A Physician Cellist Prescribes Music: Melanie Ambler on Creating Musical Rounds

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. William Li — internal medicine physician, vascular biologist, and founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation — to talk about something we were never really taught in medical school: how specific foods work at a molecular level to prevent and even fight disease. We get into the science behind everyday foods like black coffee, soy, eggs, and oats — cutting through the myths and the fear-based messaging that has, frankly, done a lot of harm. Will walks us through why soy does not cause breast cancer (and may actually protect against it), why egg quality matters more than cholesterol fear, and what his lab's recent research on oats and wound healing reveals about the untapped potential of whole foods.  00:00 Introduction to Dr. William Li and Angiogenesis 01:06 The Role of Food in Health and Disease 02:36 Debunking Myths: Soy and Breast Cancer 07:30 The Importance of Nutrition Education in Medicine 09:58 The Truth About Eggs and Their Health Benefits 13:21 Recent Discoveries: Oats and Their Bioactive Properties 15:29 Innovative Wound Healing with Avananthramide 17:10 The Role of Diet in Cancer Treatment 17:56 Communicating Science to the Public 21:53 Empowering Patients Through Knowledge 24:00 Exploring Everyday Remedies: Coffee and Wound Healing 25:45 OuttroVVP.mp3 26:22 NEWCHAPTER Wish to help the show? Click 👍🏻 on YouTube Leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple. Subscribe here and send it to a friend.

In this episode of Visible Voices, host Dr. Resa E. Lewiss sits down with sleep medicine physician and circadian rhythm expert Dr. Katie Sharkey — inaugural director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Rhythms at Wake Forest University School of Medicine — to break down the science of sleep health, insomnia treatment, and women's sleep across the lifespan. They cover why alcohol disrupts sleep quality and worsens sleep apnea, how circadian rhythms regulate mood and mental health, the truth about naps and melatonin, perimenopause and sleep disturbances, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and digital CBT-I apps, wearables like the Oura Ring and the risk of orthosomnia, the glymphatic system's role in brain detox during sleep, AI-powered sleep scoring, and the perinatal sleep crisis driving maternal morbidity. Dr. Sharkey closes with three actionable microskills: keeping a sleep diary, maximizing daytime light exposure, and practicing self-compassion around sleep variability. Wish to help the show? Click 👍🏻 on YouTube Leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple. Subscribe here and send it to a friend.

In this episode of the Visible Voices Podcast, I'm in conversation with Graham Walker MD — emergency physician, healthcare AI thought leader and co-founder of Off Call. Originally released as an audio episode in 2024, we are re-releasing the conversationas an audio and video episode as OffCall is on a mission is to dramatically reverse burnout by improving the wealth and wellbeing of physicians. We talk about why 71,000 physicians left medicine in 2021–2022, the corporatization of healthcare, and what Off Call is doing to restore transparency and value to physician careers. Graham is the creator of MDCalc, used by roughly two-thirds of U.S. doctors, and theNNT.com — two free tools born from his conviction that physicians deserve better instruments to practice safer, evidence-based medicine. We trace the full arc of his story: growing up in a psychiatry household in suburban Kansas City, studying social policy at Northwestern, coding websites on the side to pay the bills, and arriving at Stanford med school where inefficiency got under his skin enough to build MDCalc.  Sign up for OffCall Listen to How I Doctor podcast Wish to help the show? Click 👍🏻 on YouTube Leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple. Subscribe here and send it to a friend.

Prescribing Music: Why Melodies Work When Medicine Fails. Dr. Melanie Ambler is a physician and cellist who founded "Musical Rounds," a program dedicated to integrating music into patient care. In this episode, Melanie reveals her journey into playing cello on hospital rounds during her medical student rotations at Stanford School of Medicine. We explore the science into how music accesses the brain's "backdoor" to treat neurodegenerative diseases and discuss the preliminary findings of her Musical Rounds research study. Wish to help the show?  Click 👍🏻 on YouTube Leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple. Subscribe here and send it to a friend.

In this episode I speak with emergency medicine physician and medical educator Anand 'Swami' Swaminathan MD MPH.  We explore how humility, vulnerability, and effective communication drive better medical education, knowledge translation, and professional growth. Swami shares his journey from singing acapella to shaping emergency medicine education, emphasizing the importance of reaching broader audiences and embracing uncertainty. Swami is a known and visible voices for RebelEM — a free open-access medical education platform,  EM:RAP a premium emergency medicine education podcast and YouTube channel and his own Instagram — Sharing quick videos and insights.  If you enjoy the show, please click 👍🏻 like on YouTube.and leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple. Share the podcast and Website with a friend.

Former US Attorney Joyce Vance joins Dr Resa Lewiss to discuss her New York Times bestseller Giving Up is Unforgivable A Manual for Keeping a Democracy and why civic health matters now more than ever. As the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017, nominated by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Joyce brought together communities to solve problems.  In 2017, she received the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health's Lou Wooster Public Health Hero Award for her leadership in creating a community-engaged initiative that brought together law enforcement, the medical and business communities, and educators to address the heroin and opioid epidemic in northern Alabama. Today, she's a professor at the University of Alabama  and a legal analyst for MSNow  She's also a podcaster, co-hosting #SistersInLaw the new Sisters Sidebar, and the CAFE Insider podcast with Preet Bharara. Three MicroSkills Joyce offers to listeners: 1. register to vote, 2. stay registered by checking your status 60 days before elections, and 3. make a voting plan with the goal of bringing others with you. Book Giving Up is Unforgivable Podcast Sisters in LawPodcast CAFE Insider Podcast Newsletter Civil Discourse If you enjoy the show, please leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple, subscribe 👍🏻 on YouTube and subscribe via the Website and send to a friend.

In this episode I meet up with Tina Shah MD MPH, a triple board-certified physician in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, and critical care who is running for Congress in New Jersey's seventh district. We dive deep into Tina's journey from White House Fellow, to working with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to ICU doctor to congressional candidate, exploring how physician burnout, healthcare affordability, and insurance company barriers to care drove her to pursue systemic change at the policy level. Tina shares powerful patient stories—including her own mother's cardiac care denial and a diabetic patient's life-threatening hospitalization due to medication rationing—that illustrate why doctors need a seat at the table in Congress. We discuss civic health, the misinformation epidemic, healthcare workforce crisis, and how she successfully led a grassroots movement that defeated the insurance lobby in New Jersey to protect patients from prior authorization denials.  Website: https://www.drtinashahforcongress.com/ If you enjoy the show, please leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple, subscribe 👍🏻 on YouTube and subscribe via the Website and send to a friend.

In this episode of the Visible Voices podcast, I speak with the former mayor of Stockton, California, and 2026 candidate for the Lt. Governor of California Michael Tubbs. Michael currently serves as a special adviser for economic mobility and opportunity for Governor Gavin Newsom. He shares his journey as a first-generation college student at Stanford to a leader across the state and in Stockton Ca. He emphasizes the importance of education, community empowerment, and addressing poverty through innovative programs. We talk about  the The Stockton Scholars, and The EPIC (Ending Poverty in California) program. Michael's memoir is the 2021 The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home. Watch to learn more on HBO Stockton on My Mind documentary. Website:  https://michaeltubbsforca.com/ If you enjoy the show, please leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple, subscribe 👍🏻 on YouTube and sign up via the Website. Forward to a friend today!

In this episode I speak with Dr. Thomas Fisher, an emergency medicine physician and Chicago Illinois congressional candidate. We discuss the profound impact of the pandemic on healthcare, the intimate relationships formed in emergency medicine, and the motivations behind Dr. Fisher's run for Congress. The conversation delves into the importance of moral leadership, social determinants of health, and the role of physicians in civic engagement. Dr. Fisher emphasizes the need for active participation in shaping healthcare policies. Conversation highlightsThe  writing of his 2022 book The Emergency as a cathartic process during the pandemic. Emergency medicine provides a unique perspective on humanity and vulnerability. Social determinants of health are crucial for understanding patient care: the healthcare system often penalizes poverty. Hope can be found in collective action and community support: it's important to take risks and step out of comfort zones for change. If you enjoy the show, please leave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Apple, subscribe 👍🏻 on YouTube and sign up via the Website. Forward to a friend today!

Dr. Resa E. Lewiss has spent over 25 years educating, speaking, and writing about healthcare, equity, and innovation. She is an emergency medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, a TEDMED speaker, healthcare designer, and award-winning author. In The Visible Voices Podcast, Resa shares smart, sharp, and insightful conversations with subject matter experts and interesting people—people who are really making a difference, have something to say, and a story to share. Resa doesn't do surface-level healthcare conversations here. She examines the architecture—power structures, equity gaps, and the distance between evidence and practice—to help you choose health and healthier behaviors in all aspects of life. She connects ideas most people keep in separate boxes. Since 2020, Resa has been here weekly with new episodes every Wednesday.