Health Is On The Way

In episode 10 we bring together the hosts and special guest hosts to reflect on Season One and the key learnings each had personally and professionally. The hosts discuss their favorite moments, what topics and guests motivated them to make a healthy change and what topics they wish we would have gotten on the Podcast in Season One.

Despite pain being one of the first attempts at "medicine" by early humans, pain as a medical discipline is relatively young. Today on Health Is On The Way we are joined by pain physician Dr. Mihir Kamdar from Massachusetts General Hospital's Cancer Pain Clinic to discuss:

• What pain is.
• The important role pain plays as an alarm system for injuries to our body.
• Why pain is connected to our fear and anxiety centers in our brains.
• How mood impacts pain for patients.
• Why for some people pain can become chronic or persistent, even after the underlying injury has healed.
• How multi-modal treatment models address not just the physical but also the psycho-social needs of pain patients.
• The fact that true multi-modal pain care is inaccessible to most Americans and how digital health programs like Fern Health can scale to help solve that.
• How medical professionals have shifted the focus from patient pain scores to quality-of-life metrics in response to the Opioid crisis.
• The ripple impact unresolved pain can have on patient's familes, social circles, employers and society.

Dr. Mihir Kamdar graduated from the Emory University School of Medicine, then completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Brigham & Women's Hospital. From there, Dr. Kamdar completed a fellowship with Harvard Palliative Medicine and a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Anesthesia Pain Medicine fellowship. Following these experiences, Dr. Kamdar became a Staff Attending, Palliative Care and Anesthesia Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where he is now an Associate Director, Palliative Care Division, Department of Medicine, and Director of Cancer Pain Clinic and Attending, Palliative Care and Anesthesia Pain Medicine at MGH. In addition, Dr. Kamdar is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

This episode is not medical advice nor does MGH or Dr. Kamdar endorse any treatment or program like Fern Health mentioned in the episode. Please consult your own medical professional for your medical needs.

• The role of functional medicine within the medical community.

• What methylation is and its role in our cellular, gene and DNA health.

• How diet and nutrition can impact the methylation process in our bodies.

• The role genes and genetics play in health outcomes and how some aspects of genetic expression can be impacted by lifestyle factors.

• How a pro-methylation diet and lifestyle changes reduced biological DNA age in a recent clinical study.

• When vitamin and mineral supplementation can be helpful to healthy methylation for some people.

• The difference between chronological age and biological age.

• The role sleep, emotional health and movement play in DNA repair and healthy aging.

As always this isn't medical advice, please consult your own qualified health professionals before making health and healthcare decisions.

In episode 7 Dr. Kate Wolin joins the podcast to discuss the link between excess weight and several forms of cancer. In the episode we discuss:

• The links between cancer risk, cancer survivorship and obesity.
• How the context in which you live can determine your health outcomes.
• Top eight tips to reduce risk of cancer and manage weight.
• What's necessary for cancer survivors to stay healthy.
• The importance of progression in setting smart weight goals.

After earning her Doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health in Epidemiology and Health Psychology, Kate had a distinguished academic career leading research in health behaviors and the obesity/cancer connection. Kate has been on other high profile health related shows including 5 appearances on the Dr. Oz television show.

After leaving academia Kate started her entrepreneurial career by being part of the founding team of Scale Down, a digital health company based on published clinical research of using daily weighing to lose weight. Kate served as CEO of Scale Down up until the company was sold to a leading health insurer in 2017.

This is not heath advice or treatment recommendations. Everyone should consult their own qualified health professionals for their own healthcare needs.

In Episode #6 of Health Is On The Way guest co-host Nicole Grasso of Bravo Wellness joins guest Jim Pshock of Bravo Wellness and Medical Mutual of Ohio to discuss the rapid virtualization of all aspects of healthcare. We cover how the traditional barriers of consumer preference, reimbursement, and regulatory limitations and how these are being systematically removed. We also cover remaining limitations on virtual care and the forces that are pushing through these barriers to make virtual the preferred, first option for many health consumers.

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Rhonda Phillips from Purdue University to discuss the link between happiness, community, and wellbeing. We discuss why happiness and flourishing are very relevant measures and the 3 factors that influence them. We also dive into a conversation about how and why employers should invest in the communities that they operate in and give examples of companies who heavily invest in their communities where their employees live and raise the next generation workforces. Finally, we discuss the differences between needs based and asset-based community planning and why one has substantial benefits over the other.

Dr. Phillips Rhonda is a past President of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, www.isqols.org and serves on the site visitor team of the national Planning Accreditation Board. Dr. Phillips received her doctorate in city and regional planning and a M.S. in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a M.S. in economic development and a B.S. in geography from the University of Southern Mississippi. She was the first woman to graduate from the doctoral program in city and regional planning at Georgia Tech.

It's easy to think that people who need care wouldn't continue to delay it now that doctors are seeing patients in person again. But in reality, delaying and avoiding care was actually a pretty big problem before the pandemic—and before you guess why, it's not because people were not insured. In fact, prior to the pandemic it was estimated that 30-50% of American families had delayed or avoided needed care for one big reason: The couldn't afford their portion of the bill even with good health insurance.

In this episode of our podcast, we interviewe Craig Froude, CEO at medZERO, to help us understand just how big an issue medical debt is for the average American, how this issue actually impacts not just patients but also their providers and how employers can help reduce this burden, ensuring employees get access to care, and ultimately build a stronger, healthier workforce.

What comes to mind when you think of the word 'downtime'?

If you're in the HR and benefits world, you probably think of paid time off policies and work-life balance. Which isn't wrong, but there's a more practical, everyday application you could be missing.

In this episode of Health Is On The Way we interview Art Markman, PhD, from UT Austin, a cognitive scientist, author, podcaster and blogger. Dr. Markman shares:

• What actually is downtime?
• The different kinds of downtime and the effects it can have on our mental health and our ability to perform at peak levels
• How we become more effective when we use downtime intentionally

Are we fighting one pandemic or two?

In Episode 2, Dr. Joel Kahn, celebrity VIP cardiologist, joins the podcast to provide evidence-based ideas to improve health.

Topics Covered:

• How some people have used the lockdown as an opportunity to create life-changing health habits.
• The surprising benefit of including mushrooms in your diet.
• The importance of breathing correctly and a little-known secret to getting better sleep and stop snoring.

This episode is full of practical takeaways to improve your lifestyle and your immune health just as in-person work and personal events begin to pick up again.

This podcast is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or health provider if you have questions about your health or a medical condition.

In our first episode hosts Brad Lawson and Susan Morgan Bailey speak to health and benefits legal expert Barbara Zabawa about the legal and regulatory considerations of workforce vaccination. Topics covered include:

* Should or can vaccination be mandatory?

* What exemptions can employees use if they are not vaccinated?

* Employee privacy and other regulatory considerations.

* The use of incentives, third parties and integrating vaccination into an employee wellbeing program.

Barbara Zabawa is the founder of the Center for Health and Wellness Law, LLC and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School.