PeerSpectrum

There's no shortage of books on Silicon Valley, with a quick Amazon search yielding over 40,000 results. Our guest today believes that most, if not all, of these books have overlooked a crucial element of the story: how these high-tech, disruptive, and revolutionary companies are actually run. How they implement and cultivate an organizational culture that is “freewheeling, fast-moving, egalitarian, evidence-driven, argumentative, and autonomous.” Today, we're thrilled to have Andrew McAfee with us. Andrew is a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the co-founder and co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. His latest book, 'The Geek Way,' is aptly described by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, who wrote the foreword: 'By combining management theory, competitive strategy, the science of evolution, psychology, military history, and cultural anthropology, he has produced a remarkable work of synthesis. This work, which he dubs 'the geek way,' finally explains, with a single unified theory, the reasons why the tech startup approach has taken over so much of the world. This was a great conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. With that said, let's get started.

Welcome back! Today, we have science journalist Sally Adee with us to discuss her new book titled 'We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for our Body's Bioelectric Code, And What the Future Holds.' This book and our conversation delve into a fascinating area of biology now known as the electrome. Decrypting this bioelectric code, as it has been termed, holds incredible promise for understanding ourselves and developing new treatments and interventions, ranging from spinal cord injuries to reversing aging.

All right, welcome back. “Too many Americans are indifferent to their own history and know too little about it. This ignorance makes the present more baffling than it needs to be.” That from a Washington Post review of today's book is the perfect start for today's episode. If you think our current political atmosphere, divisiveness and the daily onslaught of negative news is unprecedented in American history, consider the period between 1917 and 1921. A period many of us have forgotten but a time that included the first world war, widespread suppression of speech and the press, mass imprisonment, horrifying lynchings of black Americans (including black veterans), labor strikes and yes, the Spanish flu pandemic. Our guide through this tumultuous period and today's guest is journalist, historian and professor, Adam Hochschild. Adam is the author eleven books including his most recent, “American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis.” It's a fantastic book, well researched book that delivers some much-needed context and perspective as all of us try to make sense or our own times. We really enjoyed having Adam with us and hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. With that said, let's get started…

It's the holiday season with New Year's just a few days away.  What better time to take a fun filled tour through the medicinal history of alcohol? Today's guest is the perfect guide. Camper English is a journalist, author, and recognized expert in the world of cocktails and spirits. A member of the United States Bartenders' Guild, Camper is also an innovator, having invented something called "directional freezing," a technique to make perfectly clear ice that used in bars around the world. His recent book, “Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails,” is on tap for today's conversation. We hope you enjoy. With that said, let's get started…

Have you ever wondered what its like being a doctor one of the most isolated and restricted countries on earth? We have. It's a question Keith and I have explored and discussed many times over the years since starting this podcast. But how do you find and connect with someone in country where virtually all citizens are prohibited from contact with the outside world, and heavily surveilled when doing so? Today's episode is one we were beginning to think we could never do. Finding the right person to interview involved overcoming barriers beyond our control. We even considered the possibility of interviewing a physician defector. Even if we could find such a person, how would we verify their identity, and cross check their stories? How would we really know who we were talking with? So, we tabled the idea, always hoping that one day we could find the right person. Today we have that person, and it turns out we were looking in the wrong places. We should have been looking closer to home. Dr. Kee Park is a faculty neurosurgeon at Harvard Medical School, Director of the North Korea Program at the Korean American Medical Association, and member of the National Committee on North Korea and the Council of Korean Americans. He's a world-renowned researcher and expert on global health and humanitarian medical aid. Since 2007, Kee has visited North Korea over 20 times, working alongside North Korean doctors, attending North Korean medical conferences, and even operating on patients in North Korean hospitals. There are few outsiders (especially Americans) that we are aware of with greater firsthand experience and trusted access in North Korea. As we'll soon see, that trusted access has been hard earned over many years. It's what enables Kee to continue his mission, helping patients in North Korea and around the world. As all of you will understand, we have no desire to do anything that could jeopardize Kee's ability to continue his work or endanger his personal safety. While this is was an eye-opening conversation, it did not include any political discussions or questions regarding the current North Korean regime. This was an amazing episode, and journey into a world most of us know very little about. With that said, let's get started.

All right, welcome back. Today we're exploring the history of surgery; taking a speedy but deliberate journey from prehistoric brain surgery to our modern high tech operating suites. As Rudyard Kipling once pointed out, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” And this episode is all about the stories. Stories about heroes, risk takers and the gruesome reality that preceded all the medical and surgical advances we take for granted today. We're joined by general surgeon and medical historian, Dr. Ira Rutkow. Ira is the author of eight books including his most recent, Empire of the Scalpel, which we'll be covering today. This episode was a blast (especially for two guys like us who used to spend a lot of time together in the OR). We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. With that said, let's get started…

All right, welcome back. Today we're happy to have with us, Robyn Short. Robyn is a business consultant and specialist in conflict resolution and mediation. She is currently president and CEO of the Workplace Peace Institute, a consulting and research firm focusing on these areas. She is also an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University. With that said, let's get started.

Today we're diving deep into an industry many of you have likely heard of and perhaps even participated in. It's a nearly $2-billion-dollar global market, growing 15-20% each year. They are called expert networks and in the words of today's guest, they are, “brokers of knowledge – all the stuff that is too niche, quirky, timely or contextual for anyone to put it in writing or audio. Traditionally, these expert networks have been the tools of trade for management consultants and analysts in hedge funds, private equity, and investment banking. That's beginning to change as more and more professionals seek the insights, knowledge, and highly specialized expertise these expert networks offer, all through the medium of conversation. This even includes medical research and academia. Today's guest is the ideal wise companion as we explore this space. Max Friberg began his career as a McKinsey Consultant, personally conducting hundreds of expert interviews in the course of his work. For Max, these expert interviews were critical in helping his clients tackle highly specific and challenging problems in their business. Today Max is the founder and CEO of Inex One, a platform that enables easy access to many of the world's top expert networks, all in in one place. We'll learn more about his company, how expert networks actually work and what can be gained from these highly specialized conversations.  With that said, let's get started…

Today we're privileged and delighted to have one of the world's leading researchers in neuroscience, Anil Seth. Anil is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and Founding Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. He has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters and is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Neuroscience of Consciousness. His TED talk on consciousness and controlled hallucination has been viewed over 12 million times and stands as one of TED's most popular science talks. Today we'll dig deep into (what Cal Fussman would call) the big questions of neuroscience: Is my reality the same as yours (do we see the same color red)? What does it mean to be you? Why did we evolve to have consciousness? Are different states of consciousness such as we see in comas, sleep, and general anesthesia measurable and clearly definable? What is consciousness and where in the brain can we find it? Why does a brain adapted to basic, hunter gatherer survival also include the capacity to compose symphonies, write philosophy, debug software code, go to the moon and ponder questions about the nature of its own existence? Will we ever be able to deconstruct the basic elements of consciousness and reconstruct them in a computer AI? This episode was a lot of fun and will probably be one of my most favorite. With that said, exploring our current understanding of the brain, consciousness, and the fundamental reality of who we are and how we experience the world around us is just not something you can knock out in an hour. That's why I can't recommend to you enough to check out Anil's new book, “Being You.” With that said, let's get started…

Today we're exploring a particular challenge in the mental health space, the gulf between academic research and real-world clinical practice. As you'll learn in the episode, only a surprising few of the published articles in psychology and psychiatry journals are ever read by practicing mental health professionals. Today we're happy to welcome two guests working to bridge this gap. Dr. Scott Browning is a researcher and professor of psychology at Chestnut Hill College. Dr. Brad van Eeden-Moorefield is a researcher and professor of Family Science and Human Development at Monclair State University. Their new book, coming out next week and published by the American Psychological Association is titled, “Treating Contemporary Families: Toward a More Inclusive Clinical Practice.” This was a great conversation and we really enjoyed having Scott and Brad on the show. With that said, let's get started…

Today we're excited and honored to have with us, retired US Army General Stanley McChrystal. A retired four-star general with 34 years of service, Stanley was the commander of all US and coalition forces in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. Prior to this, he served as commander of JSOC or the Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing the US military's most elite units including Delta Force and SEAL Team 6. According to journalist Sean Naylor, in his Book, Relentless Strike, McChrystal was, “the general whose vision and intensity transformed JSOC into a global man-hunting machine.” His tenure included the capture of Sadam Hussein and the killing infamous terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Today Stanley is founder and CEO of the McChrystal Group, a strategic consulting firm. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches a course on Leadership. His books include, My Share of the Task, Team of Teams, Leadership- Myths and Realities and his newest book that we'll be discussing today, Risk. A Users Guide. I'm really proud of how this conversation came out. It was a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy. With that said, let's get started.

Colin's brief reflection and personal story from September 11th.

When it comes to VIP medical care, there is one patient who stands above all others. From what is publicly known he is assigned a team of doctors, nurses, medics and PA's on standby around the clock. He and this team travel with an armored ambulance, a supply of matched blood, and a full array of medical and diagnostic equipment. His aircraft also has state of the art medical equipment with a surgical suite. Before he arrives anywhere, an advance team has carefully planned emergency routes to pre-screened medical facilities. If those facilities prove inadequate, resources can be brought in, including in one case, an entire Naval hospital ship anchored off the coast. If he needs hospital care, surgery or other treatments, his local hometown hospital (which happens to be US Military's flagship medical center) has a private suite, on standby for his exclusive use. This care is 100% covered by his employer without any deductibles, co-pays, or network restrictions. Today's guest knew two of these VIP patients very well. Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman spent 16 of his 30 years of military services as a White House Physician. This included a tour as Chief of the White House Medical Unit. This means he was the personal physician to President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Quality and Safety Officer for AdventHealth. Jeffery is joined today by his colleague and co-author, Dr. Daniel Peach. Daniel, a registered sports medicine physician in the UK, currently serves as Executive Director of Clinical Innovation for AdventHealth. Their new book, “Transformative Healthcare,” and their unique career paths are the subjects for today's episode.

Today we are excited to have Angus Fletcher with us on the show. He is a professor of story science and literature at Ohio State University's Project Narrative. He completed dual degrees in neuroscience and literature before receiving his PhD in literature from Yale. In addition to his teaching and research, Angus also serves a story consultant for Sony, Disney, BBC, Amazon, PBS and NBC/Universal.  Unlike many literary academics, critics and perhaps your high school English teacher, Angus takes a very different approach to literary scholarship. He studies literature's practical usefulness, and the science behind it. His new book, “Wonderworks. The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature,” explores literature as a series of unique and innovative discoveries. These literary inventions had, and continue to have, unique problem-solving functions. Problem-solving functions that can now be studied with the modern tools and methods of neuroscience.

Today we’re exploring the world of childhood, a “protected space in which they [children] can produce new ways of thinking and acting that, for better or worse, are entirely unlike any that we would have anticipated beforehand.” A protected space that exceeds, in length, that of any other species. A space of time that today’s guest has spent her career studying and often refers to as humanity’s R&D department. Alison Gopnik is likely a familiar name to many of you, especially those of you who are parents. Currently a professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, Alison has published over 100 research articles and books including critically acclaimed bestsellers such as: The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby and The Gardener and the Carpenter. Her public appearances include TED, Talks at Google, the World Economic Forum and even Stephen Colbert’s show. She is also a long-time contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s Saturday Review section. We covered a lot of ground in this episode. How do young children and babies begin to understand the world around them? We will learn about something called, “theory theory,” a process that allows children to develop and test intuitive theories about their world. We’ll see how this process resembles Bayesian probability and how understanding childhood cognitive development may be a key to developing advanced AI. This is also something Alison is researching. No surprise. She lives and works in the Bay area and she is even married to one of the founders of Pixar. Anyway, this is one of our more fascinating episodes. As a father of two young daughters, and a long-time fan of Alison’s work, talking with Alison was a real privilege. With that said, let’s get started.

Today we are delighted to have Roy Richard Grinker with us. He a professor of anthropology and international affairs at George Washington University, and author of “Nobody’s Normal. How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness.” Richard comes from a long line of research psychologists. His grandfather, Roy Richard Grinker, Sr. was a pioneer in American psychology, and studied under Sigmund Freud. He may have been one of the last people psychoanalyzed by Freud before Freud’s death. We’ll talk more about that, and Richard’s unique lens on psychology and mental illness through history, anthropology and culture. Can science really answer the questions: Is there really such a thing as a normal human mind? Is there really such as thing as an abnormal mind? Well, let’s find out and with that said, let’s get started.

Today we are delighted to have Dr. Marta Induni with us on the show. She is a principal investigator with the Public Health Institute. She is also director of Tracing Health, a program launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that provides contact tracing and scientific support services to counties and local health departments on the US West Coast.

Today we are thrilled to embark on a new adventure here on PeerSpectrum. The first episode of our new guest host series. We’re inviting back some of our most popular past guests and handing over the microphone. As Keith and I have learned over the past few years, there is an art and craft to interviewing. Playing on the field has given us both a deeper appreciation and admiration for the true masters of the game. Masters such as the late Larry King (who passed away just last month) and his very close friend, and our most recent guest, Cal Fussman. As we discussed last time, one of my all-time favorite podcast interviews was Cal Fussman interviewing Larry King, on Tim Ferriss’s podcast. It was a rare opportunity to listen in as two masters discussed their game. These types of conversations are likely more common than we think. It’s just not as common to hear them. Today we are happy to have our good friend and past guest, Dr. Robert Adams back with us. As you may recall, Bob is a former US Navy SEAL and command surgeon for the army’s elite Delta Force. A recently retired family physician in the UNC health system, Bob is also the author of two books, “Six Days of Impossible,” and “Swords and Saints: A Doctor’s Journey.” Today Bob is joined by his good friend and former colleague, Dr. Sean Mulvaney. Sean is also a former US Navy SEAL turned army physician. Their conversation will take us all around the world from the battle fields of Iraq and Afghanistan, to a surprise birthday party for Colin Powell aboard a US Navy warship. More importantly, Bob and Sean will spend some time discussing PTSD, what we currently know about it and how it is and will be treated. They also discuss a new and very promising PTSD treatment called Stellate Ganglion Block. Sean has treated hundreds of veterans, trauma survivors and others suffering the effects of PTSD. This includes Medal of Honor recipients Dakota Myer, whose treatment by Sean was dramatically featured in a recent 60 Minutes report. Let us know what you think of this new format. Who would you like to hear as a future guest host? We love hearing your ideas so keep them coming. With that said, let’s get started…

Think of someone accomplished, someone famous, someone you truly admire. Have you met them? If so, how did it go? What did you talk about? If not, what would you talk about? What questions would you ask them? For us, today’s guest is just that person. His name is Cal Fussman and he is a long time writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine through their “What I learned” series. He is also host of the Big Questions podcast. Cal has interviewed everyone and I mean everyone…Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Bill Maher, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Robert De Niro, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, Walter Cronkite, Woody Allen, Barbara Walters, Pelé, Yao Ming, Serena Williams, Danny DeVito, Eric Clapton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Muhammad Ali. Just to name a few. For amateur interviewers like us, today’s conversation was like getting to play 18 holes with Arnold Palmer. It’s like being one degree away from Kevin Bacon. Cal interviewed both by the way. Cal is literally one of the best in the business. We discussed his extraordinary career and his new mission in our world of medicine. Most importantly we’ll cover how all of us can be more aware, more thoughtful and effective with the questions we use. With that said, let’s get started…

On the release of this episode, we find ourselves in October of 2020. Still deep in the Covid-19 pandemic, and exactly one week away from the 2020 presidential election. Instead of piling on with our own opinions and speculation, we’re heading to the past for lessons and perspective that might, just might, help us make better sense of the world around us. Lessons from someone I think many of us wouldn’t mind having around today. A man who led the fight to liberate Europe from the darkness of Nazism. A man who spent decades patiently preparing and training for that role, never knowing if it would ever come. A man who’s deep footprint on history still shapes the world we live in today. A man who served through multiple heart attacks, strokes, and other severe illnesses. A leader tested by pandemics from the 1918 Spanish Flu to Polio. A true citizen of the world who, as Lyndon Johnson described, left “America…a better nation—stronger, safer, more conscious of its heritage, more certain of its destiny---because Ike was with us when America needed him.” Today’s guest knew Ike well, though she never addressed him as General or Mr. President. She called him grandpa because Susan Eisenhower is one of Dwight Eisenhower’s four grandchildren. She is a writer, policy strategist and national security expert who leads the Washington, DC based consulting firm, The Eisenhower Group. Her recently published book, “How Ike Led, The Principles Behind Eisenhower’s Biggest Decisions,” and her personal perspective growing up with her grandfather are the focus of today’s episode. With that said, let’s get started.

You’ve no doubt heard this famous quote from science fiction writer, William Gibson, “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.” What better way to describe technology and medicine? The runway for technological innovation and adoption is just a little longer in our world. What other profession or industry can you think of that still uses pagers and fax machines? So where can we look for a sneak peek into the future? How about sports? Motion tracking sensors, video analysis, performance modeling, biometrics, wearables, “Moneyball” data analytics. This is old stuff for the coaches, trainers, scouts, and team managers who use these technologies every day. But what can we learn by putting this same technology to work in the operating room? To answer that question, we’re thrilled to have Dr. Carla Pugh with us today. Dr. Pugh is a professor of General Surgery, and Director of the Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is one of the world’s leading researchers in the use of sensors and simulation technology to assess and quantitatively define hands-on clinical skills. This was a fun and eye-opening episode on what is coming around the corner. With that said, let’s get started…

All right, welcome back. If you think you have a pretty good handle on the opioid crisis, the pharmaceutical industry and how it all works, today’s episode may challenge that assumption. It certainly did for us. The modern pharmaceutical and biotech industries are like no other. How they got to where they are is a story like no other. The same businesses that have given us incredible lifesaving advances have also given us disasters like the opioid epidemic. The history of the pharmaceutical industry is more complex and captivating than you might imagine. Today’s guest in award winning investigative journalist, Gerald Posner. He’s written twelve books including national best sellers such as “God’s Bankers,” “Mengele. The complete Story,” and The Pulitzer Prize finalist, “Case Closed.” His latest book, “Pharma,” is master class history of the modern pharma and biotech space. Understanding that history is critical to understanding the present opioid crisis. In-fact, we didn’t even cover the opioid crisis until the final 15 minutes of the podcast. With so much to cover, we asked Gerald for an extra 30 minutes beyond our usual hour. Even that wasn’t enough, but it was lot of fun, and hopefully all the reason you need to read the book yourself. With that said, let’s get started…

Imagine losing your father at 14, losing your brother a decade later, and looking down the barrel of the same heritable heart condition that killed them both. Imagine learning in your first year of surgical residency that your continued existence will depend a new implantable device, called an ICD. A device so new, you will likely be the first surgeon in the world to have one implanted. A device that will allow your life to continue, but most likely put an end to your surgical career. That’s exactly what happened to today’s guest, one of the nation’s renowned transplant surgeons, Dr. Robert Montgomery. Robert has performed over 1000 kidney transplants and his research has advanced the field in areas such as desensitization, multiple organ transplants, gene and cell-based therapies, and perhaps most famously, domino paired donations. And if that’s not enough, he is also credited in the Guinness Book of World Records for most kidney transplants performed in one day. One more thing…Robert is also heart transplant recipient. A heart transplant performed by the very surgical team he hired, and currently leads as the director of the Langone Transplant Institute at NYU. Wondering about the Ave Maria intro music? Well, that’s Robert’s wife, world famous mezzo-soprano, Denyce Graves. Get ready for a wild journey of an episode. With said, let’s get started.

Barbara Tuchman, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the WWI classic, “The Guns of August,” once observed, “The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard.” Not only must history be recorded, it must also be examined and retold. For most of us, who are not professional historians, we approach history through the curation and re-telling of the past, mainly via books and documentaries. Perhaps we are not so different from our ancestors, and their oral traditions. History may be written by the victors, but it’s kept alive through the story tellers. Today we are heading to London to meet with journalist and author, Wendy Moore. Like Tuchman, Wendy was also drawn to the period of “The Great War,” but in search of story many of you have likely never heard of. In a time when women in the UK, the US and most democratic nations were not even allowed to vote, there was a hospital called Endell Street. A hospital with women surgeons, women nurses, women administrators, and women staff. A hospital almost completely run by and run with women! A 573 bed hospital that performed over 7000 surgical operations and treated some 26,000 wounded soldiers, many with unprecedented battlefield trauma. A hospital led by two active suffragette doctors, one with a criminal record, having been sentenced to six weeks in prison for her protests. A hospital that also treated Spanish Flu patients before being shut down and nearly lost to history…until now.

Today’s episode is not about Covid-19. Instead we’re going to give all of you a break and take you as far away from this as we possibly (and virtually) can. For that, we’re heading to Queensland, Australia to meet Dr. Andrew Peacock, an emergency physician, award winning photographer, accomplished climber and expedition guide for Lindblad expeditions, a travel company contracted with National Geographic. This conversation takes us everywhere from Antarctica to Nepal, aboard a Russian ice breaker ship, technical climbing in New Zealand, and even a private audience with the Dali Lama. We’ll learn how a lucky break in Antarctica sparked a side career for Andrew in photography. Best of all, we’ll uncover how a busy emergency medical physician has made this life possible, while literally setting the standard for work life balance. This was simply an incredible episode. We had a blast doing it. With that said, let’s get started.

In January of 2018, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon announced the creation of a new, co-venture, to tackle the rising costs of healthcare for their company’s employees. They immediately picked famous writer and surgeon, Atul Gawande to lead it. Short on details but big on promise, just the simple announcement of this venture sent shock waves through the media and the markets. Billions of dollars in stock value for insurance companies and other health sector players vanished over night. Two years later, we have a name for this venture (Haven Health) but little else. What they’re up to, and what they’re planning, is still a big mystery. Whatever ultimately happens here, it will matter, simply because names like Amazon and Warren Buffet are behind it. The question is, how much will it matter for the rest of us? How much can anyone (even powerful billionaires) really change the American healthcare system? Today’s guest is Christopher Robertson, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Professor of Law at the University of Arizona. His background and research interests overlap many academic disciplines, including bioethics, health law, incentives, behavioral economics and more. His CV includes a PhD in philosophy and a law degree from Harvard. Unfortunately, Chris doesn’t have behind the scenes access to Haven Health (we know, we asked him). But, he does have a new book exploring some unique ideas and research that should certainly be on their radar, and yours. The book, “Exposed: Why Our Health Insurance is Incomplete and What can be Done About,” also includes a historical overview of our modern American health system, a history often forgotten and overlooked in today's political debates. This was great conversation and we really enjoyed having Christopher on. With that said, let’s get started…

Today we have Dr. Lloyd Minor with us on the show. He's an ENT surgeon, scientist, innovator and currently dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine. We covered his early career path, a surgical treatment he actually developed and his new book, “Discovering Precision Health,” released just this month in March, 2020. As the leader of one of the nation's top medical schools, located right in the heart of Silicon Valley, Dr. Minor has a unique lens on medicine's innovation pipeline. His new book and our conversation offer a glimpse into this world. With that said, let's get started...

This was a brief conversation between Colin and Keith regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. It was recorded on March, 24th 2020. For all of you on medicine's front lines, we're thinking about you every day, and we're deeply grateful for all you are doing, for all of us. Stay safe and take care.

All right, welcome back. If you're still around in the year 2061, two things will be true. You'll enjoy seeing the next passing of Halley's Comet, and your life insurance company will enjoy having collected four more decades of your life insurance premiums, without a payout. Standing there that day you and your insurance company can be grateful for the work of one man, the exact same man that comet is named for. The English astronomer, mathematician and physicist, Edmond Halley. Why you ask? Well, not only did Halley develop the calculations to predict the comet's periodicity, he is also developed the early mathematical tools for predicting human longevity, known very well to your insurance company as actuarial science. Today's guest, like Halley is also a physicist, a theoretical physicist to be exact. And like Halley he sees no need to limit his research interests to one academic domain. Laurence Jacobs began is career at MIT pursuing some of the broader mysteries of our universe. Today he's pursuing another ambitious project, quantifying all of the measures, signs, risk models, data sets, bio-wearable monitoring outputs, health history, genomics and more into (perhaps) one single accessible number. Something you may have heard called a health score. Something that promises to refine our ability to predict longevity, and even improve it. This was an amazing conversation and not a short one. The potential benefits of developing these tools are huge, but so are the challenges and dizzying complexities. Many of the answers will likely come from surprising and unexpected places. To quote one of our past guests, Dr. Robert Gale, the American physician at Chernobyl, “Progress is often made by those who investigate the boundaries of several areas, instead of having laser-like focus on a single discipline. That’s where many of the answers in science reside.” That's exactly where we find Laurence Jacobs today, in Zurich Switzerland where he continues to develop the main concepts and the risk models that underlie the Dacadoo Health Score and the remote disease monitoring and management system, remsmed / EMMA Care. With that said, let's get started..

It's no mystery to most of you that poor health behaviors such as smoking, substance abuse, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and patient non-compliance account for a substantial portion of the disease burden, not to mention costs, in the US. Some recent estimates by the CDC and other researchers suggest behaviors account for 40-50% of increased risk associated with deaths before age 75. The problems are clear. What to do about them isn't. There's no “will power” medication to prescribe, and most public health efforts thus far have barely made a dent. But what if old fashioned will power really isn't the issue? What if something researchers call “introspection illusion,” is causing us to overestimate our own will power, and underestimate the capacities of others? Today's guest is psychologist and behavioral scientist, Wendy Wood. She is currently a professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California, and a visiting professor at the INSEAD Business School in Paris. Wendy has spent much of her career studying what she considers the very building blocks of behavioral change, something we all know as habits. Angela Duckworth describes her as “the world's foremost expert in the field.” And according to Adam Grant, she is “widely recognized as the authority on the science of habits,” We'll explore her research and recent book, “Good Habits, Bad Habits.” Our conversation also touches on what's commonly called, the replication and reproducibility crisis. Wendy has a unique lens on this issue, having served as one of fifteen distinguished scientists chosen by the American Academy of Sciences to study the problem. This was a fun episode with a lot of ground covered. With that said, let's get started...

Nullius in verba. Understanding uncertainty with statistician, Sir David Speigelhalter, PhD by PEERSPECTRUM

We've all heard the bad news about rural hospitals in the U.S. 60 million of our fellow citizens rely on these small hospitals, often known by their designation as critical access facilities. According to a recent analysis conducted by the consulting firm, Navigant, 21% of rural hospitals today are at a severe risk of closure. That includes 430 hospitals across 43 states, representing 21,000 staffed beds, 150,000 employees and $21 billion in revenue. When one of these hospitals closes (and 95 have so far since 2010) critical access to care isn't the only casualty. These hospitals are often largest employers and drivers of economic activity in their communities. The ripple effects are felt wide and deep every time a hospital shuts its doors. OK, that's the bad news. How about some good news? Today we're making the trip to a remote town in Idaho, known as Arco. With a population of only 900, Arco is small. You won't find many restaurants, you won't even find a Walmart but you will find a hospital. A small 14 bed hospital called Lost Rivers (by the way, what a cool name for a hospital, right). Its existence and survival in the face of overwhelming odds is the story of today's episode. When our guest, CEO Brad Huerta, took over in 2013, he wasn't there to save Lost Rivers, he was there to shut it down. With over three million dollars in debt, pending bankruptcy, and only seven thousand dollars of cash in the bank, the situation was beyond grim. Today this same hospital is cash positive, free of every dime of debt, running six years with a yearly profit, and getting ready to open a new surgery center. How is this possible and what happened after Brad arrived? Well, it's one heck of a ride and one hell of a story. So buckle in and get ready. With that said, let's get started.

Today we're heading to the front-lines of research testing and challenging one of the most basic truths of the human experience...we all get older and we all eventually die. Today's guest doesn't buy this. In fact, he actually views aging as a diagnosable disease, a disease that can be managed today, and one day fully treated. Now, before you start rolling your eyes, let's meet today' guest. David Sinclair is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul Glenn Center Biological Mechanisms of Aging. He is widely considered one the world's foremost experts on longevity research. A co-founder of the journal Aging and several biotech companies, he also holds 35 patents. A recipient of more than 25 awards and honors, including being knighted in the Order of Australia, and Time Magazine's top 100 most influential people. Besides his peer-reviewed research, his work is featured in five books, two documentary movies, 60 Minutes, Morgan Freeman’s, “Through the Wormhole,” and other media. David's newest book, “Lifespan, Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To,” is to quote the blurb on the cover, “an elegant and exciting book that deserves to be read broadly and deeply." That comes from Siddhartha Mukherjee, the famous Columbia University oncologist, and winner of the Pulitzer prize. Not bad! It was a rare treat to have David with us today. Our conversation is also a great reminder that these really are incredible and exciting times we're living in. With that said, let's get started.

All right welcome back. Here's a quick trivia question, which group of US patients are constitutionally guaranteed access to free medical care? And no this is not a trick question. The answer...prisoners. Today we're jumping into an area of medicine few, if any of us, know much about. Let's be honest, how many of you out there have even seen the inside of a prison of jail? Not many, we guess. Criminal records and professional medical licensing don't mix well. For those of you who've been with us for awhile, you know this isn't a political program. I say this because I'm going to read a few stats here. Don't worry, we're not gearing up for a policy discussion on prison reform. It is an important issue, but outside the scope of our conversation today. As of 2016, there were 2.1 million people incarcerated in the US. That makes us the world leader both in the total number incarcerated and a per-capita incarceration rate (655 per 100,000). That rate beats everyone, even places like China, North Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. As of 2015, the US population represented only 4.4% of the global population, while we held a whopping 21% of the global prison population. We're reading these stats to show just how big US prison medicine is. That's over two million people who are constitutionally guaranteed free medical care. Just imagine how many doctors, nurses and other medical professionals it takes to deliver that amount of care. Today's guest is one of them. [Read more…] Dr. Jeffery Keller is emergency medicine physician. After 23 years working in a busy trauma center, Keller got a call from the local jail. They needed help. Working in prison didn't sound very appealing, so he politely declined. Six months later they called again. This time he reluctantly agreed, but only temporarily. Then a funny thing happened, Keller actually started to enjoy his work seeing and treating inmates. So began a new path in Keller's career. A path through a largely unknown area of medicine that we're going to explore today. With that said, let's get started.

All right welcome back. If you could pick the ideal patient population, armed with the best knowledge, fluent in medical jargon, generally healthy and willing to comply with recommended treatments, who would you pick? How about doctors? Doctors may not be perfect patients but at least they should outperform similar non-clinicians, right? Surprisingly, little to no research has actually been done comparing the care, compliance and outcomes of doctors to comparable groups of non- physicians. For reasons we'll soon see, this is actually a difficult question to tackle, but it's a very important question with broader implications. Today's guest is MIT economist, Jonathan Gruber. He recently co-authored a study using a unique data source to examine just how good doctors and their family members are when they find themselves in the patient seat. Spoiler alert, obviously if the results aren't surprising, we probably would not be here talking about it. That's for the first part of this episode. In the second, we'll explore some of Jonathan's other work. Besides his 160 researcher papers, seven books, numerous awards and prestigious appointments, there's also something else Jonathan is known for. He was one of key advisors (come have even called architects) of Romney-care and Obamacare. Perhaps you've forgotten so let's see if this jogs your memory: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLOV4oUXawg So if you've been listening to us long enough, you know PeerSpectrum, unlike CNN, is not your home for politics. There are plenty of other places to go for that. Not that Keith and I don't have our opinions, we just recognize our limitations. We aren't journalists and we don't pretend to be. We'll leave the politics to them. Did we bring up Gruber's history and talk about it? You bet. There was no way we could skip it completely. In his own words, Gruber became a virtual proxy for the intense debates taking place during the lead up the passage of the ACA. Whatever you think about Obamacare, or Gruber personally, he's important figure and someone worth talking with. With that said, let's get started.

As you heard last time, Dr. Gale (a bone marrow transplant specialist from UCLA) rose to international prominence after being the first American physician invited by the Soviet Union to treat patients suffering acute radiation trauma, only days after the horrific incident at Chernobyl. Our journey continues as Dr. Gale is flown in by helicopter to personally survey the Chernobyl nuclear power-plant. This only weeks after the meltdown of reactor number four. We'll see what it was like walking through the eerily empty streets of Pripyat. This was literally one of the most dangerous and heavily restricted areas on the planet. For an outsider, especially an American, to be personally inspecting this area, actually treating patients, all during the height of the cold war, was simply unthinkable... until it actually happened. For those of you who enjoyed the recent hit HBO series on Chernobyl, we'll spend a little more time there. Then we'll move on to subsequent nuclear incidents such as Tokiamura and Fukushima, and Dr. Gale's first hand experience with those. We'll discuss his lessons learned and his thoughts on the future of nuclear energy. We'll also see what he's up to today. It's an incredible part II for this rare series. With that said, let's get started.

Thirty three years after the worst nuclear disaster in human history, the name Chernobyl rings ominously, and continues to inspire fear, outrage, debate and grim curiously. It's a captivating story now being re-told dramatically, though not completely accurately, through HBO's new and very popular mini-series. We've had some pretty unique people on this program but perhaps today's guest is more unique than most. Dr. Robert Gale is an academic physician who's spent his career researching and treating patients with Leukemia and other bone marrow disorders. He's published over 800 research articles and books, he's an international expert on nuclear disaster response, and get this...he's even written for, and appeared in several Hollywood movies. Oh, he's also the shared recipient of an Emmy award for his work in a, "60 Minutes" piece. As you heard in the opening news clip, Dr. Gale rose to international prominence after being the first American physician invited by the Soviet Union to treat patients suffering from acute radiation trauma after Chernobyl. It's where our journey begins on this special two part episode. With that said, let's get started.

Today's guest is Dr. Devi Shetty, a cardiac surgeon, entrepreneur and one of the most famous physicians in India. What's he famous for? Well, he performed the very first neonatal heart surgery in India, and actually served as Mother Teresa's personal physician after operating on her following a heart attack. Obviously, we weren't missing the opportunity to explore these unusual stories, but they are far from the main focus of our conversation. Dr. Shetty is best known for the unique and innovative health system he created. A system so revolutionary, the Wall Street Journal has nicknamed him the "Henry Ford of Medicine." We'll uncover what it takes to perform an advanced cardiac procedure, with western trained doctors, state of the art equipment, comparably lower complication rates than most US hospitals, for only $2,000 with a profit. The same procedure that would cost over $100,000 in the US with higher complication rates and additional OR time. Make no mistake, their model isn't simply about cheaper overseas labor and this isn't a story about medical tourism. We'll see how Naryana Health functions as a working laboratory for testing and implementing new techniques, technologies, models, and training allowing them to be more agile, efficient and safer than any hospital you have likely yet encountered. We'll see how Naryana Health has become a profitable publicly traded company while adhering to a policy of never refusing care to a patient regardless of their ability to pay. Yes, you heard that right! A profitable private hospital system that also provides free medical care. An hour just wasn't enough here. It was incredible conversation that only just scratches the surface of what's going on. It's also a forward look at what's coming whether we like it or not. With that said let's get started.

Keith and I have long considered doing an episode on meditation. What held us back was our goal (as it is with every episode) to answer these two questions: how would the episode specifically benefit you, the physicians and medical professionals in our audience, and how would we avoid simply rehashing a well worn topic explored elsewhere? As you know, we're not big on chasing trends here. So we tabled it, until just recently, when we came across today's guest. Dr. Patrick Codd earned his M.D. in the Harvard Medical School/MIT Health Science & Technology Program. He then completed his residency in Neurosurgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Patrick then served as the Director of the North Neurosurgical Service at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School before joining the neurosurgery staff at Duke University Medical Center where we find him today. [Read more…] Not only is Patrick a solidly credentialed neurosurgeon at a world class institution, he's also, get ready for this, an ordained Buddhist priest. Not a combination you find everyday but just the kind of person we knew we had to invite on the program. We'll explore Patrick's uncommon path and his unique perspective on meditation. After-all, the brain isn't just the focal point of Patrick's meditative practice, it's also something he actually operates on every week. We'll learn how meditation initially helped him manage the daily encounters with stress and patient suffering he experienced as a resident. Then we'll see how a busy neurosurgeon fits meditation into his daily workflow, becoming a critical element of his life and practice. Maybe you already have a meditation routine, maybe you've tried it but found little benefit, or maybe you're still highly skeptical of the whole thing. Wherever you're coming from, this episode will have something for you. With that said, let's get started...

Most of you know the quote, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” It's often attributed, incorrectly, to the famous nineteenth century physicist, Lord Kelvin. Wherever it came from, it's sounds about right. Same goes for this familiar quote from a popular business book author, “What gets measured gets done.” Well, in today's episode were going to talk about what's getting measured and what's actually getting done. What's getting measured are thousands of performance and quality indicators. What's getting done is docking our medical system billions of dollars every year in costs and lost productivity. Nothing new to all of you out there. But what if this “metric fixation,” is doing more than just wasting time and money? Used correctly, metrics and big data analysis offer incredible promise for research, visibility and improvement. Used incorrectly, they can steer us off course, devalue professional judgment, manipulate, encourage fraud, and possibly cause real harm to physicians, hospitals and patients. As you know, every so often we like to venture outside the medical tent for unique perspectives. That's certainly true of today's guest, historian Jerry Muller. Author of many books and a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs. His recent book, “The Tyranny of Metrics,” arose from his initial frustrations with metric fixation in higher education. As he dug deeper, he soon realized these fixations weren't' limited to universities, and they weren't new. They were already prevalent in business, law enforcement, the military, philanthropy, and of course medicine. What he found was a growing obsession with rankings, scores and a belief that all aspects of human performance and judgment can ultimately be deconstructed, demystified and quantified. This was a fascinating discussion with a rare thinker and scholar, we hope you'll enjoy. With that said let's get started.

Today's episode is about money, specifically your money. Now, if we're going to take a break from interviewing astronauts, Navy SEAL's, NFL surgeons and cutting edge researchers to do an episode on investing, you can bet we we have a very specific reason for doing so. You can also bet we have a rare and unique guest. That guest is renowned Economist, Burton Malkiel. You can google him later but here's a quick CV highlight reel: PhD from Princeton, Harvard MBA, author of 12 books and more than 150 articles, dean of the Yale School of Management, member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, corporate board memberships including Prudential Financial , the American Stock Exchange, and the Vanguard Group. At 86 years of age he isn't stopping and currently serves as chief investment officer at Weathfront. All very impressive you say, but what does this have to do with me? Well, Burton is also the author of one the most influential investment books of all time. First published over 45 years ago, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” has sold over 1.5 million copies and is now (as of Jan 2019) in its 12th edition. When it was first published in 1973, Burton called B.S. on the performance and excessive fees charged by professional money managers and other experts. He imagined a better, low cost investment tool that did not yet exist. Three years later that changed and today this simple investment tool is the vehicle of choice for 40% of the total invested stock market. Even Warren Buffet (the oracle of Omaha and one of the extremely rare few to actually outperform the market) now recommends this tool for investors. What is this tool and how did Burton Malkiel's ideas transform the financial world? How have his ideas become a sort of placebo control virtually no one can beat over the long run? How can an 86 year old economist help you avoid the time and money wasting decisions so many have, and will continue to make? Let's find out, and with that said, let's get started...

Clinical research with Psychedelic compounds like psilocybin, LSD and MDMA have gotten a lot of press recently. Major institutions such as Johns Hopkins, UCLA and Yale are leading the charge with dramatic results in drug addiction, PTSD, end of life care, depression and other mental illness that is simply breathtaking. When we think back to the psychedelic sixties, it’s hard to imagine that legitimate clinical research was taking place with psychedelics then, too; although much of it (think Timothy Leary) wouldn’t pass even the most lenient institutional review boards today. Much of this early research in the US came to a screeching halt with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Only now are we beginning to reawaken to the incredible healing and trans-formative effects these compounds can offer. Today it’s our distinct privilege to speak with the researcher who carried the torch through a time when psychedelic research was nearly non-existent. When it comes to the mechanisms of action, biochemistry and pharmacology of psychedelics, David Nichols is arguably the world’s foremost expert. He’s spent over 40 years researching and producing these compounds. And yes, all legally, as Nichols held one of the very few DEA licenses granted during this time. If you’re skeptical about all this, hang in there. We’ll see how psychedelic tools can open new pathways to understanding neuroscience, mental illness and even perhaps change who we are and how we see the world. A majority of those who experience a psychedelic trip consider it among the most meaningful experiences of their entire lives. How is that possible? We’re going to find out. With that said, let’s get started…

Today we have award winning science journalist, Laura Beil with us. Her investigative podcast series on the notorious former neurosurgeon, Christopher Duntsch is what brings her here today. Since its release last month, "Dr. Death," as it is called is now one of top 5 ranked podcasts in the country. You've probably heard about this story but just a quick recap before we get started: In 2011, neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch began his first practice in Dallas, TX. Through the next two years, he operated on 37 patients. Of those 37, 33 suffered severe injuries and complications. Several were left permanently paralyzed, and two left dead from what all should have been fairly routine, elective procedures. It's an appalling story, later described by a surgeon (testifying at Duntsch's trial) as a "complete and utter failure of the entire system of checks and balances for patient safety.” A failure that likely would have continued were it not for the heroic efforts of other doctors in the Dallas community who battled to stop him. This episode covers a lot of ground in a short time, including followup information that has come to light since the podcast's release. There's nothing enjoyable about this story. But it's also too important to ignore. With that said, let's get started.

On this episode's release, we find ourselves in week 3 of the 2018 NFL season. So what could be a better time than now to talk with a surgeon who's spine practice has treated more NFL, and other professional athletes, than any in the world. Patients such as Dan Marino, Tony Romo, Peyton Manning, Wayne Gretzky, Reggie Jackson and Rob Gronkowski, just to name a few. If you like stats, check out this patient roster: 173 NFL players, 21 Superbowl Champions, 43 NBA players, 60 Pro Hockey Players, 8 Stanley Cup Champions, 112 Major League Baseball players, 30 World Series Champions, 12 Olympic Gold Medalists...and the list goes on and on. Today's guest is Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Robert Watkins, IV. Along with his father, Dr. Robert Watkins, III and their partner, Dr. David Chang; they together run the world renowned Watkins Spine Center in Marina Del Rey, California. We'll go behind the scenes to discover what's involved with the treatment of these elite high profile athletes. We'll separate what really happens from all the noise and misconceptions out there. And we'll explore how modern surgical techniques can return many elite athletes, (with what were once career ending injuries) to a highly competitive level of play. This episode was a blast so sit back and enjoy. With that said let's get started...

All right, welcome back. Steve Jobs once said,"If Henry Ford had asked his customers what they want, they would have said a faster horse...[you see, he said] It's not the customer's job to know what they want." When you create a trillion dollar company and the iPhone, you get to say stuff like that. How would your life be different if Steve Jobs designed your EHR? Could a dream team from Apple design a perfect hospital without any input from the physicians and nurses who will work there? What if they said,” it's not the doctors job to know what they want because we know what's best for them.” Yeah, probably not. Medical space design is something we take for granted everyday, often only crossing our minds when we're frustrated about it. And sometimes it's really frustrating. Much of this frustration originates from the gulf between those who design these spaces and those of us who actually work in them. It effects our work, our mood and as research is now showing even patient outcomes. As a trained physician and architect, Dr. Diana Anderson (the docitecht as she is known) understands this better than most. She has worked on hospital design projects in the US Canada and Australia, and is widely published in both architectural and medical journals, books and the popular press. She's currently a Fellow at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics. Just the kind of unique perspective we love to find on the show. When it comes to problems in design and medicine in general, perhaps we're all looking for faster horses when what we actually need requires a different perspective. With that said, let's get started

Name: Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD Specialty: Pediatrician and public health advocate Location: Hurley Medical Center: Flint, MI Today it's our distinct privilege to have Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on the show. Before her best selling book, her countless TV interviews, before Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, "Dr. Mona" (as she is known) was just another pediatrician taking care of children in one of the poorest cities in the country. If you're like us, you probably think you know the Flint story pretty well. This episode may change your mind. Here's some things we didn't know: Flint Michigan was once one of America's most prosperous cities. Many historians say the middle class was born there. The crisis began when the city switched its water source to the Flint river. This river was once so polluted it caught on fire twice. The entire crisis was completely avoidable, like 80 bucks a day avoidable! Lead poisoning may be one of the largest threats to American children today. It's literally everywhere around us. The first abortion pill was made of lead The same thing happened that happened in Flint happened in Washington DC in 2004. Thousands of adults and children were exposed to high levels of lead contamination and we still have really no idea what the long term effects will be. Choosing to be a whistleblower carries tremendous risk. We only hear of the success stories. We never hear of about the whistleblowers who lose their jobs, go bankrupt, get divorced and even commit suicide. This is an amazing and heroic story, but also a haunting one. You really have to wonder...what would have happened to Flint if there wasn't a Dr. Mona to stand up and fight? We really don't know. The best we can hope for is that by sharing her story, others may find the tools and the inspiration to do the same. With that said let's get started...

The opening you just heard was the actual footage of STS- 133, the final launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, and the second to last launch of the US space shuttle program. One of the astronauts aboard that day was Dr. Michael Barratt: A career astronaut, a physician by training and today's guest on the podcast. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we were to do this interview. NASA gets literally thousands of requests every year for astronaut interviews, speaking engagements and visits. They can only accept so many. Thanks to the growing popularity of our podcast, and to all of you who are listening, we're now getting more opportunities like this to speak with some really unique and incredible people. Put yourself in our shoes for a minute. Michael Barratt someone who's been to space twice, lived on the International Space Station for 200 hundred days, conducted two space walks (EVA's), he's one of the world's experts in space and aviation medicine, and we got to sit down with him for over an hour and ask him anything we wanted. It was a rare and unforgettable privilege and we want to thank all of you out there for making it possible. With that said, let's get started...

If you fly often, it's only a matter of time before you hear those not so welcome words over the intercom: "Is there a doctor or medical professional aboard?" So, do you hit your flight attendant button, or wait for someone else to do it first? When you're stuck at 30,000 feet, options are limited. You might even feel a little like our past guest, Dr. Gavin Francis, serving as the only doctor available in a remote Antarctic research base. So what are your options? Who can you call for assistance? Is there medical equipment available? What are your legal risks and ethical responsibilities? How often does this stuff actually happen? Today we're going behind the scenes with Dr. Paulo Alves, global medical director for Medaire, a company contracted with most the world's commercial airlines to provide real-time medical assistance from their emergency command center in Phoenix, Arizona. If that's not exciting enough, they also specialize in emergency medical evacuations, crew training, and medical and security preparations for private jets, yachts and even cruise ships. It's a fascinating world many of us know very little about. With that said let's get started...

All right, welcome back for round two with former Navy SEAL, Dr. Robert Adams. If you missed part one, go back and check it out. In Part II we move forward to Bob's career as an army physician. We're going to learn what it's like being a physician attached to the Army's elite counter terrorism and hostage rescue unit, known as Delta Force. A unit so secretive that even family members of Delta operators are treated by separate physicians. Next we'll move to post-invasion Iraq and Bob's early efforts to train and equip Iraqi physicians who, because of Saddam Hussein's onerous travel restrictions, were practicing medicine in a virtual time capsule, unchanged over the previous twenty five years. We'll discover a close call that nearly ended the lives of 700 Iraqi physicians, in a terrorist plot uncovered just in the nick of time. It's an incredible conversation for part II of our series. With that said, let's get started....

Today we’ve got a pretty awesome guest for you. What was once a secret, and very much unknown group of elite US military soldiers, has now become a virtual household name inspiring countless books, news stories and even movies. While all of you have certainly heard of Navy SEAL’s, very few of you have likely met one. They’re a small, select and rare group. Even rarer are the handful of Navy Seals who have gone on become physicians. Today’s guest is one of these few. To become a SEAL requires one to pass one of (if not the) most difficult, grueling and selective training processes in the world. This includes a crucible called Hell Week where recruits face six torturous days of physical tests, no sleep, freezing cold water, hazardous elements and (for those who make it through) watching each day as most of your fellow classmates ultimately quit the process. The stresses and physiological impacts to the human body are very real, leaving many graduates presenting with the same signs and symptoms seen in POWs, or even victims of torture. It’s what we’re going to talk about today and who better to explore it with us than physician who went through it himself. Today Dr. Robert Adams is family physician with the UNC health system. He entered medical school after serving as an elite Navy SEAL for 12 years. His recently published book, “Six Days of the Impossible,” is the first ever exploration of this process from a medical perspective. It’s an unbelievably fascinating story for part I of our conversation with Bob. Part II is the result of our regrets for all the questions and topics we didn’t get to in that first conversation. So we asked Bob to come back for another round. After this episode we’ll continue the journey in part II with Bob’s time as a command surgeon for the Army’s elite Delta Force, and his experiences as army physician in post invasion Iraq. Get ready for an exciting ride. With that said, let’s get started…

Welcome back. During our last episode we had an incredible conversation with the founders of Experiment.com, a very novel and exciting platform for crowd funding scientific research. If you missed this episode, definitely check it out. Keith and I came away so impressed with their venture, we decided to take a deeper look at some of the current research. One experiment really jumped out, so we invited the lead researcher to join us. That researcher is today's guest, Dr. Susan Culican, professor of Ophthalmology and residency directory at the Washington University School of Medicine, and the St. Louis Children's Hospital. We covered a lot of ground in this episode: alternatives to traditional grant funding, resident education and best of all... Susan's current research that ...get ready... actually challenges the long held assumption that only surgeons have the expertise to reliably assess surgical skill. Her experiment seeks to prove that non-clinicians (i.e. the public) while viewing surgical videos can assess surgical skill just as accurately as highly skilled attendings. Not a chance, you say! Well, see how you feel at the end of this episode. You might just change your mind. With that said, let's get started.