Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Michele Goodwin, JD

Michele Goodwin, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and recent author of "Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts," formulates a hybrid business model that includes incentives and altruism to increase the number of transplants by 40% per year. The voice of moral concern is not the only one being heard in this paradigm.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Michele Goodwin, JD

Michele Goodwin, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and recent author of "Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts" discusses what can be done to shorten the wait for organ transplants. Current solutions such as matching programs, solicitations and altruism still lead to poor outcomes in that 50% of patients on transplant lists die before their names are called.

Host: Paul Raeburn

Guest: Chiara Cirelli, MD, PhD

Why do we sleep, and what happens when we do? Why is sleep so critical to the brain? Join host Paul Raeburn addressing these and related questions in depth with sleep medicine expert Dr. Chiara Cirelli. Her work identifying genes involved in sleep regulation and characterizing molecular correlates of sleep and wakefulness is explored to provide a clearer depiction of this mysterious basic human function.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD

Guest: Paul Davenport, PhD

Coughing is usually thought of as a brainstem reflex event with little information coming from higher brain centers. Yet we all can cough voluntarily. What is known today about the biology of the urge to cough? Host Dr. Leslie Lundt welcomes expert Dr. Paul Davenport to discuss the stages of what takes cough from motivation to action and how this may be relevant clinically.

Host: Bruce Japsen

Guest: Sherman Elias, MD

It's not uncommon for pregnant women to have to search multiple floors and multiple buildings for medical care service, unless they are admitted to the new Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago where railings, couches and a plasma screen TV line a 124-foot triage walking track to alleviate potential labor pains. And that's just the first floor. Dr. Sherman Elias, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about the latest amenities in medical care at women's hospitals.

Host: Bruce Japsen

Guest: Sherman Elias, MD

Medical care for women is not just about delivering babies, but providing medical care at one location for all stages of their lives. Dr. Sherman Elias of Northwestern University's obstetrics and gynecology department tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about the move by U.S. hospitals to care for women at each and every stage of their lives.

Host: Bruce Japsen

Guest: Larry Boress, MPA

From paying employees to participate in wellness programs to charging them extra premiums if they smoke, employers are taking unique approaches to wellness and disease management. Larry Boress, president of the Midwest Business Group on Health, a national business coalition, tells host Bruce Japsen about employers' efforts to entice patients to pursue wellness and primary care.

Host: Bruce Japsen

Guest: Larry Boress, MPA

After years of raising co-payments and deductibles for prescription drugs, some employers are taking an unorthodox approach to lowering health-care costs. Now get this, they are paying for drugs and consultations that go along with them. Larry Boress, president of the Midwest Business Group on Health, tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about this unique approach to controlling prescription spending.

Host: Bruce Japsen

Guest: Douglas Losordo, MD

A treatment that uses adult stem cells to rebuild failing hearts - once believed to be impossible - is making progress helping patients rebound from severe coronary artery disease, a leading killer of people around the world. Dr. Douglas Losordo, head of the program in cardiovascular regenerative medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about the latest advancement in stem cells to rebuild heart tissue.

Host: Bruce Japsen

Guest: Douglas Losordo, MD

A journal Nature report that scientists cloned an embryo of a monkey and harvested its stem cells have grabbed headlines, but just how much progress are we really making in stem cell treatments? Dr. Douglas Losordo, head of the program in Cardiovascular Medicine at Northwestern University tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about progress in stem cell treatments.