The Health Talks Podcast

A little boy named Jesse simply would not grow. Dr. Cuffari explains the decision that led to the first pediatric fecal transplant at Johns Hopkins, and what nearly 30 years of pediatric gastroenterology have taught him about the gut.

Dr. Cuffari is a pediatric gastroenterologist with almost 30 years in the field. Born in a small town in northern Sicily, he trained in Canada, completed his fellowship at St. Justine in Montreal under the late Ernie Seidman, and was accepted to medical school at the University of Ottawa after years of rejection and waiting lists. He then spent 25 years at Johns Hopkins in hardcore academics with 75% protected research time, mentored on the adult side by the late Dr. Bayless, serving as fellowship director for over 20 years and building the pediatric stool transplant program. He specializes in inflammatory bowel disease and has published some of the first pediatric studies later applied in adult medicine. He now practices in Washington. He is also, full disclosure, Gio's uncle.

He explains:

◼️ The landslide in Sicily in the 1920s that wiped out his family's business and sent them to Ottawa, and why he believes fate put him in medicine

◼️ The personal lactose test that went very wrong, where a pediatric dosing protocol gave him four times what any adult should ever receive

◼️ What the intestinal microbiome actually is, why the first thousand days of life determine your immune system, and how it teaches your body to tell friend from foe

◼️ Why you can eat pasta and pizza across Europe and feel fine ◼️ What your stool frequency really says about your health, why three mustardy stools a day is normal in some parts of the world, and the one symptom that should actually worry you

◼️ The full story of Jesse, the premature boy with recurrent infections who was not growing, why his mother became the donor, and what happened after the procedure

◼️ Why he refuses to let nutritional or holistic therapy replace medical therapy, and the bias he openly admits comes from only seeing the most severe cases

◼️ What has changed in medical education, why many graduates are not pursuing academics, and where he thinks AI actually belongs in medicine

Read Jesse's story:

News coverage — https://www.today.com/health/fecal-transplant-mom-cures-ailing-toddler-1C6600023

The published case report — https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1097/MPG.0000000000000495 

The Health Talks Podcast: 

◼️ Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/thehealthtalkspod

◼️ TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@thehealthtalkspod 

◼️ LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-health-talks-podcast 

Sponsors:

Guru Energy — guruenergy.com 

BMG Group — https://bmggroup.ca

One in four Canadians have sleep apnea or are at risk of developing it, and roughly 80% have never been diagnosed. Andrew Holmes has spent over 20 years inside sleep labs, and he explains what is actually happening in the hours you don't remember.

Andrew Holmes is a registered polysomnographic technologist and sleep expert with over 20 years of experience in sleep diagnostics and consulting. He trained at the Michener Institute for Health Science and spent 13 years working straight overnight across three Ottawa sleep labs before becoming Senior of the Cardiopulmonary Department at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, where he ran a 10 bed provincial sleep lab for close to a decade. In 2015 he founded Sleep Efficiency, which ships home based sleep testing devices to patients so they can be tested in their own bed, and now receives referrals from close to 500 physicians including family doctors, cardiology clinics, and preop clinics. He has presented to organizations including the Ministry of Labour and the Department of National Defence, and is the sleep subject matter expert for CTV News. He is on a mission to get people tested and to change how seriously we treat the third of our lives we spend asleep.

He explains:

◼️ Why he walked away from a 20 year hospital career at the top of his department, and the itch he could not scratch inside the system

◼️ What actually happens during the 90 minute sleep cycle, and why the stage that repairs your body is not the one that saves your memories

◼️ Whether you can pay back sleep debt on the weekend, and what he tells his own teenage sons about school start times

◼️ The nap length that leaves you groggier than before you laid down, and the two windows he says are the only ones worth using

◼️ Why he tells people to stop reading their sleep tracker every morning, and the condition the technology is now creating

◼️ The patient who looked like he stepped off the cover of a fitness magazine and turned out to be one of the most severe cases he has seen

◼️ His own diagnosis, and the number that puts him one point away from severe

Follow Andrew Holmes: 

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/sleep_efficiency

X — https://x.com/sleepefficiency

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-holmes-rpsgt

Sleep Efficiency Website — https://www.sleepefficiency.ca 

The Health Talks Podcast: 

◼️ Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/thehealthtalkspod

◼️ TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@thehealthtalkspod 

Sponsors:

Guru Energy — guruenergy.com

BMG Group — https://bmggroup.ca

What he saw in the ICU changed him forever. Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng reveals the truth about the ICU and what keeps him going.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng is a critical care and palliative care physician, Head of Critical Care at The Ottawa Hospital, Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, researcher, entrepreneur, two-time bestselling author, and host of the podcast Prevention Over Prescription. He is the co-founder of the Black Med Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to mentoring the next generation of Black physicians, and the founder of the Resource Optimization Network, a multidisciplinary research group working to reduce healthcare spending without compromising care. He has published over 100 research papers and is on a mission to keep you out of the ICU.

He explains: 

◼️ The childhood illness that planted the seed for his entire medical career 

◼️ What it was really like inside the ICU when the world shut down during COVID-19 

◼️ The moment from the pandemic that fundamentally reshaped how he sees his responsibility as a physician 

◼️ The deeper-rooted issue in people's lives he's trying to address across all his platforms 

◼️ Why being a dad matters more than any title — and what he hopes his kids learn from watching him

Follow Dr. K: 

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/kwadcast/ 

X — https://x.com/kwadwo777 

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwadwo-kyeremanteng/ 

Podcast — Prevention Over Prescription

Support the Black Med Collective: https://blackmedcollective.com/

Dr. K's Books: 

◼️ Unapologetic Leadership: Finding The Moral Courage To Do The Right Thing 

◼️ Prevention Over Prescription: Take Control of Your Health through Nutrition, Movement and Community

The Health Talks Podcast: 

◼️ Instagram — instagram.com/thehealthtalkspod

◼️ TikTok — tiktok.com/@thehealthtalkspod

Sponsors:

Guru Energy — guruenergy.com 

In Episode Five, we sit down with Tony Greco, NHL fitness expert, IASKA Kickboxing World Champion, and Founder & CEO of TG Athletics. With over 22 years as one of Canada’s leading fitness specialists, Tony has trained elite athletes like Claude Giroux, Brandt Clarke, and Jack Quinn, and worked with notable clients including Carrie Underwood and Carol Alt. From building an empire in the fitness industry to coaching high-performance athletes and inspiring audiences as a motivational speaker, Tony’s journey is a powerful testament to leadership, perseverance, and the impact of using health and movement to change lives.

In Episode Three, we sit down with Catalina Fernandez, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Ottawa, fitness coach, content creator, and co-founder of the Rise & Run Crew. From overcoming academic challenges to building community through medicine, fitness, and wellness, her journey is a true testament to resilience, work ethic and passion.

In this episode, we sit down with Teresa Varrasso, a Speech-Language Pathologist with the DCDSB, to explore her journey into the field, her transition from pediatric rehabilitation to education, as well as the challenging and rewarding aspects of supporting individuals with speech and communication disorders.

In our debut episode, we sit down with Youssef Nasr, 1st-year MD-PhD student at the University of Ottawa to discuss his journey to the MD-PhD program, his early research in placental pathology and ovarian cancer, and the challenges of training as future clinician-scientist.