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In 1987, Mary P. Lovato, a member of Kewa Pueblo in New Mexico, was diagnosed with acute leukemia. To receive a bone marrow transplant, she had to travel more than 800 miles from home because specialized cancer care was unavailable through the Indian Health Service. When she returned, she discovered another obstacle: many in her community feared cancer so deeply that they avoided speaking about it altogether.This episode examines how cancer survivorship exposed profound inequities in the American healthcare system. Long before health equity became a national priority, advocates from underserved communities were confronting disparities rooted in geography, poverty, racism, language, underfunded healthcare systems, and historical mistrust of medical institutions. Their work demonstrated that scientific advances alone cannot improve survival if patients cannot reach, afford, or trust the care available to them.The story follows pioneers including Mary P. Lovato, who built the first national Native-led cancer support and education program for Indigenous communities, and Maimah Karmo, founder of the Tigerlily Foundation, whose breast cancer diagnosis inspired a movement to improve early detection, clinical trial participation, and representation for Black women. Their advocacy challenged longstanding barriers to culturally competent care while highlighting persistent inequities in access to screening, fertility preservation, navigation, and innovative treatments.The episode also explores why diversity in clinical research matters. For decades, many cancer clinical trials disproportionately enrolled White patients, limiting both access to promising therapies and the scientific understanding of how treatments perform across different populations. Researchers, patient advocates, and community leaders responded by redesigning outreach, improving patient navigation, reducing logistical barriers, and insisting that affected communities help shape the research itself.Cancer survivorship cannot be measured solely by scientific breakthroughs. It also depends on whether every patient has a meaningful opportunity to benefit from them. The pursuit of health equity remains one of the defining challenges and enduring responsibilities of modern oncology.RELATED LINKSNational Cancer Institute | Cancer Health DisparitiesIndian Health ServiceTigerlily FoundationNational Cancer Institute | Cancer Clinical TrialsAmerican Indian Cancer FoundationAbramson Cancer Center | University of PennsylvaniaFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In 2000, Katie Couric underwent a live colonoscopy on national television following the death of her husband, Jay Monahan, from colorectal cancer at age 42. The broadcast demystified a procedure many Americans feared, led to an estimated 20% increase in colonoscopy screenings, and became one of the clearest examples of how public storytelling can change healthcare behavior.This episode examines how celebrities, journalists, filmmakers, and entertainers helped reshape the public conversation about cancer during a period when survivorship was becoming increasingly visible. As breakthroughs in targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and early detection allowed more people to live beyond cancer, public figures used their platforms to encourage screening, reduce stigma, and accelerate research. Their influence extended far beyond awareness campaigns, helping transform cancer from a private diagnosis into a national public health conversation.Central to this story is Laura Ziskin, the Hollywood producer behind Pretty Woman and the Spider-Man films, whose metastatic breast cancer diagnosis inspired the creation of Stand Up To Cancer. Working alongside Couric and leaders from entertainment, journalism, and biomedical research, Ziskin championed a new funding model that required multidisciplinary scientific collaboration, helping accelerate discoveries that contributed to multiple FDA-approved cancer therapies. The episode also highlights the advocacy of actor Patrick Dempsey, whose family's experience with ovarian cancer led to the creation of the Dempsey Center, expanding support for patients and caregivers beyond medical treatment.The story also asks what celebrity advocacy often leaves unsaid. Financial toxicity, caregiver burden, chronic pain, mental health, and the long-term effects of treatment rarely receive the same attention as dramatic diagnoses or breakthrough cures. As cancer survivorship continues to evolve, the greatest challenge may not be convincing people to care about cancer, but helping them understand what it truly means to live with and beyond it.RELATED LINKSStand Up To CancerKatie Couric MediaDempsey CenterAmerican Association for Cancer ResearchNational Cancer InstituteDana-Farber Cancer Institute | Adult Survivorship ProgramFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In 2006, a landmark report titled Closing the Gap: Research and Care Imperatives for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer confirmed what young survivors had been saying for years. While survival rates for children and older adults had steadily improved, adolescents and young adults had experienced decades of stalled progress. They had become cancer's lost generation.This episode explores how young adult survivors transformed their shared isolation into one of the most influential grassroots movements in cancer advocacy. Diagnosed during the years typically devoted to education, careers, relationships, and starting families, patients between the ages of 15 and 39 confronted challenges that extended far beyond treatment. Fertility preservation, sexual health, employment, financial toxicity, insurance, and long-term quality of life were rarely discussed in oncology clinics, leaving many to navigate survivorship alone.The episode follows advocates including Tamika Felder, Lindsay Avner, Heidi Adams, Doug Ulman, and Dr. Archie Bleyer, whose research and advocacy fundamentally changed how medicine understands adolescent and young adult cancer. Through organizations including Planet Cancer, Fertile Hope, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and later Stupid Cancer, survivors built online communities, educational resources, conferences, and national partnerships that challenged long-standing assumptions about cancer care. Their work helped establish fertility preservation as a standard discussion before treatment, expanded research dedicated to adolescent and young adult oncology, and elevated quality of life as a critical clinical outcome alongside survival.The movement also demonstrated the power of lived experience to reshape medicine. Survivors became researchers, educators, nonprofit founders, and policy advocates, insisting that cancer care account not only for years of life saved, but for the lives patients hoped to build afterward.What began as a search for peers evolved into a national movement that permanently transformed adolescent and young adult oncology. Today, dedicated research programs, clinical fellowships, survivorship resources, and patient advocacy organizations continue to build on the foundation these young cancer mavericks created.RELATED LINKSNational Cancer Institute | Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer ProgramClosing the Gap: Research and Care Imperatives for Adolescents and Young Adults with CancerAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology | Fertility Preservation GuidelinesStupid CancerLivestrong FoundationJournal of Adolescent and Young Adult OncologyFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Today's Guests: Ann Bauer - Novelist, essayist and co-founder of Storylīz Charlie Camosy - Professor of Moral Theology & Bioethics, author, and editor Lauren Lintner - "Week in Review"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today's Guests: Ann Bauer - Novelist, essayist and co-founder of Storylīz Charlie Camosy - Professor of Moral Theology & Bioethics, author, and editor Lauren Lintner - "Week in Review"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine published From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition, concluding that millions of Americans were surviving cancer only to find themselves navigating a healthcare system unprepared for life after treatment. The report challenged oncology to recognize that curing cancer was not the end of care, but the beginning of survivorship.This episode explores how the growing cancer survivorship movement exposed the long-term consequences of cancer treatment that medicine had largely overlooked. As survival rates improved following the National Cancer Act of 1971, millions of survivors faced chronic fatigue, neuropathy, infertility, cognitive impairment, financial hardship, employment discrimination, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. These were not rare complications. They became defining features of survivorship for many patients.Drawing on the work of oncologist Dr. Patricia Ganz, survivor advocate Ellen Stovall, and researchers, clinicians, and survivors across the country, the episode examines how survivorship research expanded beyond recurrence and mortality to include quality of life, psychosocial care, rehabilitation, and long-term follow-up. Their efforts helped establish survivorship care plans, multidisciplinary survivorship clinics, and a broader understanding that cancer affects every aspect of a person's life long after treatment ends.The episode also confronts persistent inequities in survivorship care. Insurance coverage often ends when treatment stops, supportive services remain inconsistent, financial toxicity continues to drive medical hardship, and racial, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities still influence who receives comprehensive follow-up care. For many survivors, finishing treatment simply marks the beginning of another struggle.Modern oncology increasingly recognizes that surviving cancer is measured by more than years of life. It is also measured by quality of life, dignity, access to care, and the ability to rebuild a future after treatment. That evolution remains one of the most significant legacies of the cancer survivorship movement.RELATED LINKSNational Academy of Medicine | From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in TransitionNational Cancer Institute Office of Cancer SurvivorshipAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology | Survivorship CompendiumCancerCareHopeWell Cancer SupportNational Coalition for Cancer SurvivorshipFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In 1967, breast surgeon Dr. Harold P. Freeman arrived at Harlem Hospital expecting to treat cancer. Instead, he confronted a healthcare system where poverty, racism, lack of insurance, and institutional barriers often determined who lived long enough to receive treatment. Patients frequently arrived with advanced disease, not because medicine lacked answers, but because access to care had failed them.This episode explores how cancer survivorship expanded beyond medical breakthroughs to include healthcare access, health equity, and organized advocacy. Building on the early work of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), it examines the recognition that surviving cancer depended not only on research, but also on whether patients could navigate a fragmented healthcare system.Freeman responded by creating one of the nation's first patient navigation programs at Harlem Hospital in 1990. Community-based navigators helped patients overcome practical barriers including insurance, transportation, appointments, communication, and fear. The model dramatically improved timely diagnosis and treatment, increased breast cancer survival in Harlem, and ultimately inspired the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2005, establishing navigation as a cornerstone of modern oncology care.The episode also follows cancer survivor Ellen Stovall, whose leadership transformed survivorship into a national policy movement. Through the NCCS, she united advocates across cancer types, fought for insurance protections, expanded access to clinical trials, helped shape the creation of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute, and organized the landmark 1998 National March for Cancer Survivorship in Washington, D.C. Her work reframed survivorship as a public policy issue rather than a personal experience.Together, Freeman and Stovall demonstrated that scientific progress alone could not eliminate disparities in cancer outcomes. Their work established two enduring principles that continue to shape oncology today: patients need someone to help them navigate care, and survivors must have a voice in the policies that govern it. Modern cancer survivorship depends on both.RELATED LINKSNational Coalition for Cancer SurvivorshipHarold P. Freeman Patient Navigation InstituteNational Cancer Institute Office of Cancer SurvivorshipPatient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2005American Cancer SocietyTuskegee Study Timeline | Centers for Disease Control and PreventionFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 It's Tuesday and we have a great show in store for you. Host Kerby Anderson opens the show with a couple of stories from the headlines, and then he speaks with Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, Director of Bioethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing Program at Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). They'll talk […]
Welcome to a very, very, very special bonus episode of Out of Patients, and one unlike anything published on this feed before. For nearly 20 years, Matthew Zachary has handed these microphones to patients, caregivers, doctors, advocates, troublemakers, and people with something worth saying. This time, he handed them to his daughter. Hannah Greenzweig grew up around this show, and now she has commandeered the studio with 3 of her wonderfully creative high school friends to talk about something they built entirely themselves. There is an enormous amount of Dad Pride baked into this episode, along with the strange and wonderful realization that sometimes your kid grows up, takes your chair, takes your microphone, and produces a better show without you.Hannah Greenzweig, Michael Aidinov, Gwendolyn Baldini, and Astronomy are student artists from the Roundabout Youth Ensemble at James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Working alongside teaching artists from Roundabout Theatre Company, they spent a school year creating an original play from the ground up, writing every scene, developing every character, and producing the performance themselves.Instead of discussing a Broadway production, they dissect one they invented.Their play, Subject Matter, began with a room full of improbable ideas. Murderous bounce houses, pirate family sagas, underwater adventures, courtroom dance battles, and birthday parties at math museums all competed before the group settled on an absurd rivalry between New York's fictional History Museum and Math Museum. From there, they built a fully staged comedy about institutional competition, sabotage, oversized personalities, and the unexpected discovery that history and mathematics need each other more than either side wants to admit.The conversation pulls back the curtain on a creative process most audiences never see. The students explain how scenes evolved through constant rewrites, how characters emerged from improvisation, how costumes came together with last minute ingenuity, and how rehearsals often collapsed into uncontrollable laughter. They recount cutting favorite ideas, solving production problems with limited resources, and trusting each other enough to keep rewriting until the story worked.The episode also captures something harder to script: teenagers speaking honestly about collaboration without adults translating their experience. They celebrate classmates who stepped into unexpected roles, teachers who quietly held the production together, and the strange joy of creating something that exists only because everyone showed up.It is a conversation about theater, friendship, education, creativity, and what happens when 4 young artists get the microphones and the adults get out of the way.RELATED LINKSRoundabout Theatre CompanyRoundabout Youth EnsembleJames Madison High SchoolFEEDBACKLike this bonus episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A man is struck by a car on the streets of Los Angeles. In the emergency department, a CT scan ordered to look for traumatic injuries reveals something nobody expected: a mass in his colon. Days later, sitting across from Dr. Belinda Waltman, he calls the accident “a blessing in disguise.” Then he changes the subject. He is less worried about cancer than about whether he can afford to miss another day of work. In this season finale of Standard Deviation, host Dr. Oliver Bogler explores what happens when biomedical science collides with the realities of the healthcare safety net. Dr. Waltman, a primary care physician in Los Angeles County, specializes in expedited cancer workups for uninsured and underinsured patients. Every diagnosis arrives carrying another set of questions about housing, transportation, food insecurity, wages, and survival that rarely appear in medical records or scientific literature. For years, Waltman carried those stories without knowing how to bring them into the academic record. As a full-time clinician without a research lab, grant funding, or publication pipeline, she faced barriers familiar to many working scientists and physicians whose most important observations happen outside traditional research settings. With support from the Life Science Editors Foundation's JEDI program, those experiences became The Margins Matter, a narrative medicine essay published in JAMA that argues the social realities surrounding cancer care are not background details. They are part of the disease itself. Bogler traces how editorial mentorship transformed lived clinical experience into published scholarship while asking a larger question about who gets to shape the scientific record. The conversation examines cancer care, Medicaid, health-related social needs, medical publishing, and the structural incentives that determine which stories become evidence and which disappear from view.The result is a conversation about documentation, visibility, and why the margins of medicine often determine who survives long enough to benefit from its advances.RELATED LINKSDr. Belinda WaltmanThe Margins Matter | JAMAThe Margins Matter | PubMedLife Science Editors FoundationFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Guest host Rebekah Haynie talks with Heather Zeiger of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity the case of Baby Gabriel, a child who was brought to be through a surrogacy. But since he has a heart defect, the couple who would receive the baby requested him to be aborted before he was born. The carrying mother refused and fled. From a Christian viewpoint, what are the moral and ethical issues. Licensed counselor Debra Fileta, author of "People Skills," helps us work on our listening skills. You can learn to listen better! The Reconnect with Carmen and all Faith Radio podcasts are made possible by your support. Give now: Click here
In 1986, 23 survivors, physicians, nurses, attorneys, and community organizers gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a weekend that would permanently change the language and politics of cancer. Working late into the night, they debated not only strategy, but identity, ultimately declaring that from the moment of diagnosis, every person with cancer is a survivor.This episode traces the social and political forces that gave birth to the modern cancer survivorship movement. As advances in early detection and treatment allowed more people to live beyond cancer, survivors discovered that finishing treatment did not mean returning to normal life. Many faced employment discrimination, loss of insurance, social stigma, infertility, chronic health complications, and a healthcare system that viewed survival as the end of care rather than the beginning of a new chapter.Against the backdrop of the civil rights, disability rights, and community health movements of the 1960s and 1970s, physicians, activists, and survivors challenged medicine's paternalistic culture and demanded a greater voice in decisions affecting their lives. Central to this story are physician and survivor Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, whose landmark 1985 essay, Seasons of Survival, redefined survivorship as a lifelong continuum, and community organizer Katherine Logan, whose determination united dozens of grassroots organizations into what became the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.The coalition's founding established principles that continue to shape oncology today. Survivors were no longer defined solely by disease or treatment outcomes. Their experiences became evidence. Their voices became essential to clinical research, healthcare policy, and patient advocacy. By redefining survivorship as an ongoing experience rather than a destination, the movement challenged medicine to recognize the lasting physical, emotional, financial, and social consequences of cancer.The ideas forged during that weekend in Albuquerque became the foundation of modern cancer survivorship. Nearly 40 years later, the coalition's defining principle, that survivorship begins at diagnosis, continues to influence cancer care, research, policy, and the way millions of people understand life after cancer.RELATED LINKSNational Coalition for Cancer SurvivorshipNational Cancer Institute Office of Cancer SurvivorshipThe New England Journal of MedicineAmericans with Disabilities Act (ADA.gov)Library of Congress | Civil Rights History ProjectWhite Coat, Clenched Fist by Fitzhugh MullanFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This special episode features the Munk Debate on the Gene Editing, held before a live audience of 800 students and faculty at Deerfield Academy in April 2026.Arguing in favour of the motion was the biophysicist, best-selling author, biotechnology entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA School of Medicine, Gregory Stock. His debate partner was the internationally acclaimed strategic philosopher and pioneering transhumanist Max More. Arguing against the motion was the prominent American bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, Special Advisor to the Director General of the WHO and a former founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the NIH. His debate partner wass the award-winning educator, author, and Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London, Joyce Harper.Become a Munk Donor ($50 annually) to get 72-hour advanced access to the full length editions of Friday Focus and Munk Dialogues. Go to www.munkdebates.com to sign up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In a world that feels more anxious, divided, and uncertain than ever, many of us are searching for a way to find calm, clarity, and inner peace. Dr. Stephen Post offers a science-based roadmap to cultivating love, resilience, and harmony. He draws on decades of research, real-world examples, and practical exercises, to show how embracing the power of unconditional love —. toward ourselves and others — can transform not just our hearts, but our communities and the world. Dr. Post is a researcher, speaker, and author, whose work has inspired countless people to live with more meaning, compassion, and connection. He is the founder and President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, and the founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. His new book is, Pure Unlimited Love: Science and the Seven Paths to Inner Peace
In 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, transforming cancer research with an unprecedented federal investment and launching what became known as the War on Cancer. The legislation did not emerge from scientific discovery alone. It was the culmination of decades of relentless advocacy by researchers, philanthropists, journalists, and patients who believed cancer demanded the same national commitment that had put astronauts on the Moon.This episode traces the origins of the cancer survivorship movement by returning to a time when cancer was rarely discussed in public, many physicians withheld diagnoses from their patients, and surgery offered few lasting cures. It follows the pioneering work of pathologist Dr. Sidney Farber, whose early chemotherapy research challenged conventional thinking, and Mary Lasker, whose political strategy, fundraising, and public campaigns helped transform cancer from a private tragedy into a national public health priority. Together, they built the coalition that reshaped federal support for oncology research and forever changed the relationship between science, government, and the American public.The story then turns to journalist and breast cancer survivor Rose Kushner, whose refusal to accept the standard one-step radical mastectomy challenged nearly a century of surgical dogma. Working alongside surgeon Dr. Bernard Fisher, Kushner helped bring evidence-based medicine to breast cancer treatment through randomized clinical trials that demonstrated less invasive surgery could achieve equivalent outcomes. Their efforts changed clinical practice, strengthened informed consent, and helped establish the principle that patients should participate in decisions about their own care.The breakthroughs explored in this episode extended far beyond new treatments. They redefined the role of patients in medicine, accelerated clinical research, and laid the foundation for modern cancer survivorship. The movement that followed would not simply help more people live longer. It would change what surviving cancer meant.RELATED LINKSNational Cancer InstituteNational Cancer Act of 1971American Cancer SocietyDana-Farber Cancer InstituteNational Library of MedicineThe New England Journal of MedicineFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Please send any questions to podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
by Christian Medical & Dental Associations® In this episode of Faith in Healthcare, we’re sharing a talk Dr. Brick Lantz, CMDA’s Vice President of Advocacy and Bioethics, delivered at the Colson Center National Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee. His subject is one every healthcare professional has felt firsthand: the erosion of trust in American medicine, especially in the years since the pandemic. Rather than pointing to better policies or messaging as the fix, Brick argues that rebuilding trust begins with something deeper, a return to a biblical understanding of truth and the conviction that every patient bears the image of God. Grounded in Scripture and shaped by his years in clinical practice, this message will challenge and encourage you wherever you serve.
Civic friendship is not a nicety. For self-governing people, it is a necessity. What happens to a democracy when citizens stop seeing each other as citizens at all? Robert P. George is Princeton's McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions (and known for his enduring friendship with Cornel West) argues that “the collapse of civic friendship is a catastrophic threat to public life.” In this bonus segment from his November 2020 conversation with Evan Rosa, Robert George presents the difference between civility and mere ‘politesse; the habit of wrapping our emotions so tightly around our convictions that we assume a posture of infallibility; and the intellectual humility it takes to consider that a political enemy might have something to teach us as a civic friend. They also discuss the courage required to break ranks—George recounts how he and West, from opposite political poles, each found themselves treated as heretics in 2016 for declining to back their respective party's nominee—and why he urges his students and his own children to cultivate humility, open-mindedness, and courage, knowing exactly what it can cost to stand by a conscientious belief. Episode Highlights ”Civic friendship is actually important for all sorts of policies, but for a self-governing people, for a democratic people, civic friendship is really critically important.” ”But if we do, as we are prone to do, wrap our emotions too tightly around our convictions, then we become dogmatists. Then we become unwilling to consider the possibility that we might be wrong and that a critic might be right.” ”This is hard, but it takes humility to recognize that I might be wrong, not merely about the less important superficial and more trivial things of life, but I might be wrong even about the most important things.” ”Civic friendship, civility is not just politesse … Civility is something deeper. It is genuinely listening to the guy who disagrees with you … listening with an openness to learning, considering whether in fact he might be right.” ”You can't have an open mind unless you have intellectual humility.” ”You can become a heretic very fast by breaking ranks, even on a single issue, if the issue was even moderately important.” ”So I really encourage my young people … to try to develop the virtues of intellectual humility, open-mindedness, and courage, because sometimes courage is going to be needed.” About Robert P. George Robert P. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. A legal philosopher and public intellectual, he has chaired the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and served on the President's Council on Bioethics and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. His books include ”Making Men Moral,” ”In Defense of Natural Law,” and ”Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth,” and, with Cornel West, ”Truth Matters,” a dialogue on fruitful disagreement. A West Virginia native, he plays bluegrass banjo and guitar. Helpful Links and Resources Civic Friendship, Courageous Humility, and Seeking Truth Together, Episode 38 and the full interview for this clip: https://faith.yale.edu/media/civic-friendship-courageous-humility-and-seeking-truth-together Robert P. George's website: https://robertpgeorge.com/ Robert P. George on X: https://twitter.com/McCormickProf Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth: Law and Morality in Our Cultural Moment, George's most recent book: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/seeking-truth-speaking-truth/ Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division, by Robert P. George and Cornel West: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Truth-Matters/Robert-P-George/9798888451700 Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality, George's best-known scholarly book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/making-men-moral-9780198260240 Election of 1800, from the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia at Monticello: https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/election-1800 Show Notes Civic friendship: indispensable and necessary for a self-governing people Fellow citizens recast as enemies to be defeated and destroyed Are elections as existential contests?—with the losing side expecting retaliation, the winning side claiming the norms Breakdown near the founding of the Republic The election of 1800, incumbent John Adams against Thomas Jefferson: https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/election-1800 Federalists seeing Jeffersonians as carriers of the French Revolution; Jeffersonians seeing Federalists as would-be British monarchists Antebellum America: North and South unable to imagine sharing one republic Is our identity constructed around belief? Emotional investment in conviction as a good thing in itself Wrapping emotions too tightly, and the slide into dogmatism A practical posture of infallibility Disagreement recoded as moral defect, and friendship ruled out Intellectual humility as the missing virtue Being wrong about the most important things, not just the trivial ones Civility as more than politesse Listening with an openness to learning, not waiting for a turn to speak Honoring the other as a rational creature with something to teach Open-mindedness without paralysis A conservative and a democratic socialist as frequent interlocutors: https://www.cornelwest.com/about/ Courage as a civic virtue Tribalism in formal institutions and informal friend circles alike Becoming a heretic by breaking ranks on a single issue Excommunication, suspicion, and the social cost of independent thought Two friends at opposite poles, both out of step in 2016 Counsel to students and to his own children: humility, open-mindedness, courage #CivicFriendship #IntellectualHumility #Civility #Polarization #RobertPGeorge #CornelWest #FaithAndCulture #ForTheLifeOfTheWorld Production Notes This podcast featured Robert George Hosted and Produced by Evan Rosa Production assistance and editing by Noah Senthil A Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about Support For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give
Long before cancer survivors organized into a movement, Hollywood had already shaped how Americans understood the disease. Films rarely used the word “cancer,” physicians often withheld diagnoses from patients, and the people who survived were almost nowhere to be found on screen.Recorded before The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship became a documentary series, this bonus conversation explores where the project first began. Matthew Zachary sits down with his mother, Roz Greenzweig, a retired educator and lifelong film enthusiast whose memories of classic cinema became an unexpected lens for understanding how cancer was portrayed throughout the twentieth century.Together, they revisit landmark films including Dark Victory, Love Story, and other iconic portrayals that reflected an era when cancer was treated as unspeakable, inevitable, and almost always fatal. Their conversation contrasts those carefully constructed Hollywood narratives with the lived reality of a family confronting a brain cancer diagnosis in 1995, revealing how popular culture both reflected and reinforced the fears surrounding the disease.The discussion also foreshadows many of the themes explored throughout the documentary series: the evolution of patient advocacy, the emergence of cancer survivorship, the role of caregivers, and the power of storytelling to influence public understanding. Before policy changed, before advocacy organizations grew into national movements, conversations like these were already challenging long-held assumptions about what cancer looked like and who had the right to tell its story.Consider this the prologue to The Cancer Mavericks. Before the movement found its history, it began with a family trying to make sense of the stories they had inherited.RELATED LINKSAmerican Cancer SocietyNational Cancer InstituteAmerican Film InstituteER (NBC)50/50 (Official)Chasing Life (ABC Family Archive)FEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review The Cancer Mavericks: A History of Survivorship on your favorite podcast platform. For more information, visit CancerMavericks.com. Questions? Email podcasts@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Adam Lane Smith sits down with Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, psychiatrist, medical ethicist, and author of Making the Cut, to break down what modern psychiatry is getting catastrophically wrong, why the chemical imbalance model is not just incomplete but actively harmful, and what actually heals people when medications and therapy alone are not enough. What you will learn in this video: 1- Why reducing mental illness to a chemical imbalance in the brain has produced a generation of people who believe they will never get better 2- Why psychiatrists are seeing numbers on a sheet instead of people and what the system that created that looks like from the inside 3- Why physical activity four times a week is as effective as antidepressants for mild to moderate depression and why nobody tells patients that 4- Why relationships are the single strongest predictor of outcomes even in the most severe mental illnesses including schizophrenia 5- Why people in third world countries with schizophrenia often do better than people in industrialized nations and what that reveals 6- Why modern life has become voluntary solitary confinement and why dopamine binges have replaced human connection 7- Why the loneliness epidemic cannot be solved by more therapists and what actually has to happen instead 8- What Dr. Kheriaty would change about American psychiatry if he had absolute power and control If you have ever been handed a prescription and sent home and felt like something essential was being missed, this conversation will show you exactly what that something was.
In this conversation, we were joined by Tracy Trothen and Jason Weiner, a Christian and a Jewish chaplain on the front lines of bioethics. We discussed how each of them bring their faith and religious tradition to the very modern questions posed by bioethics and artificial intelligence emergence into this field. Meet the speakers here: https://aiandfaith.org/aif-podcast/chaplains-discuss-ai-bioethics/See more bioethics resources here: https://aiandfaith.org/news/ai-and-bioethics-resources/Views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.Production: Penny YuenHost: Gilad Berenstein Guests: Dr. Tracy Trothen and Rabbi Dr. Jason WeinerEditing: Isabelle BraconnotMusic from #UppbeatLicense code: 1ZHLF7FMCNHU39
My returning guest this week is Jeff Sebo, associate professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. He's recently coauthored two articles on AI Welfare, taking AI welfare seriously in 2024 and Studying AI Welfare Empirically. We discuss the challenges of getting people to care about this issue and what it might mean if non-sentient AI are still moral patients.Taking AI Welfare Seriously: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.00986Studying AI Welfare Empirically: https://nonhumanminds.org/studying-ai-welfare-empirically/?trk=public_post_comment-textMusic by GW RodriguezEditing by Adam WikSibling Pod:Philosophers in Space: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/Support us at Patreon.com/EmbraceTheVoidIf you enjoy the show, please Like and Review us on your pod app, especially iTunes. It really helps!This show is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.Next Episode: Moral Realism with Allegedly Ian
Rebecca Bloom is a former employee benefits and executive compensation attorney who spent more than 25 years helping women navigate cancer, work, insurance, disability coverage, and financial survival. She is the founder and author of When Women Get Sick, a book built from decades inside the legal, workplace, and patient advocacy systems most people only discover after diagnosis.Bloom started in Big Law at Simpson Thacher handling employee benefits and compensation work she originally chose to pay off student loans. Then her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly the language she used in corporate law offices became the language of survival at home. Explanation of benefits forms. Coverage disputes. Second opinions. Disability protections. Medical leave. Bills no one could explain.That collision changed the direction of her life.In this episode, Bloom explains how serious illness quietly turns patients into unpaid administrators managing paperwork, logistics, financial risk, and emotional labor while trying to survive treatment. She breaks down how employer based health insurance shapes nearly every aspect of cancer care in America and why women often carry the invisible burden of protecting everyone else from discomfort while they themselves fall apart.The conversation digs into workplace power, the illusion of the healthcare “safety net,” caregiver exhaustion, and the class divide hiding underneath patient empowerment culture. Bloom explains why educated, insured women with resources still struggle to navigate healthcare bureaucracy and what happens to patients without those advantages.This episode explores cancer care, health insurance, employee benefits, patient advocacy, workplace protections, caregiving, and the structural incentives that force sick people to become project managers of their own survival.RELATED LINKSRebecca BloomWhen Women Get SickBay Area Cancer ConnectionsSimpson Thacher & BartlettFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute Wesley Smith’s National Review Columns Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine Forced Exit: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and the New Duty to DieThe post A Bioethics Update – Wesley Smith, 7/23/26 (2043) first appeared on Issues, Etc..
Heather Zeiger of Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity joins to talk about the latest updates on recent health headlines, such as flash flooding in Texas, the air quality in northern Minnesota and Canada, and the cyclosporiasis outbreak. Josh Moody closes the show with a conversation about his new book, "Unframed: Conversations that Take the Gospel out of the Box." This book deconstructs faith and presents it honestly. In a culture that is constantly rebranding Christianity, we need to present it as it is—with the true Gospel message. The Reconnect with Carmen and all Faith Radio are made possible by your support. Give now: Click here
Vasanta Pundarika built her career inside healthcare investment banking before launching Lotuspring, an advisory firm focused on women's health and behavioral health. She spent nearly 20 years advising healthcare systems, treatment providers, and growth stage companies on mergers, financing, and operational strategy while watching the industry repeatedly misunderstand the people it claimed to serve.The conversation starts unexpectedly with anthropology, bread, and language. Vasanta explains how she spent years changing the pronunciation of her own name to make other people comfortable before eventually reclaiming it. That thread opens into a much larger discussion about adaptation, identity, and what institutions quietly train people to tolerate.From there, the discussion moves into behavioral health, women delaying care, and the invisible labor that healthcare business models routinely ignore. During COVID, Vasanta noticed men's behavioral health units refilled faster than women's units. The reason had nothing to do with demand. Women were still home managing caregiving responsibilities, children, aging parents, and households while their own mental health collapsed in the background.The episode examines what happens when healthcare companies become “snazzy big brands” before building real clinical substance underneath. Vasanta describes the tension between mission and margin inside healthcare startups, private equity backed care models, and behavioral health expansion. The conversation pushes on who benefits when healthcare scales aggressively, who absorbs the operational pressure, and how patient trust erodes long before executives notice it on a dashboard.They also discuss patient advocacy culture, anthropology as systems analysis, healthcare capitalism, prior authorization, investor language, and why some clinically excellent companies never survive long enough to scale.RELATED LINKSVasanta PundarikaLotuspringWomen's Health HorizonsSakhi for South Asian SurvivorsNACDPrinceton University Anthropology DepartmentFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
John Gerardi is joined by Jonathan Keller of California Family Council to unpack the disturbing expansion of Canada's euthanasia program, from proposals to euthanize infants with disabilities to recommendations that minors consent to their own deaths without parental input. This week's mystery clip reveals just how far the MAID program has gone, with roughly half of 2024 recipients citing feeling like a burden rather than terminal illness. The guys then break down how activists quietly corrupt language, sliding from physician assisted suicide to medical assistance in dying to simply assisted death, and why that shift matters. Finally, they take on a New England Journal of Medicine article arguing to contextualize the dead donor rule, a euphemism for harvesting organs from euthanasia patients before death, and explain why the slippery slope keeps proving pro-lifers right.
Marking the 135th anniversary of Rerum novarum (reh-rum no-va-rum), Pope Leo the 14th released his first encyclical, entitled ‘Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.'Father Michael Baggot, Associate Professor of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum (Pon-ti-fi-cal Athen-nee-um Regeena A-posto-lorum) and P. Bracy Bersnak, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Economics at Christendom College joined us for this timely and important conversion on AI and the Pope.Support the show
Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. is a former Peridot District Councilman and Tribal Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Wendsler was born on the San Carlos Apache Reservation and was raised in the traditional Apache way of life. He graduated from the Globe High School in 1978, attended Merritt College in Oakland, California, attended Phoenix College in Phoenix, Arizona, and completed the State of Arizona Banking Academy. Dr. Nosie specializes in Bioethics, Sustainability and Global Public Health. He is dedicated to the preservation and protection of Native American culture, artifacts, history, religion, and tradition. Wendsler is the leader of the Apache Stronghold and Director of Gaan Bike Goz aa where he continues to advocate for indigenous religious and human rights and protecting the future for our next generations to come. Show Notes Apache Stronghold website Apache Stronghold Facebook and Instagram Speaker Series on YouTube Speaker Series on the Coalition to Dismantle website
On this episode of The Karol Markowicz Show, Karol sits down with Jonathan Hammel—physician, novelist, composer, and host of the Blood Flow podcast—to discuss his powerful new novel, The Jewish Hospital. Inspired by the real-life experiences of Hamill's grandmother, who served as a nurse in Berlin's Jewish Hospital during World War II, the conversation explores one of history's lesser-known stories: how a Jewish hospital continued operating in Nazi Berlin while doctors, nurses, and patients lived under constant threat of deportation. Jonathan explains how years of research, family interviews, and historical records shaped the novel, while also examining the difficult ethical questions medical professionals faced under unimaginable circumstances. He also discusses why the book is being taught in medical bioethics programs, what modern healthcare can learn from history, and why he believes authentic human creativity will remain essential—even in the age of artificial intelligence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Medical missionaries are often called upon to provide care that is beyond the scope of their training and previous experience. This interactive case presentation looks at the realities of clinical decision-making in a critically ill snakebitten patient, and offers suggestions on how to navigate similar challenging situations.
Brad Power spent years advising major corporations on systems design, process engineering, and decision making before lymphoma shoved him into the patient side of American healthcare. Instead of accepting the experience at face value, he started reverse engineering the machinery around cancer itself. Brad is the founder of Cancer Patient Lab and Open Cancer AI, two projects built around a blunt reality most patients discover too late: the healthcare system rewards people who know how to navigate it. Everyone else risks getting steamrolled by information asymmetry, insurance barriers, administrative friction, and institutional incentives designed around efficiency instead of human survival.The conversation starts with Harvard Business Review and Tumblr blogs before moving directly into the darker architecture underneath modern cancer care. Power explains how hospitals optimize for throughput, how insurance companies reward operational consistency over personalized medicine, and why many patients quietly end up needing a crash course in oncology, reimbursement policy, and behavioral psychology while fighting for their lives.The discussion digs into CAR-T therapy, functional testing, AI assisted decision support, and the growing collision between personalized medicine and standardized care pathways. Power argues that engaged patients often get better outcomes because they learn how to push for off guideline treatments, contest denials, and ask smarter questions. The counterpoint lands hard: patients should never have needed to become experts in the first place.The episode also explores the cultural consequences of AI entering cancer care. OpenAI advertising, data privacy, trust erosion, pharmaceutical influence, and “agentic AI” all collide inside a healthcare economy already drowning in distrust. Power sees artificial intelligence as a force multiplier for patient literacy and access. The larger system still decides who gets approved, who gets delayed, and who gets left behind.By the end, the conversation lands exactly where modern healthcare keeps forcing people to land: survival increasingly depends on learning how the machine works before the machine works on you.RELATED LINKSBrad PowerCancer Patient LabOpen Cancer AIHarvard Business ReviewResearch to the PeopleCAR T Cell TherapyFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk www.LearningLeader.com New Book - The Price of Becoming - www.LearningLeader.com/Becoming This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire one person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world has the hustle and grit to deliver. My guest: Ezekiel J. "Zeke" Emanuel, MD, PhD, is a prominent oncologist, bioethicist, and health policy expert. Currently Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, he was instrumental in shaping the Affordable Care Act and served as the founding chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. Key Learnings Zeke's dad was called "Speedy." He was a Chicago pediatrician who worked 24-hour call, walked so fast the nurses had to run to keep up, and had a rule: the fourth child in any family was free. He recognized the financial strain on families and just wouldn't charge. Zeke's mom was the definition of the anti-helicopter parent. At the playground, she sat on the bench. At the beach, she dropped the boys off with a blanket and a snack. "You go play. Something goes wrong? Okay, that's how it goes." That's how three future powerhouse leaders learned to negotiate, create, and figure it out. The Emanuel brothers' group text is full of bragging. Zeke posted his 51.9 VO2 max score at 68 years old, asking, "Do I win in the family?" His kids replied that they don't even read the articles Zeke and Rahm forward anymore. Close doesn't mean uncompetitive. A dozen years ago, Zeke wrote his most famous article, "Why I Hope to Die at 75." He still stands by it. The point wasn't that he wants to die. The point is that after 75, he won't take medical treatments meant to prolong life. By age 75, 30% of adults have Alzheimer's or cognitive impairment. By 80, it's 40%. Zeke doesn't want to be remembered as a doddering old man who can't recognize his own family. Living a long time is a means, not an end. It's not the goal of life. It's what allows you to be present, engaged, and useful for the years you have. Biohacking is a lie: It suggests you know better than millions of years of evolution and the entire medical profession. The body isn't about maxing. It's about balance. Too much immune response gives you autoimmunity. Too little makes you sick. The body finds health in the median. You're not going to be perfect over decades. Wellness isn't a four-minute figure skating routine graded on execution. It's a lifetime practice. So build habits you enjoy and can sustain without thinking about them. Zeke's six simple rules for a long and healthy life: Don't be a schmuck. Avoid activities riskier than driving. Smoking, vaping, base jumping, climbing Everest. Talk to people. The number one predictor of a long, happy life. Expand your mind. Travel. Talk to the chef. Learn something new. Eat your ice cream. Moderation over perfection. Fermented foods and fiber. Move. Aerobic, strength, and flexibility. All three. Sleep like a baby. You can't will it. But you can create the conditions. The Harvard Adult Development Study followed people for 85 years. John F. Kennedy was in it. Ben Bradlee was in it. The finding: close friends and being married correlated with the healthiest, longest, happiest lives. Not exercise. Not diet. Relationships. Having no close friends is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That's how bad loneliness is for you. It's not just psychological. It's physical. Introverts get the same happiness boost from social interaction as extroverts. A University of Chicago study by Nicholas Epley found that introverts assume they won't enjoy talking to strangers on their commute. They were wrong. When they did it, they were just as happy as extroverts. Take the headphones off. Zeke has been telling people this since the iPod era. Random encounters increase your surface area for luck, learning, and connection. You never know who you're going to meet or what they might tell you. To be interesting, you have to be interested. Zeke asks to meet the chef at every great restaurant. He asks his Ethiopian Uber driver which tribe he's from. He talks to the person on the plane. It's virtuous. Good for you AND good for them. Zeke's hero is Ben Franklin. Franklin came back to America at 80 after negotiating the end of the Revolutionary War. The first thing he did was build a library for his curiosity and a dining room for his social dinners. That's the way to live. The wellness trifecta: hosting a dinner party with curious people. You're eating good food. You're getting together with people. Your mind is being stretched by great conversation. Three benefits from one activity. Zeke is anti-wellness-industrial-complex. Peptides from your corner store: disaster, unregulated, no idea what's in them. Testosterone replacement therapy without a real deficiency: bad idea, accelerates prostate cancer. Growth hormone for aging: promotes cancers. That's being a schmuck. Sleep is the one wellness practice you can't will yourself into. You can only build the conditions for it. Dark room. Cool temperature. No caffeine or alcohol eight hours before bed. Phone in another room. Read a book. Everything else is up to your body. Ice cream actually decreases your risk of type 2 diabetes. The fat content softens the glycemic response. Plus, you usually eat it with other people. Social eating matters. Zeke's champagne moment a year from now: finishing his next book on how to fix the American healthcare system, and turning 70. Reflection Questions Are you optimizing for length of life, or for the quality of years you actually get? When was the last time you turned your headphones off, introduced yourself to a stranger, or asked to meet the chef? Who are the friends you rely on for social interaction? Not casual acquaintances, but the ones who lift your health, longevity, and happiness. When did you last make plans with them? More Learning #607 - Dr. Meg Meeker - Raising Resilient Kids (Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters) #690 - Austin Kleon - Why Activated Leaders Win #682 - Will Guidara - Adversity is a Terrible Thing to Waste
By the time the paper hit version 71, Dr. Nirosha Murugan had already done the hard part. The data were real. The experiment had worked. A team of researchers had used a wearable bioreactor to trigger limb regeneration in frogs, a result with obvious implications for regenerative medicine. But the science still wasn't getting over the line. The problem wasn't the work. It was the translation.On this episode of Standard Deviation, host Oliver Bogler talks with Dr. Nirosha Murugan, a biophysicist and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics at Wilfrid Laurier University, about what happens when a scientist working at the edges of quantum biology, bioelectricity, and tissue regeneration runs headfirst into the unwritten rules of academic publishing. Murugan's research asks biologists to think beyond molecules and chemistry alone, and to consider the physical signals, electromagnetic fields, and invisible forces that shape development and healing. It is ambitious science. It is also exactly the kind of work that can make gatekeepers nervous.Bogler follows Murugan through the less glamorous part of discovery: the hidden curriculum of getting a paper published, securing scientific credibility, and learning that data do not simply “speak for themselves.” Murugan describes how jargon buried the pitch of her own work, how a lack of editorial support left her at a disadvantage, and how the JEDI program at the Life Science Editors Foundation paired her with a former journal editor who taught her how to structure a manuscript, write a cover letter, and survive peer review.The result was publication in Science Advances, but the larger story is about power. Who gets taught the rules of biomedical research. Who has access to grant writers, editors, and institutional polish. Who is left to brute-force their way through the maze. And how one scientist, having finally found the map, now makes sure her own trainees do not have to learn it the hard way.RELATED LINKSDr. Nirosha MuruganWilfrid Laurier UniversityLife Science Editors FoundationJEDI ProgramScience Advances paper on limb regenerationFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Heather Zeiger of Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity talks about the "spud" cell created by scientist at the University of Minnesota that can divide and reproduce itself, well kinda. Is it really "alive?" Also, she delves into the science behind soccer, plus what happened in Venezuela that caused the earthquakes. Licensed counselor Debra Fileta of the Talk to Me, author of "People Skills," talks about how empathy is important in understanding others, even those who may have hurt you. While certain behaviors should not be excused, they can at least be understood where they came from. The Reconnect with Carmen and all Faith Radio are made possible by your support. Give now: Click here
Dr. Jess Peatross trained in conventional medicine and worked as a hospitalist before she started questioning why so many chronically ill patients kept getting worse inside the healthcare system she trusted. Her perspective carries weight because she spent years following every protocol exactly as taught before walking away from hospital medicine entirely.Raised in Huntington, West Virginia during the opioid crisis, she entered medicine believing the system existed to heal people. Instead, she found hospitals driven by billing codes, liability management, and pharmaceutical dependence while patients with chronic illness, autoimmune disease, mold exposure, and chronic pain cycled endlessly through appointments and prescriptions.Dr. Peatross explains what pushed her toward functional medicine, cannabis therapy, and prevention focused care after watching patients improve only after leaving conventional treatment pipelines behind. The conversation tackles physician burnout, chronic illness stigma, healthcare incentives, and the growing collapse of trust between patients and institutions.The discussion also moves into supplements, environmental toxins, ultra processed food, and the uncomfortable economics behind keeping people permanently sick but continuously billable. Dr. Peatross describes the professional backlash that comes with challenging medical orthodoxy while Matthew connects her experience to the broader erosion of public trust across American healthcare.Together they unpack what happens when patients stop believing the system can help them and start searching elsewhere for answers.RELATED LINKSDr. Jess PeatrossInstagramMarshall UniversityBrave New WeedFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
AI and Generative Biology: Authoring Life, Redesigning Healthcare, and Building Guardrails: Physician and molecular biologist Dr. Adrian Woolfson, co-founder of Genyro, a biotechnology company specializing in synthetic genome design and construction, and author of “On the Future of Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence,” discusses the convergence of AI with synthetic/generative biology that could make biology programmable and enable genome design and construction beyond traditional gene editing. Woolfson argues that the technology is morally neutral but is arriving rapidly and requires public awareness, governance, and guardrails due to risks, including misuse by authoritarian regimes and biological warfare. He discusses evolution's trade-offs and why he favors limiting human applications to curing disease and extending healthy longevity, while opposing germline modification; he explains germline vs somatic editing and cites the flawed, unethical case of a Chinese scientist attempting inherited HIV resistance. They examine sickle cell disease cures costing $2–$3 million, scalability issues, and trade-offs like malaria protection, and highlight non-medical benefits such as engineered crops, biomaterials, desalination, and DNA-based information storage.
playing god? presents… "A World Without Nurses"—it's a future no one wants to imagine, but doing so brings into sharp focus just how essential nurses are today. Prepare to be transported into this dystopian scenario through innovative storytelling and immersive sound design, ultimately serving as a call to action.Want to help make an impact? Explore our listening session facilitation guide: nursing.jhu.edu/faculty-research/research/centers/r3/a-world-without-nurses/"A World Without Nurses" is an original production by the iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, made in association with Maryland's R3: Resilient Nurses Initiative. Written and Produced by Simon Adler. This production features:Sterling A. Wilmer, BSN, RN, BADiane Couchman, MBA, BSN, RNSharon A. Adamski, MSN, RN, CMSRNTamara Hill, DNP, RN, CPNP-ACRachel Robinson, BSN, RN, CCM, DNP-STyler Silvey, BS, ADN, RNLauren Geiling, BS, ADN, RNCaitlin McGeehan, BSN, RN, CHPN, CCRNDanielle McCamey, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, FCCP, FADLN, FAANThis production is supported by the Nurse Support Program II grant administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission and funded through the Health Services Cost Review Commission.We'd love to hear about your listening experience! It'd be very helpful to us. To do so, please visit this form: nursingjhu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_295dYZbajgm08T4For any further inquiries, please contact R3inquires@jh.edu
Farla Efros is a senior retail executive and former CEO who built and sold companies before facing her own breast cancer diagnosis. She brings that same operational mindset into a healthcare system that expects patients to manage complexity while they are at their most vulnerable.She was on a client call in Spain when the diagnosis came through. A clear mammogram had missed it. An MRI caught it. Within hours, she was ordering binders, building a plan, and structuring her treatment like a turnaround strategy. Every appointment became a meeting. Every doctor faced an agenda with dozens of questions. She paid out of pocket for PET scans that were denied and hired a third party firm to validate her treatment path when her own doctors resisted outside input. The conversation tracks what happens when a high-functioning executive enters a system built on delay, denial, and fragmentation. Efros describes negotiating for tests, managing physician relationships, and assembling an “executive board” of advisors across conventional and alternative care. She calls the experience “the worst client I ever had,” exposing how administrative burden shifts onto patients and families.The tension sits between what worked for her and what is inaccessible to most. Her approach requires confidence, time, and fluency in navigating power. The system rewards that behavior while quietly failing patients who cannot replicate it. Insurance coverage still left her paying out of pocket. Doctors pushed standard protocols over precision medicine. Survivorship offered little support once treatment ended.This episode examines how cancer care operates as a series of incentives rather than a coordinated system, and why patients are forced to become operators just to get through it.RELATED LINKSFarla EfrosFarla Efros on LinkedInF*ck CancerF*ck Cancer on AmazonAccentureCTOAMPULL QUOTES“I treated cancer like the worst client I ever had.”“They wouldn't approve the test, so I paid for it myself.”“Every appointment was a negotiation.”FEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The iDeas Lab team is hard at work on playing god? Season 3, but we have some special things to share with you in the meantime. Listen for a preview of what's coming next in the feed. And we're opening a voicemail box! Call us at 410-417-9860 to tell us your questions, reactions, and stories. We look forward to hearing from you.
About this episode: Research on the potential impacts of certain medications, vaccines, and interventions on pregnant people and their fetuses is lacking. Much of this is due to culturally perceived risks associated with pregnancy and fears of litigation. In this episode: Ruth Faden, an expert in bioethics, explains how this gap in data can fuel other risks and how to ethically and responsibly include pregnant people in clinical trials. Note: This conversation builds on a recent episode of playing god?, the podcast from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Listen to that episode here. Guest: Ruth Faden, PhD, MPH, is the Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics and the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Host: Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. Show links and related content: Two Bodies, One Prescription—playing god? COVID-19 Vaccines and Pregnancy—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The second wave: Toward responsible inclusion of pregnant women in research—International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Weighing the Risks and Benefits of Medication Use During Pregnancy—Public Health On Call (October 2025) Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @PublicHealthPod on Instagram @JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.
In 2020, Emily Mendenhall drove from Washington, DC to Okoboji, Iowa, a town of 800 that swells to 200,000 every summer, and walked into a pandemic that looked nothing like the one dominating national headlines. Inside gas stations and bars, masks marked you as an outsider. In one stop, a man told her family they would not be served if they kept theirs on. Her 6 year old daughter cried, confused. Mendenhall, a medical anthropologist at Georgetown University, did what she always does. She started asking questions. Over months, she interviewed neighbors, former classmates, and local officials, including her own brother in law who helped lead the local COVID response. The result became Unmasked, a case study in how community identity, economics, and politics shaped public health decisions in real time. That work led directly into her latest book, Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID, where she tracks a much older problem. Patients with chronic illness, especially women, often fail to meet medicine's demand for proof. Without a clear diagnosis, they lose access to care, insurance coverage, and legitimacy. Mendenhall argues that long COVID did not create this failure. It exposed it.This conversation centers on how healthcare systems reward certainty and punish complexity. Long COVID clinics send patients to 17 specialists without resolution. Insurance structures require diagnoses that many conditions cannot provide. Medical training still struggles to integrate trauma, mental health, and chronic disease into a coherent model of care.Mendenhall brings lived experience into the conversation. After COVID, she dealt with months of fatigue and escalating anxiety that altered her baseline health. She does not claim the label of long COVID, but she understands how quickly the system becomes harder to navigate once symptoms stop fitting clean categories. The stakes are not theoretical. In the United States, access to healthcare, disability benefits, and treatment still depends on whether a condition can be measured, coded, and reimbursed. For millions living with invisible illness, the burden of proof becomes the illness itself.RELATED LINKSEmily MendenhallInvisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVIDScience PoliticsGeorgetown UniversityFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
As Christians, we need to stay informed about the rapidly changing world of fertility treatments, genetic testing, and IVF before making decisions or forming opinions. Join C.L. as we explore the powerful story behind the Boozer family, wrestle with difficult questions about life, embryos, technology, and God's will, and seek biblical wisdom for navigating one of the most important ethical conversations of our time.
When Ashley Womble decides she wants to start a family, she worries she'll need to stop taking her antidepressant medication. Instead of finding clear guidance, she runs head-first into a troubling reality: many of the questions pregnant women and their physicians face about medication safety remain difficult to answer because pregnant women have historically been excluded from medical research. This episode looks at the ethical trade offs of leaving pregnant women out of medical research—and what happens when they and their doctors must make high stakes healthcare decisions without high quality evidence.This episode features:Ashley Womble, MPH: Writer and marketing professional.Ruth Faden, PhD, MPH: Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.Crystal Clark, MD, MSc: Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.Marika Toscano, MD, MS: Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.This episode contains references to suicide, which may be distressing for some listeners. If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available.In the U.S., you can call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA.For listeners outside the U.S., the International Association for Suicide Prevention can help connect you with support in your area: www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts/“playing god?” is a podcast by the iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. To read a transcript of this episode, visit the iDeas Lab website at https://bioethics.jhu.edu/pgs2e6.The Johns Hopkins University Sesquicentennial is proud to support this podcast. JHU celebrates 150 years of pioneering education and research—advancing knowledge to meet the challenges of every generation. Learn more at 150.jhu.edu.
Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute Wesley Smith’s National Review Columns Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine Forced Exit: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and the New Duty to DieThe post A Bioethics Update – Wesley Smith, 6/16/26 (1673) first appeared on Issues, Etc..
At 25, Jace Yawnick was building a career in health and wellness sales, chasing growth, status, and the usual young adult fantasy of getting somewhere fast. Then his body stopped cooperating. Fatigue turned into chemotherapy. The diagnosis was primary mediastinal B cell non Hodgkin lymphoma, and the rest of his life split into before and after. Now in remission, he talks about cancer the way people actually live it, not the way nonprofits package it. He gets into survivorship, mental health, young adult isolation, and the deadening absurdity of prior authorization. One of the sharpest parts of the conversation lands on a simple American insult disguised as policy: treatment innovation means very little when insurance can still deny the scan, the drug, or the next step. Jace has seen that firsthand, including during routine monitoring after active treatment. This episode tracks what happens when a young cancer patient becomes a public voice and refuses to play mascot. It covers oncology, insurance, remission, advocacy, and the long mental hangover that follows survival. It also names the part too many institutions dodge: the system works great right up until it doesn't, and when it fails, patients get handed the bill, the panic, and a camera if they want anyone to care. RELATED LINKSJace Beats CancerJace Yawnick on LinkedImConquer Cancer ArticleCURE Today ArticlePyure BrandsFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this Ask Me Anything episode — recorded from memory after the questions were accidentally deleted — Dr. Will Cole and his team answer listener questions on candida overgrowth, body odor as a gut-skin axis check engine light, and Alpha-Gal syndrome. They cover the rotating antifungal approach, the microbiome-body odor connection from a 2017 study, and how ear acupuncture showed 96% symptom relief for Alpha-Gal in a small clinical trial. The conversation also lands on a jaw-dropping Bioethics journal article suggesting scientists should intentionally bioengineer ticks to give humans Alpha-Gal syndrome as an environmental strategy to reduce red meat consumption. Plus Sip of the Summer round two: LaCroix Sunshine, a Costa Rica orange espresso, and organic black iced tea. For all links mentioned in this episode, visit www.drwillcole.com/podcast.Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.Sponsors:Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/willcole for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.Go to http://bioptimizers.com/willcole and use my exclusive code WILLCOLE to get 15% off any order.Use code WILLCOLE for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/WILLCOLE!To learn more and get 20% off your order, visit ActiveSkinRepair.com and use code: WILLCOLE . You can also find Active Skin Repair on Amazon and at your local CVS.Go to lyma.life and use code WILL10 for 10% off the LYMA Laser.Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
At 20 years old, newly arrived from Puerto Rico and trying to build a future in science, Benjamin Suarez Jimenez found himself sitting in front of two senior faculty members accused of plagiarism. He knew the material. He had done the work. His mistake came from failing to cite class notes during an exam because nobody had told him that was expected. In a matter of minutes, he watched what felt like his entire career flash before him.On this episode of Standard Deviation, host Oliver Bogler examines the hidden architecture of academic science through the experiences of Dr. Benjamin Suarez Jimenez, Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester and a neuroscientist studying PTSD, anxiety, trauma, and spatial cognition through virtual reality and video game environments.Benjamin traces his path from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States, through the NIH, Columbia University, and eventually to leading his own laboratory. Along the way, he encountered a series of barriers that had little to do with scientific ability and everything to do with access to unwritten rules. From academic gatekeeping to grant writing expectations, he learned that success in biomedical research often depends on knowledge that never appears in a textbook.Oliver explores how those invisible obstacles shape careers, influence research funding, and determine who gains access to opportunity. The conversation also examines the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Program at the Life Science Editors Foundation, which pairs scientists from underrepresented backgrounds with experienced scientific editors. Through that mentorship, Benjamin transformed a critical grant proposal into a successful pilot award that helped launch an NIH R01 application.The discussion extends beyond one scientist's experience. Benjamin describes helping a former mentee navigate dissertation roadblocks that threatened her graduation, illustrating how institutional bureaucracy can delay careers and discourage talented researchers. Together, they explore the hidden administrative burden, cultural barriers, and bias that many scientists carry alongside their research, and what happens when someone who receives support turns around and opens the door for others.RELATED LINKSLife Science Editors FoundationBenjamin Suarez Jimenez LabDr. Benjamin Suarez JimenezBenjamin Suarez JimenezFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Michael Shermer speaks with Oxford philosopher Carissa Véliz about the long human desire to know the future—from ancient oracles and astrology to AI, surveillance capitalism, predictive policing, and "data-driven" decision-making. Véliz argues that prediction is rarely neutral: the same machinery that collects personal data also tries to forecast behavior, and once institutions start treating predictions as facts, forecasts can become tools of control. The conversation gets into why privacy matters for democracy, how algorithms can turn human lives into self-fulfilling prophecies, and why extraordinary people often fall outside predictive models. Shermer and Véliz also discuss the limits of science, the replication crisis, crime statistics, effective altruism, utilitarian ethics, and free will. Carissa Véliz is an associate professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. Her first book, Privacy Is Power (Melville House) was an Economist book of the year and has been published in seven languages. Her academic work has been published in The Harvard Business Review, Nature, AI & Society, and The American Journal of Bioethics, among others. Her new book is Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI.
Dr. Sarah Matt trained as a burn surgeon, working in a field where patients arrive with catastrophic injuries and survival depends on speed, skill, and resources. She left the bedside after confronting a limit that medicine does not like to admit. One physician can only see so many people in a day. The system surrounding those patients decides the rest. She moved into health technology, held leadership roles in startups, and built global infrastructure at Oracle to scale care across populations. Then she watched billions of dollars in digital health and AI initiatives stall out when they hit real clinical environments.This episode follows that pivot from surgeon to strategist and back into direct patient care in rural New York, where she now treats uninsured patients, migrant workers, and communities pushed to the margins. The conversation centers on a persistent failure across healthcare systems. Products get built for regulators, executives, and investors instead of the people who use them. The result shows up in failed adoption, broken workflows, prior authorization delays, and rising physician burnout.The discussion cuts through health policy language and lands on lived consequence. The system rewards speed over usability, scale over trust, and compliance over care. Patients absorb the fallout. Physicians carry the liability. The incentives remain intact.RELATED LINKSDr. Sarah MattThe Borderless Healthcare RevolutionThe Clinical RealistJessica FedererSovatoFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship email podcasts@matthewzachary.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dust off your aprons and heat up your cast iron because it's finally time for one of our most requested episodes yet! In this episode, Hannah and Marcelle dig deep into the tradwife phenomenon. Using the viral tradwife influencer Ballerina Farm as a case study, Hannah leads us through a discussion about eugenics, replacement theory, and clean living movements. They also get into influencer culture, the performance of farm life, and…milk. Whew! That's a lot, and it's ALL relevant.This episode is for those of you who love to hate tradwives, are curious about their meteoric rise in popularity over the last few years, or have never even heard of them!Related listening:9 to 5 x Labour Feminism with Zena SharmanGet Out x Horrifying WhitenessWitch, Please: Book 7, Ep. 6 | EugenicsWorks Cited:Agnew, Megan. “Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives' (and her eight children.” The Times 20 July 2024: https://archive.ph/YHB08. “Clean living movement.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_living_movement. Accessed 14 May 2026. Elster, N., Parsi, K., & Caplan, A. Guest editorial. “Laundering Public Health: Using Autism to Revive Eugenics.” The American Journal of Bioethics (2026): 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2659519. “Eugenics and Scientific Racism.” National Human Genome Research Institute 18 May 2022. https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/fact-sheets/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism. Accessed 14 May 2026. Luse, Brittany. “Mormon Moms: Unpacking a national obsession.” It's Been A Minute (NPR) 12 November 2024: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1212541651. Moskin, Julia. “Tycoon or Tradwife? The Woman Behind Ballerina Farm Makes Her Own Path.” The New York Times 3 December 2024: https://archive.ph/Q9j2J#selection-489.0-489.70. Petersen, Anne Helen. “The Edenic Allure of Ballerina Farm.” Culture Study 10 February 2022: https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-edenic-allure-of-ballerinafarm. Sykes, Sophia and Dr Veronica Hopner. “Tradwives: The Housewives Commodifying Right-Wing Ideology.” Global Network on Extremism & Technology 7 July 2023: https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/07/tradwives-the-housewives-commodifying-right-wing-ideology/. Valverde, Mariana. The Age of Light, Soap, and Water: Moral Reform in English Canada, 1885-1925. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1991.***To learn more about Material Girls, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca. We'll be back next week with a Material Concerns episode, but until then, go check out all the other content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease! Patreon is how we produce the show and pay our team!Material Girls is a show that makes sense of the zeitgeist through materialist critique* and critical theory! Each episode looks at a unique object of study (something popular now or from back in the day) and over the course of three distinct segments, Hannah and Marcelle apply their academic expertise to the topic at hand.*Materialist Critique is, at its simplest possible level, a form of cultural critique – that is, scholarly engagement with a cultural text of some kind – that is interested in modes of production, moments of reception, and the historical and ideological contexts for both.Music Credits:“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.