The He's Just Podcasts

Since retiring from a life spent in the operating room, Dr. Allen Saxon, has returned to two enduring callings: storytelling and teaching the next generation of physicians. A graduate of Tulane Medical School, he learned medicine where it is most human, inside safety net hospitals, where care is given not for profit, but for dignity, survival, and hope.Those early years shaped Dr Saxon. Before screens, algorithms, and electronic charts softened the edges of training, medicine was learned hand to hand and heart to heart. Skill came from doing. Compassion came from standing at the bedside when there was nothing left to offer but presence.Today, Dr. Saxon teaches at Northwestern University and Rosalind Franklin University, carrying forward the lessons he first learned among the most vulnerable patients. On the season 11 finale we will discuss his latest book, “Training in Charity”, which is a tribute to that era of 1970s New Orleans. Training in Charity is a reminder that while medicine may evolve, its soul is still forged in service, humility, and human connection.

Lauren C. Johnson, holds a B.S. in Journalism from Emerson College and an MFA in Creative Writing from American University. Her work has appeared in the Orion and The Rumpus. She is the co-host of Babylon Salon, one of the Bay Area’s longest-running literary and performance series, and the co-founder of Club Chicxulub. Today, we’re discussing her haunting new novel, “The West Facade.” Set during the plague in Paris, the story begins high above the city walls at Notre Dame Cathedral, where statues stand frozen as centuries pass below them. In an act of grief and devotion, a mourning woman places a citrus fruit into the hands of Sainte Geneviève, and that single offering changes everything.But freedom comes with a devastating cost. To remain human is to accept mortality, decay, and death. To return to the cathedral is to surrender choice and feeling, and exist forever untouched,,, but alone.Death and life are often spoken of as opposites, but sometimes the most painful moment is not the crossing itself, it’s the choice of whether to cross at all. At the center of today’s conversation is that impossible decision: remain untouched by time, or step fully into a life that will one day break your heart.West Facade is a story about what it means to truly live. About whether love is worth the certainty of loss. And about the quiet, excruciating courage it takes to choose life, knowing it will not last.

For more than three decades, Dexter R. Hall has been a powerful voice at the intersection of economic opportunity, corporate responsibility, and community impact. As the leader of Noir Kith Consultants, he has helped businesses, nonprofits, and public institutions move beyond intention and toward real, sustainable change.An MBA graduate and respected board leader, Dexter’s work in financial literacy, crisis recovery, and corporate philanthropy has expanded access to opportunity for thousands in underserved communities.Today, our conversation turns to one of the most urgent issues facing our cities, homelessness and housing stability. Through his work with the Providence Foundation in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point community, an organization dedicated to providing supportive housing, family shelters, and services for seniors and vulnerable families, Dexter is helping turn compassion into action.Mr Hall is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, he believes real change happens when leadership meets service "Like Home."

VICTORIA HETHERINGTON’s debut novel, Mooncalves, was shortlisted for the 2020 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Her second novel,Autonomy, looks at human agency in the age of technology. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Into the Mist, which explores an aviation tragedy. Victoria is also a screenwriter, instructor, and communications specialist, she has written for Yahoo! Finance and Hazlitt, she has served as a frequent panelist at universities and conferences, appeared on CBC, and performed on the main stage of NPR’s The Moth.Today on our show we discuss her new book “The Friend Machine: On The Trail To AI Companionship. This book offers a compassionate and intimate look at the lives of individuals from diverse backgrounds who have sought and found companionship in AI. The Friend Machine shows us that, as the lines between humans and machines continue to blur, the nature of our relationships will change in ways we’re only beginning to imagine.

Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs is a cancer and nutritional epidemiologist, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and nutritional sciences at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and a researcher with the University of Arizona Cancer Center. As Principal Investigator on a federally funded R01, her work examines how selenium supplementation affects cancer prevention, grounded in rigor, precision, and deep respect for human life.But science alone is not Dr. Jacobs’ calling. She is the co-founder of Defend Public Health, an all-volunteer coalition of physicians, scientists, and advocates united in a steadfast mission: to protect the health and dignity of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Her gift is the balance she has learned to hold, pairing scientific exactness with moral courage, and data with humanity.Today’s conversation centers on an urgent and growing public health threat: the resurgence of measles in the United States amid declining vaccination rates. With confirmed cases reported among people detained at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, the danger of unchecked spread is escalating.We speak with Dr. Jacobs about measles, medical neglect, misinformation, and the human consequences of public health policy, and what it will take to respond with science, integrity, and compassion. Dr. Jacobs is clear-eyed yet unwavered ,because in the end, it’s the small things that help us attain the major victories.

ADAM BARSOUK, MD , is an oncology fellow at Johns Hopkins University and resident-physician at the University of Pennsylvania. His articles about science, medicine, and policy have been featured in Forbes, Newsweek, Fox News, and Business Insider. Today we discuss his new book Outsmarting Cancer Risk Reduction and the Power of Prevention. Cancer has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in many developed countries and US states, and is the leading cause of healthcare expenditure worldwide. That’s the bad news. The good news is that half of all cancer deaths could be preventable through lifestyle changes and social reforms.Outsmarting Cancer reframes one of the most pressing medical challenges of our time: how to prevent cancer. Dr. Barsouk presents a sweeping examination of cancer’s true origins,biological, environmental, dietary, infectious, industrial, occupational, and behavioral makes a compelling case for why cancer prevention must become a central priority in public and personal health. His book explores a wide range of overlooked and misunderstood risk factors, as well as how inequities in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention disproportionately impact underserved populations.

Jeffrey B. Rubin, PhD, is a psychoanalyst, teacher, and author of eight books. Today on our show we will have a conversation about one of his most treasured pieces “The Art of Flourishing,” A Guide to Mindfulness, Self Care, and Love in A Chaotic World.Dr. Rubin practices in New York City and North Salem, New York, and teaches at the Object Relations Institute of New York, the American Institute of Psychoanalysis, and the C. G. Jung Institute of New York. He is widely regarded as a leading integrator of Western psychotherapy and Eastern meditative traditions.A Sensei in the Rinzai Zen lineage, he is the creator of Meditative Psychotherapy, an approach shaped by decades of clinical practice, teaching, and study. His pioneering work has also been featured in The New York Times Magazine. Today we walk with Dr. Rubin, and take a deeper look at his most recent work The Art Of Flourishing, a book where he helps us understand that in order to be better to others you must first be deeply attentive to yourself. If you don't nourish your own "soil," your relationships will eventually wither.

ALEXA MORRIS grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, dabbling in several jobs (including Senate page) before choosing the world of non-profits, where she remains to this day. When she married Ben Parkett’s daughter and learned of his Holocaust survival journey, she became determined to help him turn his story into a book. Alexa lives with her family in Northern California and is currently at work on her first novel. Alexa joins us today to discuss “ The CourtYard” , a memoir she co-wrote with Ben Parkett. Hours before the Nazis came to arrest the Parkett family in July 1942, Madame Nicolas from the apartment upstairs, tips them off that their names are on a list. Their neighbors band together to protect them, hiding the family in a vacant warehouse across the courtyard from their apartment. The courtyard becomes a refuge. With their world turned upside down, it is Ben’s job, at only nine years old, to leave the courtyard each day to get food for his family. This is a story of community support and resilience-building that provides us with strategies that are useful in our current professional environments The courtyard helps us unlock new pathways for innovation and growth it's about cultural resilience and the ways it drives transformation across various life challenges.

Patricia Martin is a cultural analyst, researcher, and speaker. Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, The New York Times, Slate and Psyche Magazine. Author of four books, she holds an MFA in nonfiction from Bennington College, with post-graduate certifications from Duke University in medical narrative, and Jungian theory at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago where she teaches writing and hosts the psychology podcast, Jung in the World. Today, we’re talking with Patricia about her most recent book, Will the Future Like You?: Reflections on the Age of Hyper-reinvention.It’s a much-needed work that explores how we consciously and unconsciously get caught in technology’s mirror, and how that reflection shapes everything from our sense of self to the external pressures of society. This conversation invites us to pause, and question who we are becoming? Which will help us consider what it really means to remain human in a digitally driven future.”

SUSANNE PAOLA ANTONETTA is the author of The Terrible Unlikelihood of Our Being Here and numerous other works of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Her accolades include a New York Times Notable Book, an American Book Award, a Library JournalBest Science book, and others. She writes for Psychology Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The UK Independent,The Hill, Orion, andThe New Republic and has been featured on CNN.Today we on our show we talk to Susanne about her most recent book “The Devil’s Castle Nazi Eugenics, Euthansia, and How Psychiatry’s Troubled History Reverberates Today” A book that helps us uncover the forgotten history of eugenics in its darkest moments and the unsettling ways its logic lingers, within present day psychiatric practices. Susanne’s work challenges us to acknowledge and correct past injustices and how to transform the future of how humanity can support the value of the mind.

CARLA KAPLAN is the Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University. She has published seven books, including Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, both New York Times Notable Books, and has written for such publications as The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Slate, and The Nation. Kaplan has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. She serves on the board of Biographers International Organization and is a Society of American Historians Fellow. Kaplan earned her PhD in English from Northwestern University.And today, as we pull the curtain on this season finale of The He’s Just Podcast, we sit down with Carla to talk about her newest firestarter, TroubleMaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford, a biography that doesn’t just turn pages, it turns tables.

Join us for this earth shattering conversation with Emmy Award winning writer and host of Your Democracy, Gloria J. Browne-Marshall. professor of constitutional law at John Jay College, civil rights litigator, playwright, and award-winning author. Her work with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Community Legal Services has placed her on the front lines of America’s legal battles over rights, power, and justice.Her previous works include She Took Justice: The Black Woman, Law, and Power and The Voting Rights War. Gloria is a frequent commentator on CNN, NPR, and MSNBC, she has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award.Today on He’s Just, Gloria and I talk about her newest book, “A Protest History of the United States”. A book that reframes American history through the lens of resistance; from Indigenous uprisings to Black liberation movements, labor struggles, immigrant rights, and the ongoing fight for democracy.“It is humbling to realize so many made sacrifices without ever knowing our names.” (Gloria J. Browne-Marshall)

USA National Bestselling Author Darius Ross shares his lived experiences and hard-earned insights with audiences around the world. His bestselling book, The TPS Blueprint: Transforming Trauma to Triumph, has become a powerful resource for readers seeking a fresh start from within. He is also the co-author of Leadership DNA and Success DNA, two works that spotlight character, clarity, and purpose in leadership. Beyond authorship, Darius is a Forbes contributor, public speaker, and a frequent guest on global podcasts and events. Whether addressing Fortune 500 executives or mentoring emerging entrepreneurs, his message is rooted in strategy, healing, and legacy. He helps individuals reframe trauma, rebuild confidence, and achieve financial empowerment. Today, Darius stands as a bridge between adversity and opportunity, championing hope, achievement, and the power of aligning mission with action.

ELLEN BASSUK, MD is a psychiatrist, researcher, clinician, and advocate whose five-decade career has centered on mental health, homelessness, and society’s most vulnerable populations. Her son, DANIEL SCHOONOVER, an animal lover, volunteer, and steadfast champion for overlooked creatures and communities, has devoted his life to caring for those too often forgotten.Mental health lives at the center of their story. For Daniel, it has meant confronting circumstances that remind us how fragile stability can be. For Ellen, it has meant facing the painful reality that the very systems she helped build now fail her son, forcing her to fight tirelessly to protect him from the perils of schizophrenia.Together, they share Between Two Worlds: A Psychiatrist and Her Son’s Quest for Compassionate Mental Health Care, a book born from resilience, love, and an unyielding determination. Their journey illuminates both the cracks in our current system and the hope that emerges when care is rooted in humanity.

Anne Hand is a writer and global education expert whose work bridges personal history and social change. Born in New York she has divided her time between Massachusetts and Mexico City, exploring what it means to belong across borders. Her debut memoir, Austrian Again, traces her journey through Austria’s citizenship process for descendants of Holocaust refugees and the unexpected rediscovery of her family’s hidden past. With empathy and curiosity, Anne reflects on identity, memory, and the legacies we inherit. A graduate of Harvard University, she has devoted her career to advancing equity and opportunity through education and technology around the world. Today we take a deeper, more intimate look at her book “Austrian Again”,Reclaiming a Lost Legacy” is a homecoming, a joyful tribute to the power of belonging. This book is a much-needed reminder for all us who are immigrants, for those of us who seek to know the truth, a truth that sometimes changes our own theories, in that, truly is no place like home.

Dr. BOBBY HOFFMAN is an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida who specializes in motivation science and solving the mysteries of human behavior. At UCF he teaches a variety of graduate-level courses in motivation, learning, cognition, and intelligence. Hoffman has authored over 100 publications in the fields of education, psychology, leadership, and organizational development and serves on six journal editorial boards. He holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Human Resources Psychology. Before earning his PhD in Educational Psychology from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he worked for over 20 years in HR management and performance, consulting for some of the world’s most successful companies including GE, NBC, KPMG, and the NBA. A regular contributor to the Psychology Today website where his blog “Motivate” has been viewed over 1.2 million times, Dr. Hoffman is the author of four previous books including Hack Your Motivation and Motivation for Learning and Performance. Today we talked to Dr. Hoffman about his new book "The Paradox Of Passion" How Rewards Covertly Control Motivation. We walk with Dr. Hoffman to explore how we can reframe motivation, not just as a drive for rewards, but as a tool that helps us navigate life’s pathways, guiding us toward the outcomes we need and the goals we truly want.