Conversations on Health Care

Dr. Aaron Carroll raises eyebrows with statements that highlight contradictory health advice: “‘Eggs are going to kill you because of cholesterol’ — ‘oh, it actually doesn’t matter. Eat as many eggs as you like.’ ‘Red meat will kill you.’ ‘Oh no, read meat can be part of a diet.’ ‘Drink no alcohol’ … ‘Oh, no no. Drinking red wine is perfectly healthy.’” Dr. Carroll has devoted his career to advoca...

The director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) knows the eyes of the nation are on her. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph. D., leads the billion-dollar effort charged with leveraging research advances for real-world impact. Wegrzyn talked with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter at Aspen Ideas: Health about the agency’s initiatives, including a $100 million sprint for women’s healt...

The defining health care issues in this year’s election are crystalizing with reproductive rights remaining at the top of the list. Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KFF Health News, has covered health policy fights for nearly four decades. She said, “I think this may be the first time that abortion rights drive people out to vote. The anti-abortion movement has always been the one...

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which was first published 141 years ago, is grappling with modern challenges as the most widely circulated general medical journal in the world. At the forefront is Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, its relatively new editor-in-chief. Dr. Bibbins-Domingo took the helm at a tumultuous time and has a clear vision for how JAMA should deal with equity...

With most of the country suffering through a sweltering heat wave, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services has found the right time to unveil its nationwide Heat and Health Index (HHI). “Conversations on Health Care” learned all about it from Admiral Rachel Levine, M.D., the department’s assistant secretary for health. “We are seeing heat-related injury and health impacts globally,” says Levin...

“Conversations on Health Care” went on the road to Aspen Ideas: Health. We start this series with Gregory Jackson, A White House official with one of the toughest assignments: tackling gun violence, Gregory is deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-m...

Experts praise community health workers as the keys to building a more equitable and fair health care system in America. Is there a way to unlock more success for hiring and retaining them? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Five times during the COVID pandemic Dr. Anthony Fauci took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to share with “Conservations on Health Care” his latest insights. Now, he returns to reflect not only on COVID but also on the entire scope of his career, including his efforts to bring attention and resources to the AIDS fight in the 1980s. Dr. Fauci explains he had to speak truth to power during...

Is the way we're going about suicide prevention all wrong? And how are those misperceptions affecting efforts to stop veteran suicides? Clinical psychologist Craig Bryan is an Iraq War veteran and studies the issue. He's the author of “Rethinking Suicide: Why Prevention Fails, and How We Can Do Better” and says we need a better focus on firearm safety. In 2021, 72% of veteran suicides involved fir...

More than 50,000 Americans died by suicide in 2023, the highest number on record. Data from 2021 found that over 12 million American adults thought about suicide and 1.7 million attempted it. American Psychiatric Association President Dr. Petros Levounis, who’s finishing his term, is at the center of efforts to prevent suicides. His focus continues to be on substance use addictions. He and the 38,...

What if we say there’s a way to have healthier pregnancies, improve children’s health and create better economic outcomes? And it all begins with a knock on the door? That’s the way Nurse-Family Partnership works. It’s an evidence-based, community health program with 45 years of research showing significant improvements in the health and lives of first-time moms and their children affected by soci...

You know about the Army and Navy, but have you heard about the USPHS Commissioned Corps? It is one of the nation’s uniformed services — a branch committed to the service of health. Its over 6,000 officers advance the nation’s public health, serving in agencies across the government, as physicians, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, scientists, engineers and other professionals. President of the Publ...

This week we’ve brought together some of the brightest minds who run many of the best and most innovative community health centers across the country. From Long Island to San Francisco, community health centers served over 31 million patients last year. How are they keeping pace with their success while always working to improve the quality of the care? The guests are part of the Community Health...

Join us for a unique conversation with an innovative nonprofit leader and the grantmaker who’s helping support her efforts. Morgan Dixon is the co-founder and CEO of GirlTREK, which she calls a “life-saving sisterhood.” Their campaign seeks to heal intergenerational trauma, fight systemic racism, and transform Black lives by organizing women walking teams. While participants walk, they also mobili...

Black children ages 5 to 12 are twice as likely to die by suicide as their white counterparts, and the rate of suicides among Black teens is rising faster than any other racial/ethnic group. Those statistics are alarming to most people, but they’re not surprising to Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) Chief Resident and Child Psychiatry Fellow Dr. Amanda J. Calhoun. “Experiences of anti-Black racism af...

In the wake of recent bipartisan policy wins in Washington, can health care policy follow suit? Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical advisor at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), spoke with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter about how the best solutions emerge from a solid understanding of the issues and the eventual give-and-take of political opponents. For example, The Milbank Memorial Fund’s...

As we mark Earth Day, we have just experienced the hottest March on record. But climate change’s impact isn’t stopping with the weather; it’s also affecting our mental health, says Dr. Gary Belkin, director of the Billion Minds Project at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Climate anxiety, which refers to having distressing feelings related to climate change impacts, is increas...

What happens when music therapists and neuroscientists team up? Patients win, says Dr. Francis Collins. From adults with Parkinson’s disease to children with autism, music has the power to help people walk, talk, ease pain and so much more. Dr. Collins recently stepped down from his role as the longest-serving director of National Institutes of Health. As he faces a personal battle against prostat...

She’s received worldwide praise for singing at the Super Bowl, during a presidential inauguration and regularly for The Metropolitan Opera, but Renée Fleming is stretching her voice in new ways. She’s the editor of “Music and Mind,” a curated collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators and health care providers about the powerful impacts of music and...

It’s about seven months to election day and our regular panel of health care journalists sees a lot of divisions in the electorate. Joyce Frieden, who’s in charge of MedPage Today's coverage of Washington and health policy, says the debate over abortion is driving voter interest. Yet Ben Leonard, a health care reporter at POLITICO, notes that Republican voters place issues such as immigration ahea...

Medicare just announced that it will pay for weight loss drugs if patients using them also have heart disease and need to reduce the risk of future heart attacks and strokes. Medicare has already been covering the costs of the GLP-1 class of drugs to treat diabetes problems. However, Medicare Part D plans are still restricted by law from covering obesity medications used for chronic weight managem...

The recent death of former college football player Craig Roh from colon cancer at age 33 has brought attention to the “alarming” increase of colorectal cancer in young people. The American Cancer Society reports colon cancer is now the most common cause of cancer deaths in men under 50 and second for women under 50. Dr. Alan Venook at the University of California-San Francisco is one of the nation...

The family planning revolution has a new chapter and journalist Valerie Bauman is both documenting it and participating in it. She and others pursuing alternatives say they’re frustrated with fertility clinics because of the cost, what they call the discriminatory nature of the system and the lack of insurance coverage. Bauman explains how she met her sperm donor and why others like her say it mak...

Originally broadcast on March 4, 2024 Even as Alabama scrambles to enact a law protecting in vitro fertilization in the state, the Biden-Harris Administration sees additional challenges that legislation may not be able to quickly fix. Carole Johnson leads the Health Resources and Services Administration, the part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department tasked with strengthening the health...

Americans say nursing is the most respected profession, but nurses say their challenges tell a different story. They’re sounding the alarm on staffing shortages, violence in the workplace and racism (63% of nurses say they have personally experienced an act of racism in the workplace). The American Nurses Association is also fighting an American Medical Association policy recommending advanced pra...