Raise the Line

Would you rather be poked with a needle, or get a diagnosis from a non-invasive scan? Most of us would choose the latter, if we had the option.  Needle biopsies also come with the risk of infection and other complications that can be avoided by obtaining a diagnosis via imaging. Those are just some of the advantages underpinning the work of Perspectum, a global precision health company focused on improving the diagnosis, treatment, and management of metabolic diseases and cancer.  As founder and CEO Dr. Rajarshi Banerjee explains to host Michael Carrese, “I can work out with incredible clarity what kind of prostate cancer someone has, and what treatment they're likely to respond to, just from a scan.” Other applications include diagnosing and monitoring liver disease, and more recently, doing multi-organ scans to aid in evaluating long COVID.  Banerjee also sees a role for Perspectum’s computer-assisted imaging technology in combatting the rising tide of chronic disease in the U.S. “Unless we do something about them, there is going to be a fourfold rise in breast, colon and liver cancer in the next two decades.”  Check out this enlightening look at new tools to help providers customize treatments and provide better care for patients. 

Mentioned in this episode: Would you rather be poked with a needle, or get a diagnosis from a non-invasive scan? Most of us would choose the latter, if we had the option.  Needle biopsies also come with the risk of infection and other complications that can be avoided by obtaining a diagnosis via imaging. Those are just some of the advantages underpinning the work of Perspectum, a global precision health company focused on improving the diagnosis, treatment, and management of metabolic diseases and cancer.  As founder and CEO Dr. Rajarshi Banerjee explains to host Michael Carrese, “I can work out with incredible clarity what kind of prostate cancer someone has, and what treatment they're likely to respond to, just from a scan.” Other applications include diagnosing and monitoring liver disease, and more recently, doing multi-organ scans to aid in evaluating long COVID.  Banerjee also sees a role for Perspectum’s computer-assisted imaging technology in combatting the rising tide of chronic disease in the U.S. “Unless we do something about them, there is going to be a fourfold rise in breast, colon and liver cancer in the next two decades.”  Check out this enlightening look at new tools to help providers customize treatments and provide better care for patients. 

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.perspectum.com

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“We know that whenever nurses are listened to in policymaking arenas, health outcomes improve,” says Dr. Michelle Acorn, chief nurse at the International Council of Nurses, a federation of nursing associations. That’s why she’s focused on making sure nurses are at the decision-making tables all over the world. “ICN ensures that nurses have a voice in developing and implementing health policy so that we can meet the real needs of patients, families and communities.” Acorn makes a point of getting into the decision-making arena herself, including at the recent United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York where she raised awareness of health disparities. “Our health systems need resources to provide patient- centered and culturally-appropriate care to the diverse populations we serve,” she tells host Michael Carrese. Tune in for a wide-ranging exploration of current global trends and challenges in nursing, lessons from COVID-19, and major leadership opportunities in the nursing profession. 

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.icn.ch/

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Science As a Force for Social Good: Dr. Richard Horton, Editor in Chief of The Lancet

The first scientific paper on the clinical features of patients infected with what came to be known as COVID-19 was published in The Lancet, launching that famed journal's prominent role in COVID research, which it has maintained throughout the pandemic. But being an influential force in science and medicine is nothing new to this nearly 200-year-old publication, which is published by Osmosis' parent company, Elsevier.  We explore that role on this episode of Raise the Line with The Lancet’s Editor in Chief, Dr. Richard Horton. A physician by training, Dr. Horton himself has often been described as a global force in science and medicine, partially for his work in greatly expanding the content offerings and global reach of The Lancet’s family of publications, but also for his outspokenness on politically charged issues. “I don't apologize for not being impartial. I would say it's the only way you can be. You have to look at the world, diagnose the world view you have, and then we use our journal to try and achieve certain objectives. It's what science was all about originally,” he tells host Shiv Gaglani.  Insights abound in this penetrating and lively look at the intersection of science and society, what lessons we should learn from COVID and the prospects for humans solving the existential threats we’ve created. “Our role at The Lancet is to draw attention to the dangers that face the human species, but also, to the solutions that are available to us.”

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.thelancet.com

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Deploying community-based health workers has been a popular tactic to boost vaccination rates during COVID, but when the crisis ends, how can they stay engaged to help achieve other public health goals? That’s the kind of question Maria Thacker-Goethe grapples with as CEO of the Atlanta-based Center for Global Health Innovation. “You have to have the respect to keep paying people and not leave them high and dry because that will just break down trust,” says Thacker-Goethe, who is also the President and CEO of Georgia Bio.  A key link in public health efforts in Georgia and beyond, she takes a ground-up approach to fostering collaboration among stakeholders in order to develop and share innovations, particularly those focused on health equity. A good example is a new “innovation district” the Center is building that will, in a unique twist, co-locate high tech health companies with public health organizations.  As she tells host Dr. Rishi Desai, Thacker-Goethe believes an underlying issue connecting all of this work is building trust through better communications, including more effective use of popular social media platforms, a tactic not yet fully embraced by the public health establishment. Don’t miss this fascinating exploration of innovation in public health, and stay tuned to learn about a special project that shares the wisdom of public health pioneers.

Mentioned in this episode:
https://cghi.org
https://www.9lessons.org

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The first thing you see when you walk into the medical school building at the University of Texas at Tyler is a teaching kitchen, and the director of the nutrition curriculum is a dietician from the East Texas Food Bank. That should give you some idea of how differently the school’s founding Dean, Dr. Brigham Willis, sees its mission. “What we're trying to do is create a very unique program focused on how we can serve the particular needs of East Texas,” he tells host Shiv Gaglani.  And in a region that has some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and smoking in the country, that means focusing on lifestyle medicine. “Our students are actually going to have the opportunity to become nutrition coaches and personal trainers which I think is really foundational to what we're trying to do. Instead of just saying, “eat better," they're going to have actual strategies and be a connection to resources to be able to help patients do that.” It also means being deeply embedded in the community in everything they do, and recruiting students from the region to increase the chances that they will eventually practice there and help reduce a physician shortage. From limiting lectures in favor of active learning, to requiring students to become certified EMTs in the first six weeks, to pushing to make education tuition free for all students, Dr. Willis and his team are taking full advantage of the opportunity to build a medical education from the ground up, as you’ll learn in this fascinating episode.  

Mentioned in this episode: https://medicine.uttyler.edu 

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Ninety percent of the body's serotonin is produced in the gut, says Jeff Glueck. So, if you are like the many millions of Americans with a digestive disorder, happiness and calm may not come easily. Enter Salvo, a “medical clinic in an app” that provides specialty care for people suffering from chronic GI conditions. In this episode of Raise the Line with host Michael Carrese, hear how the loss of a child and the illness of two others, combined with Glueck's love of entrepreneurship and data-based solutions, motivated him to start the company. Tune in to find out about Salvo's “Whole Self Science” approach that incorporates diet, mind, movement, sleep, labs, and more; the company's continually expanding data set; and the program's promising results. Glueck also talks about his role as an integrator at work and why he believes this type of better-care, lower-cost medicine is the future.  And stay tuned to hear why he thinks students should be giving serious thought to the type of work environment they want for their future careers.

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.salvohealth.com/

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Heather Fullmer will never forget seeing her nursing license for the first time and realizing the date of issuance was the same as her son Michael’s birthday.  She had spent the week since delivering him in the NICU as Michael’s struggle with the rare, life-limiting skin disorder Epidermolysis Bullosa began. “It was a surreal moment. I became a nurse professionally, and in my personal life on the exact same day,” she tells host Shiv Gaglani.  EB is a pernicious disease which causes skin to tear at the slightest touch, with resulting wounds that don't heal. “If I had to sum up Michael's day,” says her husband, Ryan Fullmer, “it's probably fear and pain. We still haven't been desensitized to his screams, or the disappointment on his face from not being able to enjoy the day-to-day things that he sees his friends do.” In this inspiring episode of Raise the Line, you’ll learn how the Fullmers rose above their all-consuming struggles to care for Michael to forge a new approach to rare disease research with the support of Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder and his wife, Jill. The resulting EB Research Partnership raises millions of dollars a year to fuel promising efforts to find a cure for EB and, ultimately, other rare diseases. Tune in to learn how the “venture philanthropy” model they use differs from typical investing, and hear about important fundraising events for EB including Venture Into Cures hosted by Spiderman actor Tom Holland. And be sure to stay tuned to hear their advice to medical providers on the importance of building rapport with patient families, and taking an interdisciplinary approach to treating rare disorders. 

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.ebresearch.org/founders.html
https://www.ebresearch.org/our-mission.html

https://www.ebresearch.org/venture-into-cures.html

Mikey's World video

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Although many countries are facing a shortage of physicians, Israel is being hit particularly hard by this problem, especially in rural areas. But as we’ll learn in this episode of Raise the Line, Dr. Peter Gilbey and Dr. Yair Blumberg of The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University are doing their part to reverse that trend by developing new approaches to medical education. “If you take the best local people and train them, they will stay in the area,” says Dr. Gilbey, chair of the Department of Research and Innovation in Medical Education. For Yair Blumberg, the school’s Physiology Coordinator, doing more to embed technologies such as ultrasound in the educational journey is a key focus.  “Point-of-care ultrasound may be one of the major tools future physicians are going to use, so we decided as a strategic teaching method to teach the students to use ultrasound from basically the first day of medical school.” Tune in to this discussion with host Shiv Gaglani in which Drs. Gilbey and Blumberg shed light on the biggest challenges they’re facing as medical educators, how medical education is impacting health outcomes in Israel, and the innovative solutions they’re implementing in their curriculum. They also share their best advice for medical students on overcoming burnout and meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic while progressing in their medical careers.

Mentioned in this episode: https://medicine.biu.ac.il/en

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Imagine 60% of your skin having open wounds every day. That's the grim reality of those with Epidermolysis Bullosa, or EB, a rare genetic connective tissue disorder which results in blisters and tears to the skin being created from even minor contact or friction. The range of complications this causes for almost every normal activity – from eating to bathing to sleeping – is daunting, leading our guest today, Brett Kopelan, to call EB “the worst disease you’ve never heard of.”  He should know. Brett and his wife have the equivalent of fulltime jobs just managing daily care for their daughter Rafi, who suffers from a severe form of EB.  Advocating for Rafi led to Brett becoming Executive Director of debra of America, the only national not-for-profit providing all-inclusive support for patients battling the disease.  In this revealing discussion with host Shiv Gaglani, Brett opens up about his frustrations with the health insurance system, the challenges of raising money for rare diseases, and why he feels there is a need for more doctors to specialize in rare disorders for patients over twenty-three.  Brett shares some positive news as well about several promising gene therapies on the horizon. “I can say that the past two years has really been the first time that I've felt I'm working for my child's life, not for beyond her. So that's an exciting thing.”

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.debra.org

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast