis SynOvial tissue Network (REASON), it’s objective and why it was formed. He shares how Northwestern Medicine is utilizing ultrasound-guided synovial tissue biopsies for RA research and how he envisions this research translating into patient care.