Health & Veritas

A special episode recorded at the Yale Innovation Summit, which brings together entrepreneurs and investors in the arts, biotech, climate, health, and tech. Howie and Harlan are joined by Josh Geballe, managing director of Yale Ventures, which hosts the summit; Mary Ann Melnick, site head at Biolabs New Haven; and Lee Schwamm, chief digital health officer at Yale New Haven Health System.  Links: W...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Chima Ndumele of the Yale School of Public Health to discuss his research on structural changes to Medicaid that could keep vulnerable populations healthier. Harlan reports on the remarkable abilities of Google's latest medicine-focused AI; Howie reflects on a study showing the impact of race-neutral measures of lung function.  Links: AI and Medicine "Capabilities of...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Ruth Katz, executive director of the Aspen Institute's Health, Medicine & Society Program and a former Capitol Hill staffer, to discuss her work on the Affordable Care Act and other major healthcare laws. Harlan reflects on a study showing that using different analytical approaches to the same data can lead to a wide range of conclusions; Howie reports on a wave of d...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Greg Licholai, a Yale SOM lecturer and biotech entrepreneur, to discuss his career and his work at the contract research organization ICON, which performs clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies. Harlan reports on new research illustrating the dangerous consequences of asking patients to share the costs of life-saving drugs; Howie provides the good news and the...

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare headlines. From flatlining telehealth to Walmart closing retail clinics to months-long waits for healthcare appointments, they try to untangle the challenges in delivering healthcare. Also considered, H5N1 bird flu increasing the risks of drinking unpasteurized milk, promising research on open-source moderation of misinformation on social media. Links...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Arthur Caplan, Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics and founding head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, to discuss the ethical failings of the pharmaceutical industry and how a community-focused ethos prioritizing justice and protection of the vulnerable would have reshaped the COVID response. Harlan r...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Scott Berkowitz '03, cardiologist and chief population health officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, to discuss the necessity of moving from fee-for-service to value-based care delivery to improve outcomes for all. Harlan highlights the dangers of misinformation about Ivermectin. Howie reports on the potential conflicts of interest created by device manufacturers' paymen...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Atheendar Venkataramani, a physician, health economist, and director of the Perelman School of Medicine's Opportunity for Health Lab, to discuss the powerful role of economic opportunity in population health outcomes. Harlan reports on two studies where treatments' unexpected benefits leapt ahead of understanding why they work. Howie reflects on the business model of...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, to discuss the programs' underappreciated advances in holistically addressing health, housing, and food security. Reflecting on the upcoming election, Harlan notes that facts matter, whether in medicine or politics. Howie reports on the dangers of glyoxylic acid in hair straightening p...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Margo Harrison, an OB-GYN and femtech entrepreneur, to discuss how innovative solutions to women's health problems offer deeper understanding and expanded choices. Harlan and Howie each offer a caveat emptor for lightly regulated, unproven supplements and treatments such as Prevagen and hydration spas. Links: "Prevagen Review: A Word of Caution" "Prevagen®: Analysis...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale health economist Zack Cooper to discuss his work on surprise medical bills and the impact of high healthcare costs on households, wages, and the economy. Harlan reports on Hippocratic AI's efforts to develop AI nurses. Howie looks at the global effort to eradicate tuberculosis. Links: "Hippocratic AI banks $53M backed by General Catalyst, a16z, Memorial Hermann,...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Robert Alpern, a Yale nephrologist and the former dean of the Yale School of Medicine, to discuss the importance of a fiscal base for enabling a medical school to deliver top-quality training, research, and clinical care. Harlan asks whether widespread norovirus is a reason to call it quits on shaking hands. Howie reports on a study of the increased mortality among t...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Robert Rohrbaugh, professor of psychiatry and deputy dean for professionalism and leadership at the Yale School of Medicine, to discuss his work training doctors in antiracist practices and ensuring the wellbeing of clinicians during the pandemic. Harlan reports on the problematic history of medical journals promoting eugenics; Howie highlights a cyberattack that has...

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare headlines, including a cheating scandal that has led to the invalidation of hundreds of scores from Nepal on the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, the problem of research that never sees the light of day, new anti-obesity medications, and Florida's unorthodox approach to measles. Links: Standardized Testing "Cheated out of the American Dream" "MCAT...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Lucila Ohno-Machado, the Yale School of Medicine's deputy dean for biomedical informatics. She explains how expanding use of data science, informatics, AI, and technology could enable doctors to spend more time with patients. Harlan celebrates mentorship while marking the death of Irwin Birnbaum, a mentor to many in his time as COO of the Yale Medical School and long...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Farzad Mostashari, co-founder and CEO of Aledade, an "accountable care organization" that seeks to align patient-provider incentives so doctors can make a profit by prioritizing preventive care. Harlan discusses a study suggesting that physical exercise may be protective from severe COVID. Howie highlights the introduction of Apple's VR headset and the importance of...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Christopher O'Connor, CEO of Yale New Haven Health, to discuss his career path and his experience leading hospitals through Hurricane Katrina and COVID-19. Harlan reports on promising AI tools for taking clinical notes; Howie looks at the financial headwinds facing the companies offering Medicare Advantage plans.  Links: AI Notetaking "OpenAI-backed healthcare AI sta...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Manisha Juthani, a Yale infectious disease specialist and commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. They discuss her research, including a study casting doubt on the use of cranberries to prevent urinary tract infection, and her priorities for Connecticut. Harlan reports on a wave of study retractions from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Howie re...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale SOM alum Claudine Litman, a designer and the director of Yale's Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation, to talk about using the tools of design to build more effective healthcare spaces and processes. Harlan looks at seven charts illustrating the state of healthcare in 2023; Howie reports on the FDA reprimanding a drug company for misleading advertising. Link...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Reshma Ramachandran, a Yale family physician and co-director of Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity, and Transparency. They discuss the potential ramifications for healthcare regulation if the Supreme Court overturns the Chevron decision requiring judges to defer to federal agencies. Harlan looks at surveys suggesting an erosion of trust in medicine; H...

Howie and Harlan discuss the winter wave of COVID-19 and Howie's experience with the Novovax vaccine, report on potential side effects of the next-generation weight-loss drugs, and unpack the economics of Florida's plan to import drugs from Canada.  Links: Sid Wolfe "Sidney M. Wolfe, Scourge of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Dies at 86" COVID-19 "Florida surgeon general calls for halt on mRNA covid...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Julie Ann Sosa, chair of the University of California San Francisco department of surgery. She reports on new approaches to treating thyroid nodules, addressing sexual harassment within the medical profession, and supporting personal and professional success for doctors caring for elderly parents. Harlan and Howie discuss the upswing in COVID-19 cases and research on...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Eric Winer, director of the Yale Cancer Center and president of Yale's Smilow Cancer Hospital. They discuss his career, his personal experiences with hemophilia and HIV, and the state of breast cancer treatment. Harlan reports on the retraction of a high-profile study on the effect of hearing aids on dementia; Howie provides some good news from an annual report on he...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Tina Loarte-Rodríguez, associate director, health equity measures, at Yale's Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation and the author of  Latinas in Nursing: Stories of Determination, Inspiration, and Trust. And Howie and Harlan discuss the clinical and economic dimensions of two newly approved CRISPR-based treatments for sickle cell disease.  Links: Tina Loarte-Rodr...

Howie and Harlan are joined by Tara Sanft, chief patient experience officer at Yale's Smilow Cancer Hospital and director of the Survivorship Program at the Yale Cancer Center. Harlan reports on his study of patients with long-lasting symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine; Howie reflects on the historic decline in cigarette smoking in the United States.  Links: Post-Vaccination Syndrome Harlan Krumh...