Unstable Vitals

What does it take to leave a steady hospital job and build a value-based care company for the most medically complex kids in America? In this episode, Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Alison — pediatric emergency physician, mom of 4, host of Startup Physicians , and co-founder of Imagine Pediatrics — to trace her path from clinician to telehealth pioneer to founder of a company th...

What if there were a network of clinics quietly delivering full-suite care — primary care, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, prenatal, mobile units — to anyone who walks in, regardless of their ability to pay? Spoiler: there is, and most Americans have no idea it exists. Adam and Lara sit down with Dr. Rui Ariyapala, Associate Chief Medical Officer at Piedmont Health Services and a public healt...

Endometriosis affects as many women as diabetes. Diabetes research gets $1 billion a year from NIH. Endometriosis gets $28 million. That kind of gap doesn't exist because people are against women's health research, it exists because it hasn't been made a priority. In this episode, Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Kathryn Schubert, President & CEO of the Society...

You put on a lead apron and assume it's keeping you safe. But what if it's carrying MRSA, ringworm, and nearly 10 times the bacteria of a gas station pump handle? Even worse, what if nobody's required to clean it? Justin McKay, founder of RadCare Services, joins Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners to share how a ringworm infection, a torn-up apron on his first day in the OR, and a y...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals, Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners are joined by a very special guest, Lara's husband, Robert Pinate, a nurse consultant with over 30 years in UK emergency medicine. Rob helps emergency departments rethink outdated workflows and improve patient flow. The conversation dives into how the NHS actually works from its funding model and workforce of to the freed...

What happens when a Canadian finance guy with zero healthcare experience decides to take on one of the most broken systems in the world? You get Alex Barrett, co-founder and CEO of Meroka, and a genuinely different perspective on why independent medicine is dying and what can actually be done about it. In this episode, Drs. Lara Zibners and Adam Brown sit down with Alex to unpack the real force be...

Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners are back for Season 2 of Unstable Vitals , and they're wasting no time. After catching up on life, including Laura's Arctic Circle dog sledding adventure, Adam's new London life, Calla Lily's first Big Pharma partnership, and a spirited rant about Yorkshire pudding, the duo lays out their ambitious plan for the season ahead. This episode intr...

In this special year-end episode of Unstable Vitals, Dr. Lara Zibners and Dr. Adam Brown reunite for their funniest, most unfiltered conversation yet. From GLP-1 mania to AI hype, from the workforce crisis to the seismic impacts of the 2025 election, Lara and Adam break down the five biggest healthcare stories of the year, with the honesty and occasional oversharing you’ve come to expect. Along th...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals , we sit down with Mac Deford, former local government attorney, community advocate, and congressional candidate from South Carolina. From his time in the Coast Guard to his work in behavioral health and affordable housing, Mac has seen firsthand how policy decisions ripple through people’s lives. We talk about what inspired him to run for Congress, the realities...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals , Dr. Lara Zibners and Dr. Adam Brown welcome Alison Fragale, organizational psychologist, professor, and author of Likeable Badass , to talk about the science of respect, influence, and why women in leadership still face steep uphill battles. From trading nail files for shoes to unpacking why “likeable” and “badass” aren’t opposites, this conversation dives into...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals, hosts Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with orthopedic surgeon, researcher, and author Dr. Jocelyn Wittstein. Together, they dig into an often-overlooked area of medicine: bone and joint health as the foundation for long-term wellness. Dr. Wittstein shares insights from her new book, The Complete Bone and Joint Health Plan , exploring why osteoporosi...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals , Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners welcome Dr. Steven Farmer, former senior leader at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (and Adam’s husband). Between playful banter and sharp commentary, the trio dives into the serious business of healthcare regulation: why the U.S. system remains unaffordable, how payment models shape medical practice, and what...

Trigger warning : This episode contains discussion of physician mental health  and suicide. If this topic is distressing, please consider listening with support nearby or using local mental health resources. In this episode of Unstable Vitals, hosts Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Dr. Stefanie Simmons, Chief Medical Officer of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation, for an u...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals, Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners dive into one of the biggest challenges in healthcare today: misaligned incentives. Should our system prioritize profit or patients? How do payment models, public policy, and personal responsibility collide to shape health outcomes? From fee-for-service vs. value-based care to the impact of public transportation, food policy,...

Why is the U.S. healthcare system so expensive, yet so ineffective? In this episode of Unstable Vitals , Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners dive deep into the tangled web of patients, profits, and misaligned incentives driving instability in American healthcare. From skyrocketing medical school debt and low primary care reimbursements to insurance company profits and hospital billing practices, A...

Residency: the rite of passage every doctor must survive before practicing on their own. But is the system built to train (or to break) young physicians? In this episode of Unstable Vitals , Dr. Laura Zibners and Dr. Adam Brown sit down with Dr. Jared Dashevsky, a resident physician at Mount Sinai and founder of Healthcare Huddle, to unpack the realities of residency and what it reveals about the...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals , we dive into a staggering truth: women make 80% of healthcare decisions, yet only 4% of R&D dollars focus on women’s health.  Dr. Marina Gerner, award-winning journalist, author of The Vagina Business , and professional myth-buster, joins Dr. Lara Zibners and Dr. Adam Brown to unpack why the system is built on male-centric research, why funding for women’s...

Can we really Make America Healthy Again? In this dynamic and slightly unconventional episode, our hosts Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners combine a spin class with a candid conversation on the fragility of the American public health system. As they pedal through pop hits and resistance levels, they dig into the recent political shifts shaking up healthcare leadership, namely the appointment of...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals , ER docs-turned-entrepreneurs Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Dr. Owais Durrani — emergency physician, media personality, STEM advocate, and Coldplay superfan — for an unfiltered conversation that flies from fighter jets to frontline care. A first-generation college student, Dr. Durrani shares how his lived experiences shaped his passion for eq...

In this episode of Unstable Vitals , hosts Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners sit down with Dr. Melissa Parsons, a former top pediatrician turned life coach, to unpack the emotional cost of surviving in the healthcare system. Melissa shares her deeply personal journey from burnout and perfectionism to finding healing through coaching, vulnerability, and letting go of the unrealistic expectations...

In this special episode of Unstable Vitals , your hosts Dr. Adam Brown and Dr. Lara Zibners dive into their experience at the HLTH Europe conference in Amsterdam — a dynamic, innovation-driven gathering for health tech startups, investors, and industry leaders. They share what made the event stand out, from the high-energy networking and startup pitches to the unconventional amenities like on-site...

Episode 2 of Unstable Vitals features hosts Dr. Lara Zibners and Dr. Adam Brown, as they offer an unfiltered and often humorous look into the realities of emergency medicine. They delve into why people are so fascinated by ER stories, particularly the more bizarre and gruesome ones, a common question they face at social gatherings. The hosts share personal anecdotes, from gross medical incidents l...

In our debut episode, meet your hosts—two ER doctors turned health policy nerds—who are fed up with pretending everything’s fine in healthcare when it’s clearly… not. From government chaos to moral injury in medicine, we kick off with a candid (and sometimes hilarious) look at why the system feels broken and what inspired us to start this podcast. We dive into: Why DC’s silence is anything but qui...