Johns Hopkins Medicine A Womans Journey: Health Insights that Matter

With every fall, comes a new flu vaccine. As we age, vaccines become an increasingly important tool to keep us healthy and avoiding unnecessary illnesses. In this month's podcast, moderator Lillie Shockney is joined by infectious disease expert, Dr. Anna Durbin, to discuss various different vaccines and the importance of vaccine compliance as we age. 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation: 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2024, an estimated 310,720 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. An estimated 42,250 U.S. women will die from breast cancer in 2024.

In this month’s podcast, moderator, nurse and two-time breast cancer survivor, Lillie Shockney, sits down with medical oncologist Dr. Channing Paller, associate director of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to discuss her study showing that natural compounds derived from soy and other plants can reduce breast cancer recurrence and improve survival.

As baby boomers grow older, the World Health Organization projects that by 2060, 95 million people will be age 65 or older.

This month, moderator Lillie Shockney is joined by geriatrician and researcher Peter Abadir, an associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to discuss aging well, especially the role that our DNA plays in the development of chronic inflammation. 

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the U.S. will see just over 2 million new cancer cases in 2024, as well as over 611,000 cancer deaths. 

In this month’s podcast, moderator Lillie Shockney is joined by medical oncologist and researcher Dr. Neeha Zaidi to discuss vague symptoms — such as unexplained weight loss, fatigue, bleeding, GI problems and new lumps or masses — that can be among the signs of cancers.

An estimated 8 million Americans are affected by peripheral arterial disease, also known as peripheral artery disease (PAD). This condition can cause leg discomfort when walking or more serious problems such as pain in the foot at rest, toe ulcers, toe infections and gangrene.  

In this month’s podcast, moderator Lillie Shockney is joined by vascular surgeon Dr. Rebecca Marmor, an assistant professor who specializes in the open and endovascular treatment of a wide range of vascular conditions.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation: In the U.S., more than 9,500 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every day. More than two people die of the disease every hour.

In this month’s podcast, moderator Dr. Lillie Shockney is joined by dermatologist Dr. Farah Succaria, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology. Her research interests focus on various cancers including melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

According to the CDC: Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. About 77 % of which are first-time or new strokes. Every 3 minutes and 14 seconds, someone dies of stroke.

In this month’s podcast, moderator Dr. Lillie Shockney is joined by neurologist, Dr.  Argye Hillis, who is the Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute Professor of Acute Stroke Diagnoses and Management and also serves as the director of the Center of Excellence in Stroke Detection and Diagnosis, Sheikh Khalifa Stroke Institute.

Every woman will eventually go through menopause and while each woman's experience is unique, there is some unique experiences that unite women of color during perimenopause through post-menopause. 

Special guest moderator for this podcast is psychiatrist Erica Richards, who serves as Chair and Medical Director in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Sibley Memorial Hospital.  Dr. Richards sits down to discuss what women of color need to know about menopause with associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics, Dr. Wen Shen, who serves as director of the Women's Wellness & Healthy Aging Program at Johns Hopkins.

In the 2nd of 3 A Journey for Women of Color, reporter Ava-joye Burnett sits down to discuss what women of color need to know about multiple myeloma.  Her guest is Johns Hopkins Medicine associate professor of oncology, Dr. Carol Ann Huff, whose major research interests focus on the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other plasma cell dyscrasias.

Did you know that there is there a difference in aging concerns between Caucasian women and non-Caucasian women? In the 1st of three A Journey for Women of Color podcasts, reporter Ava-joye Burnett sits down with professor of otolaryngology Dr. Kofi Boahene, who serves as a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Johns Hopkins Medicine.