Raise the Line

Today, we’re excited to bring you the first episode in a special Raise the Line series that Osmosis from Elsevier has created in partnership with the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses (CoRE) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. PAIS: Root Causes, Drivers, and Actionable Solutions is a ten-part examination of a range of post-acute infection syndromes such as long COVID, tick-borne illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, and connective tissue disorders. Your host, Dr. Raven Baxter, a molecular biologist and Director of Science Communication at CoRE, will be joined by an impressive array of specialists in the field to explore causes, symptoms, diagnoses and treatments, as well as the devastating impact on patients who often struggle for many months or even years with a troubling span of symptoms affecting everything from muscle movement to mental health. As you’ll learn in the series, diagnostic protocols are lacking for many of these conditions, leading to delayed treatment and prolonged suffering for patients. In this inaugural episode, Dr. Baxter is joined by microbiologist Dr. Amy Proal, CEO of the PolyBio Research Foundation; Yale University Professor of Immunobiology, Dr. Akiko Iwasaki; and Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine who will discuss the Building Blocks of PAIS.Mentioned in this episode: Mount Sinai Health System Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

For those proponents of psychedelic-assisted therapy concerned that demand for therapists will outstrip supply in the coming years, you may be reassured by today’s conversation with Dr. Ingmar Gorman and Dr. Elizabeth Nielson, psychologists who have been involved in FDA-approved clinical trials of MDMA and psilocybin, and the co-founders of a company called Fluence Training which is working to scale education for this purpose. As they explain to host Shiv Gaglani, they see their task, broadly speaking, as serving three categories of people: those with general interest in the field; all types of clinicians who want to be able to have informed conversations with patients wishing to discuss their current and/or future use; and those who want to become therapists in this modality. Fluence is especially well-positioned for that last group because of Gorman’s and Nielson’s involvement in designing therapy protocols in clinical trials, but also because of their work developing therapy manuals for drug companies. “If and when their drugs go to market, we’ll be able to train clinicians in the community who will be working with those compounds,” says Gorman. One bottom line message in this richly-informed discussion is that the field needs all comers and they hope people aren’t dissuaded by misconceptions about what’s required. “We hear all the time, 'I want to be involved, but I’d have to go back to school and get all these years of clinical experience' when the reality is there's just so many ways now to get involved,” says Nielson. This is a great overview of the status of training, the potential pitfalls awaiting the field, the importance of managing patient expectations, and much more.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.fluencetraining.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Part of why we love bringing Raise the Line to you is we get to introduce you to creative, committed people who see challenges in the healthcare system as opportunities to improve it. Today’s guest, radiation oncologist Dr. David Grew, is a perfect example. In the depths of COVID when his patients had to meet with him unaccompanied by a support person, he realized his ability to help people understand the complexities of their care was more important than ever, so he doubled-down on his practice of making simple drawings for them on whatever piece of paper was handy. When patients told them they were bringing the papers home so they could explain things to family members, he realized he needed to up his game. “That’s when the light bulb went off. I need to digitize these drawings so that we can scale this educational moment between a doctor and a patient,” he tells host Michael Carrese. Armed with a laptop and basic educational software, Dr. Grew founded the company PRIMR and started building a library of short, animated videos containing the most common explanations he would give patients. When clinical trial managers noticed what he was doing, they wanted in and so a major focus of PRIMR is educating potential trial participants as well. “I'm on a mission to make sure that patients have an easy way to understand clinical trials.” Listen in to find out about a major medical and societal benefit to better education about these trials and to learn how Dr. Grew thinks PRIMR can help with the crisis of physician burnout.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.primrmed.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“Maybe we think we’re just students and we’re just learning, but you can have an impact as a medical student,” says Dr. Desiree Franco Lugo, who has acted on that insight throughout her recently completed journey at Anáhuac University, Mexico and during her participation in the Osmosis Medical Education Fellowship, where she has served as a Regional Lead for the past two years. Des, as we’ve come to know her, has happily embraced one of the most important roles Regional Leads play: being a mentor to fellow med students. “I love talking to them and seeing how they develop and follow their own dreams. I literally feel like a proud mom with them,” she tells host Hillary Acer. Speaking of which, Hillary, as leader of the OMEF program, has the same pride in all that Des has done to support her peers through hosting events, writing blogs, conducting research and so much more. Beyond Osmosis, Des has developed a global footprint in medical education through internships and being selected to participate in prestigious international conferences. All of those experiences have stoked a previously unknown passion for medical education, and given her confidence to pursue other passions for entrepreneurship and leadership. This is an invigorating conversation in our NextGen Journeys series that underscores what can come from jumping at opportunities, or as Des puts it, having an attitude of ‘less fear and more go for it.’Mentioned in this episode: Osmosis Health Leadership Initiative https://www.osmosis.org/community If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Promising research, a growing respect for the patient voice and innovative ways of using technology to support patients might be adding up to a new reality of Alzheimer’s and other dementias being experienced as chronic diseases like some cancers are now considered to be. We’re going to learn about that trend and other positive developments in the space on this special episode of Raise the Line with the leaders of CaringKind - one of the nation’s premier organizations focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia caregiving - who took time out from preparing for its annual gala on June 3 for an in-depth discussion of what’s new, what’s coming and what’s most important for the individuals and families affected by dementia. One welcome theme is that the voices of those with lived experience are being given more weight. “We're going to see more grassroots-driven change where people living with dementia are not just participants in research, but they are partners in research, and they’re actually pushing policy change," says Chief Innovation Officer Stephani Shivers. Tune in as host Michael Carrese explores advancements in diagnostics and research with CaringKind adviser Dr. Anne Kenney; gets briefed on a new Medicare pilot program from Stephani; and learns about the “Forget-Me-Not” gala -- which includes dancing robots -- from CEO Eleonora Tornatore-Mikesh. “For the gala, we're really excited about weaving in the work that we're diving into in the next couple of years to ‘connect to living’ -- to culture and music, people, science and services. Being able to utilize technology to bring joy and socialization back to your life is part of that.” This is a revealing look at the current and future state of caregiving for diseases that are affecting a rapidly growing number of Americans and their families. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.caringkindnyc.org/gala/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“There is a revolution at hand in which, after years of struggling to locate a new source of organs, there may finally be an answer and to everyone's surprise it is animal organs. Pigs may save the day,” says Dr. Andrew Cameron, chief of the Division of Transplantation at Johns Hopkins Medicine. While he’s encouraged by recent progress in using genetically-modified pig organs in humans, Cameron points to other ways of addressing this chronic shortage which include creative use of social media to raise awareness of the need, and even compensating people for donations. But, as you’ll learn on this episode of Raise the Line with host Shiv Gaglani, running the transplant program is just one of the hats Cameron wears. As director of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief, he has a hand in overseeing all surgical subspecialties, so Shiv also explores his thoughts on the role of robotics and other technologies in both performing operations and in training surgeons. And in what is perhaps an unexpected turn, Cameron expresses his excitement about non-surgical developments to improve health such as the new class of weight loss drugs. “We're not here for me to do fancy surgeries. We're here to take care of sick people, so if there is a non-operative solution that’s better for the patient, we're all in on that, too.” It’s an expansive and fascinating conversation you won’t want to miss.Mentioned in this episode:Johns Hopkins Department of Surgery: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/surgeryDONOR App: www.thedonorapp.comTEDx Talk on Xenotransplantation If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today’s Raise the Line guest has a simple but powerful message for medical providers, born of a mother’s heartbreak. “It's going to be rare in your career to meet a zebra but the impact you can have is phenomenal. An early diagnosis could make the difference between life and death for these children,” says Bethan Keall who lost her young daughter Matilda (Tilly) in 2022 to neuroblastoma, a rare cancer most commonly found in children. Because some symptoms of the disease can be easily attributed to other causes, early diagnosis is difficult, particularly if providers are not on the lookout for it. Tilly’s diagnosis of an aggressive form of neuroblastoma introduced Bethan and her husband to the unfortunate realities of a lack of funding and coordination in the UK around pediatric oncology. “For childhood cancer you really need as much collaboration among doctors as possible to understand how treatments can get better because there are relatively few cases,” she explains to host Lindsey Smith. In coping with Tilly’s tragic death at the age of four, her parents have dedicated themselves to Neuroblastoma UK to support research efforts and have benefitted from the emotional and social support provided by a charity called Jak’s Den, founded by the family of a victim of childhood cancer. This is a wrenching, illuminating episode in our Year of the Zebra series offering important insights from a parent’s perspective for providers and policymakers alike. Mentioned in this episode: Jak’s Den https://www.teamjak.org.uk/Neuroblastoma UK https://www.neuroblastoma.org.uk/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today, we're continuing our close look at clerkships and residency programs and what students can do to be successful in them with Dr. Sharon Bord and Dr. Amelia Pousson, who are both physicians and assistant professors in emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where, as most listeners know, Osmosis co-founder and Raise the Line host Shiv Gaglani is pursuing his third year of medical school. “I think one of the things that students really feel when they rotate in the ED is the team-based atmosphere. Emergency medicine providers help each other be the best versions of ourselves that we can in medicine. That is really unique,” explains Dr. Bord, who serves as the emergency medicine clerkship and sub-internship director. For her part, Dr. Pousson wants students to realize there are many paths to becoming a wonderful emergency physician. “There's lots of ways to sort of peel the orange and get it just right even if the path there looks a little bit different for each person,” she says. Both agree that among the keys for success are rigorous honesty and self-reflection about your goals and limitations, and whether the specialty is a good fit. Tune in for an expansive conversation that provides valuable wisdom and fascinating insights into one of the most vital and challenging of medical specialties. Mentioned in this episode: Johns Hopkins Core Clerkship in Emergency Medicine If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Medical school is so demanding that it’s always impressive to meet students who make time for other activities, and doubly impressive when what they devote their precious free time to is intended to improve healthcare. That’s why we’re delighted to welcome Drs. Lawsen Parker, Rebecca Wolff and Stephanie Koplitz to Raise the Line today. As they were wrapping up their terms as leaders of the Student Osteopathic Medical Association this Spring, they joined host Hillary Acer for an inspiring conversation about medical education, the role of students as advocates, and the future of healthcare. Lawsen, Rebecca and Stephanie also reflect on what being a medical student in the COVID era has been like and how it has shaped their perspectives on healthcare and leadership. Perhaps Lawsen sums it up best by telling Hillary that after his experience in SOMA, “I can’t imagine my career without being a leader, and an advocate for my colleagues, my patients and myself.” Don’t miss this opportunity to hear what is on the minds of these future leaders in healthcare. Mentioned in this episode: https://studentdo.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today’s guest is a trailblazing surgeon who performed the first successful nerve allograft, among other important achievements, but that’s actually not what host Shiv Gaglani wanted to focus on in this interview with Dr. Susan Mackinnon. After seeing her speak recently at a Johns Hopkins Grand Rounds presentation, Shiv immediately asked her to be a guest on Raise the Line because of her passion to change the culture and climate in the medical profession, partly by reconnecting it with its core mission. “We need to get it to a point where you can take the Hippocratic oath, which says if I don't agree to look after the care for prince and slave alike, I should die. We need to get back to that.” Mackinnon candidly details her own journey to being able to recognize and regulate her energy state so that she can perform at the highest level of creativity with colleagues and rise above the counterproductive “I win, you lose” mindset that often prevails in medicine. This free-flowing conversation is packed with insights gathered over a long career and offers much food for thought about how to find happiness and spur innovation at work, and the importance of self-care for providers. There’s also more book recommendations than in any other Raise the Line episode!Mentioned in this episode: Energy Leadership by Bruce SchneiderTaking the Leap by Pema ChodronWhere Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

There are more than 2,600 colleges and universities with nursing degree programs in the United States, offering a mix of options from associate-level degrees to doctorates. Ensuring that those programs deliver high-quality education is the focus of today's guest, Kathy Chappell, PhD, RN, the CEO of the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, also known as ACEN. “We have this regulatory compliance function as an accreditor, but at the end of the day, it's about high-quality education for nurses. We want their students to excel so it's really our job to be their support and partner in understanding and meeting the standards,” Chappell tells host Hillary Acer. The veteran clinician and educator says ACEN is also assuming the role of partner in the broader cause of addressing the nursing shortage by using its influence to support the expansion of education programs, which she thinks should be a national priority. “I would consider it to be a public health crisis. I really do. I think it's as critical as the COVID pandemic.” This is a great scan of nursing education that includes a discussion of international accreditation, interprofessional education and the challenges nursing programs face in preparing students for a very demanding profession. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.acenursing.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

When Raise the Line host and third year medical student Shiv Gaglani witnessed the creation of a “heart song” at the bedside of a terminal patient during his recent neurology clerkship, he immediately wanted to know more about the clinical applications of music therapy and realized the Osmosis audience would want to as well. That’s why we’re happy to bring you this fascinating episode featuring Shiv’s interview with Kerry Devlin, MMT, a senior music therapist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine. “I like to describe music therapy as a relational therapeutic encounter. Music is both the tool that I'm using as a music therapist, but it's also the medium that we're working in. And we're using that tool and that therapeutic medium to travel together to work towards someone's individualized healthcare goals,” Devlin says. In the case of dying patients, she creates music that incorporates recordings of their heartbeat and breath sounds with their favorite song and gives the result to the family as a keepsake. For other patients, she adapts her work to suit their clinical situation such as taking a rhythmic approach with people dealing with movement disorders or singing with someone with Parkinson’s disease to help them maintain articulation. As you’ll learn, the applications are wide ranging and include group work as well as one-on-one sessions. This is a meaningful and memorable episode you won’t want to miss about a powerful therapeutic tool whose use is growing. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/center-for-music-and-medicine If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

We've had the pleasure of speaking to nursing leaders at a variety of health systems and at nursing schools on past episodes of Raise the Line, but today we're going to zoom out for a big picture perspective on the profession and its current and future challenges and opportunities with Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, RN, MBA, president of the American Nurses Association, which advocates for the nation's 5.5 million RNs. In a frank assessment, Mensik Kennedy says nursing is actually not in need of new ideas to solve the problems it faces. “We've known about the solutions for decades, but yet we for some reason or another have not put those solutions into play,” she explains to host Hillary Acer. Mensik Kennedy thinks the slow pace of progress on issues such as staffing challenges, workplace violence, DEI, burnout and wellbeing can be attributed in part to the fact that only 5% of hospitals have a nurse on the board of directors. “When decisions need to be made, nurses' voices often are not heard or at that table to make needed changes.” Don’t miss this chance to hear a wealth of insight on the true value of nurses from a leader recognized nationally as one of the 100 most influential people in healthcare, and be sure to stay tuned to learn about an innovative “tribrid” model of delivering care.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.nursingworld.org/ana/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

After working alongside healthcare providers in under-resourced countries, today’s Raise the Line guest Dr. Rebecca Weintraub came to see that the desire to serve patients and the curiosity to learn how to be the best clinician possible are universal, but the best tools to do so are not. That’s what led her to launch the Better Evidence program at Ariadne Labs which designs, tests and scales data-driven digital tools that help manage diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainty. Currently, Better Evidence engages over 200,000 current and future clinicians and public health leaders in 147 medical schools and clinical sites across 182 countries. “If you are an isolated provider or a trainee, we believe evidence-based clinical tools help you improve your clinical confidence and clinical acumen. We're trying to help create the habits of educating yourself on the journey to being an excellent clinician.” In this illuminating conversation with host Hillary Acer, Weintraub also talks about other capacity-building work such as helping to prepare clinicians for major public health roles, and the critical importance of providers having reliable internet and cell connectivity, something she expects will improve in the near future. Don’t miss this on-the-ground view of some key elements in improving the delivery of healthcare across the globe. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.better-evidence.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

As we’ve learned on previous episodes of Raise the Line, people dealing with rare diseases usually wait 4-7 years before receiving a diagnosis, during which time their condition can deteriorate significantly. Shortening this “diagnostic odyssey” is the mission of today’s guest, Lukas Lange, and in an interesting twist, he’s doing it by involving the patients themselves. The company he co-founded, Probably Genetic, has developed a system that starts with rare disease patients, or the parents of children with rare conditions, describing the symptoms involved on a website. “We run algorithms on that data in real time as you're on the website and if the algorithms think that this person might have a specific genetic disease, then we have a whole telemedicine system built in the background where we process that information and you get your test kit within about 48 hours of being on the website,” he explains to host Hillary Acer. Once the at-home test results are processed, a genetic counseling session is conducted via telemedicine. Tune in to find out why Lange believes having this knowledge is powerful for patients even if there may be no treatment available yet for their condition, and how it may be useful down the road with clinical trial recruitment, real world evidence tracking, and even early stage R&D for treatments.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.probablygenetic.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

We've devoted quite a bit of time on Raise the Line to learning about persistent workforce shortages in human healthcare and what is being done about them, but as yet have not turned our attention to the fact that veterinary medicine is facing the same headwinds. To find out more about how that challenge is being addressed and to learn about other current issues in veterinary medicine we turn today to Dr. Kathryn Meurs, Dean at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. One cause of the lack of veterinarians is too few slots for students, but Meurs says there is good news on that front. “There are several new veterinary schools coming online and many existing schools have increased their class size like we have.” Meurs says the profession is starting to think outside the box for other ways to build capacity including getting practices to offer more flexible work schedules, asking vets planning to retire to stay on part-time and expanding the role of veterinary technicians. Join host Hillary Acer to learn all about that and about the educational and research career tracks open to veterinarians, the importance of vet students developing great people skills, and the many clinical trials underway at NC State that sit at the intersection of human and animal health. Mentioned in this episode: https://cvm.ncsu.edu/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

The question of how generative AI and other recent advances in technology will change medical education is one we're continually seeking answers to on Raise the Line, and today we're turning to a really well-placed expert to weigh in on this issue. He's Dr. Warren Wiechmann, senior associate dean of Clinical Science Education and Educational Technologies at University of California Irvine, a school known for its embrace of technology. Dr. Wiechmann is considered the architect of the school's iMedEd Initiative, a comprehensive curriculum that uses everything from augmented reality to 3D printing as catalysts for curricular innovation. As he tells host Michael Carrese, integration of technology across subjects has been a key element of UCI’s approach. “We have our physiologists working closely with our anatomists, working closely with our clinical skills people. We're integrating point-of-care ultrasound into very early physiology lectures. We even have our physiologists doing a session using EKG devices.” Wiechmann stresses, though, that new tech has to meet a high bar for effectiveness before being used instructionally. “Just because it's new technology doesn't mean it's going to be useful.” As for the impact of generative AI, Wiechmann is keeping his eye on managing for inherent bias in large data sets and leveraging AI to help level the playing field for students with learning differences. Tune in to learn more about this fascinating educational evolution. Mentioned in this episode: https://medschool.uci.edu/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Most people associate being a physician with achieving financial security, but according to a recent report issued by Medscape, only about half of physicians in the United States report having a net worth over $1 million. That's where today's guest comes in. Brett Riggins founded Physician Wealth Systems in 2022 to help doctors achieve financial security through real estate investments that generate passive income. “Real estate could be that ‘means to an end’ kind of thing. It could produce this situation where it allows you to separate your time from your money and we can allow physicians to practice with passion, not practice because they have to,” Riggins tells host Michael Carrese. In this illuminating conversation, Riggins addresses the level of knowledge and time commitment involved, steps for getting started and determining your fundamental “why” for engaging in real estate investing. “No matter what profession you're going into, self-realization is the biggest piece of separating yourself from who you used to be and understanding where you want to go,” he counsels. And for those paying off student loans who think their options to make outside income are limited until they are debt free, stay tuned to learn about some strategies that could get you started.Mentioned in this episode:https://physicianwealthsystems.com If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

On today’s Raise the Line, we continue our Next Gen Journeys series featuring conversations with learners in medical professions around the globe. Our special guest is Omer Rott, a longtime participant in our Osmosis Medical Education Fellowship and Osmosis Health Leadership Initiative programs. Omer will soon be earning his medical degree from Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. In addition to pursuing a career as a pediatrician, he’s an aspiring diversity and inclusion medical educator who has founded DiverseMedEd, an organization dedicated to improving how healthcare professionals interact with and treat patients from different backgrounds. “There is a big gap in medical education about diverse patient populations. I think healthcare providers and many other people are afraid about how to approach someone or how to ask about their situation, which might lead them to not say anything or not even act the way they think they might need to.” Through a website (link) and social media posts, Omer has already built a following, many of whom are patients happy to be seeing these issues addressed. Join host Hillary Acer for a refreshing look at how the healthcare provider community can be more inclusive, and what lessons Omer has drawn from his extensive work mentoring fellow students over the past five years.Mentioned in this episode:DiverseMedEdEquity GraphicElsevier Blog - Is Wearing Pins Appropriate? If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

The importance of understanding the connections between animal and human health reached new heights due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this has long been a rich area of study and it’s also the foundation of the long and impressive career of today’s Raise the Line guest, Dr. Sue VandeWoude, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. Before assuming that role, Dr. VandeWoude was Director of CSU’s One Health Institute, an interdisciplinary center dedicated to advancing translational science. In this revealing conversation with host Hillary Acer, you’ll learn about developments in research and teaching in this area, what’s behind a curricular overhaul at the school, and about plans to enhance collaboration between basic science faculty and clinical instructors at CSU. Mentioned in this episode: https://vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Raise the Line has been honored to be part of Osmosis from Elsevier’s Year of the Zebra campaign and we’re happy to share that this successful effort will continue throughout 2024. To mark that commitment and to celebrate Rare Disease Day, we have a very special episode of the podcast for our listeners in which, for the first time, we interview a child faced with the challenge of living with a rare condition. She is Maddie McNeer, a seven-year-old from Kansas who developed a rare eye disorder called Coats disease which is characterized by abnormal development of blood vessels in the retina. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, affected individuals may experience loss of vision due to changes in the retina and, in severe cases, retinal detachment. Maddie and her mom, Loren McNeer, join host Lindsey Smith to share their family’s journey with Coats disease including the multiple treatments she’s had, the challenges in finding information and support, the positive experiences with healthcare providers and Maddie’s remarkable ability to rise above it all and, as she says, not let Coats disease hold her down. This is a super informative and inspiring episode that you won’t want to miss. Mentioned in this episode:https://www.coatsdiseasefoundation.org/https://www.osmosis.org/zebra If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“I feel like I'm living a dream in many ways. It's really gratifying to be working in this area,” says Dr. Peter Hendricks, a clinical psychologist at University of Alabama Birmingham who is pursuing a long-held interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. In addition to being anEndowed Professor of Psychiatry there, he is also a professor in the Center for Addiction and Pain Prevention and Intervention which explains why he is researching the use of psilocybin in patients with fibromyalgia, a condition which commonly involves chronic pain. “Pain involves a physiological sensation but also a psychological reaction to that pain. If we can alter psychological processes, we might be able to help people better cope with the experience of pain,” he tells host Michael Carrese. Although Hendricks has been excited about the prospect of being able to add this “new” tool to help treat addictions, PTSD, depression and other mental health conditions that are not well served by current therapies, he realizes the dangers of hype and the need for a balanced perspective. “I think it’s important to note that those of us who were enthusiastic were never under the impression that this would cure everything for everybody. It could really change your life or it may not -- and that's OK -- but it would be nice for that to be an option for those who could benefit from it.” Tune in for a super thoughtful Raise the Line episode on both the promise and challenges of psychedelics and the daunting amount of work left to be done to develop sustainable therapeutic protocols and business models. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.uab.edu/cappi/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

After many months of emotionally wrenching, exhausting work on the frontlines of COVID, and the unexpected death of his mother, Dr. Michael Foti found himself in an emergency room dealing with what he suspected was a heart attack, but it was actually a panic attack caused by untreated anxiety and depression. “As healthcare providers, we're afraid to speak up about our mental health because it's seen as a weakness,” he explains. He’s trying to change that culture in his role as a clinical assistant professor of Internal Medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. One key message he tries to get across to students is that healthcare providers have to be healthy themselves before they can do the most effective job possible helping patients. As he tells host Michael Carrese, he’s also urging providers experiencing mental health issues to speak up to help normalize the experience. “The more that we can share these stories amongst colleagues, then they will feel more empowered to get the help that they need.” On this insightful episode of Raise the Line, you’ll also have the opportunity to hear Dr. Foti describe Touro’s standardized patient program and its efforts to increase self-directed learning and interdisciplinary education. Mentioned in this episode: https://tourocom.touro.edu/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Our guests today have set a big goal to tackle a big problem. Jack Needham and James Naylor co-founded Sanctuary Health to build the largest video library for patient education motivated by the fact that patients forget approximately half of what doctors tell them in appointments. The young British entrepreneurs are aiming to move the healthcare system beyond the practice of handing every patient with a new diagnosis the same generic pamphlet as they leave an appointment. Based on research, they’ve chosen short-form video as the most effective vehicle. “Studies have consistently shown that if you break a video down into small topics with one learning outcome, then information recall and confidence levels around that information are consistently higher,” Naylor tells host Michael Carrese. And thanks to recent advancements in AI technology, videos can be easily translated into multiple languages, creating efficiency for providers and relevance for patients. Having built a presence with providers of virtual healthcare, Sanctuary is now working to license its ready-to-use content to payers, hospitals, and other stakeholders. Tune-in for a lively discussion the various ways Sanctuary Health is helping healthcare providers tackle this critically important problem. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.sanctuaryhealth.io/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Due to rising awareness of the importance of nutrition to good health and patient demand for alternatives to so-called Western medicine, the number of medical schools offering naturopathic programs has grown in the past two decades in the United States. Today on Raise the Line, we're going to learn more about this approach to medicine, the education and training involved, and where the field is heading with Dr. Kristina Conner, Dean of the School of Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University. As she explains to host Michael Carrese, Dr. Conner believes the rising interest is partially rooted in people wanting to have an array of options to improve their health. “They understand ‘maybe I do need to be on this medication for the rest of my life, but what else can I do to optimize my day to day life’ and that's where we can fill in the gaps as naturopathic doctors because we do have a different tool set and a different approach.” Tune in to learn about the similarities and differences in training compared to more traditional medical professions, the different modalities naturopaths use, and the challenges and opportunities involved in expanding the profession. “I think there's better understanding about naturopathic physicians and our level of training and the role that we can play within the healthcare system.”Mentioned in this episode: https://bastyr.edu/academics/naturopathic-medicine If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today we continue our series Next-Gen Journeys, featuring conversations with students, residents, and early career medical professionals around the globe to get their fresh perspectives on education, medicine, and the future of healthcare. We’re delighted to do that today with Dr. Josh Bliss, a third-year internal medicine resident at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine, who will continue his training there next year as a hematology-oncology fellow. Josh was actually one of the first Osmosis Medical Education Fellows, later transitioning to a role creating and editing pharmacology content with our education team. In this heartfelt conversation with host Hillary Acer, Josh shares how his mother’s death from cancer when he was young spurred his interest in medicine and how his passion for the field has expanded over time to include the relatively new science of exercise oncology. “We are starting to look at exercise both in the lab and in clinical trials with patients where you could potentially dose exercise like you would a drug. You can measure it and standardize it and look at clinical effects.” For those hoping to build a multi-dimensional career in medicine, there is plenty of inspiration to draw from in this episode. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.nyp.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

About one-third of Californians live in areas where there's a shortage of primary care providers, and this gap is especially apparent in what's known as the Inland Empire -- a rural region in the southern part of the state. As we’ll learn on today’s episode, the barriers to access this creates might only get worse because population is expected to grow sharply in that area. Our guest, Dr. Timothy Collins, has the challenge and opportunity of developing solutions to these thorny problems as CEO of UCR Health, a clinical enterprise affiliated with the University of California Riverside School of Medicine. “I think tremendous opportunities exist to create a more integrated network that's focused on quality and access to be able to address all of these challenges,” he tells host Michael Carrese. Strategies including connecting with K-12 students to get them to see themselves as future physicians and helping to clear the pathways to med school. “You can change the game if you can move backwards to create opportunities for individuals that may not see a pathway towards success.” Tune in to learn about other tactics being used -- including debt forgiveness and optimizing healthcare teams -- and find out how UCR Riverside is working to increase the level of engagement by patients in their own care.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.ucrhealth.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

How do we solve for nursing shortages in a thoughtful way in which we're reinventing the way we deliver care? That question is asked and answered on today’s episode of Raise the Line by Mandy Richards, Chief Nursing Executive for Intermountain Health which operates thirty-three hospitals in seven states. The veteran nurse leader believes the go-to strategies of doing a better job at recruitment and retention, while important, will not be enough, so it will be necessary to reskill the current workforce and redesign nursing education. Or as she puts it to host Michael Carrese, “Are we ensuring that our students in nursing school are getting taught and equipped with what they're going to need when they come out?” Richards is also keenly interested in improving the transition from education to practice -- in fact she’s pursuing her PhD at Yale on that topic -- especially at the very start of the clinical work experience to avoid what is known as “transition shock.” As part of her academic work, she’s created a research project featuring a dedicated educational unit that trains new graduate nurses in cohorts in the first month on the job. In addition to reinforcing critical thinking skills, the experience helps establishes peer relationships the new nurses can rely on going forward. Tune-in for a wealth of other ideas and insights on this key challenge in modern healthcare including establishing travel pools within health systems and the potential for ambient listening technology to improve nursing efficiency. Mentioned in this episode: https://intermountainhealthcare.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Physician Assistant remains one of the fastest growing professions in the US, and the expansion of their role in healthcare delivery seems to be growing just as quickly. One of the biggest changes in that regard, according to Jonathan Bowser of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, is that states are opening up opportunities for PAs to practice with more autonomy to fill needs in the healthcare system. “That requires PA education programs to think about who are we putting out there, what environments they are going into, and how do we best prepare them for those environments,” says Bowser, who runs the school’s Child Health Associate/Physician Assistant Program (CHAPA), one of the oldest PA training programs in the country. The need to adapt their program to these new realities and the desire to take advantage of advances in learning science led CHAPA to overhaul its curriculum in recent years. The result is a ‘spiral curriculum’ - an iterative approach to learning that reinforces key concepts and knowledge as students progress through their years of training. Join host Hillary Acer as she learns about the underpinnings of CHAPA’s curricular approach, what the program is doing to prepare PAs to be leaders and the growing importance of residencies and fellowships to prepare PAs to work in clinical specialties. Mentioned in this episode: CHA/PA Program OverviewManaging Transitions by William BridgesMake It Stick by Peter Brown If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

We're marking a couple of firsts on today's episode of Raise the Line. In the hundreds of podcasts we’ve done, we've never interviewed a goddess before, nor had a guest who has won an astounding seventy-five teaching awards, but that is the happy situation we face today in welcoming Dr. Linda Costanzo to the show. She’s been on the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine for forty-three years, earning the nickname “Physiology Goddess” for her trio of books -- including Costanzo Physiology 7th Edition, published by Elsevier -- that have been translated into thirteen languages. One key factor in Costanzo’s longevity as an effective teacher is finding new challenges in long-taught material. “I sort of concocted a scheme to dig into areas of comfort to get that edge back, that fear of falling short, I would call it,” she explains to host Michael Carrese. This lively conversation is packed with valuable insights on teaching and learning including tips for how students can maintain enthusiasm for their studies, standards teachers should set for themselves and the “stepwise” approach to teaching that she has also employed in her textbooks. Mentioned in this episode:https://medschool.vcu.edu/Costanzo Physiology, 7th Edition If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

It’s not often that you have the chance to benefit from the sweeping perspective of someone who has been in the same profession for 50 years, but that is the fortunate circumstance we find ourselves in on this episode of Raise the Line. Our guest, Dr. Jim Gordon, describes the remarkable evolution of physical therapists from being limited to hospital-based, post-op rehabilitation to becoming community-based providers of choice in a wide and growing list of specialties from orthopedics to oncology. “We have established ourselves as essential actors in the healthcare system. We have the education and research behind us, but most important, I think we have credibility among other healthcare professionals and with patients.” As the leader of one of the top ranked physical therapy programs in the US at the University of Southern California, Gordon is in a position to shape the future of the field as well. As he tells host Hillary Acer, he sees a greater role for physical therapists in prevention and primary care, and also expects changes in the application of new technologies in neurorehabilitation, his area of specialty. “What we’re trying to do is not look at technologies as a solution in and of themselves and instead develop a patient-centered approach which focuses on how people are able to use these technologies to make their lives better.” Don’t miss this great opportunity for a unique look at the current and future state of a vital part of the healthcare system from a leading figure in the field.Mentioned in this episode: https://pt.usc.edu/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

"Our faculty are really dedicated to trying to bridge that gap between academics and clinical practice," says Dr. Lisa Beals, the Nursing Department Chair at Missouri Southern State University and today’s Raise the Line guest. A key factor in that effort is recording students while they perform clinical simulations and providing the students themselves, their peers and faculty an opportunity to watch the playback and weigh in on what happened, an area of expertise for Beals based on her research in the field. “It's just like a constant motion or cycle of feedback, which the literature speaks to of being so important to develop student learning.” As Beals tells host Hillary Acer, one of the department’s other main missions is to foster a culture of caring. “We're here to help them and support them in whatever way we can knowing that they face so many challenges, particularly now, to further their education.” Learn more about the successful recipe for training tomorrow’s nursing workforce from a pioneer in nursing education.Mentioned in this episode: MSSU Nursing Program If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

February marks a major transition for Dr. Steven Halm as he moves on from leading one of the nation’s oldest schools of osteopathic medicine, at Des Moines University, to launching of one of its newest, at Xavier University, which is set to welcome its first class in 2027. Launch is actually a fitting word to use due to his background in aviation as a licensed pilot and former Senior Aviation Medical Examiner for the FAA. In fact, Halm believes medicine has a lot to learn from commercial aviation in the use of simulation to achieve the highest standards of safety. “One of my goals for the first week of the new medical school at Xavier is to have students in a simulation lab, working with task trainers and interacting with standardized patients in real scenarios of taking care of patients.” Other plans include an emphasis on newer teaching approaches such as small group and active learning paired with what he considers to be the fundamentals. “Student success depends on a combination of great faculty and great resources.” Join host Hillary Acer for a birds-eye view of osteopathic medical education and stay tuned to learn about Halm’s leadership education program for medical students and residents.Mentioned in this episode:Xavier University College of Osteopathic MedicineWhy Hospitals Should Fly by John Nance If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“I think philanthropy’s role oftentimes is to come in and be the innovator,” says Dr. Bennett Nemser who is in a good position to do that as chief program officer at the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation managing its health portfolios. Perhaps the best example of this is its involvement in psychedelic research where the Foundation is one of the largest private funders in the country including being a major backer of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine. While he is excited about the progress being made in that space, Nemser says the Foundation is intent on ensuring equitable access to any new therapies that emerge, one of the organization’s chief overall aims. “We need to get the price point down so that we can make sure we have access to a lot more people that can benefit from this.” As Nemser tells Raise the Line host Shiv Gaglani, the Foundation is seeking to have similar impact in other critical areas. “We’ve provided over a billion dollars in charitable support to underserved communities, children's health and education, the arts, Lyme and tick-borne disease, psychedelics, veterans services and sustainability.” Don’t miss this expansive look at philanthropy’s change-making potential.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.steveandalex.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

All health organizations aim to be ‘patient-centered’ but not many actually give patients decision making power. That’s not the case with the 1,400 Community Health Centers (CHC) across the US which require 51% of board members to be patients. “That does so many things that I think changes the dynamics of healthcare and how it's delivered,” says Dr. Kyu Rhee, president and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers. Impacts include co-locating oral and mental healthcare with primary care and ensuring culturally appropriate delivery of care. Although CHCs already comprise the largest primary care system in the country -- serving 31.5 million Americans (1 in 11 people) regardless of ability to pay -- Rhee envisions eventually serving 30% of Americans. As he explains to host Michael Carrese, getting there will require a deepening of existing partnerships with local communities and more funding from state and federal governments. “An investment in Community Health Centers actually saves lives and saves money.” This is a great chance to learn about an innovative model of healthcare that looks beyond the exam room to address all factors in a patient’s life that may be barriers to better health, focuses on addressing health disparities and supports the resiliency of impoverished and underserved communities. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.nachc.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“Patient engagement is shockingly bad across the system. Doctors just don't have the time or mechanisms to educate their patients,” says former Amazon product manager David Neyhart. It’s something he learned firsthand during a scary health odyssey that included many rushed appointments where there was no chance to ask questions, and at best he’d be handed subpar educational materials. He’s filling this information gap through a company he co-founded called Encap Health which provides physicians with a seamless and customized way to give their patients the information they need to manage and improve their health. “We integrate with their EHR, so based on what the doctor's already entering - billing codes, prescriptions or visit notes -- we extract that and send related content to that patient automatically.” It comes in the form of an email from the doctor’s office with a list of health information and links where they can learn more. A patient with osteoporosis, for example, would get information on options for exercise and nutritional guidance specific to that condition. Importantly, neither party has to learn how to navigate a new app or web portal. Tune in as Neyhart fills in host Michael Carrese on how this process builds trust between patients and providers, and how he is eyeing a future in which Encap provides more personalized, proactive content journeys to guide patients on a path to improved health.Mentioned in this episode: https://encaphealth.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

For the two million Americans diagnosed with cancer each year, the emotional toll of absorbing the news is often exacerbated by uncertainty about the variety of treatments, and confusion trying to navigate a fragmented healthcare system. Accompanying patients on that journey and smoothing the way for them is where Thyme Care enters the picture, a company that supports and supplements the care provided by oncology practices at no cost to patients. “We do the types of things that everybody in the oncology space knows should be done, but it’s often hard to operationalize them at scale,” says Dr. Brad Diephuis, the company’s chief business officer and a cancer survivor himself. Those things include tracking patient reported outcomes and providing proactive symptom monitoring throughout cancer treatment in order to catch problems early and prevent unnecessary interventions and hospitalizations. Data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in 2022 indicates Thyme Care is delivering on its value proposition for insurance plans and other payers: reducing costs and increasing patient satisfaction. Join host Michael Carrese in learning why Diephuis thinks its shared savings model is succeeding, how its “care pod” model works, and what the company’s plans are for growth.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.thymecare.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

“I did not see myself as a leader, to be honest. I had my mind made up on doing something else, but it has been an amazing journey,” says Dr. Tiffany Morris, director of Nursing at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. That journey includes being the inaugural department chair in the nursing program at Elon University School of Health Sciences and serving as an interim dean in North Carolina A&T’s School of Nursing. She returned to North Carolina A&T earlier this year partly because of the larger impact she can have due to the school being the largest Historically Black College and University in the nation. “The opportunity to serve students who are normally underrepresented and be able to produce healthcare providers that look like the people that they're serving is an amazing opportunity,” she tells host Michael Carrese. Highlights of the curriculum include an accelerated nursing program which allows those with bachelor’s degrees to earn an RN in twelve months, advanced simulation training -- including access to new 3D technology that allows for virtual dissection -- and an emphasis on providing culturally appropriate care, which Morris stresses goes well beyond race to include culturally-based food preferences and spiritual practices and beliefs. Morris has a research interest in the latter where she focuses on why African-Americans have a lower rate of hospice enrollment. Find out about one key factor in turning that around, why the university is pursuing R1 research status and new degree offerings coming soon.Mentioned in this episode: North Carolina A&T School of Nursing If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Sacramento, California has long been one of America’s most racially diverse cities, so it stands to reason that reducing disparities in healthcare delivery is a focus of Dr. David Lubarsky, the CEO for UC Davis Health in Sacramento. “We've realized that health equity can really only be achieved if you actually have the time and resources to get what's needed to make yourself well or keep yourself well,” he tells host Michael Carrese. With that tight correlation between economics and equity in mind, UC Davis Health leaned into its role as an employer and launched an effort to hire more people from the communities it serves. “We've managed in two years' time to go from having 6% to 20% of our unlicensed workforce from the ten most underserved zip codes in the city.” Lubarsky is also focused on the diversity of learners in the UC Davis School of Medicine, which he also oversees, because it’s been well established that patients from historically marginalized groups have better outcomes when their providers look like them. Tune in to learn about the strategies he’s pursuing to that end, where he sees AI fitting into healthcare delivery and what’s included in the system’s historic $7 billion capital building campaign.Mentioned in this episode: UC Davis Health If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Having a waiting list of 20,000 people to take your training is a pretty good sign you’re onto something important. That’s the mixed blessing Dr. Richard Schwartz faces as interest in Internal Family Systems -- an innovative therapeutic approach to trauma and other mental disorders he developed -- continues to grow. The “family” in this case are the multiple parts of a person’s psyche that, in Schwartz’s view, need to listen to each other in order for people to overcome traumas and function well. “This is an alternative paradigm for understanding all kinds of what are seen as mental illnesses. Part of my goal is to bring this different perspective to all of these things that have been so medicalized,” he explains to host Shiv Gaglani. A welcome discovery of IFS is that among the parts, there is a core Self that can't be damaged and knows how to heal. As Schwartz explains it, IFS therapy works by opening enough space for the Self to pop out and start relating to, and leading, the other parts that may be critical, protective or play other roles. Don’t miss this fascinating look at an evidence-based therapeutic approach that challenges conventional thinking and offers hope to patients with a long history of struggle. "There are many heavily diagnosed people who feel hugely relieved to know they're not sick."Mentioned in this episode: https://ifs-institute.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Lessons From A Healthcare Entrepreneur’s Journey - Ari Blum, CEO and Founder of Clover LearningToday’s guest, Ari Blum, enjoyed working as a hospital-based radiologic technologist and became a successful edtech entrepreneur, but he’s not one to sugarcoat either experience. That’s why this in-depth conversation with host Shiv Gaglani is a great learning opportunity for those interested in a healthcare career, or entrepreneurship, or both as Ari describes his remarkable journey creating and running Clover Learning, which helps medical imaging students prepare for certification exams and empowers working professionals to efficiently earn their continuing education credits. A longstanding entrepreneurial mindset spurred Ari to convert what was a side hustle creating short continuing education videos into an ed-tech platform that has been used by more than 50,000 learners. And while he loves what he does and the impact he has, he cautions that entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. “If you take the time -- and in many cases, people's money -- and you're convincing people to leave a job and come work for you and spend their money on your product or service, there's a stewardship with that and there's a weight and there's a sacrifice.” But for those motivated to manage those challenges, Ari says this is a better time than ever to get projects off the ground. Tune in to find out why he thinks that’s the case, where he thinks AI is going in healthcare and what plans he has for expanding the reach of Clover Learning into other medical fields and beyond. Mentioned in this episode:Clover Learning"This" - Song by Darius Rucker If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Group dental practices are common now, but that was not the case thirty years ago when solo practitioners dominated the space. On this special episode of Raise the Line produced in collaboration with Areo Dental, we’re going to hear from two leading figures in changing that paradigm, Dr. Rick Workman, the founder and executive chairman of Heartland Dental and Pat Bauer, the company’s CEO. As you’ll learn in this fascinating conversation led by Areo Dental’s co-CEOs -- Dr. Anushka Gaglani and Dr. Abhishek Nagaraj -- Workman and Bauer grew Heartland from a handful of practices into the largest dental support organization in the US with more than 1,700 locations. Workman attributes that success to thinking of their members as customers, and making sure to create value for them and respect for dentistry. “We have to understand they have to have clinical autonomy and our job is to do everything we can to make their lives better and easier and to always honor the patient.” Heartland does that by providing everything from operational support to benchmarking for quality assurance to vetting technology, among many other services. From a business perspective, Bauer thinks an additional factor in Heartland’s growth has been being in synch with the needs and goals of the practices. “It's about alignment with our doctors, alignment with the owners, alignment with all the teams, and that led us to be able to continue to grow because more and more people become successful.” Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn about the evolution of dental practices in the US, what it means for patients, and what lies ahead for the field. Mentioned in this episode:https://www.areodental.com/https://heartland.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

It's safe to say the majority of people reading this post have used Uber as a ride service, and many have also tapped Uber Eats for food delivery. What you might be less familiar with is the Uber Health platform that enables healthcare organizations to arrange rides and services on behalf of patients including deliveries of prescriptions, groceries, and over-the-counter items to their homes. Patients don’t need to have an Uber account, credit card or even a smartphone because everything is handled for them by a care coordinator. According to our guest Dr. Mike Cantor, the company’s chief medical officer, the aim is to make the healthcare system more efficient and effective by improving access to the services people need to stay healthy. “In the value-based care system where you can save money by being preventive and keeping people away from hospitals, Uber is potentially a really good set of solutions for the healthcare system and ultimately for the patients as well,” he says. Cantor is well-placed to help guide Uber’s potential impact on healthcare because of his rich background as a clinician and executive working on quality improvement and care management programs for healthcare providers and health plans. Don’t miss this fascinating discussion with host Derek Apanovitch about how healthcare delivery is being impacted by one of today’s most disruptive and innovative companies, and learn what partnerships Uber is forming to grow its healthcare role including support for caregivers. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.uberhealth.com/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today's guest fits into one of Raise the Line’s favorite categories of people: physician entrepreneur. We've talked before on the podcast about the overlapping qualities of drive, curiosity, and desire for impact that both share, and that last trait is the core interest of Dr. Navin Goyal. A great example is OFFOR Health, a mobile healthcare company he co-founded that expedites care for children in the US who face long waits for procedures. “If you’re a four-year-old with dental disease and you're on Medicaid, you have an average nine-to-twelve month wait to get into an operating room. We can enable that procedure within one month,” says Goyal. His experience with OFFOR led to the formation of LOUD Capital, which allows Goyal and his partners to seek out other business opportunities that have a social impact. Since launching in 2015, LOUD has partnered with over seventy portfolio companies in healthcare and beyond. But despite his success, Goyal has embraced the concept of being an underdog, hence the title of the book about his journey, Physician Underdog, and his weekly newsletter Underdog for Good. Check out this episode with host Shiv Gaglani to find out why he likes the term, what qualities a potential investment needs to have to get him excited and what he sees as a key upside to having physicians working in a variety of industries. Mentioned in this episode:https://www.loud.vc/Underdog for Good NewsletterPhysician Underdog BookBeyond Physician If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

One silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is a jump in enrollments in public health degree programs and that’s welcome news to Dr. Jan Carney, director of the Master of Public Health program at the University of Vermont's Larner College of Medicine, who believes the field needs a massive injection of personnel. “We need probably an 80% increase in people working in state and local health departments to have the essentials of public health.” As Vermont’s former Commissioner of Health, Carney knows the challenges public health officials face and brings those insights to Larner’s online-only MPH program, which covers the broad domains of the field from epidemiology to biostatistics to environmental health and also exposes students to the particular health challenges in rural communities. The program also prepares students for perhaps the biggest challenge facing the field: communication of health information in an era of misinformation. To that end, Carney is urging more ascertainment of how different groups of people prefer to receive information and is suggesting a major change in approach. “Maybe we can start to think of public health communication more as a conversation than a one-way information flow.” Join host Michael Carrese for insights from a national force in public health into how education is evolving to prepare public health practitioners for their vital work in challenging times for the profession.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.uvm.edu/publichealth/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Raise the Line’s in-depth look at the potential use of psychedelic compounds in mental health treatment continues today with a focus on the role they may play in helping people overcome substance use disorders. Our guest is Dr. Jeeshan Chowdhury, whose own mental health journey led him to found Journey Colab, a company combating addiction through psychedelic care while employing a unique stakeholder model that includes indigenous communities in ownership. “We have put 10% of the founding equity of the company into an irrevocable purpose trust so that the land, the traditions and the people that our medicines and our work are inspired from can benefit from it,” explains Chowdhury. He tells host Shiv Gaglani that indigenous traditions also inform how the company approaches psychedelic therapy itself. “When we look at their use, it is always done in the context of an expert healer, often called a shaman, and it's done as part of a very well-honed protocol and in the context of a larger community.” Check out this thoughtful discussion to find out why Chowdhury thinks of the therapeutic use of psychedelics as akin to surgery, and how Journey Colab is working with rehab center partners to integrate psychedelic care through clinical trials with the goal of creating an integrated treatment program.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.journeycolab.com If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today’s episode touches on some regular themes we explore on Raise the Line such as equal access to quality healthcare, provider burnout and the impact of AI on medicine, but on this episode, we have the welcome opportunity to take a look at these key issues from the perspective of a doctor-turned-entrepreneur in Brazil. Today, Dr. Bruno Lagoeiro is an executive at Afya, one of the largest medical education groups in Brazil, but he started out as a med student who was interested in solving problems he and his classmates were encountering. After years of experimentation, and guidance from a business mentor, the solution they developed was Whitebook, a mobile app for clinical decision-support that’s used in tens of millions of patient encounters every year in Brazil. Join host Shiv Gaglani as he draws out the details of Dr. Lagoeiro’s amazing journey to improve healthcare in a huge and diverse country that faces delivery challenges in poor and remote communities and a provider workforce being drained by bureaucracy. Despite these hurdles, Dr. Lagoeiro has an optimistic message to share about the power of providers to change healthcare and the promise of AI to allow them to focus more on the human aspects of medicine. Mentioned in this episode: Afya If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Among the key qualities everyone wants in their healthcare providers is a love of learning and desire to serve others. That’s why we at Osmosis are confident Dr. Lewis Nasr will be a great physician and why we chose him to be the first guest in a new series of interviews on Raise the Line we’re calling “Next Gen Journeys.” The series will highlight fresh perspectives on medical education and the future of healthcare offered by students and recent graduates from around the globe. Starting with Dr. Nasr is a natural choice because of the many contributions he's made to Osmosis over the last several years including service in the Osmosis Medical Education Fellowship program and being a key contributor to our Year of the Zebra initiative. In this engaging conversation with host Hillary Acer, Lewis brings the perspective of medical students trying to learn in very challenging circumstances in which their personal safety and access to basic needs can be at risk. “It's another layer of obstacles that you have to get through. This gives international students a resilience and adaptability that they can bring to clinical practice.” Lewis also discusses his interest in hematology-oncology and reflects on entering the field at a time of remarkable clinical and technical advancements. “It's exciting to see cancer go from what is perceived as a death sentence to something manageable. I really hope to be part of the scientific wave of making cancer history.” We have no doubt that he will be, and neither will you after hearing from this thoughtful, compassionate young physician. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.osmosis.org/worldhttps://www.osmosis.org/zebrahttps://www.mdanderson.org/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Today’s Raise the Line guest, Dr. Megan Meyer, has a pretty simple message for proponents of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) who are concerned that demand for therapists will outstrip supply in the coming years: don’t overlook the largest group of mental health providers in the nation. “Social workers provide more mental health services than psychologists, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses combined and we’re embedded everywhere. I don't think the psychedelic renaissance can actually achieve its aims without us,” says Meyer, who is an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Meyers adds that social workers also happened to be well-equipped for PAT because they’re trained to act as guides in helping clients find their own voice and not impose their own perspectives or biases. Getting large numbers trained will require collaboration across disciplines, universities and training institutes such as the project she’s working on with colleagues at the university’s Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing to survey social workers and nurses regarding their current knowledge and training needs related to psychedelics. Join host Michael Carrese for an expansive conversation about the role social workers can play in minimizing the risks and realizing the potential of psychedelics including issues of bias and diversity, community-based models of post-therapy integration and learning from the practices of indigenous societies.Mentioned in this episode: https://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/ If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast