General Medicine and Primary Care

Guest: Michael Greenberg, MD

Dermatologist Dr. Michael Greenberg has been in practice for over 40 years, but never had he received anything like what a patient recently gave him—which might not have happened if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Greenberg explains how this unique experience gave him a new perspective on the power of gratitude and how it can serve as a bigger lesson for us all.

Published April 27, 2020

Host: Mario R. Nacinovich, Jr., MSc

Guest: Anthony Dragun, MD

Throughout this global pandemic, radiation oncologists are faced with the challenge of finding ways to continue administering the necessary cancer treatments while limiting their patients’ risk of exposure to COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Dragun from the MD Anderson Cancer Center is here to explain how that can be done and why these new approaches should be embraced even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Published April 27, 2020

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD

Guest: Frank Scott, MD

Disease and drug monitoring can help us improve our approach to managing our patients’ IBD, but when’s the right time to perform that practice and how do we go about it? Joining Dr. Matt Birnholz at the third annual Crohn’s & Colitis Congress in Austin, Texas to answer those questions and more was Dr. Frank Scott, Assistant Professor of Medicine from the Crohn’s & Colitis Center at the University of Colorado.

Host: Mario R. Nacinovich, Jr., MSc

Guest: Jonathan Riess, MD, MS

Due to the many challenges and complications that are now facing oncologists and their patients requiring lung cancer treatment, lung cancer care is changing in many ways to help minimize a patient’s risk of exposure, as Dr. Jonathan Riess from the UC Davis Medical Center explains.

Published April 24, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Host: Stephanie Desmon

Guest: Julie Messersmith

Guest: Denis Wirtz

The challenges presented by the pandemic are giving rise to a pipeline of research proposals focused on COVID-19. Julie Messersmith and Denis Wirtz are leading Johns Hopkins University's multidisciplinary research projects to develop better detection and protection tools and treatments for COVID-19 patients. They talk to Stephanie Desmon about how engineers, public health specialists, and medical doctors are teaming up to develop better testing and treatment solutions on incredibly fast-tracked timelines.

Published April 21, 2020

Host: Linda Bernstein, Pharm.D.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a new guidance for the issuance of oral Schedule II prescriptions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide public health emergency. Pharmacist Dr. Linda Bernstein details the DEA’s temporary exceptions to the regulations to ease prescribing and dispensing of these controlled substances during this challenging time.

Published April 24, 2020

Host: Linda Bernstein, Pharm.D.

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized clinicians to prescribe chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for hospitalized patients with COVID-19, despite warnings from scientific advisers that no randomized controlled trial has been conducted to support the drugs’ safety and efficacy in this population. Pharmacist Dr. Linda Bernstein takes us through the FDA’s decision process, the parameters of the issuance, and comments made by the experts on this emergency ruling.

Published April 24, 2020

Host: Linda Bernstein, Pharm.D.

Join pharmacist Dr. Linda Bernstein as she highlights several articles from recent literature describing coagulopathies in severely ill COVID-19 patients in China. She explores the cause and effect theories behind these findings and whether the observed coagulopathies are due directly to the virus, the critically ill condition of the patient that predisposes them to thromboembolism, or some combination of the two.

Published April 24, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Preeti N. Malani MD

Colleges and universities are already starting to think about what it would take to reopen for the fall semester. But bringing back students, faculty, and staff—and welcoming the class of 2024—will require a complete rethinking of campus life. Dr. Preeti Malani, Chief Health Officer of the University of Michigan, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how she’s considering the health and safety of 50,000 students plus faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published April 20, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Tom Inglesby, MD

Does the virus cause male sterility? Are false negatives a problem with COVID tests? Is there a connection between how much virus you’re exposed to and how serious the illness is? Should people on immunosuppressive drugs stop taking them? Does the virus “reactivate?” Can people really become immune? Why are there so many more cases in the northern hemisphere? Why will a COVID-19 vaccine take so long when we come up with a new flu vaccine every year?

Tom Inglesby, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, answers a grab bag of listener questions.

Published April 17, 2020