Dr. Aly Cohen is a board-certified physician practicing in rheumatology and integrative medicine, as well as an environmental health expert in Princeton, New Jersey. Her new book, DETOXIFY: The Everyday Toxins Harming Your Immune System and How to Defend Against Them, available now for pre-order, connects the dots between everyday chemicals and the epidemic rise in immune disorders and autoimmune disease...and what we CAN all do about it!Now for more background: Athe University of Pennsylvania, she focused her studies on medical anthropology and human evolution - topics that have greatly influenced her work. She is on faculty of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine  (AIHM), Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU), and the Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship of the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute (SSIHI) at the University of California, Irvine, where she created and manages the environmental medicine and integrative rheumatology curriculum for medical colleagues. Dr. Cohen has collaborated with the Environmental Working Group, Cancer Schmancer, and other disease- prevention or­ganizations, and is coeditor of the textbook, Integrative Environmental Medicine, part of the Oxford University Press/Weil Integrative Medicine, Academic Series. She is the co-author of the bestselling, consumer guidebook, Non-Toxic: Guide to Living Healthy in a Chemical World. In 2015, she created TheSmartHuman.com to share environ­mental health, disease prevention, and wellness information with the public. She has been the recipient of countless awards. AGENDA:   

1.     What is environmental medicine? a.     learn more about environmental health topics?  TheSmartHuman.com.     

Other educational projects? (curriculum for physicians, nurses, PT, Nurse practitioners AND creating online courses for parents/athletes/women and fertility & pregnancy...coming soon at AlyCohenMD.com) 

2.     Break down for us the ‘classes’ of toxins- like persistent organic chemicals vs endocrine disruptors, EMFs, etc- how can we start to discern the different chemicals & what how they affect? What are they doing inside our bodies? 3.     Once they come into our bodies- through our lungs, skin & GI tract, what do they do to us? How & where do they get stored? What are the various compartments?

 a.     Role of the immune system & even more broadly, the neuroimmune axis? As a rheum, what about our autoimmune epidemic? 

b.     What about the MIND? 

c.     Role of adipose? 

d.     Role of bones- how women will have more toxins come out post-menopause when the bone tissue starts to degrade with osteoporosis? 

e.     With infection/ concussion/ inflammation, the greater porosity of the blood brain barrier? Is this our Alzheimer’s epidemic? 

4.     How can we test for them in our bodies? 

a.     Standard testing with LabCorp/ Quest? 

b.     Specialty functional med lab testing? 

5.     How do we detox? The million-dollar question! 

a.     We naturally detox daily- peeing, pooping, sweating & crying. How to amplify? 

b.     What is your 21-day program? 

c.     Ayurvedic panchakarma

6.     Obviously, the first step is to avoid toxic chemicals coming into our bodies in the first place: 

a.     What are the most important things to know about making the right daily choices?                                                

i.     Water filters                                              

ii.     Detergents & cleaning products 

b.     Talk to us about regulations- do we dare? 

c.     How can we test our water, soil, etc? 

d.     What advice do you have for folks wanting to make their communities safer?CLOSING: Dr. Cohen is working to educate and empower the next generation to make safer, smarter lifestyle choices through the creation of en­vironmental health and prevention curricula for schools nationally. Her TEDx talk, “How to Protect Your Kids from Toxic Chemicals" can be found on YouTube

We're thrilled to announce that our podcasts now qualify for Nursing Continuing Education (CE) credits through RNegade.pro! Nurses can now not only gain valuable insights and practical knowledge from our episodes but also earn CE credits while listening.

RNegade is not your typical nursing CE provider. RNegade believes that nurses are more than just caregivers—they’re innovators, leaders, and change-makers. That’s why RNegade is committed to breaking the mold of traditional CE by offering content that goes beyond the status quo and inspires nurses to learn and think differently. They are about pushing boundaries, exploring new ideas, and redefining what it means to be a nurse in today’s world.

In today’s busy world, healthcare pros are already tuning into podcasts for inspiration, insights, and the occasional laugh during their commute or downtime. With RNegade.pro, those same moments can now lead to real CE credits. It’s as simple as listen, reflect, and earn.

🎧 The Podclass Revolution

That’s right: no traditional lectures, no PowerPoints. Just engaging conversations with industry leaders that spark ideas and challenge norms. Think cutting-edge topics, bold conversations, and real-world relevance—paired with a reflective process that lets listeners earn their credits with ease.  And now, we're proud to say, our podcasts will help you fulfill your CE requirements.

Here’s the other cool part! When you decide you love what you just learned on one of our podcasts, you can share your affiliate link from the RNegade platform with your colleagues, you can earn revenue for every nurse who signs up and earns CE credits. You’re not just offering another CE option—you’re helping nurses break free from traditional learning and step into a new era of education that’s exciting, relevant, and practical.

RNegade is launching with a collection from our library and will be adding more episodes on a monthly basis.  Here’s the incredible news . . . if you’ve already listened to one of our older podcasts in the library, you can still earn CE.  As long as you’ve listened to the episode within the last 2 years, it qualifies as a CE credit. 

Start listening, learning, and earning with RNegade today!

www.rnegade.pro

In this episode of the Neuroveda podcast, Dr Gillian Ehrlich and Dr. Julianna Giles explore the immune system from both Ayurvedic and Western perspectives. They discuss the complexities of cancer, autoimmunity, and chronic infections, emphasizing the importance of understanding the underlying factors that contribute to these conditions. The conversation delves into the roles of psychoneuroimmunology, cellular biology, and the Ayurvedic concepts of Prana, Tejas, and Ojas in maintaining health and wellness. Practical approaches to healing and supporting the immune system are also highlighted, along with the significance of lifestyle choices and conscious awareness in promoting overall health.

takeaways

• The immune system is complex and multifaceted.
• Cancer and autoimmunity are not singular diseases but a spectrum.
• Chronic infections can exacerbate immune dysfunction.
• Psychoneuroimmunology bridges the mind-body connection.
• Ayurvedic principles emphasize cellular health and balance.
• Disruptions in Prana, Tejas, and Ojas lead to disease.
• Holistic approaches are essential for healing.
• Breathwork and lifestyle choices significantly impact health.
• Ojas represents immunity and vitality in Ayurveda.
• Conscious awareness can lead to positive health changes.

Today we discuss: Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) leaks

Agenda: 

 1. Dr. Cardenas: Tell us your story! 

 2.     So, what is a CSF leak? 

a.     What is leaking? From where? Why do leaks happen? 

b.     Common symptoms? Uncommon symptoms? 

c.     Why don’t more people know about this? 

3.     Okay, so let’s go back to basic anatomy & let’s go from general to specific- talk to us about: 

a.     connective tissue

b.     vasculature

c.     central nervous system flow: CSF, lymph, blood

d.     Relationship with bones like CCI, Eagle’s, others?

e.     Relationship with the vasculature/ flow in the rest of the body like pelvic venous congestion

4.     How do we evaluate for this?

b.     Imaging

c.     Blood patches 

d.     Embolization 

5.     How do we TREAT this? 

a.     Immediate: Blood patches/ embolization/ pressure adjustments (meds, etc) 

b.     Counter facial strain. What is it & how does it help? Role for other physical tx like PT/ chiro?

Bio: Dr Brianna Cardenas is a Physician Assistant, a certified athletic trainer and the founder of Healed and Empowered, an organization that specializes in optimizing health among those living with chronic illness. She has recently joined the team at NeuroVeda Health where she brings 13 years of healthcare experience. She is also a patient living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, an “invisible” condition that can be hard to diagnose and often discounted by healthcare providers as a result. Brianna’s lived experience as a patient informs her work as a healthcare provider to others.Bio: Dr. Maxwell is a Board Certified Pediatric Cardiologist and Pediatrician. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins Medical School and a Residency in Pediatrics at The University of California at San Francisco followed by clinical and research fellowships in Pediatric Cardiology at Lucile Salter Packard and Stanford Hospitals and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His research interests include study of endothelial control of vasomotor tone, nitric oxide, sports cardiology, dysautonomia, hypermobility syndromes, & mast cell activation syndrome and their relationships to environmental toxins. For his research he received an American Heart Association Award for Research in Molecular Biology and was an American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award finalist. He has published many articles and book chapters on these subjects. For his clinical work, he has been voted by his peers as a Top Doctor in Northern California annually since 2017.

Resources/ Links/ Articles: 

·       https://www.eds.clinic/articles/spiky-leaky-syndrome

·       https://www.medicalandresearch.com/current_issue/1962

Professor Prita Lal Bio:

Bio: Raised as a child of South Asian immigrants in theAmerican South, Professor Prita Lal became interested in social justice issues at a young age and now teaches at Evergreen State College at the intersectionsof food and environmental justice, social movements, Black studies, solidarity economics, cooperative education, healing justice and community-based learning.Dr Lal completed her BA in French & anthropology at Tulane, her Master’s & Doctorates in Sociology at Stony Brook University. Her teaching style focuses on education for transformation and liberation. She also has completedextensive training in yoga and Ayurveda (an ancient system of healing from South Asia), which she integrates through somatic and trauma-informed teaching practices. Her work analyzes the root causes of social problems, not intending to paralyze, but rather inform just alternatives to transform (rather than recreate) systemic injustices.

Path Affiliation

EnvironmentalStudies , Psychology,Health, and Community , PoliticalEconomy, Global Studies, and Environmental Justice , Foodand Agriculture

Fields of Study

AfricanAmerican Studies , Sociologyand Anthropology , PoliticalEconomy and Political Science , FoodSystems , FoodStudies , FoodJustice , EthnicStudies , CommunityStudies , Climateand Environmental Justice , Agriculture

Objective today: explore the intersection betweenwellness & justice.

1.     Tell us your story- what are you doing & howdid you get here?

 2.     What’s the problem here? Our perception is thatwellness requires resources that are often the realm of the rich. The problems created by a widening gap between rich & poor. What is the role of power?

 3.     The circles that we’ve been in for wellness& the circles we’ve been for justice. What are the ways that these overlap or don’t overlap or could or should overlap.

 4.     Let’s shift to talking about how our health hasbeen colonized- what does that mean? How do we define ‘decolonizing our health.’ Connecting to inner power.

5.     Now let’s talk about Ayurveda- what is it &what is its power & potential to offer us wellness AND justice? What is spiritual by-passing & how is this used go maintain status quo.

 6.     What are the steps to address this?

a.     Finding our inner power

b.     Connection to self & planet

c.     Connection to each other & then socialjustice movements – calling in vs calling out to challenge internalizedcolonialism

d.     Embracing mistakes vs being defined by mistakes,perfectionism is an element of white supremacy culture

Thomas Mandel Clausen completed his PhD in Clinical Cancer Research at the University of Copenhagen and postdoc at the University of California in San Diego and has spent the bulk of his career thus far focused on cancer biology, malariavaccine development, and more recently COVID-19. His special focus was & remains cell & glycobiology which will be the focus of our discussion today. He’s presented at conferences all around the world and has over 40 published articles within the field of glycobiology focused on various molecular structures and functions and how they relate to human disease. He is currently matriculated at the University of Hawaii to gain his medical doctorate degree with estimated completion in 2026. 

We discuss:

The endothelial glycocalyx is a specialized extracellular matrix that covers the apical side of vascular endothelial cells, projecting into the lumen of blood vessels. The composition of the glycocalyx has been studied in greatdetail, and it is known to be composed of a mixture of proteoglycans, glycosaminoglycans, and glycoproteins. Although this structure was once believed to be a passive physical barrier, it is now recognized as a multifunctional and dynamic structure that participates in many vascularprocesses, including but not limited to vascular permeability, inflammation, thrombosis, Mechan transduction, and cytokine signaling

Because vascular dysfunction is associated with a wide variety of diseases and because of the crucial role of the glycocalyx in maintaining proper vascular function,the significance of the glycocalyx in disease has become a topic of intensive investigation.

Dr. Shouhed is a nationally renowned, board-certifiedminimally invasive weight loss surgeon with expertise in Robotic Bariatric, Gastrointestinal, and Complex General Surgery. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with adegree in Human Physiology.  Dr. Shouhed earned early recognition, a Phi Beta Kappa induction, and a near-perfect MCAT score, which secured him a placeat UCSD School of Medicine with the highest merit-based scholarship. Dr. Shouhed completed his general surgery residency training at Cedars Sinai (#2Hospital in the country), where he graduated as Administrative Chief Resident.  He completed his fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the first fellowship in the country, where he focused on minimally invasive bariatric, foregut and complex general surgery.

Dr. Shouhed is also Medical Director of the Bariatric Surgery and Metabolic Weight Loss Center, Providence Saint John’s Hospital.

 Our focus today is really about the vascularabdominal syndromes that we can see so prevalent in connective tissue disorders & complex conditions. Please get us started with a description of the anatomy of the abdomen, including the GI organs, but also the ligaments &connective tissue that holds these organs in place and the vasculature that feeds them oxygen & carries away metabolic wastes.

    Now, let’s get into the syndromes that we wantto focus on today & we’re going from the top down because that’s how they might be unlocked, meaning closest to the heart to the most distant to the heart and in the pelvis, that’s from chest to pelvis direction.

    a. MALS: median arcuate ligament syndrome

b. SMAS: superior mesenteric artery syndrome(duodenal comp) (meat?)

c. Nutcracker: renal vein compression

d. May Thurner: iliac vein compression

e. Pelvic congestion syndromes including pelvicvenous insufficiency, vaginal/ labial varices

For each we talk about:

a. Symptoms

b. Evaluation

c. Treatment: ancillary tx? Visceral manipulation?

What would a patient look for in a provider? Whois doing this care? How easy/ common are folks doing these treatments? Howoften can or do treatments go wrong?

We end with discussing: where is research going with this?

To find out more about our clinic (and request a call back): ⁠https://www.neurovedahealth.com/⁠

- Phone: 206-379-1213

- Email [email protected]

Chiropractor Kim Bruno furthered her training with the

We start by discussing the lab technology itself, which

Our next chapter (around 14:30) focuses on the immune

At 22:20, we dive into the Neural Zoomer Plus test itself.

We finish with a discussion about treatment approaches

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To look at a sample report of this test:

https://hello.vibrant-wellness.com/hubfs/Sample%20Reports/MK-0072-01NeuralZoomerPlusSampleReport.pdf

To find out more about the Neural Zoomer Plus test: https://www.vibrant-wellness.com/test/NeuralZoomerPlus

To get testing, contact us to schedule an appointment with a clinician at Neuroveda Health:

- Phone: 206-379-1213

- Email [email protected]

To find out more about our clinic (and request a call back): https://www.neurovedahealth.com/

Description:

Against a backdrop of clinical information about the divisions of the nervous system (central vs peripheral and sensory vs motor vs autonomic), we review the 3 tests in this procedure: small fiber nerve counts, synuclein and amyloid deposition.

Dr Levine notes that brain & skin both come from ectoderm tissue in the embryo, meaning they arise from similar roots soon after conception The skin, unlike the brain, is readily available for testing, and can offer insight to what’s potentially happening in the central nervous system without having to go there directly.

It’s also a fascinating conversation that one-half to one-third of all neuropathies end up classified as ‘idiopathic’,

BIO:

Dr. Todd Levine has over 20 years of experience as a

For more information about CND Life Sciences: https://cndlifesciences.com/

Dr Ferdinand Hui is a rare gem of a surgeon- brilliant in his craft, able to communicate complicated concepts clearly, and caring and compassionate for the reality that disease can impart in the life of a person and their family. Here we get a chance to cruise around the blood vessels of the brain with a neurointerventional surgeon, who's focus is minimally invasive procedures to treat the blood vessels of the brain and spine. Although he thinks of himself as a plumber, rotor-rootering the pipes, these are live pipes and much of our discussion centers on the nature of the arteries and veins.

We discuss leaks (hemorrhage) and clogs (ischemic clots) as a starting point, with the associated diseases of stroke, heart attack and aneurysms.

Then we get deep with the 'gray zone' of reduced but not necessarily stopped oxygenation which can be a primary driver for brain fog. We discuss anatomical, functional and inflammatory interruptions to oxygenation and vessel flow, even down to the epithelial layer of the arterial vessel walls. Here is where we discuss COVID and the apparent epithelial shedding that the spike protein can instigate, which likely drove much of the cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke) of the first COVID wave in 2019/ early 2020.

About prevention, Dr Hui says, "The American medical system might really reward surgery but what humanity really needs is prevention. Prevention starts at birth."

Resources: