The Health Design Podcast

Retired U.S. Navy, Operation Desert Storm; Enduring and Iraqi Freedom veteran and 10 year hereditary colon cancer WARRIOR. My purpose is to educate the medical community about AFAP, continuing the legacy of Dr. Henry T. Lynch, on the importance of early detection in hopes of saving lives. Dr. Lynch is credited w/discovering AFAP. He's the founding father of hereditary cancer research. I met him sh...

Harry Glorikian is a global business expert, healthcare entrepreneur, podcaster and author of The Future You: How Artificial Intelligence Can Help You Get Healthier, Stress Less, and Live Longer (Brick Tower Press, Oct. 2021). For over three decades, Glorikian has built a breadth of successful ventures in the healthcare space, and he is well known for being at the forefront of helping invest in an...

Alastair Santhouse is a Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at The Maudsley Hospital in London. He began his career working in internal medicine, retraining in 1996 as a psychiatrist. He worked as a consultant psychiatrist for 18 years in Guy’s Hospital, London, at the interface between medicine and psychiatry, before moving into neuropsychiatry. He is a fellow of both The Royal College of Physicians and...

Dr. Yan Leyfman has been recognized as one of the top international researchers in oncology by the American Society of Hematology and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). He has contributed to the development of several anti-cancer therapies that have recently entered clinical trials and new treatment recommendations of care. His successes have been recognized by the Goldwater Research Fo...

Karen Ranus served as Executive Director of the Austin affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) for more than eight years until recently taking a position as Vice President of Impact for Lucero Speaks, helping launch a healthtech brand start-up focused on addressing youth mental health upstream before crisis. She sits on the Board of Directors for Austin Child Guidance Center an...

Annie Brewster is an Assistant Professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, a practicing physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, a writer and a storyteller. She is also a patient, diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2001. In response to the disconnection she experienced in healthcare, both as a patient and a provider, and motivated by her belief in the power of stories, she st...

David Ross is a patient advocate and rare disease male mental mental health collaborator. David's activism began in 2017 when he was diagnosed with a rare disease called Cowden Syndrome due to being given a letter from his mother about getting tested before she passed away due to having the same condition. After a period of coming to terms with this he became committed to raising awareness and sup...

John-Manuel Andriote has written about health and medical issues since the mid-1980s. He has specialized in reporting on HIV-AIDS since earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1986. Kirkus Reviews called his award-winning University of Chicago Press book VICTORY DEFERRED: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America “the most important AIDS chronicle since Randy Shilts’ AND...

Gabe Charbonneau, MD is a rural family physician and high-tech entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Fluent Systems, an EHR automation software company. He serves as EHR faculty at Practicing Excellence, and has been a physician advisor to the AI scribe companies, Tenor and Saykara. He is also the passionate creator of the #FightBurnout movement on social media, and FightBurnout.org. Gabe lives an...

Cynthia lives in Lawrenceville, NJ with her husband John. She attended Rutgers University graduating with degrees in Psychology and Education. Upon graduation she secured her first teaching position and immediately fell in love with her chosen profession. Cynthia continued teaching for 28 years. Cynthia, a myeloma survivor, was forced to retire from her beloved teaching career when a stem cell tra...

Patient Advocate, Interdisciplinary Artist, Innovation Consultant Devoted to Connection and Repair. Liza Bernstein, a Third Culture Kid who is NED (No Evidence of Disease) after three cancers is a patient advocate, interdisciplinary artist, and innovation consultant devoted to connection and repair. Liza Bernstein's advocacy serves a global audience via social media, conference attendance, speakin...

Deb Discenza is a mother to a 30-week preemie now 18 years old, Founder of PreemieWorld, Co-Founder of the Alliance for Black NICU Families and Founder of Crystal Ball Health.

Dave Craig is a two-time cancer survivor, oncology researcher and patient experience champion. After 10 years of struggling to see his own cancer journey in the patient experience research he led for the pharmaceutical industry, he left to use his survivor heart and researcher brain to help other patients. In 2016, he co-founded GRYT (“grit”) Health, a patient-centered health company that puts peo...

Dr. Jones is an assistant professor in the Cancer Prevention Program, Public Health Sciences at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She has a Doctor of Philosophy degree in psychology from the Ohio State University and completed post-doctoral training in aging and women’s health research at Group Health Research Institute (now Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute). Dr. Jones...

Rene Morales is patient advocate for Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN), a rare chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from your face to your brain. TN pain is exceptionally severe and at one time was referred to as the “Suicide Disease” because those with TN would rather end their life than live with the pain associated with the condition. Diagnosed in 2018, Rene...

Julie Flygare, J.D., is a leading ambassador for narcolepsy and sleep, and a strong advocate for patient-centered research and the importance of social support. She is an accomplished speaker, Stanford Medicine X ePatient Scholar, and the award-winning author of Wide Awake and Dreaming: A Memoir of Narcolepsy. As President & CEO of Project Sleep, Julie leads the organization’s patient-driven advoc...

Julia Maués was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 while pregnant. Following the birth of a healthy baby boy, Julia did tests she couldn’t do while pregnant and discovered the cancer had spread to her brain, liver, and bones. After many treatment setbacks, her cancer began to respond to treatment. After adjusting to this new reality, she made it her mission to use this “bonus time” to make an im...

Lara manages coordinated medical collaboration, raising funds for research, and focusing on the global progression of EDS and HSD. She speaks at conferences all over the world, lecturing to medical students and professionals, and supports specialists in the field by offering her experience as a leading Patient Expert. Commemorating ten years in the field of patient advocacy, Lara was officially ap...

Leah Barett, MS, LCSW is a Psychotherapist and Nutritionist in Private Practice in Colorado. That is what she does, not who she is. She is a philosopher, nature-lover, sunset chaser and lover of beauty which she strives to see even in the darkest of places. She has a Ph. D. in being human which she gained from living with end-stage ovarian and breast cancer.

Ella Balasa is a patient advocate, consultant, and a person living with cystic fibrosis. She was diagnosed at 18 months old and has experienced countless hospitalizations since being a child. She has committed her time to empowering patients and advancing research and healthcare strategies through her connections with researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and patient organizations. She is an advo...

C. Glenn Begley MBBS (MD-equivalent), PhD, FRACP, FRCPA, FRCPath, FAHMS is a physician and hematologist/medical oncologist, with a PhD in cell and molecular biology. He currently serves as an independent biotechnology consultant, and is Head of Biology at California-based BridGene Biosciences, and co-Founder and Head of Discovery at Boston-based Parthenon Therapeutics. For 4 years, until March 202...

Ace Robinson is a leading administrative and policy Communicable Disease advocate and population health expert. He serves communities disproportionately impacted by HIV, COVID-19, tuberculosis, malaria, and associated illnesses. Ace currently serves as the Chief Mission Officer at the Covid Clinic, a national non-governmental organization created in response to the global pandemic. Robinson acts a...

When Effie’s son, Ford, was born with an extremely rare genetic condition called CTNNB1 syndrome, she dove headfirst into the world of advocacy. CTNNB1 syndrome is caused by a deletion, partial deletion, or mutation of the CTNNB1 gene. It is a neurological condition that can cause a range of symptoms from mild developmental delays to severe physical and intellectual disabilities. To help herself a...

I was born with PFFD (proximal focal femoral deficiency) in 1976. At the time, there were only 12 other documented cases in the world. At 2, we moved to the US to give me the best chance to live out my potential. I had years of physical therapy and terrific doctors, who helped set the groundwork that I could build on. My parents fought to get me into regular schools, where I learned how to adapt t...

Joe Sooch here. I have a rare disease called FOP where my muscles turn into bones literally I was born with all my limbs working normally with free range. As I get older, I’ll get swellings all over my body and bones just start forming the bones grow and locks my body into place permanently. I can get surgery or more bones will grow. My DNA is faulty so there is nothing any doctor can do to help....