Podcasts about cancer patients

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.

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.

Episode 1400: Chris Reeves joins Kyle to break down NADA's $3M donation to the American Cancer Society, why it matters, and how the auto industry continues to make an impact beyond the showroom. NADA is putting the industry's commitment to community ( ...

Who better to get lung cancer than one of the world's leading experts on lung cancer? Admittedly, the word “better” is not really right here. But this is essentially what we heard from Dr. Ross Camidge when he sat down to talk with Cody for this week's episode. Ross is a global expert in his field, the doctor other doctors go to. In 2022, he was diagnosed with a form of advanced non-small cell lung cancer driven by a specific acquired genetic change in the tumor cells — one of the exact types of lung cancer he has spent his career researching and treating. For more than two years, Ross kept his diagnosis close, only telling a small circle of peers and his family for fear of negatively impacting his patients and the work he still had left to do. But disease progression eventually made it impossible to hide it any longer, and he came out of his diagnosis closet. When people found out he had the very type of cancer he's an expert on, they'd often react with dismay at the irony. “You're the last person who should get this,” they'd say. But Ross sees things differently. Who better to understand and navigate cancer's maze of diagnoses and decisions? Who better to learn through his own experience what it has been like for the community of cancer patients he's treated for years? And who better to take this two-sided coin of knowledge to the world and share what he's seen? As he says, he sees it as a privilege that he gets to “take one diagnosis for the team.” Join Cody and Ross for a brilliant, touching, highly informative and poignantly funny conversation about facing a cancer diagnosis with every card on the table.  For more information on the sponsor of this episode, please visit the Iliff Death Care Collective. For free access to additional content and updates from Cody, visit our Patreon!  And to listen to music from this episode and all episodes, follow our ever-growing playlist on Spotify.

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.

Zach Arter had been serving youths in Omaha Nebraska for 15 years in various capacities and then decided to focus on helping Pediatric Cancer patients in August of 2024. That is when he started his HELP 1 PERSON TODAY with this non-profit which tries in a number of ways to help these kids who have to go through difficult treatment during their individual cancer battles.

Editor's Summary by Linda Brubaker, MD, and Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, Deputy Editors of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, for articles published from July 3-10, 2026.

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.

Dr. Fred Saad, Uro-oncologist at the CHUM and prostate cancer researcher at the Montreal Cancer Institute. He is one of the researchers in this study

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.

In this week's “Throwback Thursday” segment, we hear from the creator of the ParkPuff, a “go anywhere” seat belt pillow for cancer and surgery patients.Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.Show notes: SideHustleSchool.comEmail: team@sidehustleschool.comBe on the show: SideHustleSchool.com/questionsConnect on Instagram: @193countriesVisit Chris's main site: ChrisGuillebeau.comRead A Year of Mental Health: yearofmentalhealth.comIf you're enjoying the show, please pass it along! It's free and has been published every single day since January 1, 2017. We're also very grateful for your five-star ratings—it shows that people are listening and looking forward to new episodes.

Interview with Linda Dinu, NP

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.

Welcome back to the Pear Healthcare Playbook! Today we're thrilled to host Ron Alfa, co-founder and CEO of Noetik. Noetik is building an AI-native platform for cancer biology, generating large-scale human data to train biological foundation models that both predict patient responses to therapy and uncover new drug targets and treatment opportunities. Most recently, Noetik signed a $50 million licensing agreement with GSK, giving GSK access to Noetik's virtual cell foundation models, along with one of the largest multimodal spatial oncology datasets assembled to date. In this episode, we discuss Ron's journey to founding Noetik, why building truly useful models of biology requires large-scale, multimodal human data, and how biological foundation models can transform precision oncology. We also explore what it takes to build an AI-native biotech company, lessons from partnering with pharma, the future of drug discovery, and the path toward bringing more personalized cancer treatment to every patient.

The expansion of tele-oncology units in regional Australia is allowing rural cancer patients to access treatments in smaller local hospitals. 

Bowel cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in people under 50 years of age, but little is known about patients' experiences in New Zealand, according to a new report. Dr Chris Jackson is a medical oncologist and Professor of Cancer Medicine and one of the authors of the report spoke to John Campbell.

Seán's guest was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 22, but she says that some “hot girls” gave her hope.Annabel Craddock joins to discuss…

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.

Discover the science behind the powerful bond between humans and animals. In this episode, we explore how interacting with animals can trigger feel‑good brain chemicals, lower stress, and support emotional well‑being. From neuroscience to real-life impact, you'll learn why these connections are more than just emotionally comforting— those furry friends will biologically improve your mental health!For more information on the studies mentioned in today's show…Frontiers in Psychology2022 Equine StudyJanuary 2015 Journal of Community and Supportive Oncology (Exact Google Seach Will Provide the Full Article in PDF Form)Our Friend (and former guest) Sandra Dee Robinson Equine Therapy in Texas USAConnect with Brain Lady JulieDo you have a great question or topic you'd like Brain Lady Julie to cover? Think you'd be a great guest? Message our producer Kelli@BrainLadySpeaker.com and let us know.PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this podcast is not at any time and for any reason meant to replace the guidance and/or treatment of any health professional. Whether it be a medical doctor, psychologist, psychotherapist, or anyone in the medical field. If you are under the care of such a health professional, remember this is an “added value” and not designed to replace any care you are currently under.

This Men's Health Month, Navigating Cancer TOGETHER sits down with Clarence Jones, prostate cancer survivor and one of Minnesota's most trusted names in community health.Clarence Jones, MA, CHW, CPH, CPE, is the Executive Director and Community Health Strategist of the Hue-MAN Partnership, a founding member of the organization he helped build into one of Minnesota's most trusted voices in public health. He serves as an Adjunct Instructor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic, is a founding member of the Minnesota Fathers and Families Network, has served as the Mayor's Representative and co-chair of the Public Health Advisory Committee for the City of Minneapolis, and holds affiliations with the CTSI Executive Leadership team and the University of Minnesota's CEARCH initiative. He is also a fatherhood doula, the host of the Community Health Dialogue radio show on KMOJ 89.9 FM, and co-host of the Health Chatter podcast.In this warm, honest, and personal conversation, Clarence opens up about his own journey through prostate cancer, from watching his PSA numbers climb year after year and practicing watchful waiting, to eventually choosing surgery. He shares why the digital exam scares men, and why early detection is the greatest gift you can give your family.But Clarence's story doesn't stop at survival. He shares how his experience deepened his mission to make sure the men and families in his community have access to credible, culturally relevant, evidence-based health information. That's the heartbeat of everything Hue-MAN does.You'll also hear him talk about what he wants every man facing a cancer diagnosis to know right now.✨ Episode Highlights:00:04:38 The Moment He Knew: Clarence's Prostate Cancer Journey00:09:22 How to Invite Men into Health Conversations Without Lecturing Them00:14:44 What Young Men Need to Know About PSA Screening and Biopsies00:27:45 Fatherhood Doula: What That Means and Why Fathers Matter00:36:55 What 'Navigating Cancer TOGETHER' Really MeansTranscript: https://bit.ly/podscript184Connect & Engage with ClarenceWebsite: www.huemanpartnershipalliance.orgHealth Chatter Podcast: www.healthchatterpodcast.comKMOJ Community Health Dialogue: 89.9 KMOJ FM

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.

This podcast by Dr. António Araújo highlights new insights from a large international registry study showing that cancer‑associated upper extremity deep vein thrombosis (UEDVT) carries increased risks of recurrent venous thromboembolism and bleeding. The findings emphasize tumor‑specific risk patterns and support more personalized anticoagulation strategies in cardio‑oncology.

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.

This Men's Health Month, Navigating Cancer TOGETHER sits down with Samuel "Sam" Simmons, a trauma-informed healing advocate with over 36 years of experience supporting men and their communities. Sam is the author of Just Sam: A Black Man's Journey to Healing, the visionary behind the 18th Annual Community Empowerment Through Black Men Healing Conference, co-host of Voices Radio Show on 89.9 KMOJ, and the 2024 NAMI Minnesota Professional of the Year. In this powerful conversation, Sam opens up about his own journey through trauma, addiction, and healing, and shares why telling the full truth is the first step toward freedom.✨ Episode Highlights:00:01:08 Meet Sam Simmons: 36 Years of Healing Work00:08:07 Growing Up Angry: Sam's Personal Trauma Story00:36:54 Male Trauma, Silence, and Why Men Don't Ask for Help00:52:25 The 18th Annual Black Men Healing Conference00:56:47 A Message for the Black Man Who Just Got a Cancer DiagnosisTranscript: https://bit.ly/podscript183Connect & Engage with Sam SimmonsWebsite: samuelsimmonsconsulting.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simmonsconsulting/18th Annual Community Empowerment Through Black Men Healing Conference: June 25 & 26 at St. Paul College — Register at brothershealing.comBook: https://a.co/d/03IvmBdM

A New Zealand blood cancer patient who was forced to leave his children behind and make a last chance dash to Australia to access funded drugs has now been given a cutting edge transplant that is not publicly available here. Tawhai Reti, who has myeloma, had exhausted all treatment options in NZ. Earlier this year he moved to Australia without his family to access the lifesaving drug Daratumamab, which isn't funded here. It worked so well he has now been given CAR-T cell therapy, which could put him into remission indefinitely. Tawhai and Lani Reti spoke to Lisa Owen.

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.

A new DNA test can distinguish between patients who are likely to benefit from chemotherapy and those who are not, meaning many with the most common form of breast cancer can avoid the brutal treatment. Also, scientists have found a daily pill that could double the survival time for people with advanced pancreatic cancer. Daraxonrasib appears to be a breakthrough in managing a disease that has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. Plus, we hear from Sterling Nasa, the student who ended up on stage during a concert performance of La La Land. A pianist was taken ill half way through the show, and the conductor appealed to the audience for help. A British man is hoping to become the first person with a physical disability to go to live and work in space. John McFall lost his leg when he was 19 -- but he hasn't let that stop him -- he has already become a paralympian and a surgeon. Finally, we meet Dr Shaunna Burke who has reached the summit of Mount Everest despite living with stage 4 incurable cancer. She becomes the first woman to do so Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.Presenter: Holly Gibbs. Music composed by Iona Hampson(Picture: A doctor examining a mammogram to determine if a woman has breast cancer. Credit: PA)

In the late 1980s, a child exposed to fallout from the Chernobyl disaster lay in a hospital bed while doctors told his family there were no clear answers and no reliable path forward. Decades later, that same child, Yan Leyfman, walks into exam rooms as a hematology oncology fellow, expected to deliver clarity inside a system that still runs on delay, uncertainty, and institutional self preservation.This episode traces the throughline from early life shaped by radiation exposure and hospice level uncertainty to a career inside academic medicine, translational research, and oncology media. Yan built his identity around survival and usefulness, moving from patient to physician while carrying the memory of what it feels like to sit on the other side of the table. He helped launch MedNews Week during the COVID crisis to push back on misinformation and expand access to medical knowledge, stepping into a public role while still in training.The conversation stays grounded in the friction between personal narrative and system reality. Clinical training demands efficiency, hierarchy, and emotional distance. Cancer care demands time, clarity, and human connection. Those forces collide in real patient encounters where prior authorization delays, insurance barriers, and fragmented care pathways shape outcomes as much as any treatment protocol.Yan speaks openly about mentorship, belonging, and the drive to make meaning out of survival. The discussion pushes further into what the healthcare system actually rewards, what it quietly strips away, and how quickly empathy can erode under institutional pressure. The episode also examines the role of medical media, where education, industry influence, and narrative control often blur together.This is a conversation about identity under construction, about what happens when someone who remembers powerlessness steps into a role that carries authority, and about whether that memory can survive long enough to change anything.RELATED LINKSYan Leyfman on LinkedInYan Leyfman on InstagramSurviving ChernobylFEEDBACKLike 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 2017, 96-year-old Mary Armington took a trip from her home in Florida to Astoria to visit her son, Dr. William Armington. As a radiologist at the time at Columbia Memorial Hospital, Dr. Armington had diagnosed cancer in hundreds of patients, some of whom had delayed getting care because of financial hardships.    So Mary decided to help by donating $50,000 to start a fund for cancer patients in the North Coast region to pay for expenses like transportation, utility bills, lodging and rent. Nine years later, the Arm-in-Arm Fund has nearly tripled in size and has given grants to dozens of patients at the CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative in Astoria.    This year, the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation increased to $2,000 the grant money a team of social workers can award to an individual to help them, for example, replace a broken refrigerator or repair a home furnace. Money from the fund has also been used to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meals for patients and their families. Joining us to discuss the fund and its impact are Mary Armington and William Armington, who is now retired and has also donated to the fund. Mark Kujala, foundation director of Columbia Memorial Hospital also joins us.  

A boy who nearly died after losing his mother at age seven grew up to become one of West Texas's most pioneering oncologists — and he's now telling the full story.Dr. Fazlur Rahman joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living for his second visit, this time diving into his newly republished memoir "Temple Road." It's a book about the literal jungle path he walked from his small Bangladesh village to school, and the metaphorical roads that carried him from there to medical school in Dhaka, residency in New York, and decades of groundbreaking cancer care in rural West Texas. 3 Takeaways:(1) Your origin story is your fuel. (2) Wisdom doesn't require a diploma. (3) Find your temple roads. Pick up Dr. Rahman's books — "Our Connected Lives: Caring for Cancer Patients in Rural Texas" and the newly republished "Temple Road" — available on Amazon. Visit him at https://fazlurrahmanmd.com If this story moved you, share it with someone who needs a reminder that it's never too late to find your purpose.

In this episode, Leigh Ann welcomes Diana Salcido to share her deeply personal story of being diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer after nearly a year of symptoms, medical dismissal, panic, abdominal pain, and an inner knowing that something was wrong. Diana walks listeners through the frightening path to diagnosis, including ER visits, being told she was simply anxious or constipated, an eventual bowel obstruction, emergency surgery, and the discovery that the cancer had spread to four lymph nodes. She also shares the complications that followed, including a leak, a second emergency surgery, an ileostomy, severe weight loss, pleural effusion, abscesses, additional surgery, and the loneliness of healing from injuries and trauma that others could not always see. Diana and Leigh Ann discuss the emotional toll of cancer, the difficulty of making treatment decisions amid conflicting medical opinions, and Diana's choice to pursue an integrative path guided by body intuition, discernment, and personalized support. The conversation explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual layers of healing, including trauma work, faith, rest, sunlight, diet changes, supplements, acupuncture, frequency therapies, and learning when to pivot based on what the body is communicating.Product Discount Codes + LinksHoolest: Website (Discount Code: THEACCRESCENT10)Froya Hair Care: Website (Link gives 10% off)Herbal Face Food: Website (Discount Code: LAL30)The Fullest: Website (discount code: LEIGH15)Episode LinksDiana's GoFundMeRelated EpisodesEp. 228: Dr. Lori Bouchard - The Missing Pieces in Cancer Care, Metabolism, Trauma, and Whole-Person HealingEp. 176: Leigh Ann Lindsey - How I Work with Cancer Patients to Address Emotional Root Causes to DiseaseWork w/Leigh AnnLearn: What is EVOX Therapy?Book: Schedule a Session or FREE Discovery CallMembership: What is The Healing Alchemy MembershipConnect w/Me & Learn MoreWebsiteInstagramTiktokYoutube

Millions of people with breast cancer could safely avoid chemotherapy as scientists have developed a groundbreaking DNA test. We speak to an oncologist who has been involved in the research and a woman who has gone through chemotherapy after a breast cancer diagnosis. Also on the programme: we hear from the Romanian president on the Russian drone that hit an apartment block in the east of the country; and a preview of tonight's Champions League football final between Paris St Germain and the London club Arsenal. (Photo: A nurse provides assistance to a patient undergoing a mammogram in a modern medical facility. Credit: Getty Images)

A cancer diagnosis is the beginning of a scary, overwhelming journey that takes a toll on the patient as well as their loved ones. For Pete's Sake Cancer Respite Foundation gives cancer patients and their families time to breathe and heal together through travel and “staycation” respite experiences. Founder Marci Schankweiler joins Racquel Williams to talk about the power of respite and their new respite center, Pete's Dream - a vision of Marci's husband, Pete, who died of cancer when he was 30. Learn more about For Pete's Sake at www.fpsrespite.org. Then, Shara Dae Howard checks in at VisionLink to hear about their latest efforts to help people with vision loss find independence and community, and to try out some of their new gadgets, like Meta AI glasses. Learn more about VisionLink at www.visionlinkphl.org.

Matthew Zachary is a brain cancer survivor, healthcare advocate, founder of Stupid Cancer and We the Patients, and host of Out of Patients. In April 2026, he returned to the stage at Merkin Hall near Lincoln Center for his first solo public piano concert in almost 22 years while launching his debut book, We the Patients: Understanding, Navigating, and Surviving America's Healthcare Nightmare.What unfolded became far larger than a concert.Over 2 hours, survivors, clinicians, advocates, nonprofit founders, journalists, pharmaceutical sponsors, and healthcare insiders gathered in one room to reflect on 30 years of survivorship, institutional failure, accidental advocacy, and the emotional afterlife of cancer. The evening moved through original piano performances, live chapter readings, and deeply personal conversations about infertility, disability, financial toxicity, insurance denials, grief, burnout, and what happens when patients spend decades navigating systems designed around transactions instead of continuity.Guests including Wendell Potter, Maimah Karmo, Craig Lustig, Shelly Fuld Nasso, Tamika Felder, and others reflected on how the modern cancer advocacy movement emerged largely because patients built parallel systems where healthcare infrastructure failed to meet human needs. The conversation explored how prior authorization, reimbursement incentives, administrative fragmentation, and institutional distrust continue shaping the patient experience across oncology and survivorship.The performance also marked a deeply personal milestone. After brain cancer compromised his left hand at age 21, Zachary spent 6 months rehabilitating both hands to return to public performance for the first time in over 2 decades. The result became part concert, part civic gathering, and part historical record of a generation of survivors who refused to disappear quietly.RELATED LINKSMZLIVE Official WebsiteMZLIVE YouTube VideoFEEDBACKLike 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.

Stephanie Broussard, Director of Social Work at Thyme Care, describes a model of interdisciplinary social support for cancer patients to increase access to medical services and address social, emotional, and financial challenges. Integrated services target family dynamics, social determinants of health, and building trust to drive better patient outcomes. As cancer increasingly becomes a chronic condition, there is a growing need to support the management of long-term physical and emotional effects and use technology to increase efficiency and support the Thyme Care human-focused approach. Stephanie explains, "Thyme Care is really designed to try to integrate and increase access for those navigating cancers. So we believe that in order to serve people really well, you don't take things away, you actually add things. If we can increase access and increase the ability for patients to navigate the health system, then we're able to better navigate their utilization. So we try to increase access through access to an interdisciplinary team. We have nurse practitioners, nurses, even oncologists and primary care physicians on our team, social workers, and lay people who help us make sure that patients can get what they need at the right time. And so it's really about giving patients access to the right services at the right time to improve their outcomes."   "We think about how their cancer impacts every facet of their life. And so, we often talk a lot about the financial toxicity of cancer, but social issues that were affecting folks don't just stop because cancer happened. Oftentimes, it even exacerbates those things. So think about family dynamics, think about social determinants of health, like the cost of medications and access, but also all the other things that can be impacted by cancer." #ThymeCare #ValueBasedCare #SocialWorkMonth #OncologySocialWork #MentalHealthMatters #CaregiverSupport #PatientExperience #HealthEquity #OncologyCare #ValueBasedCare #CareCoordination #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth #SDoH #CancerSurvivorship #Caregivers #NurseNavigation #PalliativeCare thymecare.com Download the transcript here

Stephanie Broussard, Director of Social Work at Thyme Care, describes a model of interdisciplinary social support for cancer patients to increase access to medical services and address social, emotional, and financial challenges. Integrated services target family dynamics, social determinants of health, and building trust to drive better patient outcomes. As cancer increasingly becomes a chronic condition, there is a growing need to support the management of long-term physical and emotional effects and use technology to increase efficiency and support the Thyme Care human-focused approach. Stephanie explains, "Thyme Care is really designed to try to integrate and increase access for those navigating cancers. So we believe that in order to serve people really well, you don't take things away, you actually add things. If we can increase access and increase the ability for patients to navigate the health system, then we're able to better navigate their utilization. So we try to increase access through access to an interdisciplinary team. We have nurse practitioners, nurses, even oncologists and primary care physicians on our team, social workers, and lay people who help us make sure that patients can get what they need at the right time. And so it's really about giving patients access to the right services at the right time to improve their outcomes."   "We think about how their cancer impacts every facet of their life. And so, we often talk a lot about the financial toxicity of cancer, but social issues that were affecting folks don't just stop because cancer happened. Oftentimes, it even exacerbates those things. So think about family dynamics, think about social determinants of health, like the cost of medications and access, but also all the other things that can be impacted by cancer." #ThymeCare #ValueBasedCare #SocialWorkMonth #OncologySocialWork #MentalHealthMatters #CaregiverSupport #PatientExperience #HealthEquity #OncologyCare #ValueBasedCare #CareCoordination #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth #SDoH #CancerSurvivorship #Caregivers #NurseNavigation #PalliativeCare thymecare.com Listen to the podcast here  

As part of the 2026 UCSF Patient Conference on Prostate Cancer, the UCSF Patient Services Committee and California Prostate Cancer Coalition present a panel discussion on resources. Series: "Prostate Cancer Patient Conference" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41554]

As part of the 2026 UCSF Patient Conference on Prostate Cancer, the UCSF Patient Services Committee and California Prostate Cancer Coalition present a panel discussion on resources. Series: "Prostate Cancer Patient Conference" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41554]

Headlines: – Welcome to Mo News + A wet Memorial Day (02:00) – U.S. Conducts Strikes On Iranian Sites and Boats As Talks Continue To End War (05:10) – Threat of California Chemical Talk Explosion “Eliminated” (13:00) – Foreigners Seeking Permanent Residency in the U.S. Will Have To Go Home To Wait Out The Process (20:15) – Locals Attack Doctors In Congo Over Ebola Outbreak (23:30) – What We Know About Racer Kyle Busch's Cause of Death (27:00) – New Study Says GLP-1s May Lower Risks Of Some Cancers Spreading (29:00) – Pope Leo Calls For Increased Regulations and Responsibility Around AI (32:00) Thanks To Our Sponsors:  – Monarch - 50% off your first year | Code: MONEWS – Factor - 50% off your first box | Code: monews50off –⁠ Industrious⁠ - Coworking office. 50% off day pass | Code: MONEWS50 – LMNT | Free Sample Pack with any LMNT drink mix or 12oz cans purchase

In December 1996, a 37 year old pharmaceutical executive sat in a Borders bookstore reading medical textbooks on the floor, trying to understand a disease she had never heard of. Multiple myeloma carried a three year prognosis. Her daughter was 18 months old. Her father had just died of cancer. Within weeks, she pushed her doctors to say the quiet part clearly. This would likely end her life before her child entered kindergarten.Kathy Giusti refused to accept passive survival. She built a plan while the system offered fragments. She interviewed oncologists and fertility specialists at the same time. She pursued IVF to have a second child while preparing for treatment. She stayed employed to keep insurance coverage. Every decision carried financial, medical, and emotional risk.That same urgency exposed a deeper failure. Cancer research moved slowly. Academic centers guarded data. Clinical trials lacked coordination. Patients entered a system that demanded compliance without providing clarity. Giusti responded by building the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, not as a support group, but as an operating engine to accelerate drug development, fund research, and force collaboration across institutions.This episode tracks the tension between individual agency and systemic failure. Giusti describes how patients navigate diagnosis, insurance barriers, and fragmented care in real time. She explains how data, genomics, and clinical trials reshape cancer treatment while still leaving patients responsible for decisions they are not trained to make. She addresses disparities in access, the limits of early detection, and the reality that progress in oncology often depends on speed, funding, and alignment of incentives.The conversation moves between lived experience and structural critique. It names the cost of delay, the burden placed on patients to act as their own advocate, and the tradeoffs required to push a system forward that still protects itself first.⸻RELATED LINKSKathy GiustiMultiple Myeloma Research FoundationFatal to FearlessAmerican Society of Hematology⸻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 pandemic triggered something unexpected:  American fathers started working less and spending significantly more time on childcare and housework — and new research suggests it wasn't remote work or job loss driving the shift, but a genuine realignment of gender norms. Plus: some scientists are calling this the biggest advancement in cancer treatment in 15 years – a drug called daraxonrasib which is nearing FDA approval and substantially extends the lives of pancreatic cancer patients; Brazil has officially begun demarcating over a million acres of protected land for an uncontacted Indigenous tribe in the Amazon; and Oklahoma became the 17th U.S. state to ban child marriage, ruffling some feathers.  What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and Kaleidoscope. For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://theprogressnetwork.org/newsletter/ Watch the podcast on YouTube: / theprogressnetwork Follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk Follow Emma on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyemmavarv/

At 19, Shlomit woke up unable to speak. The right side of her body went numb. An emergency room sent her home and called it stress. That moment did not end in a diagnosis that changed policy or triggered reform. It sent her into a decade long pursuit of understanding how the brain fails language and how the healthcare system fails patients who cannot advocate for themselves.Shlomit trained as a speech language pathologist and spent years inside acute care hospitals and ICUs, performing endoscopies and treating patients with brain injury, stroke, and dysphagia. She watched medical teams rotate in and out, deliver dense updates, and leave families nodding without comprehension. She stayed behind and translated. Every day, patients told her she was the only one who explained what was happening. That gap is not an accident. Hospital systems optimize for throughput, not understanding. Patients move through beds based on cost, not readiness. Discharge planning becomes a financial decision wrapped in clinical language. A stay under 48 hours can shift the insurance burden dramatically, leaving patients exposed to higher out of pocket costs. Shlomit left the system and built Patient Path NYC, a private patient advocacy service. She now spends 15 to 20 hours a week per client reading charts, coordinating care teams, and translating medical decisions into plain language. Her work sits in the uncomfortable space between healthcare policy and lived experience. Families pay out of pocket to understand their own care. Hospitals benefit from the clarity she provides while maintaining the same structural incentives that created the confusion.This conversation tracks the human cost of fragmented care, the economics behind discharge decisions, and the quiet reality that patients who cannot communicate clearly often lose control of their own outcomes.RELATED LINKSShlomit LibertyShlomit Liberty on LinkedInPatient Path NYCBoard Certified Patient AdvocateFEEDBACKLike 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 2020, developmental biologist Dr. Crystal Rogers drove the country roads outside Davis, California crying between grant rejections, wondering whether she was about to lose her lab, her career, and the scientific future she had spent years building. She had already done what academia tells young scientists to do. She earned the credentials. She landed a faculty position at UC Davis. She built a lab. Then the real test began.On this episode of Standard Deviation, Dr. Oliver Bogler examines the unspoken rules that determine which scientists survive academic research and which quietly disappear from it. The conversation follows Crystal Rogers and cancer biologist Dr. Michelle Mendoza as they collide with the “Hidden Curriculum” of biomedical science: the unwritten rhetoric, institutional signaling, and grant writing strategies that often decide who receives funding, tenure, and long term stability.Michelle Mendoza entered a tenure track position at the Huntsman Cancer Institute while raising 3 children, navigating a divorce, and trying to secure major NIH funding during COVID. What looked like objective scientific review turned out to depend heavily on persuasion, presentation, and insider fluency. Established researchers could promise massive research agendas based on reputation alone. Junior investigators faced a completely different standard.Oliver traces how the Life Science Editors Foundation and its JEDI program intervened by pairing scientists with former editors from journals including Cell and Nature. The work had little to do with commas or grammar. Editors challenged logic, structure, and scientific framing before grant reviewers could destroy an application in public.Both researchers eventually secured career defining grants. One realized she would keep her job and not have to move her family. The other celebrated by ordering a personalized “DEV BIO” license plate and driving through Davis blasting nineties hip hop and Beyoncé.The episode exposes how biomedical research funding rewards institutional fluency as much as scientific talent, and how hidden systems inside academic medicine continue shaping who gets to stay in science long enough to make discoveries.RELATED LINKSDr. Crystal Rogers LinkedInDr. Crystal Rogers Faculty PageDr. Crystal Rogers LabDr. Michelle Mendoza LinkedInDr. Michelle Mendoza Faculty PageHuntsman Cancer Institute Mendoza LabLife 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.

In 2008, Katy Talento walked away from Capitol Hill and into a Catholic convent. Within a year, she walked out. Within another decade, she sat inside the White House shaping health policy. Somewhere in between, she got labeled “infertile” after a single cycle of testing and spent years believing it.That label stuck. The pain that came before it never got investigated. Doctors offered birth control and moved on. No one asked why her body was struggling. No one followed the thread.Talento built her career inside the very systems she now critiques. She worked on federal health policy, global disease programs, and later advised the Trump administration on healthcare reform. She helped advance price transparency rules in a system where hospitals can still list 457 different prices for the same service.Then she left.Now she builds employer health plans that bypass insurers, PBMs, and traditional networks. Her approach replaces insurance contracts with direct payment, nurse navigators, and cost sharing models that promise simplicity but raise hard questions about risk and protection.This conversation sits in that tension.Talento describes a healthcare system shaped by layered incentives, where insurers, hospitals, and intermediaries profit from complexity. She argues that employers hold the leverage to disrupt it. The host pushes on what happens when patients fall outside those structures, when contracts disappear, and when community based models fail.The episode moves through infertility, misdiagnosis, insurance design, and the mechanics of employer sponsored care. It tracks how policy decisions made in Washington ripple into exam rooms, billing departments, and family lives.It also confronts a harder truth.Even insiders who understand the system can still get caught in it.RELATED LINKSAllBetter HealthKaty TalentoThem Before UsAn Arm and a LegRelentless Health ValueFEEDBACKLike 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.

Welcome back to the Pear Healthcare Playbook! Every week, we'll be getting to know trailblazing healthcare leaders and diving into building a digital health and biotech business from 0 to 1.We would greatly appreciate it if you took a moment to listen to the episode on either Apple or Spotify and leave us a rating! Your support helps our guests' insights reach a larger audience!Today we're thrilled to host Anirudh Joshi, co-founder of Valar Labs, who is building the company with co-founder Viswesh Krishna. Valar is pioneering AI-native oncology diagnostics using standard pathology slides to predict treatment response, starting with bladder cancer and expanding across oncology. The company raised a $22M Series A co-led by DCVC and Andreessen Horowitz, with continued backing from Pear VC since day one. In this conversation, Anirudh walks through how the genesis of the company, why pathology has long been underutilized and what it took to bring Vesta, its genitourinary-focused portfolio of AI powered pathology tests, to the clinic.

In their insightful dialogue, Dr. Katie Deming and Freddie Kimmel delve into the language and mindset surrounding cancer treatment, shedding light on empowering holistic approaches. Dr. Deming critiques the perception associated with cancer, advocating for reclaiming personal power to foster healing. They stress the importance of intentional language use and holistic modalities like fasting and emotional work in empowering individuals on their healing journey. This conversation unveils the transformative potential of mindset and offers valuable insights for navigating the complexities of cancer care. Furthermore, Dr. Deming and Freddie Kimmel discuss the societal perpetuation of certain language patterns and the need for individualized approaches to healing. They highlight the importance of understanding the impact of language and the availability of human optimization tools. Their conversation underscores the necessity of conscious awareness in choosing alternative paths to conventional treatments, emphasizing the importance of credible information and progress over perfection. Dr. Deming's holistic approach encompasses physical, emotional, and spiritual elements, aiming to align individuals with their healing potential while advocating for boundaries and self-compassion in the healing journey.   Episode Highlights [02:26] – Dr. Katie explains what led her into oncology and hospice care [03:38] – Why modern medicine often treats disease instead of creating health [09:02] – The shared death experience that changed her life and career [18:06] – Walking away from a prestigious oncology career to pursue integrative healing [20:16] – Why healing cancer requires emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical alignment [25:04] – How trauma, stress, and environment contribute to illness [28:08] – Gerald Pollack's water research and its connection to human health [31:13] – Why crisis can become an opportunity for transformation [33:03] – How “fight cancer” language can reinforce fear and victim mentality [43:02] – Ice baths, hormetic stress, and activating the body's innate resilience [46:46] – Foundational practices Katie uses to support healing and metabolic health [58:02] – Understanding the true risk-versus-benefit conversation around treatment [01:03:20] – Fasting, ketogenic therapy, and mindset during cancer care [01:07:20] – Why changing daily behaviors matters more than waiting for the healthcare system to change [01:15:23] – How collective crisis may also create an opportunity for awakening and growth  Links & Resources Katie's website: https://www.katiedeming.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiedemingmd/ Circadian and melatonin disruption by exposure to light at night drives intrinsic resistance to tamoxifen therapy in breast cancer: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25062775/   UPGRADE YOUR WELLNESS Silver Biotics Wound Healing Gel: https://bit.ly/3JnxyDD Code: BEAUTIFULLYBROKEN LightPathLED https://lightpathled.com/?afmc=BEAUTIFULLYBROKEN Code: beautifullybroken STEMREGEN: https://www.stemregen.co/products/stemregen/?afmc=beautifullybroken Code: beautifullybroken Flowpresso 3-in-1 technology: (https://calendly.com/freddiekimmel/flowpresso-one-on-one-discovery)     CONNECT WITH FREDDIEWork with Me: https://www.beautifullybroken.world/biological-blueprintWebsite and Store: (http://www.beautifullybroken.world) Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/freddie.kimmelYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beautifullybrokenworld Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jordan Belous has always had a soft spot for Pediatric Cancer Patients and when she was 16 years old in 2015 she issued a "challenge", much like the Ice Bucket Challenge, when she created a video that went viral by dancing for 14 seconds to the song WHIP/NAE NAE by Rapper Silento to either Dance or Donate. More than 7000 people took up her challenge and donated more than $100,000 to Memorial Sloan Kettering to fight the cause of Pediatric Cancer. That was the birth of her WHIP PEDIATRIC CANCER Non- Profit. Since that time Jordan has personally developed long standing and iron clad friendships with more than 300 Pediatric Cancer patients and has done extraordinary work for these kids, their families and the cause of Pediatric Cancer. 

In a wooded campground cabin in the early 2000s, 19 year old Ben Unger stood in the doorway and watched 20 naked men form a circle around a crying teenager. A counselor held up two tangerines and shouted, “These are your balls.” The exercise claimed to cure same sex attraction by forcing young men to “reclaim” their masculinity from overbearing mothers. Phones had been confiscated. Parents had paid thousands of dollars. Religion supplied the script. Pseudoscience supplied the props.Ben had grown up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn and later studied in Israel to become a rabbi. When he admitted he felt attracted to men, rabbis told him to eat 7 figs a day, immerse in a ritual bath 5 times daily, or marry a woman and trust that “if there's friction, it works.” At 19, he entered conversion therapy through an organization called Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, known as JONAH. He left with depression, religious trauma, and 6 months of silence toward the mother he had been taught to blame.Years later, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Ben helped sue JONAH for consumer fraud in a landmark New Jersey case. The argument centered on evidence, not theology. Sexual orientation cannot be changed. The jury deliberated for 3 hours and ruled against the organization. The verdict helped reshape how states regulate conversion therapy and protect minors from psychological harm disguised as treatment.Today, Ben runs Buff Personal Training in New York City, a gym built on autonomy, mental health, and self respect. His story traces the arc from institutional control to self authorship. The conversation examines religion, LGBTQ rights, conversion therapy, consumer protection law, and the lasting cost of being told your identity is a disorder.RELATED LINKSBen Unger on LinkedInBen Unger on InstagramBUF Personal TrainingSouthern Poverty Law CenterJONAHFEEDBACKLike 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 episode of A Tale of Two Hygienists, co-hosts David Torres and Jessica Atkinson sit down with Melia Lewis, MEd, to discuss the critical role dental hygienists play in supporting patients undergoing cancer treatment.   Drawing from her personal experience with her father's cancer diagnosis, Melia brings a deeply meaningful perspective to the conversation. She highlights the emotional and clinical impact of cancer care, and how dental hygienists can become essential advocates and providers within a patient's healthcare journey.   Key topics discussed include: * Melia's personal journey navigating her father's cancer diagnosis and how it shaped her professional perspective. *Whether dental hygiene should be more formally integrated into oncology care. *The importance of resilience and understanding why the work hygienists do truly matters. *Common oral side effects experienced by cancer patients and how to recognize them. *How hygienists can tailor appointments to better support patients undergoing cancer treatment.   Rather than viewing care as routine, this episode challenges listeners to approach each patient—especially those facing serious health conditions—with intention, empathy, and clinical adaptability. Melia offers insight into how hygienists can elevate their role and make a meaningful difference during some of their patients' most vulnerable moments.   This episode is a must-listen for hygienists who want to expand their understanding of patient-centered care and play a more active role in supporting individuals through complex health challenges.   Call to Action: Take time to deepen your understanding of how systemic health conditions, like cancer, impact oral health. Look for opportunities to adapt your care approach and advocate for patients who may need more personalized support.   Connect with Melia Lewis:   Email: melia@hygieneedge.com   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melia-lewis/

Drew Flugstad-Clarke never planned to work in brain cancer. She planned to play Division I soccer at Georgetown. She planned to paint. She even tried investment banking, answering emails at 4am in a cubicle that never slept. Then in June 2022 her father, Jim, was diagnosed with glioblastoma at 57. He died 1 day shy of 7 months later, just before his 58th birthday. His symptoms began with emotion, not seizures. A steady HR executive suddenly cried. His golf game slipped. By the time he entered the hospital for a scan, he did not leave without surgery. A subway poster for a 5K became a lifeline. Drew showed up. She found a community. She later joined the American Brain Tumor Association as Community Manager for the Eastern Region. This conversation walks through anticipatory grief, caregiving in real time, strategic numbness, and what it costs to curate hope when the median survival clock is already ticking.RELATED LINKSDrew Clark Flukestad on LinkedInTopor StudiosAmerican Brain Tumor AssociationGeorgetown University Women's SoccerFEEDBACKLike 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.