Johns Hopkins Medicine A Womans Journey: Health Insights that Matter

Pediatrician Rachel Thornton reviews the vulnerability of children and symptoms of COVID-19 in children and adolescents and when parents should contact their doctor. In the second half of the webcast, pediatric psychiatrist, Hal Kronsberg, shares strategies to discuss COVID with children and adolescents and considers ways in which anxiety and stress may manifest in children.

A Woman's Journey: Insights that Matter is devoting this time to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are pleased to offer audio transcripts of a series of webcasts where Johns Hopkins experts focus on a number of pertinent topics.

What follows is the audio of the first of six webcasts featuring Johns Hopkins Medicine psychiatrist Karen Swartz who talks about coping with stress and social isolation during the pandemic.

Menopause is a monumental moment in a woman’s life that typically occurs around 50 years of age. Why would a woman decide to delay menopause?  This month’s podcast features reproductive endocrinologist Mindy Christianson, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Fertility Center, and host Lillie Shockney discussing the various reasons why a woman might make that decision.

Low vision affects approximately 2.9 million Americans age 40 and older. This month's guest is researcher Bonnielin Swenor, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute and an assistant professor of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health discusses her personal experience and research that focuses on the impact of and eye disease such as age-related macular degeneration, on aging. She also shares her personal connection to her research.

Heart disease remains the #1 cause of death for women in the U.S. Preventative cardiologist Erin Michos discusses risk factors for women, cardiovascular prevention methods and finally, the 2019 primary prevention cardiovascular guidelines and topics such as Vitamin D, daily aspirin to prevent heart attack, hormone replacement and statin therapy.

In the United States alone, approximately 100,000 women are diagnosed with gynecologic cancer each year. Listen as GYN oncologist Anna Beavis, an assistant professor of gynecological cancer at The Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service in the department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins discusses cervical cancer as well as ovarian and uterine cancer.

The practice of staying present in the moment benefits individuals by lowering chronic stress, anxiety, blood pressure and pain intensity while also improving focus, memory and even immune function. Listen as clinical psychologist and director of the mindfulness program at Johns Hopkins Dr. Neda Gould discusses the importance of a mindfulness practice.

November is pancreatic cancer awareness month.  Alex Trebek has certainly brought the subject of pancreatic cancer into conversation this last year, but according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the U.S. Speaking in this month’s podcast is professor of surgery and director of the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Christopher Wolfgang. Gain an understanding of the pancreas, the role and complexity of the pancreas, and the threat of pancreatic cancer. 

The Johns Hopkins National Proton Therapy Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital opened its door the Fall of 2019. Proton therapy is an advanced and highly precise radiation treatment for tumors and compared to other methods, focuses more energy on the tumor itself with less radiation to surrounding healthy tissue.

Proton beams can be used to treat:

• Sarcomas, particularly those in the base of the skull, spine or the retroperitoneum
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Rhabdomyosarcoma, melanoma and other cancers around the eye
• Lung cancer and other thoracic cancers such as lymphoma or thymoma
• Head and neck cancer
• Liver cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Benign tumors

Lillie Shockney interviews radiation oncologist Akila Viswanathan, who is the interim director for Johns Hopkins Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, the director for the National Capital Region for radiation oncology, and a professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences for Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

According to breastcancer.org, about 12% of American women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. In 2019, it's estimated that about 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancer. About 85% of breast cancer diagnoses occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that can happen as a result of the aging process, rather than inherited mutations. In the latest Insights that Matter podcast, breast cancer researcher Vered Stearns discusses new science about breast cancer.