The Preventive Medicine Podcast

If you’ve heard of a little website called WebMD, you have seen the work of Dr. John Whyte who is currently the Chief Medical Officer behind the online health behemoth. Dr. Whyte has had a tremendous career already completing his internal medicine residency at Duke University before completing his MPH at Harvard. He has worked in both the private and public sectors as well as spending time in academia at Stanford University. He has been passionate about health policy since his early days in medical school and continued to work in the field through positions at the FDA, medicare and medicaid, The Discovery Channel, and now WebMD. Despite all of his commitments and contributions to the field of health policy, the most amazing of all is that he is still a practicing physician in the Washington D.C. area.

In this episode, we discuss the numerous aspects to preventive medicine from the perspectives of the patient, healthcare provider, and the healthcare system itself. During the podcast we also discovered Dr. Whytes enthusiasm and passion for providing his patients with strategies to improve their health and fitness with a sustainable approach. Of all the subjects in this podcast, the conversation tends to come back to the importance of communication on all fronts. Tune in for this lively and illuminating conversation with Dr. John Whyte!

(1:00 – 10:00) – Introductions

Question 1:  How did you career get started, what are you doing right now, and what are your goals for the future?

(10:00 – 21:00)

Question 2: What does preventive medicine mean to you?

Question 3: What is the most important aspect of preventive medicine?

(21:00 – 33:00)

Question 4: What is the role of large media corporations in preventive medicine?

Question 5: How do physicians or other evidence-based practitioners on social media combat the spread of misinformation over both traditional and social media?

Question 6: How do you balance the role of websites like WebMD in providing information to patients versus them self-diagnosing and using it in a manner it wasn’t designed to be used?

(33:00 – 39:00)

Question 7: What is the role of technology in advancing healthcare and what will the role of AI be in aiding physicians?

(39:00 – 46:30)

Question 8: Do you see preventive medicine taking a much larger role in our current healthcare system?

(46:30 – 57:00)

Question 9: How do you communicate preventive lifestyle measures to patients?

(57:00 – 1:03:00)

Question 10: If you were in a coffee shop with 2 minutes to spare and someone asks you how to get healthy, what do you tell them?

Question 11: Do you think how a patient views self is ultimately the most important thing when it comes to making the right decisions moving forward?

(1:03:00 – 1:12:00)

Question 12: What was your role with The Discovery Channel as their Chief Medical Expert and VP? What was that like?

Question 13: You are an incredibly busy person as are most physicians, how do you take care of yourself?

(1:00 – 10:00) – Introductions

Question 1:  How did you career get started, what are you doing right now, and what are your goals for the future?

(10:00 – 21:00)

Question 2: What does preventive medicine mean to you?

Question 3: What is the most important aspect of preventive medicine?

(21:00 – 33:00)

Question 4: What is the role of large media corporations in preventive medicine?

Question 5: How do physicians or other evidence-based practitioners on social media combat the spread of misinformation over both traditional and social media?

Question 6: How do you balance the role of websites like WebMD in providing information to patients versus them self-diagnosing and using it in a manner it wasn’t designed to be used?

(33:00 – 39:00)

Question 7: What is the role of technology in advancing healthcare and what will the role of AI be in aiding physicians?

(39:00 – 46:30)

Question 8: Do you see preventive medicine taking a much larger role in our current healthcare system?

(46:30 – 57:00)

Question 9: How do you communicate preventive lifestyle measures to patients?

(57:00 – 1:03:00)

Question 10: If you were in a coffee shop with 2 minutes to spare and someone asks you how to get healthy, what do you tell them?

Question 11: Do you think how a patient views self is ultimately the most important thing when it comes to making the right decisions moving forward?

(1:03:00 – 1:12:00)

Question 12: What was your role with The Discovery Channel as their Chief Medical Expert and VP? What was that like?

Question 13: You are an incredibly busy person as are most physicians, how do you take care of yourself?

Alyssa Olenick is currently a third year PhD student but has already made a significant impact on thousands of individuals across the country. With a background in sports, Alyssa enrolled in college thinking about a career in fitness but quickly fell in love with science and is now working on her PhD in exercise physiology with a special interest in metabolism, metabolic diseases, and sex differences. Alyssa is the owner and founder of LittleLysFitness where she provides coaching and guidance to individuals across the country on nutrition and exercise. She is also very vocal on social media and has an Instagram following of nearly 30,000 people where she provides evidence-based advice to others seeking to learn more about health and fitness.

Currently, Alyssa is training for a 100km ultramarathon while balancing her coaching business, PhD, social media presence, and appearances on many podcasts. Tune into this lively 1 hour conversation and learn about preventive medicine through an evidence-based approach to exercise, nutrition, and living your best healthy and fulfilling life.

(0:00 – 3:40) – Introductions

Question 1: Tell us a little bit more about what you do and why it is what you do?

(3:40 – 10:10) – A Digestible Approach to Evidence-Based Recommendations

Question 2: How do you balance the line between using scientific information to advise people and a message that people can understand and get behind?

(10:10 – 18:50) – The Use of Social Media as an Informative Platform

Question 3: Was there a defining moment when you decided you wanted to start using social media to spread your message?

Question 4: Do you ever doubt yourself on your social media posts due to the nature of evidence-based medicine shifting as new evidence reveals itself?

(18:50 – 28:10) – An Evidence-Based vs. “Bro-science” Approach to Fitness

Question 5: What is the difference between the bro-science and evidence-based approach to health and fitness when the results or outcomes of each seem to be the same when scrolling through social media?

Question 6: Is it true that an evidence-based approach to fitness mostly serves to provide guidelines so that individuals may build a plan that works for them versus the one path that a bro-science approach gives you?

(18:50 – 37:10) – Are Coaches Necessary for Health?

Question 7: Everyone knows that they should be doing specific things (exercise, eat right) but no one seems to do it. Does it always take a coach to guide them? How can a general person apply information themselves?

Question 8: Do you think there is a specific person who should be the coach? Should it be a physician?

Question 9: Why did you decide to go the PhD route vs. the MD/DO route to helping people with their health?

(37:10 – 46:00) – An All-Hands on Deck Approach to Health

Question 10: Often times we see the miscommunication or complete lack of communication between practicing physicians and academia. What can you speak about the gap between these two and a team-based approach to health?

Question 11: What does preventive medicine mean to you as someone engaged in academia?

(46:00 – 58:20) – Why is Fitness Always Extreme?

Question 12: People tend to think that fitness only includes the extremes such as lifting super heavy, running marathons, etc. Where is the middle ground?

(58:20 – 1:10:00) – Exercise Differences in Men vs. Women?

Question 13: You do a lot of work and coach many women, are there any differences with preventive medicine or fitness between men and women?

(1:10:00 – 1:13:00) – Closing Remarks

Question 14: If someone runs into you in an elevator and you have two minutes to tell them how to get healthier what do you tell them?

A prominent figure on social media with his contributions to Barbell Medicine, Dr. Austin Baraki is a physician dedicated to giving his best to his patients. Dr. Baraki is a board certified physician in internal medicine as well as a coach and educator through Barbell Medicine which aims to highlight the role of resistance training in a healthy lifestyle. Whether in the hospital inpatient floors or his clients in the gym, Dr. Baraki brings evidence-based information and suggestions to help those he works with.

Known for his extremely thorough approach to issues and refusing to accept reductionist explanations, Dr.Baraki explores an evidence-based approach to preventive medicine in this episode. This episode includes discussions on the importance of using data to guide discussions regarding preventive medicine, the potential harms of excessive screening, developing resiliency in patient populations, and the role of resistance training in medicine. Get your keyboard or notepad out because this is one of those podcasts you want to take notes on!

(1:00 – 9:00) – Introductions

Question 1:  What is Barbell Medicine, why did you decide to get involved and what are it’s goals?

Question 2: Why did you decide to go into Internal Medicine given your athletic history and interest in exercise?

(9:00 – 15:00)

Question 3: What do you think other physicians that do not lift weights can learn from Barbell medicine, should they attend your seminars?

Question 4: Does the population of those attending your Barbell Medicine seminars trend more towards physicians or healthcare professionals?

(15:00 – 25:00)

Question 5: There are many silly ideas surrounding preventive medicine and other aspects regarding medicine, can you speak to the use of evidence when it comes to recommendations in preventive health?

Question 6: What does preventive medicine mean to you?

(25:00 – 43:00)

Question 7: Why is the allure of more screening with regards to preventive care problematic?

Question 8: How do you balance limiting the allure of physicians to use screenings widely as a way to “check-off” preventive care and patients that desire screening based on false notions of prevention?

Question 9: How do you communicate to patients who come in wanting to get unneeded screening such as a whole-body scan to determine all potential problems?

(43:00 – 55:00)

Question 10: Why is it important that patients are educated and develop a level of self-efficacy?

Question 11: Do you think helping patients develop a positive self-narrative is beneficial in the scope of preventive medicine?

(55:00 – 1:05:00)

Question 12: Do you think we do a poor job of letting our patients know that they should be striving to develop a more robust exercise program based on the current guidelines?

Question 13: How do we bridge the gap between personal trainers and physicians in bringing exercise programs and nutritional counseling to patients?

(1:05:00 – 1:10:00)

Question 14: In 2 minutes what do you tell someone who asks you “how do I get healthy?”