Health Is the Key

Can healthy food taste great? Absolutely, says award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and activist Marcus Samuelsson. In this special video episode of Health Is the Key, Chef Marcus discusses his new cookbook, Back to Green: Rediscovering a World of Delicious, Healthy Eating. Offering practical tips for creating more nutritious, flavorful meals, he explains why eating well can be easier, more affordable and more delicious than many people think. And be sure to visit our socials—Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn—to find out how you can win a signed copy of Back to Green!

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Marcus Samuelsson, award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and activist, is the esteemed chef behind many restaurants worldwide, including Red Rooster in Harlem and Red Rooster Overtown in Miami; Hav & Mar in the Chelsea Arts District; Metropolis at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in lower Manhattan; and several international locations, including the Bahamas, Canada and Ethiopia. Samuelsson was the youngest person ever to receive a three-star review from The New York Times. He has won eight James Beard Foundation Awards and was the guest chef for the Obama Administration’s first state dinner.

In our October episode, we marked Breast Cancer Awareness Month with an important message: Regular screenings and early detection save lives. We talked with Dr. Angela Ramdhanny, a medical oncologist and hematologist at the Northwell Cancer Institute, who discussed the latest advances in breast cancer treatment and explained why scheduling a screening is so important. In this month’s Key Note, host Elizabeth Moore shares her own experience undergoing an MRI-guided biopsy and what she learned along the way.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Angela Ramdhanny, MD, is a medical oncologist and hematologist. She specializes in breast cancer and benign hematology and sees patients at three Northwell Cancer Institute locations in Manhattan. She completed her residency and fellowship at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island, where she served as both chief resident and chief fellow. 

Dr. Ramdhanny is drawn to oncology by the constant evolution of the field, along with the long-term relationships built with patients and their families. Her dual interest and expertise in hematology allows her to bring a full spectrum of care to patients. She treats patients in their journey with breast cancer, and her practice extends to an abundance of hematologic issues. At times, these fields overlap and allow her to centralize care.   

As a clinician, Dr. Ramdhanny has made it her priority to meet people where they are. Her focus is on patient-centered care, creating individualized treatment plans and advocating for shared decision making. 

For our October episode, we're marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month with an important message: Regular mammograms and early detection remain the most powerful tools we have in the fight against breast cancer. Joining us to spread the word is Dr. Angela Ramdhanny, a medical oncologist and hematologist at the Northwell Cancer Institute who specializes in breast cancer care. Dr. Ramdhanny is passionate about helping patients through every stage of their journey and encouraging women to stay on top of their screenings. She shares the latest advances in breast cancer treatment, offers hope to those facing a diagnosis and explains why scheduling a screening today could make all the difference tomorrow. If you or someone you care about is due for a mammogram, we hope this conversation serves as a positive reminder to make that appointment today.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Dr. Ramdhanny was drawn to oncology by the constant evolution of the field, along with the long-term relationships built with patients and their families. Her dual interest and expertise in hematology allows her to bring a full spectrum of care to patients. She treats patients in their journey with breast cancer, and her practice extends to an abundance of hematologic issues. At times, these fields overlap and allow her to centralize care.   

As a clinician, Dr. Ramdhanny has made it her priority to meet people where they are. Her focus is on patient-centered care, creating individualized treatment plans and advocating for shared decision making. 

Our September episode focused on the power of food to prevent and treat diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions. Our guest, Dr. Michelle McMacken, Executive Director for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals, joined us to discuss the innovative program she created at H+H and the impact this approach can have on your overall health. In this month’s Key Note, Dr. McMacken reveals the important first step to help kick-start your health journey and shares why where you start may matter more than you think.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

An Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. McMacken has received the faculty “Teacher of the Year” award three times. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She has presented at numerous academic conferences, including the American College of Physicians and the American Diabetes Association. She is board-certified in both internal medicine and lifestyle medicine.

To celebrate National Fruits and Veggies Month, we’re dedicating our September episode to healthy eating! We’re so fortunate to be joined by Dr. Michelle McMacken, Executive Director of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals. Dr. McMacken discusses the innovative program she created at H+H that uses lifestyle medicine to treat and prevent diabetes, as well as other chronic conditions such as heart disease and hypertension. A plant-based diet is at the heart of the program, but Dr. McMacken emphasizes that even small changes can produce big results. One of her simplest tips? Take a “low-hanging fruit” approach…by eating more fruit! Combined with three other healthy habits—regular exercise, avoiding tobacco and maintaining a healthy weight—a nutritious diet can help reduce the risk of everything from type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol to heart disease, certain cancers and even dementia.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

An Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. McMacken has received the faculty “Teacher of the Year” award three times. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Yale University and her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She has presented at numerous academic conferences, including the American College of Physicians and the American Diabetes Association. She is board-certified in both internal medicine and lifestyle medicine.

To mark National Immunization Awareness Month, we explored the power of vaccines with Dr. Rebecca Choudhury in our August episode. In this month’s Key Note, Dr. Choudhury lays to rest concerns about vaccines’ safety, walking us through the rigorous approval process they undergo before they reach your doctor’s office or pharmacy. Her insights highlight why vaccines remain one of the most effective ways to protect not only our own health but also the health of our loved ones, co-workers and communities.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Rebecca Choudhury, MD, is an Infectious Disease Physician and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She also serves as the Hospital Epidemiologist and Medical Director of Infection Prevention at Mount Sinai Queens. After completing her undergraduate studies at Columbia University, Dr. Choudhury earned her medical degree from Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She then pursued her residency in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University before finishing with an Infectious Disease Fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center. With her board certifications in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease, Dr. Choudhury's clinical interests include general infectious diseases, HIV care, antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention.

Dr. Choudhury is also involved in research, with her interests including hospital-acquired infections and quality improvement. Along with other members of the Mount Sinai Health System Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship teams, she has worked on studies related to decreasing blood culture contamination rates and hospital-acquired bloodstream and antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

Dr. Choudhury is a member of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Her work has been published in academic journals, including Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Clinical Infectious Diseases and Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

It’s National Immunization Awareness Month, so for our August episode, we take a closer look at one of the greatest public health achievements of all time: vaccines. For decades, vaccines have helped protect millions of people from serious diseases and saved countless lives along the way. To help us better understand why vaccines remain so important, we’re joined by Dr. Rebecca Choudhury, an Infectious Disease Physician and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Choudhury gives us a crash course in vaccines—how they work, how they’re tested for safety, who should get them (spoiler: pretty much all of us) and when, and why they continue to be one of our best tools for staying healthy.

The Takeaway

In our July episode, we went beyond the headlines to get the facts about GLP-1 medications with Dr. Holly Lofton, Director of the Medical Weight Management Program at NYU Langone. In this month’s Key Note episode, Dr. Lofton explains how the new oral GLP-1 medications compare with injections and shares important information that can help patients make informed decisions about their care.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Holly F. Lofton, MD, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery at NYU Langone Health, where she has served as director of the Medical Weight Management Program since 2012. Here, she designed the popular New You program to help her patients obtain results while fostering nutrition education and placing emphasis on a healthy lifestyle. She is currently involved in clinical research pertaining to the pharmacotherapy to treat weight recurrence after bariatric surgery as well as clinical drug trials. In her faculty role, Dr. Lofton continues to educate students and other physicians about diagnosing and treating obesity. She also educates the general public about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight through lectures, workshops, and written, audio and video media. She has served on the board of the Obesity Action Coalition, the Bariatric Medicine committee for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and the Obesity Medicine Fellowship Council.  In 2021, Dr. Lofton was also appointed as the Medical Director of the NFL Alumni Wellness Challenge, which aims to optimize health in former athletes.

Originally developed to treat diabetes, GLP-1 medications soon made headlines for their impact on weight loss. But despite all the attention they've received, many people still have questions: How do these medications work? Are they safe? To get answers, we spoke with Dr. Holly Lofton, Director of the Medical Weight Management Program at NYU Langone. In this episode, Dr. Lofton explains the science behind GLP-1s, how they support weight loss and why adopting healthy lifestyle habits and working with your doctor are crucial to long-term success.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Holly F. Lofton, MD, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery at NYU Langone Health, where she has served as director of the Medical Weight Management Program since 2012. Here, she designed the popular New You program to help her patients obtain results while fostering nutrition education and placing emphasis on a healthy lifestyle. She is currently involved in clinical research pertaining to the pharmacotherapy to treat weight recurrence after bariatric surgery as well as clinical drug trials. In her faculty role, Dr. Lofton continues to educate students and other physicians about diagnosing and treating obesity. She also educates the general public about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight through lectures, workshops, and written, audio and video media. She has served on the board of the Obesity Action Coalition, the Bariatric Medicine committee for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and the Obesity Medicine Fellowship Council.  In 2021, Dr. Lofton was also appointed as the Medical Director of the NFL Alumni Wellness Challenge, which aims to optimize health in former athletes.

In our June episode, we celebrated the Year of the Brain, as new discoveries continue to deepen our understanding of how the brain works. Dr. Anna Hohler, Director of Neurology for Northwell Health’s Westchester Region, joined us to share simple steps we can all take to support brain health. In this month’s Key Note, Dr. Hohler focuses on migraines—a common and often debilitating condition affecting millions – explaining what they are, who’s most at risk and how to treat and prevent them.

The Takeaway

Guest Bio

Anna DePold Hohler, MD, FAAN, is a distinguished neurologist, researcher and educator who recently joined Northwell Health to lead and enhance neurology services for its Westchester Region, as well as launch a new virtual neurology program across the 28-hospital system. An internationally recognized expert in movement disorders, she is deeply involved in research furthering novel therapies to treat Parkinson's disease. Dr. Hohler began her career in the U.S. Army, serving for eight years and achieving the rank of major.