Book Club

Dr. John Russell welcomes author Gerald Imber, MD to talk about his book, Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted, an intriguing biography about the 19th century doctor who invented modern surgery. Halsted was a brilliant and driven physician, but he was also haunted by a lifelong addition to cocain and other pain killers. Despite his internal struggles, he is credited with taking surgery from the horrific, dangerous practice it once was to what we now know as a lifesaving art.

When was it decided that exercise could only be good for you? In his recent book, Exercise Will Hurt You: Concussion, Traumatic Brain Injury, and How the Dangers of Sports and Exercise Can Affect Your Health, leading neurosurgeon Dr. Steven Barrer calls for a change in the way we think about exercise in the United States. His work arises from an extensive career treating exercise-related injuries, anecdotal experiences from his own personal exercise injuries over the years, and scientific data culled from the latest research.

Dr. Barrer is Director of the Neurosciences Institute and Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at Abington Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia.

Dr. John Russell welcomes author Deborah Blum to talk about her book, The Poisoner's Handbook.

In early twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Science had no place in the Tammany Hall-controlled coroner's office, and corruption ran rampant. However, with the appointment of chief medical examiner Charles Norris in 1918, the poison game changed forever. Together with toxicologist Alexander Gettler, the duo set the justice system on fire with their trailblazing scientific detective work, triumphing over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice.

An award-winning memoir that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity. When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she'd gotten there. Only days earlier, she had been leading an exciting life at the beginning of her promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

Susannah's memoir tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family's inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis of an exceedingly rare disease which led to her complete recovery.

It's a common rite of passage for parents to have "The Talk" with their kids about the beginning of life (aka the birds and the bees). But as parents age, the "Other Talk" focusing on their later years of life is equally important. Yet this discussion between parents and adult children is frequently neglected, leaving both parties with no contingency plans or options after a health crisis hits. In The Other Talk: A Guide to Talking with Your Adult Children About the Rest of Your Life, author Tim Prosch explores critical questions for later life planning such as how parents should manage their finances and budget for unknown needs, where to live if assistance is required, and which medical treatments and advocates should be sought. Dr. Maurice Pickard hosts.

It's a common rite of passage for parents to have "The Talk" with their kids about the beginning of life (aka the birds and the bees). But as parents age, the "Other Talk" focusing on their later years of life is equally important. Yet this discussion between parents and adult children is frequently neglected, leaving both parties with no contingency plans or options after a health crisis hits. In The Other Talk: A Guide to Talking with Your Adult Children About the Rest of Your Life, author Tim Prosch explores critical questions for later life planning such as how parents should manage their finances and budget for unknown needs, where to live if assistance is required, and which medical treatments and advocates should be sought. Dr. Maurice Pickard hosts.

Personal recognition of mental illness can be frightening for many people, but there are added implications for those in the world of fine arts, where the lines between creative genius, artistic license, and erratic brain health become blurred. Host Dr. Maurice Pickard welcomes Ellen Forney, author of the graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Darkly funny, intensely personal, and visually dynamic, Forney's graphic memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on the artist's work. Her story seeks the answer to the question of whether a correlation exists between creativity and mood disorders, and whether an artist's bipolar disorder should be viewed as a curse or a gift.

Personal recognition of mental illness can be frightening for many people, but there are added implications for those in the world of fine arts, where the lines between creative genius, artistic license, and erratic brain health become blurred. Host Dr. Maurice Pickard welcomes Ellen Forney, author of the graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Darkly funny, intensely personal, and visually dynamic, Forney's graphic memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on the artist's work. Her story seeks the answer to the question of whether a correlation exists between creativity and mood disorders, and whether an artist's bipolar disorder should be viewed as a curse or a gift.

Obesity and sedentary activities have contributed to an epidemic of diabetes mellitus in the US. Is there an answer that is not simply a "fad" diet? Joining host Dr. Maurice Pickard to address this important question is Dr. Osama Hamdy, Medical Director of the Weight Management Program at Joslin Diabetes Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hamdy is co-author of Diabetes Breakthrough: Better Health in Just 12 Weeks.

A New Orleans hospital, after Hurricane Katrina, was surrounded on all sides by several feet of water. The power was out, and as time went on without restoration of basic operations, rumors began circulating of the hospital being overrun by looters. It was a period of total chaos with breakdowns in institutional leadership, compromises in patient care, and in some cases, clinical decisions with deadly consequences. Dr. Sheri Fink, author of Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, takes us on a tour of the aftermath of these events, and the public outcries that both villified and defended the healthcare workers involved.

Click here for Part 1 of this fascinating two-part exploration of the disaster, a hospital's response, and the repercussions that have rippled through its affected staff, patients, and families years later.