The Our Stories Podcast

The HMO Wellness Our Stories Podcast is pleased to present a conversation with Dr, Vinita Singh, associate professor of anesthesiology, who takes care of patients at the Winship Cancer Institute who are dealing with cancer related pain. Dr, Singh shares her experiences as a young girl watching her father, a professor of physics, teach and mentor graduate students, even having them to his home for...

In this episode, first year HMO Fellow Dr. Melissa Oye shares about her motivation to enter into medicine. Following in the footsteps of her father, a vascular surgeon, Dr. Oye recounts memories of hanging out in the doctors' lounge with her siblings hearing her father paged to surgery on the overhead. She expresses pride in his commitment to his patients in their small town in West Virginia, wher...

HMO Wellness is excited to share an Our Stories Podcast starring Dr. Adam Marcus, PhD biologist, cancer researcher and professor. In this podcast Dr. Marcus shares his journey into cancer research starting with a 9th grade science class (oh the days when we thought we learned all there was to know), through college when he began to appreciate the potential of science to help advance humanity, in p...

Rebecca Doolittle, Associate Director of Facilities for Winship Cancer Institute joins us to share her story. With a background in music therapy and singing, Rebecca found her way unexpectedly into the work of facilities management over the past several decades. She credits her parents with instilling her with values of hard work that she carries forward in her vocation. She expresses deep appreci...

Our Stories Podcast is thrilled to present a conversation with Jacqueline Brown, MD who shares her journey from a young girl with a toy stethoscope to an attending oncologist in an academic medical center. Early role models of health care professionals include her grandfather (pathology and acupuncture) and her mother (nurse), and after recognizing her interest in science as well as joy she found...

For this episode of the Our Stories podcast we have a conversation with Jung-hoon Lee, MD, a medical oncologist and hematologist based at Johns Creek Hospital and the Clinic at Buford. Dr Lee shares his experience growing up in Johns Creek, even riding the school bus past the hospital where he now treats patients dealing with cancer. While he chose to enter the field of oncology during medical sch...

In this episode, Chris Zorn, Administrator of Clinic Operations for Building C shares his history growing up in Lexington, KY, learning deep values of compassion and love from his parents and grandparents. His parents were “always in service”: his father was a life-long police officer, and mother volunteered in front desk and guest services at a hospital. One of his deepest connections was with hi...

In this episode we welcome Dr. Ryan Haumschild, Director of Pharmacy Services at Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute. Dr. Haumschild shares his path to becoming a pharmacist by following in the footsteps of his father who worked in the same field. Experiences in his first job in the back of a long-term care facility scrubbing medication carts offered him the opportunity to listen to staf...

Ali John Zarrabi, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, who is trained in palliative care. He is a key member of the Winship supportive care team and has been awarded grant funding for research into the use of psilocybin assisted therapy. In this podcast Dr Zarrabi describes his early life experiences doing rounds with his father who was a physician wit...

Our Stories is delighted to present a conversation with Dr. Kristin Higgins, MD, Associate Professor and Vice Chair in Clinical Research in Radiation Oncology. In this podcast Dr. Higgins shares her childhood influences that led her to choose a career in health care and cancer; a mom who worked as a pediatric OR nurse and an uncle who died from complications of immune deficiency during the early t...

Our Stories Podcasts is thrilled to present a conversation with Lisa Jackson, LPN from Emory Saint Joseph hospital. Mrs. Jackson shares memories of her childhood role model, her mother, who was strong, caring and knew how to keep kids in line as an Army wife. For 16 years Mrs. Jackson was the caregiver for her mother who lived with a hemiplegic stroke, and this caregiving experience inspired a car...

Dr. Tim Cunningham is the Co-chief Well-being Officer and the Vice President of Practice and Innovation for Emory Healthcare. In this episode Dr. Cunningham shares about how witnessing his father’s burnout left an imprint on his life that has led him into the work of attending to the wellness of healthcare staff. He discusses former vocation in clown arts as compassionate activism around the globe...

For our 50th episode of the Our Stories Podcast we welcomed Dr. Jennifer Mascaro who leads our research efforts within the HMO Wellness Program. Dr. Mascaro is Associate Professor in Family and Preventive Medicine with Emory University School of Medicine. As a biological and medical anthropologist her areas of research are integrative mind/body approaches to bolster social connection and wellbeing...

For this episode of the Our Stories Wellness Podcast we welcomed Dr. David Lawson. Dr. Lawson shares about his upbringing in Perry, GA and the values of kindness and love that his parents instilled within him, even through turbulent times of the segregated South. Dr. Lawson almost became a lawyer, but to his patients’ benefit, he dropped out of law school to pursue medicine. It was his work as an...

Our Stories Podcast series is pleased to present a conversation with our very own Co-Vice Chairs for Wellness, Caroline Peacock LCSW, MDiv and Wendy Baer, MD. Please listen in for the stories that brought us into the world of cancer care professionals. For Caroline this was a journey through New York and social work, but for Dr Baer time spent teaching and living in Seattle. We share details about...

Our Stories Podcast series is excited to present a conversation with Dr Mary Jo Lechowicz, Professor in HMO and Vice Chair for Education. Dr. Lechowicz came to Emory by way of SUNY-Syracuse, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in NY and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in MD. In this podcast Dr Lechowicz shares her own experience as a young patient that led her into medicine, and continues to guid...

The Our Stories podcast series is delighted to present a conversation with Kimberly Lawhorn, Senior Outreach Liaison for Winship Cancer Institute (WCI)'s Network Development and Outreach Team. In her role as Outreach Liaison Ms. Lawhorn works with referring physicians across Georgia to inform and connect them and their patients with expert cancer care at WCI. In this podcast Ms. Lawhorn shares her...

Almira Catic is the Associate Director of Programs for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship with Emory University. In this episode, Almira shares the profound lessons of acceptance of persons who are different gained through her experience of being raised in Bosnia during the civil war in the 1990s. She was particularly inspired by her father who was from a mixed marriage, and who gave her a “tru...

Melinda Lester is Manager of Operations for Winship Cancer Institute at the Emory University Hospital Midtown campus, where she has worked for 23 years. In this episode she shares the way her relationships with her family are at the core of her life. She describes experiencing her grandfather’s and father’s battles with cancer, and how these helped her understand the needs of patients and families...

Misty Schoenthal is the Patient and Family Advocate for Winship Cancer Institute. In this moving episode she shares the story of losing her husband to testicular cancer and the journey that set her on to becoming an advocate for patients receiving cancer treatment and their loved ones. She describes the values she carries in her work, learned through her own experience, and offers suggestions for...

The HMO Wellness program is delighted to share a conversation with Jade Jones, MD for this episode of the Our Stories Podcast. In this conversation Dr. Jones shares her journey into medicine, a journey that began at age six when she decided to become a doctor so she could take care of people like her family members who were dealing with medical challenges in the Virgin Islands where health care re...

Our Stories podcast is pleased to present a conversation with David Frank, MD, PhD, who is the director of the Division of Hematology at Winship Cancer Institute. In this podcast Dr Frank describes the love of science and interest in helping people with serious illness that led him to medical school. With training in medical research, Dr. Frank has found a space to study science that provides hope...

Pearline "Pearl" Ledbetter is a lead Pharmacy Technician with Emory University Midtown and has been with Emory for the past 35 years. In this episode she shares her story how she got into the Pharmacy environment and what brings her joy in the work. She takes deep pride in her work, so that patients can receive effective, efficient, and compassionate care. She loves seeing patients ring the bell a...

Wellness HMO is pleased to present a conversation with Dr Caitlin Elizabeth Taylor for this episode of Our Stories podcast series. Dr Taylor went to medical school at Tulane University in New Orleans before coming to Atlanta for her residency and oncology fellowship at Emory. In this podcast Dr Taylor shares her experiences growing up in a family of health care providers including her father and g...

In this Episode, Sheryl Bluestein, Vice President of Operations for Emory University Hospital Midtown shares how she had an unusual awareness as a teenager that she wanted to become a healthcare administrator- not something most teens dream of! She loved "numbers" and thinking about how systems work, which led her into education in health care administration and business. During her education Sher...