Beyond the Prescription

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify ! Manish Agrawal MD and Paul Thambi MD are oncologists who have spent decades caring for patients with cancer. They realized early in their careers that chemotherapy could treat the cancer—but what about the emotional, psychological and spiritual impact of facing mortality?  When they learned about the potential for medications like...

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify ! Kelly Casperson, MD, is a urologist, sexual medicine expert, and best-selling author. She is on a mission to empower women to live their best love lives. In her wildly popular book, You Are Not Broken , Dr. Casperson breaks down the common narratives that women have been told about their bodies such as “I shouldn't enjoy sex,” “I c...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Dr. Mary Claire Haver is a board certified OBGYN and women’s health advocate who has helped thousands of women going through menopause actualize their health and wellness goals. Dr. Haver’s goal is to empower and educate women in their mid-lives, and help women advocate for themselves in the doctor’s office.  On this episode of Beyond the Prescripti...

You can also listen to this episode on Spotify ! Did you know that all children, regardless of genetics, are at risk for substance abuse? Jessica Lahey is a New York Times bestselling author, mother, and parent educator on teen substance use. Her most recent book, The Addiction Inoculation , is a practical guide to help children grow up to be healthy and addiction-free.  On this episode, Jessica s...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and liberation. I can’t think of a better person to speak to the importance of self-expression, autonomy, and living without oppression than Nedra Glover Tawwab. Nedra is a practicing therapist, relationship expert, and two-time bestselling author. She understands that health begins with individual freedom—and...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Pain is an inevitable part of life. But did you know that pain is not just about body parts? Dr. Rachel Zoffness is an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF and leading global pain expert who is revolutionizing the way we conceptualize pain. She explains that hurt (pain) and harm (damage) are not the same—and that pain is never purely biological. Sim...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! If you’re anything like Dr. McBride or her patients, you want to live a long life. You want to be healthy! Yet when you try to execute on your best intentions—whether it’s cutting back on alcohol, starting an exercise routine, or taming your phone addiction—you end up defaulting to factory settings. Well, you are not alone. The pandemic laid bare ho...

Why are expectations about being a woman—specifically a mother—so unrealistic? Mother, author, and New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose has a lot to say on this subject. Her latest book, Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood , is inspired by her own shortcomings as a mother. She interviewed hundreds of women as part of the research process while writing the bo...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! When Caitlin Murray’s 5-year-old son Callum was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016, her world turned upside down. She started blogging to keep friends and family informed about his treatment, and what began as a medical missive became an outlet for share about life, love, and parenting. Callum beat cancer, and Caitlin’s star kept rising. As the main ch...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! In honor of Mental Health Awareness month, we welcome Dr. Samatha Boardman. Dr. Boardman is a New York based positive psychiatrist who is committed to fixing what’s wrong and building what’s strong. She writes the popular newsletter called The Dose and is the author of Everyday Vitality , a book about leaning into our strengths to bring about positi...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Did you know things like sugar-free gum, Advil, or simply eating too fast can cause gas and bloating? Everything we put into our ecosystem affects our gut health. Our gut often reflects our emotional health, too. In today’s solo podcast, Dr. McBride explains the practical framework she created to help patients conceptualize their health , integratin...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! On this episode, Melissa Urban talks candidly with Dr. McBride about her struggle with drugs—and how her recovery stemmed from creating healthy boundaries around food, substances, and interpersonal relationships.  Her latest book,  The Book of Boundaries,  is about the importance of setting limits on relationships and choices, and putting ourselves...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! How often do you think about your skeletal health? Too often, we take mobility, absence of pain, and physicality for granted—that is, until we are sidelined. Whether we’re nursing a torn ACL, an arthritic hip, or an osteoporosis-related fracture, even temporary immobility can alter our physical and mental health. It can threaten our sense of self. H...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! If you are a parent searching for answers — or a teenager yearning for tools to understand yourself better — look no further! Dr. Lisa Damour is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, clinical psychologist, mother, and all-around brilliant human. Her new book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionat...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Our stories live in our bodies. No one knows this better than Dr. Suzanne Koven, a master storyteller and primary care doctor at Harvard Medical School. In caring for patients for 30 years, Dr. Koven learned that patients are more than a set of organs. “ There is nothing that I can think of, there is no kind of testing, there is no sort of physiolog...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Three years after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic, we have widespread population immunity against the virus. But no one is immune to accumulated fear and uncertainty. On this episode, Dr. McBride talks about where we are now and what to expect with COVID. She discusses various topics including * the transition from pande...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Family dynamics are complicated—but what happens when you learn that you have dozens (and possibly hundreds) of siblings? When writer Chrysta Bilton’s mom decided to build a family as a gay woman in the early 80s, she employed a sperm donor. This man also played a role in Chrysta and her sister’s life as “dad.” But he continued to donate to other wo...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Screens have become a necessity of modern life. Whether we like it or not, they inform how we work, play, parent, and relate to other people. Technology is a wonderful thing. But too much screen time can negatively affect our health. From sleeplessness and agitation to addiction and social isolation, our relationship with tech directly affects our b...

Leading political and intellectual historian and certified fitness instructor, Natalia Petrzela, firmly believes that exercise matters not only for your physical health, but mental health as well. Yet while we as a nation are obsessed with exercise, too many Americans are sedentary. Many of us equate exercise with losing weight – but health is about more than the number we see on a scale. Natalia...

You can also listen to this episode on Spotify ! Human suffering is impossible to fully measure. It includes our core values and beliefs. It encompasses our tolerance for pain. If medical decision-making is about avoiding risk, who gets to decide what’s even worth risking? If avoiding one risk means adding another, when are we doing “no harm”? Doctors can measure blood pressure, blood sugar, liver...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! It turns out that caring for others carries occupational risk. Anyone who has ever cared for aging parents, agitated teens, or sick friends has experienced symptoms of emotional and physical depletion. Caregiver burnout is not only common, it affects our health. Just as caregiving bleeds into everyday life, there’s no partition between our body and...

You can also check out this episode on Spotify ! Twice a month, Dr. McBride is trying something different. She will talk directly to you — sharing advice and top-line thoughts about the most important health issues she sees. On this 13-minute episode, Dr. McBride explains the practical framework she created to help patients conceptualize their health , integrating medical evidence , the patient’s...

You can also listen to this episode on Spotify ! Tashira Halyard is as fashionable as she is fearless. As an attorney, racial equity consultant, breast cancer survivor, and founder of the wildly popular blog and Instagram handle, Politics & Fashion, Tashira brings her audience inside her closet — and her world — nearly every day of the week. Tashira brings her passion for equity and her fierce per...

You can also listen to this on Apple Podcasts or Spotify ! I’m excited to share my roster of amazing guests — and our conversations about health, wellness, and how to be a little more okay tomorrow than we are today . A fun new feature! This season, every other week will be a sit-down with just you and me — where I go into more detail about the nuances of common medical issues. From the new weight...

You can also listen to this episode on Spotify ! Journalist and best-selling author Daniela Pierre-Bravo took an 18-hour overnight bus to New York City for her first interview in journalism. As the oldest daughter of a large family of Chilean immigrants — and having worked multiple odd jobs to put herself through college — this interview was her ticket to a new life. Yet as a DACA recipient, she s...