General Medicine and Primary Care

When patients and clinicians alike consider genome sequencing, an attitude of "more is better" often predominates notions of what information to obtain. But new perspectives on the comparative value and contained costs of more refined exome sequencing have since emerged. Joining host Dr. Robert Green to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of respective clinical sequencing options is Dr. Richard Gibbs, Wofford Cain Chair and Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics, as well as Founder and Director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

Stress has long been associated with cardiovascular risk, but few studies have connected stress with worsened recovery rates after heart attacks. Moreover, the recently published discovery that women with mental stress may suffer worse outcomes recovering from heart attacks than men under similar conditions raises more questions than answers. What are the possible mechanisms by which this gender disparity in outcomes may occur, and how can clinicians help mitigate this risk? Dr. Brian McDonough welcomes Dr. Nieca Goldberg, cardiologist and director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Dr. Howard Levy welcomes Joseph McInerney, Executive Vice President of the American Society of Human Genetics, to talk about collaborative efforts within the Society to help healthcare professionals integrate genetics into clinical care for their patients and promote medical education for the wider public.

How will new computational techniques leveraging "big data" analytics impact healthcare systems and medical practices, and where should this data come from? Alicia Sutton welcomes Jennifer Golbeck, director of the Human Computer Interaction Lab and associate professor at the College of Information Studies of the University of Maryland, to discuss present and future directions in big data usage for medicine and society.

Hypnosis in Obstetrics. It’s something you probably just don’t hear about every day, but the practice has existed for more than a century and in that time collected a fair amount of evidence on its behalf. What are the benefits and risks of hypnotic practice, both in the obstetric domain and in the wider arena of medicine? Joining Dr. Matt Birnholz to separate fact from fiction about hypnosis in medicine at Omnia Education’s Women’s Health Annual Visit in New York is Dr. David Gandell, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

The controversy over vaccinations and whether or not to regulate their administration has reached a boiling point in the United States with the recent measles outbreak originating in Disneyland, and prominent politicians like Senator Rand Paul and Governor Chris Christie have weighed in to support the anti-vaccine community's appeal for individual choice. What are the ethical, sociological, and political ramifications of these developments in the national vaccination debate, and how should the medical community respond? Joining Dr. Brian McDonough to discuss the vaccination controversy is Dr. Arthur Caplan, Professor and founding Director of the Division of Medical Ethics in NYU Langone Medical Center’s Department of Population Health.

Pancreatic Cancer strikes fear into the hearts of every practicing internist, pathologist, oncologist, and general surgeon on behalf of their patients, and unfortunately for us all, it’s on the rise. By 2030 it will be expected to climb to the number-2 spot for causes of cancer death. What new insights can we bring to the recognition and identification of pancreatic cancer to help curb that trend? Joining host Ana Maria Rosario at Omnia Education’s Stages in Women’s Health in New York is Dr. Aimee Lucas, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

On average, more than 90% of adults spend more than two hours each day using a digital device, and for 60% of the population, that daily use pattern extends beyond five hours. Regardless of the reasons why, all that time can take a toll on the eyes and lead to digital eye strain. Speaking on the health implications of digital eye strain is Dr. Dora Adamopolous, optometrist in practice in Alexandia, VA.

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with cardiologist, genomics and telemedicine expert Dr. Eric Topol, Director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute. They discuss his latest book, The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine Is In Your Hands, in which he predicts the "medicalization of the smart phone" is poised to truly democratize medicine by putting the power of diagnostics and monitoring in the patient's own hands.

A recent study in the British Medical Journal examined health recommendations from popular TV medical talk show hosts, discovering that approximately half of those recommendation have either no evidence or are contradicted by the best available evidence. Furthermore, potential conflicts of interest are rarely addressed. What ethical, legal, and clinical impacts do such health claims and recommendations have on patients and the medical community at large? Joining Dr. Brian McDonough is Dr. Joe Perrone, Chief Science Officer for The Center for Accountability in Science, an organization dedicated to uncovering the science behind news stories.