Clinician's Roundtable

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: Joseph Muenzer, MD Hunter syndrome is a rare but serious genetic disorder that inhibits the body’s ability to break down specific complex carbohydrates. Initial onset symptoms include inguinal hernias, recurrent otitis, and the common cold, frequently manifesting concurrently as part of a multi-system failure sometime after the first year of life. Because many of t...

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: Joseph Muenzer, MD Hunter syndrome is a rare but serious genetic disorder that inhibits the body’s ability to break down specific complex carbohydrates. What are the prinicipal symptoms that would lead a primary care physician to consider Hunter syndrome? Dr. Joseph Muenzer, professor of pediatrics and genetics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine...

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Michele Goodwin, JD Michele Goodwin, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and recent author of "Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts," joins host Dr. Maurie Pickard to discuss the transplant waiting list. How we can respond to the growing list of patients waiting for transplants. Can we fairly address the dynamics of a wait list that has on...

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Michele Goodwin, JD Michele Goodwin, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and recent author of "Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts," formulates a hybrid business model that includes incentives and altruism to increase the number of transplants by 40% per year. The voice of moral concern is not the only one being heard in this paradigm.

Host: Maurice Pickard, MD Guest: Michele Goodwin, JD Michele Goodwin, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and recent author of "Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts" discusses what can be done to shorten the wait for organ transplants. Current solutions such as matching programs, solicitations and altruism still lead to poor outcomes in that 50% of patients on transplant...

Host: Paul Raeburn Guest: Chiara Cirelli, MD, PhD Why do we sleep, and what happens when we do? Why is sleep so critical to the brain? Join host Paul Raeburn addressing these and related questions in depth with sleep medicine expert Dr. Chiara Cirelli. Her work identifying genes involved in sleep regulation and characterizing molecular correlates of sleep and wakefulness is explored to provide a c...

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Paul Davenport, PhD Coughing is usually thought of as a brainstem reflex event with little information coming from higher brain centers. Yet we all can cough voluntarily. What is known today about the biology of the urge to cough? Host Dr. Leslie Lundt welcomes expert Dr. Paul Davenport to discuss the stages of what takes cough from motivation to action and how thi...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Sherman Elias, MD It's not uncommon for pregnant women to have to search multiple floors and multiple buildings for medical care service, unless they are admitted to the new Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago where railings, couches and a plasma screen TV line a 124-foot triage walking track to alleviate potential labor pains. And that's just the first floor. Dr. Sherma...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Sherman Elias, MD Medical care for women is not just about delivering babies, but providing medical care at one location for all stages of their lives. Dr. Sherman Elias of Northwestern University's obstetrics and gynecology department tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about the move by U.S. hospitals to care for women at each and every stage of their lives.

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Larry Boress, MPA From paying employees to participate in wellness programs to charging them extra premiums if they smoke, employers are taking unique approaches to wellness and disease management. Larry Boress, president of the Midwest Business Group on Health, a national business coalition, tells host Bruce Japsen about employers' efforts to entice patients to pursue we...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Larry Boress, MPA After years of raising co-payments and deductibles for prescription drugs, some employers are taking an unorthodox approach to lowering health-care costs. Now get this, they are paying for drugs and consultations that go along with them. Larry Boress, president of the Midwest Business Group on Health, tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about this u...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Douglas Losordo, MD A treatment that uses adult stem cells to rebuild failing hearts - once believed to be impossible - is making progress helping patients rebound from severe coronary artery disease, a leading killer of people around the world. Dr. Douglas Losordo, head of the program in cardiovascular regenerative medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Douglas Losordo, MD A journal Nature report that scientists cloned an embryo of a monkey and harvested its stem cells have grabbed headlines, but just how much progress are we really making in stem cell treatments? Dr. Douglas Losordo, head of the program in Cardiovascular Medicine at Northwestern University tells the Chicago Tribune's Bruce Japsen about progress in stem...

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: David Kertzer, PhD We all know that sometimes the answers to today’s problems can be found in the past. Our guest today will take us to 19th century Italy where we will have a glimpse into a dark page of social and medical history. At one time, up to 10% of European men had syphilis – its victims were rumored to include Beethoven, Van Gogh, Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde,...

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Andrew Schwartz Did you know that employed physicians who are moonlighting independently on the side may be in the best postion to minimize taxes? Join host Dr. Larry Kaskel to learn more about moonlighting income and tax strategies from our guest CPA Andrew Schwartz, Founder of the MD Taxes Network.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: Andrew Schwartz Join host Dr. Larry Kaskel and our guest CPA Andrew Schwartz from the MD Taxes network to discuss tax strategies for a medical practice.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: David Wright, MD How do new devices get into clinical settings? Join host Dr. Larry Kaskel speak with Physician and Inventor Dr. David Wright about the challenges in bringing new medical technologies to the clinical setting.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD Guest: David Wright, MD Our guest, Dr. David Wright shares news of a new device currently being tested to screen for mild congnitive impairment, one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's. Is this a device you should have in your office? Join host Dr. Larry Kaskel to find out.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Michael Reiner, MD Learning how to read nonverbal cues can make you a better physician. And your poker skills may just improve while you are at it! Host Dr. Leslie Lundt is joined by full-time family physician and part-time professional poker player, Dr. Michael Reiner to discuss how he combines medicine and poker.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Stephen C. Ellen, MD Today we have many options to treat depression: the SSRIs, Cymbalta, Effexor, Emsam, Wellbutrin, just to name a few. How do you know when to move beyond the SSRIs? When is it time to refer to a psychiatrist? What if there are no psychiatrists available to your patients? Host Dr. Leslie Lundt welcomes Dr. Stephen Ellen to discuss the new age of...

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD Guest: Stephen C. Ellen, MD SSRIs are among the most common medications prescribed in the world. What have we learned since Prozac was introduced in 1987? Psychopharmacologist Dr. Stephen Ellen discusses pros and cons of SSRIs with host Dr. Leslie Lundt.

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Ronald M. Davis, MD A growing body of research shows much of the growth in medical care spending over the last five years comes from a marked increase in patients receiving treatments for chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. But these costs could be contained through education and healthy lifestyles. AMA president and preventive medicine specialist Dr...

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Ronald M. Davis, MD Medical spending in the United States is rising faster than our overall economy, and projections suggest this trend will continue. Rather than turn to cost controls or insurance companies to reign in the cost of health care, the nation's largest doctor group is drawing up its own strategies to contain spending and add value to our system. Dr. Ronald M....

Host: Bruce Japsen Guest: Ronald M. Davis, MD Covering the nation's uninsured took on unprecedented meaning in the 2008 presidential election, but it wasn't just the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain who talked about plans to expand health benefits. The American Medical Asociation, too, has a plan and is spending an unprecedented amount of money, time and attention toward a ca...

Host: Lee Freedman, MD Guest: Mark Watson Dr. Watson, co-author of the Lap-band Companion Handbook, discusses the reasons for writing this informative text. He also outlines various key sections of the book and illustrates why this is such a useful resource for both practitioners and patients.