Causes or Cures

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Raj Khanna, director of NYU's Pain Research Center and professor of molecular pathobiology at NYU School of Dentistry,  about his and his team's new research on potential future ways to tackle chronic pain. Given that chronic pain is a growing issue that impacts people of all ages and that there really are no good, long-term, reliable solutions out there, this is a key area of research.  Without reliable, long-term solutions from conventional medicine and therapies, many suffering from chronic pain seek out more alternative and unconventional approaches to find some relief. This is an especially timely topic given the ongoing US opioid epidemic.

In the podcast, Dr. Khanna starts with the basics and defines chronic pain and its causes. He describes his and his team's research and why a "special" sodium channel and a "special" protein that regulates this sodium channel are important when it comes to regulating chronic pain. He explains how he and his team used gene therapy to influence the interaction of the "special" protein and sodium channel, tested their hypothesis in animals and cells, and the results and outcomes related to chronic pain. Towards the end of the podcast, he discusses if the field may move towards replacing animals in research with other ways to test treatments, alternative approaches to chronic pain, and what the future of chronic pain treatment may look like.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Kirk Schneider about his new book Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World.  In the podcast, Dr. Schneider tells us about himself and his own struggle with anxiety and how that got him on the path to discovering life-enhancing anxiety. He explains how we get from a state of anxiety to a state of Awe and why it's important that we go through that entire (often difficult) process and not plug or drug it away. He discusses ways to overcome the fear of uncertainty, COVID and life-enhancing anxiety, the shortcomings of Positive Psychology and even how life-enhancing anxiety can be used to bridge political divides.

Dr. Schneider PhD is a licensed psychologist and leader for contemporary existential-humanistic psychology. He was a 2022 Candidate for President of the American Psychological Association and cofounder and current president of the Existential-Humanistic Institute. He is a presenter of the bridge-building dialogue approach the Experiential Democracy Dialogue and a trained moderator for the conflict mediation group, Braver Angels. He is also a faculty member at Columbia University and Saybrook University. You can learn more about him and his book here.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Andrew Sikora about the link between HPV, the most common sexually-transmitted disease, and head and throat cancers in men. While we hear more about HPV-linked cervical cancer in women, Dr. Sikora will discuss the  types of cancers HPV causes in men, risk factors, signs and symptoms, how it is treated once diagnosed, and prognosis after treatment. He will also talk about prevention and the HPV vaccine.
Dr. Sikora is professor and director of Research in the Department of Head and Neck surgery at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He is also the Co-Deputy Division Head for Research in the Division of Surgery at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
His clinical expertise is in throat cancer and HPV-related heaed and neck cancers and his research focuses on tumor immunology and immunotherapies for cancer. You can learn more about him here.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures,  Dr. Eeks chats with filmmaker and documentarian David Krissman about his investigative podcast series, "The Great Social Experiment," about America's only experiment with universal healthcare, the treatment of patients with kidney failure.
David takes us back to 1972, when congress guaranteed healthcare coverage for people with kidney failure regardless of race, socioeconomic status and age. And while on the surface, this sounds like a great and altruistic endeavor..., David describes why it is a cautionary tale of inequity, faulty decisions  on life-or-death matters, putting profits first, questionable incentives and at the core, a cautionary tale about what drives human behavior.  Throughout the podcast, David references media reports, government data, interviews with prominent experts and kidney patients. So fasten your seatbelts, because this is an incredible story by an amazing storyteller. (And after you listen to this, absolutely check out David's podcast here.)

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In this episode, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Nicholas Seyfried about his research on a protein(s) in the brain that may hold the key to making people resilient to Alzheimer's Disease, a growing concern in western nations with aging populations and those who have a family history of the disease.
In the podcast, Dr. Seyfried discusses what the pathological hallmarks are of Alzheimer's Disease and why cognitive impairment happens. He then describes why certain proteins in the brain, with a special focus on one called Neuritin, may make people resilient to Alzheimer's and how approaches to Alzheimer's disease may evolve over the next several years. He also discusses evidence-based prevention strategies that are good for everyone to know.

Dr. Seyfried is director of the Emory Integrated Proteomics Core at Emory University School of Medicine  and a professor in the department of biochemistry. The Seyfried Lab at Emory focuses on the relationship between proteomics and biology to tackle Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

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There has been recent reports and concerning articles suggesting that COVID-19 is leading to an uptick of new cases of Type 1 Diabetes in kids but is this potential link something parents and kids have to worry about?
Dr. Lars Stene joins Dr. Eeks on the podcast to discuss risk factors for Type 1 Diabetes and the trend of diagnosing new cases in kids over the last several years. He then discusses the potential, talked-about link between COVID and Type 1 Diabetes and provides his perspective on the current evidence. He discusses relative risk vs absolute risk (a good lesson for everyone), his current research on risk factors for Type 1 Diabetes and also talks about the "exposome."
Dr. Stene is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. For over 20 years, his focus is researching environmental factors, infections, nutritional factors and gene-environment interactions that may be risks for Type 1 Diabetes.  You can learn more about his work here.
And thank you to everyone who leaves a review and rating for the podcast! :)

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Ari Green about the latest thinking on what causes Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and who it impacts most, current treatment approaches, and research on potential new treatments involving remylenation therapies. He chats about the ReBUILD trial and something called the "Myelin Water Fraction" and how it can be used to measure remylenation. He also discusses the latest evidence on preventive factors for MS.
Dr. Green is a neurologist and neuro-ophthalmologist and medical director of the UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center. He is also director of the UCSF Neurodiagnostic Center. His research focus is on reparative treatments for people with MS and slowing down neurodegeneration. You can learn more about him here.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Tom Parsons about his study called The Weight of New York City, Possible Contributions to Subsidence from Anthropogenic Sources published in Earth's Future. He tells us what subsidence is and how it is measured, how and by how much the skyscrapers and buildings of NYC are contributing to it, why we should care about it, and what the potential short-term and long-term implications are. He talks about the potential implications from a "One Health" perspective, specifically in the realm of how our environment impacts our health. He also talks about what his study shows versus how it was presented by many media outlets, serving as an interesting case study for those in the scientific communications field.
Dr. Tom Parsons earned his PhD in geophysics from Stanford University and is a Research Geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California. You can learn more about his work, publications and research interests here.

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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Lance Price about his recent study published in One Health on the link between the meat we eat and urinary tract infections (UTIs).
In the podcast, he explains how he conducted the study and breaks down the more technical stuff so that it is understandable. He discusses the results of his work, antibiotic resistance, the types of meat most significantly linked to UTIs and how eating and preparing these types of meat may lead to UTIs. Then he talks about preventive strategies on the individual level and the population level.
Dr. Lance Price  is a professor at George Washington University's School of Public Health in Washington DC and the founding director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center. You can learn more about him here.


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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Stephanie James about the potential use of genetically modified mosquitoes (GMMs) to fight diseases that mosquitoes carry and spread, such as Malaria and Dengue Fever. 

In the podcast, Dr. James provides an overview on GMMs, as well as what something called Gene Drive Modified Mosquitoes (GDMMs) are. She talks about the current state of research, testing, and describes the GeneConvene Global Collaborative "GeneConvene", which was created to advance best practices and informed decision making for developing GMMs and GDMMs. She talks about the potential benefits versus the potential risks, how they are conducting risk assessments, how they plan to test GMMs, the ethical and safety concerns, and how local communities will be included in the decision-making process. 

Dr. James is the Senior Scientific Advisor, Population Health Science at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. She helps lead the work being conducted by the  GeneConvene Global Collaborative, has a doctorate in microbiology and a background in research on parasitic disease. She’s also led global health programs at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH and the Ellison Medical Foundation.

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