We’re celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Raise the Line podcast and exploring some of the most captivating and thought-provoking health-related content online! Take some time to listen to each of our top ten most popular episodes; whether you’re an aspiring professional, a curious learner, or simply looking for some motivation, these episodes are sure to captivate and educate.
Science in the Service of Furthering Mental Health – Dr. Joshua Gordon, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health | Osmosis Raise the Line
Raise the Line listeners have the opportunity to hear from one of the nation’s top healthcare leaders, Dr. Joshua Gordon, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, where he oversees an extensive portfolio of basic and clinical research that seeks to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.
“Our main role is in trying to make sure that good science is conducted in the service of furthering public mental health,” he notes. One area of NIMH research that gets less attention than breakthrough medicines is how to make it easier for healthcare systems and practices to adopt best practices and proven treatments. This not only helps improve patient outcomes, but Gordon says it is one element in addressing feelings of a lack of effectiveness that contribute to provider burnout. “If we can increase individuals’ efficacy by ensuring that they are trained in evidence-based approaches and continue to make new treatments available to help those who aren’t responding to the old ones, that’s one way we can do that.” Enjoy a rare opportunity to hear from a federal agency executive on some of the most pressing and interesting issues in healthcare, including the shortage of providers, health equity, social determinants of health, telemedicine, and the potential for psychedelics to treat mental health problems.
The “Four Cs” of Innovation – Dr. Lloyd Minor, Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine | Osmosis Raise the Line
“There’s never been a better time to do what we do in our fields, and the future of life sciences is so incredibly bright,” shares Dr. Lloyd Minor. From his perch as dean of Stanford University School of Medicine, Minor sees the convergence of biomedicine, information science, and technology dramatically increasing the pace of discovery-driven science and translational science.
As a result of observing and contributing to the culture of discovery at Stanford, and based on his groundbreaking work as a physician-scientist in otolaryngology, Minor has distilled the necessary elements of innovation into what he calls the “Four Cs of Innovation” – combination, collaboration, chance, and culture. “A culture of inquiry and collaboration is so important to making scientific advances that benefit patients, and there is a level of collaboration and cohesiveness here that I think is very, very conducive to interdisciplinary scholarship,” he tells Raise the Line host Shiv Gaglani.
However, Minor acknowledges that this time of unprecedented change and new technology in healthcare has been stressful for providers, which informs his approach to leadership. “There’s never been a more important time for empathy in leadership and for leaders to be engaged listeners.” Tune in for a fascinating look at how academic medicine is both driving change and adapting to it, how Stanford is applying precision medicine for preventive health, and the importance of balancing the opportunities and risks of AI in healthcare.
What AI’s Rapid Progress Means for Healthcare and Health Information – Dr. Michael Howell, Chief Clinical Officer at Google | Osmosis Raise the Line
“When my dad gets sick, he has a Harvard-trained physician looking over his shoulder, helping him know what to type in and what queries to ask. I just want that for the world,” says Dr. Michael Howell, who’s in a position to advance that vision as the Chief Clinical Officer at Google. In that role, Howell leads the team of experts who provide guidance for the tech giant’s health-related products, research, and services. It’s a natural extension of a career devoted to improving the quality, safety, and science of how care is delivered and helping people get the best information across their health journey.
Of course, in recent months, artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated conversations about the future of healthcare, and Howell acknowledges the pace of change has been alarming. “It has felt like we’ve had more progress in AI over the past ten months than over the past ten years in some ways, and it’s getting better very fast,” he notes.
That means it’s high time for educators to develop curricular standards for what future physicians need to know about the technology as one way to prepare the healthcare system for its disruptive potential. “I don’t think AI is going to replace doctors, but I do think doctors who use AI are going to replace doctors who don’t,” he cautions. This is an excellent opportunity to gain insight from a well-placed source at the leading edge of healthcare and artificial intelligence.
Understanding the Therapy Part of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy – Dr. Mary “Bit” Yaden, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University | Osmosis Raise the Line
Dr. David Yaden’s interest in studying spiritual experiences started with one of his own. As he describes it, it was a totally spontaneous experience involving an intensely altered state of consciousness that left him with an enhanced, positive perspective on life. “This became an obsession, really, to understand this. I learned that these experiences have been studied throughout history by scholars and increasingly by scientists. As I learned more, it became more and more clear that this is what I wanted to study, and that’s what I still do.” He happens to be in a perfect spot to do it as the Roland R. Griffiths Professor in Psychedelic Research on Secular Spirituality and Well-Being at Johns Hopkins, named for a leading figure in the modern renaissance in psychedelic research.
The basic scope of the project he’s managing is non-clinical. Topics of study include better quantifying the risk-benefit ratio of psychedelics as a positive intervention; looking into how psychedelic experiences that have a spiritual character relate to similar experiences not triggered by psychedelics; and collecting data from non-Western population centers across the world to provide a more complete picture of how much cultural expectations play a role in influencing these experiences, as well as how similar they are across cultures. There’s much to learn in this probing look at a fascinating dimension of psychedelic research.
The Power in Connecting Rare Disease Patient Groups – Dr. Rick Thompson, CEO of Beacon for Rare Diseases | Osmosis Raise the Line
We’ve heard many stories on Raise the Line about patients and their family members who, upon getting a rare disease diagnosis, build a non-profit organization from scratch to boost advocacy and research for the condition in question. This is a big hill to climb for people with no background in such things. We’re learning about Beacon for Rare Diseases, a UK non-profit designed to provide the expertise and support needed to get a rare disease patient group off the ground and to connect these groups with each other for mutual education and support.
“What we’ve seen is that people forming and building patient organizations can help really trigger a new community around that and help drive the field forward,” Beacon CEO Dr. Rick Thompson tells host Shiv Gaglani. “What we want to do as an organization is help those patient groups form, to grow, and to professionalize their work.” Tune in to find out how Dr. Thompson’s background in evolutionary biology, research, and education impacts his work at Beacon, why rare diseases should be approached in the same way as cancer, and his interest in repurposing existing drugs for use in treating rare diseases.
Innovating to Prepare Future Clinicians for New Roles – Dr. Mary Klotman, Dean of Duke University School of Medicine | Osmosis Raise the Line
“I really have challenged the students that have graduated from Duke the last couple of years to consider being ambassadors for science and for communication of what is good science,” says Dr. Mary Klotman, executive vice president for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at Duke University. She notes that the stakes of disinformation are too high to do otherwise, as up to 300,000 COVID-19 deaths can be attributed to unfounded fears about one of the safest vaccines ever produced.
That’s just one of many educational imperatives Klotman is pursuing to prepare future clinicians for a constantly changing healthcare landscape. Others include helping students put new tools such as AI in the context of patient care, creating more opportunities to learn in ambulatory settings where 90% of healthcare is now delivered, and more multidisciplinary training to reflect a growing team approach to medical care.
To help develop those interprofessional habits, Klotman has championed a “One Duke” approach. “Whether you’re a student, senior investigator, or clinician, take advantage of the broad expertise here to solve a problem, whether it’s engineering in medicine or data science. That is the nature of scientific problem-solving today.” Listen now for a wide-ranging look at how a leading academic center is innovating to adjust to dynamic changes in society, technology, and healthcare.
An Inside Look At the Long Battle to Legalize Psychedelics: Dr. Rick Doblin, Founder & Executive Director of MAPS | Osmosis Raise the Line
“I know it’s hard for people to think about holding on if they’re in despair, but there’s the possibility of healing coming ahead. Don’t give up hope,” says Dr. Rick Doblin, who has devoted his career to getting MDMA and other psychedelics approved by the FDA. As you’ll hear in this episode of Raise the Line, he could be on the verge of seeing his decades-long dream come true.
On the day we spoke to Doblin (January 5, 2023), successful results from a Phase 3 clinical trial of MDMA to treat PTSD were released by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies – an organization Doblin founded thirty-six years ago. This sets in motion a process that could result in FDA approval of MDMA for this use in 2024. That’s very good news for the millions of Americans with PTSD – and hundreds of millions worldwide – whose disease is resistant to other treatments.
One of the next big steps is training therapists to incorporate these drugs into their work, something MAPS and other organizations are moving quickly to accomplish. Tune into this fascinating conversation about the political and social factors that have held up the legalization of psychedelics for decades, other promising applications of MDMA, what fuels Doblin’s passion for normalizing the use of these promising medications, and the largest-ever conference on psychedelics.
The Limitations of Medical Knowledge – Dr. Lisa Sanders, Author of the “Diagnosis” Column for The New York Times | Osmosis Raise the Line
“Patients don’t understand how little we actually know in medicine. I’m not sure if doctors understand this, either,” says Dr. Lisa Sanders, an associate professor at Yale School of Medicine who is perhaps best known as the author of the “Diagnosis” column for the New York Times Magazine.
You’re in for more refreshing frankness from Sanders, whose fascinating career path includes network TV journalism, advising the popular “House, MD” series on Fox, and writing several books, including her most recent, Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries. In a lively exchange with host Shiv Gaglani, Sanders shares insights on a wide range of topics, including opening up the diagnostic process, the critical importance of being able to take a good patient history, and the work she is about to begin as the medical director of the Long Covid Clinic at Yale New Haven Health. Plus, she offers her take on the impact AI will have in aiding the diagnostic process. “I think it’s going to be important, but it won’t make diagnosis a science because bodies are too variable, symptoms are very variable, and the way people tell their stories is different.”
Educating Doctors to Be Leaders and Changemakers – Dr. Abebe Bekele, Dean of the School of Medicine at University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda | Osmosis Raise the Line
“The qualities of a provider that were envisioned fifty years ago are completely different from what the world needs for tomorrow. It’s completely different,” insists Dr. Abebe Bekele, who’s entrusted with educating this new breed of physician at the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. As he explains in this special in-person interview on the campus of UGHE in Butaro, Rwanda, COVID-19 has demonstrated that doctors now need to be able to serve as leaders of institutions, manage large projects, raise money and interface with influential public sector players such as policymakers and journalists. The program at UGHE has been designed with that in mind by providing a grounding in liberal arts and humanities along with the necessary medical content.
As you’ll learn in this insightful conversation, the relatively young school – established by Partners in Health in 2015 – is taking a thoughtful approach to meeting healthcare needs in the region through admissions policies and scholarships that are boosting the number of female physicians and incentivizing its graduates to practice medicine in their home communities.
Beyond connecting with Dr. Bekele, Shiv was able to meet with students and faculty to gain a deeper understanding of the partnership Osmosis has with UGHE, which is part of a larger effort to support medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Namibia, where Shiv was born. Prepare to come away from this episode seeing UGHE as a model for health education in an increasingly interconnected world.
Injecting Ancient Philosophy Into Modern Medical Education – Dr. Charles Lockwood, Executive Vice President of USF Health in Tampa | Osmosis Raise the Line
Shortly after starting his job as Dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in 2014, Dr. Charles Lockwood was given an exciting opportunity to help design a new medical education building. In contemplating requirements for the new space, he raised the challenge to colleagues that when the facility was completed in 2020, medical knowledge would be doubling every seventy-three days.
“That fundamentally altered the way we thought about the building, and we accelerated the process of curricular reform that we had started,” he explains on Raise the Line. That reform included dramatically reducing the amount and length of lectures, substantially increasing active and problem-based learning, introducing more assessments, and requiring students to learn how to be good researchers to help them discern what’s credible within the ever-growing amount of information available.
Dr. Lockwood also sensed a need to address how students manage the rigors of medical education and clinical practice. “What we’ve tried to do is to stress the need for grit and for embracing the classic stoic teaching about taking on obstacles and challenges as wonderful opportunities to grow and become more resilient.”
Lockwood credits this perspective for the institution performing well through the worst of the pandemic. “I think the most surprising thing was the relative lack of burnout at the end of it. We’re moving on to new challenges, but it didn’t leave us hollowed out.” Tune in for their fascinating conversation about adopting an “anti-fragile” mindset, the dangers of overreliance on heuristics in making clinical decisions, and the implications of generative AI for medical education and patient care.From groundbreaking insights into mental health and innovation to the transformative potential of AI and psychedelic research, each episode offers a captivating journey into the future of medicine. Delve into the stories of resilience, advocacy, and leadership shaping the healthcare landscape, and join us in raising the bar for medical education and patient care. Tune in, engage, and be inspired to raise the line in your own journey through the world of healthcare.
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