Texas Tech Health Check

Send us Fan Mail Gilbert Berdine, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at the TTUHSC School of Medicine, has not used an alarm clock for over 10 years. He shares tips on how you can get rid of your alarm clock, tells us what happens to our bodies while we sleep, what happens to those with sleep apnea and gives us his opinion on naps and when we should see a doctor. 

Send us Fan Mail Learn to manage anger in a healthy way. Alan Korinek, Ph. D., licensed marriage and family therapist and managing director for the TTUHSC employee assistance program and program of assistance for students, gives us tips on how to manage our anger. 

Send us Fan Mail Our topic for this episode is feet. Jerry Grimes, M.D., School of Medicine Associate Professor, and Program Director for the Department of Orthopedics is our guest. Dr. Grimes shares with us the most common foot injuries he treats, how we can protect our feet and ankles, whether or not smell indicates a problem and when you should make an appointment to see a doctor.

Send us Fan Mail Consider everything we do with our hands on a daily basis and what you’d do if you developed problems with them. Bryan Bourland, D.O., TTP orthopedic hand surgeon and assistant professor in the School of Medicine, talked with us about what our hands can tell us about our health, how hand injuries are treated and gives us tips to protect our hands and our wrists, arms and shoulders...

Send us Fan Mail We’re celebrating men’s health in June and focusing on urology in this episode. Our guest is Texas Tech Physicians urologist Pranav Sharma. Dr. Sharma goes over some common urology problems that affect men, what symptoms they shouldn’t ignore, what to expect from a screening, whether or not supplements help with issues and what parents and young children should look out for becaus...

Send us Fan Mail How can your protect yourself or loved ones from skin cancer? Michelle Tarbox, M.D., Texas Tech Physicians dermatologist, who spoke to us before about protecting our skin during the winter months, is our guest for this episode. Dr. Tarbox explains the different types of skin cancer, what doctors look for during a screening, how you can do your own self check, and how to protect yo...

Send us Fan Mail TTUHSC President Dr. Lori Rice-Spearman recently announced that the university received the Carnegie Classification of a Very High Research Activity University among special focus four-year institutions.  TTUHSC Senior Vice President of the Office of Research and Innovation Lance McMahon, Ph. D., is our guest for this episode. He explains what this newly announced classification m...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know that someone who is severely bleeding could bleed to death in as little as 5 minutes? Do you have the skills necessary to stop the bleed in case of an emergency? This episode's guest explains why it's important to  Stop the Bleed . Brittany Bankhead, M.D. , is a trauma surgeon at Texas Tech Physicians and assistant professor of surgery at the TTUHSC School o...

Send us Fan Mail It’s National Women’s Health Week but we think that women’s health should be a priority every week. And to coincide with the occasion, The Free Clinic is hosting the Women’s Health Day free clinic. Here to explain what to expect from the Women’s Health Day free clinic and to talk about women’s health in general are Dr. Fiona Prabhu, co-medical director for The Free Clinic and asso...

Send us Fan Mail Have you considered what happens to your body after you die? There are several options available, including donating our whole body for medical training. To explain the Willed Body Program at the TTUHSC Institute of Anatomical Sciences Willed Body Program are Dr. Kerry Gilbert, co-director of the Institute of Anatomical Sciences, and Jason Jones, director of the Willed Body Progra...

Send us Fan Mail Lupus is a long-term autoimmune disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of someone’s body. Those with lupus see their immune system attack healthy tissue. For this episode, we have three guests: Roger Sutton, Ph. D., professor of cell physiology and molecular biophysics in the School of Medicine, and two members of his lab, MD/Ph. D. student, Johanna Villarreal an...

Send us Fan Mail April is Child Abuse Prevention month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States.  This episode's guest is Patti Patterson, M.D., a professor of Pediatrics, Public Health and Medical Education, and the Director of Child Abuse Pediatrics at the Texas Tech U...

Send us Fan Mail Aphasia is a condition many of us have only recently heard about. Melinda Corwin, Ph. D.,  is a professor in the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and director of the Stroke & Aphasia Recovery (StAR) Program. Dr. Corwin tells us what aphasia is, how it’s diagnosed and how it’s treated.

Send us Fan Mail It's been a little over two years since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. To mark the occasion, Texas Tech Physicians pulmonologists, Dr. Victor Test, and Dr. Ebtesam Islam, describe those early day, the first surge, how they persevered, and the lasting effects of COVID-19 on patients and themselves. 

Send us Fan Mail Match Day is a nerve-wracking event that has played out on medical school campuses across the country since 1952.  What is Match Day? It's the day fourth-year students open their envelopes to find out where they will spend the next three to seven years as residents and what specialty they will pursue for their professional career. TTUHSC School of Medicine Dean Steven L. Berk...

Send us Fan Mail March is Brain Injury Awareness Month . According to the Brain Injury Association of America, every nine seconds, someone in the U.S. sustains a brain injury. One in every 60 Americans live with a traumatic brain injury related disability. Our guest for this episode on brain injury awareness is Dr. John Norbury , TTUHSC School of Medicine associate professor of physical medicine a...

Send us Fan Mail The number of US adults who identify as LGBTQ+ has increased—double the percentage from 2012, according to a new poll released by Gallup. What this means for their health care is the topic for this episode. Guest Dr. Kelly Bennett, a family medicine physician at Texas Tech Physicians and associate professor at TTUHSC, talked to us about important health issues for people who ident...

Send us Fan Mail We’re ending American Heart Month with a look another look at the heart, specifically learning to deal with heartache. Giving us insight and advice on how to deal with conflict with our partners, family members and ourselves is licensed marriage and family therapist Dr. Alan Korinek, managing director for the TTUHSC Employee Assistance Program and program of assistance for TTUHSC...

Send us Fan Mail We handed this episode on COVID-19 testing to the experts. TTUHSC President Dr. Lori Rice-Spearman asked current chair of the department of laboratory sciences and primary care Dr. Wade Redman to explain at-home COVID-19 testing and results, which is the most reliable or the gold standard COVID-19 test, how often should we retest and why we shouldn't try to cheat the tests. 

Send us Fan Mail Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Provost and Dr. Darrin D'Agostino answers our questions related to COVID-19, how to keep from getting sick, who is most vulnerable to the illness, which masks are best and how you can plan a safe spring break. 

Send us Fan Mail February is American Hearth Month and Texas Tech Physicians cardiologist Dr. Scott Shurmur is our guest for this episode. He’s here to talk to us about what the heart does, heart disease and other diseases that can affect the heart and what we can do to improve our hearth health.

Send us Fan Mail January is cervical health awareness month and we’re encouraging women to get screened for cervical cancer. Screening rates have declined during the pandemic even though routine screenings are the most effective way to detect cervical cancer. Our guest expert for this episode is Dr. Sarah Hosford, Texas Tech Physicians OB/GYN and gynecologic oncologist. Dr. Hosford explains cervic...

Send us Fan Mail PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder can affect anyone at any age and anyone who has experienced a shocking, scary or dangerous event. Here to talk to us about how it affects us, how to treat it and how to help others cope with it is Dr. Sarah Mallard Wakefield. Dr. Wakefield is chair of the department of psychiatry at the TTUHSC School of Medicine.

Send us Fan Mail If you plan to start the year on a health kick, you might consider scheduling an annual physical. Frank Babb, M.D.,  Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine associate professor and Texas Tech Physicians family medicine doctor explains what happens during a physical, how often we should get them and what you should do to prepare for your exam.

Send us Fan Mail You might be considering adding losing weight to your list of resolutions for next year. Dr. Drew Payne, an internal medicine practitioner for Texas Tech Physicians and an associate professor for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine, has advice on how to start your weight loss journey so that it's effective and healthy. For those not lo...