Charged: Stories from the Women Leading Health Care

Dr. Nasrien Ibrahim has experienced the important role that mentorship plays in a person’s life and career. Her approach to mentorship is built on transparency and a belief in sharing her own challenges in order to help other young woman and men of color who are considering careers in medicine.     In this episode of Charged, Dr. Ibrahim talks about her mission to eradicate disparities in medicine, Imposter Syndrome and the story of what she describes as her “lowest point” in her career and life. 

In the United States, people of color have long experienced inequalities in health care. And, throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, these disparities in health care, and the systemic racism that prevents underserved and underrepresented communities from accessing equal care, have been brought to light even more. In this special episode, the new Charged host, Kelsey Damrad, and three previous Charged guests—Dr. Gaurdia Banister, Dr. Allison Bryant and Dr. Marcela del Carmen—discuss inequalities and racism in health care. 

Doctors have struggled for years to find an effective treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), in part because the it varies greatly from patient to patient in terms of how quickly it progresses and the age of onset. But for neurologist Merit E. Cudkowicz, MD, those challenges are opportunities for scientific collaboration. She spends her days leading clinical trials aimed at better understanding ALS and working with patients to find better treatments for this debilitating disease. Today, new therapies are in rapid development. Her work has inspired hope for a disease that seemed incurable a decade ago. In this episode, she discusses her drive to find a cure for ALS and why she’s so passionate about her ALS patients. 

Happy Mother’s Day from the Charged team at Massachusetts General Hospital! In honor of this special day, we are celebrating the many amazing mothers at Mass General and the incredible way they manage their work and personal lives.  

In this special episode, we asked our second season guests to share stories about balancing motherhood and their careers, the challenges of building a career in medicine while raising a family and their parenting inspirations and role models.  

We hope you enjoy this bonus episode with the mothers of Charged!  

Throughout her career Angela Fitch, MD, has watched obesity treatment transform from an area of medicine rarely discussed to a dynamic, rapidly evolving practice. Dr. Fitch wants to transform the way we approach obesity by building patient-focused treatment programs and communities of support to help patients succeed in losing weight and living healthier lives. 

In this episode of Charged, Dr. Fitch discusses the importance of re-educating patients and providers to recognize obesity as a chronic disease in order to eradicate the stigma and misinformation surrounding obesity, as well as how developments in personalized medicine and a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach are shaping the field of obesity medicine. 

Physicians put in a tremendous amount of work into providing quality care for their patients, but sometimes the challenges that physicians face go unnoticed. Many physicians experience burnout, which leaves them feeling stress, exhaustion and less enjoyment in their work. More women than men report feelings of burnout. In this episode, we hope to spark discussion about the challenges that the women at Mass General face. 

As a practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Jacqueline Olds has spent decades working with patients of all ages and life stages, helping them through life’s challenges. And while no two people are the same, Dr. Olds has identified one common theme among her patients—loneliness. And while that feeling may not be permanent, it can have a serious impact on our lives.   

Over the past 25 years, she and her psychiatrist husband, Dr. Richard Schwartz, have worked to bring loneliness out of the closet and help all of us build stronger, long-lasting relationships. She discusses ways to combat loneliness, the importance of building positive, supportive relationships, both romantic and platonic, and elements that help a relationship last. 

Since beginning her career in the mid-1990s, infectious disease chief Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky has witnessed the transformation of the landscape for HIV and AIDS. Though new drugs have improved the outlook, the challenges of accessing and maintaining care persist. Dr. Walensky discusses how she works to expand access to care for HIV patients through research and a willingness to understand patients' struggles.

Dr. Leigh Anne Dageforde first realized her passion for transplantation surgery during a moment in her residency when she witnessed the immediate result a kidney transplant surgery provided to a patient. Over the course of her career, her dedication to the field has only grown. The field of transplant surgery is special to her because doctors can give their patients something new, and in turn, give them back their life.  

In this episode of Charged, Dr. Dageforde shares her experience working in a what is still considered a young field and learning from role models who have forged the path ahead for transplant surgeons like herself. She discusses the unique nature of the field, the personal connections she has with patient and donor communities and the collaborative nature of transplantation. 

During her graduate studies in molecular biology, an over-training injury derailed Dr. Sara Lazar’s aspirations to run the Boston Marathon. During her recovery, she discovered yoga and, after a few classes, was surprised to find that she felt calmer, more compassionate and less reactive. She wanted tounderstand why, and that quest ultimately altered the course of her career. For over 15 years, she and her team in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital have investigated how meditation affects the brain and were the first to show the connection between meditation and cortical thickening in the brain. In this episode, she discusses her work and how to integrate meditation into a busy life.