The Health Design Podcast

The ABCs of an Effective Doctor Visit — with Robin Shapiro What if the key to better healthcare isn't just better medicine, but better conversations? In this episode of the Health Design Podcast, I sit down with Robin Shapiro — health advocate, co-founder of Allied Health Advocates, and co-founder of Health Advocate X — to unpack what it really takes to get the most out of your time with a doctor. Robin traces her career back to a single phone call from a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who couldn't use her hands to diaper her baby — a moment that sparked a lifelong mission to amplify patient voices. We discuss the ABCs of an effective doctor visit (Agenda, Bring a buddy, Compassion), the realities of the 20-minute appointment, and why a notebook might be the most powerful tool you bring to the clinic. We also dig into the thorny questions emerging in modern medicine: Should patients be allowed to record consultations? How is AI reshaping diagnosis, adherence, and the doctor-patient dynamic? And when the diagnosis isn't clear, how do doctors and patients co-pilot through the uncertainty together? From the importance of second opinions to the weight of a doctor's words, this is a conversation about humility, compassion, and navigating the system when it matters most. Guest: Robin Shapiro — Co-Founder, Allied Health Advocates; Co-founder, Health Advocate X Host: Moyez Jiwa ABOUT ROBIN L. SHAPIRO Robin L. Shapiro is an author, speaker, and a nationally recognized pioneer in the health advocacy movement. She has worked in healthcare communications, public affairs, and patient advocacy since 1988. She founded Health Advocacy Strategies, co-founded Health Perspectives Group (now called Reverba), and in 2008 co-founded Allied Health Advocates, one of Washington state’s first independent patient advocacy firms. In 2012 she co-founded the nonprofit now known as HealthAdvocateX, where she serves as Board Chair Emerita. Her 2019 book, The Secret Language of Healthcare: How to Ask for the Care You Deserve, gives readers the questions and the language to use in common medical situations. She launched the podcast Well Said Health in 2026. She holds degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Missouri and lives in Seattle. ABOUT WELL SAID HEALTH Well Said Health is a twice-monthly interview podcast hosted by Robin L. Shapiro. Each episode opens on a health situation most people will eventually face, follows one real story through it, and closes with the specific questions, words, and resources a listener can use. The show is built for adults making care decisions for themselves, their children, and their aging parents. Well Said Health is not medical advice. https://rss.com/podcasts/well-said-health/

Health Design Podcast — Haresh Patel, Founder of Sanare Haresh Patel joins the Health Design Podcast to share his fifty-five-year medical journey — from a misdiagnosed skin condition to a deeply personal discovery that the mind, body, and spirit are inseparable when it comes to health. After years of navigating a fragmented healthcare system where shrinking appointment times and over-specialization left no one connecting the dots, Haresh built Sanare: a platform that empowers patients to become the CEO of their own health. We explore how Sanare helps patients centralize their medical records, build a complete life-event timeline, and use AI to match with the right practitioners — not just the nearest specialist. Harish shares powerful stories from his own experience, including how a childhood trauma surfaced decades later as a sleep disorder, and how a veterinarian-turned-doctor finally asked the questions no one else had thought to ask. This conversation dives into the biopsychosocial model of illness, the 133 million people stuck in "diagnostic limbo," and why the future of healthcare may depend less on technology and more on simply asking the right questions.

Teaching Medical Narratives: Pre-Health Students and the Future of Human-Centered Care What happens when you teach storytelling and reflection to future doctors before they ever set foot in medical school? In this episode of the Health Design Podcast, host Moyez Jiwa sits down with Eric Last, a veteran primary care internist, and Genie N. Giaimo, an associate professor of writing studies and rhetoric at Hofstra University, to unpack their groundbreaking course that brings medical narratives into the undergraduate classroom. Together, they discuss how immersing pre-health students in the humanities — through writing, storytelling, and honest conversation about illness, caregiving, and loss — can fundamentally reshape how the next generation of clinicians relates to patients. Eric and Genie share moving moments from their classroom: students opening up about their own chronic conditions, caregiving responsibilities, and encounters with a healthcare system that too often fails to listen. The conversation also confronts the structural forces threatening humanistic medicine — the rise of concierge practices, the commodification of care, physician burnout, and the financial pressures that push young clinicians onto a hamster wheel. Can a new generation of students, armed with narrative tools and a commitment to connection, push back against a system that treats patients as widgets? And what does it cost — personally and professionally — to choose mission over money? Topics covered: Why pre-health undergraduates need the humanities now, not in medical school Writing as a tool for professional resuscitation and burnout prevention The tension between relationship-based care and a commodified healthcare system Concierge medicine, access, and the ethics of who gets heard How students are already advocating for themselves and their future patients Guests: Eric Last — primary care internist, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Genie N. Giaimo — associate professor of writing studies and rhetoric, Hofstra University

Professor Gary David returns to The Health Design Podcast to explore how we can design experiences that foster connection, belonging, and shared meaning — especially in healthcare settings. Drawing on his background as a sociologist and experience designer, Gary discusses the concept of "communities of the moment" — how shared experiences, from ringing the bell after chemotherapy to using inclusive pronouns like "we" and "team," can elevate everyday interactions into something greater than the sum of their parts. The conversation takes a deeply personal turn when Gary shares the story of his daughter's surgery at a Children's Hospital and the baffling, jargon-filled denial letter he received from his insurance company. It becomes a case study in systemic misalignment — where different parts of a healthcare system work against each other, leaving patients and caregivers confused, anxious, and financially vulnerable. Gary introduces his upcoming book, The Un-Wow: Your Blueprint to Experience Design of All Kinds, which argues that the most meaningful experiences often come not from grand "wow" moments but from small, everyday acts — what he calls micro-affirmations. He makes the case that everyone in a healthcare system, from surgeons to coders to cleaning staff, plays a role in shaping the patient experience, and that technical competence alone doesn't make someone a good leader. The episode closes with a reflection on workplace culture, the difference between doing and leading, and why experience design is ultimately a people business. Learn more at theunwow.com and listen to Gary's podcast, Experience by Design.

Dr. Eugene Manley joins the Health Design podcast to share a harrowing personal experience navigating the US healthcare system after foot surgery. While on Medicaid, he encountered medical racism, falsified chart notes, and a hospital system determined to discharge him before he was ready — despite his surgeon's objections. He describes how physical therapists misrepresented his condition in his records, blocking his access to skilled nursing care and leaving him vulnerable at his most fragile moment. The conversation broadens to explore how capable people are misread by systems not designed to understand them. Eugene discusses his late-diagnosed ADHD, the cognitive cost of masking in workplaces, and how neurodivergent individuals — especially those who are also Black or from underserved backgrounds — are forced to fit boxes that waste their potential. He and host Moyez Jiwa examine the economic and human cost when talent walks out the door because it doesn't conform, and the troubling rollback of DEI initiatives in the US. Eugene also discusses the funding crisis facing Black and Hispanic-led nonprofits, the chilling effect on scientific research, and his upcoming book "Too Much and Not Enough: Neurodivergence, Race, and Broken Systems." A powerful, candid conversation about what happens when systems fail the very people they're meant to serve.

What happens when the surgeon becomes the patient? In this episode of the Health Design Podcast, we revisit a conversation with Minas Chrysopoulo — world-class breast surgeon and returning guest — who shares the story of a sudden and life-altering diagnosis that changed everything. In the summer of 2023, Minas woke up with stiffness and numbness in his hands. What followed was a diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, a gruelling journey through six different medications, and ultimately the decision to stop operating entirely — a career that had defined him for three decades. Minas opens up about the shock of losing the thing he loved most, the surprising ways colleagues, patients, and friends responded, and what it truly means to forgive. He reflects on the unexpected gifts that emerged from his darkest period: a deeper gratitude, stronger relationships, and a clarity about what really matters. Now channelling his experience as a surgeon and a patient into healthcare access and patient empowerment, Minas shares his perspective on informed consent, the constraints patients face when navigating the medical system, and why technology may be the most powerful tool we have for closing the gap between what patients need and what they receive. This is a rare and honest conversation about resilience, identity, and what it means to build a meaningful second act.

In this episode of the Health Design Podcast, host Moyez Jiwa speaks with Laura Morris, an interior designer at Perkins&Will who specializes in healthcare environments. Laura shares her passion for designing spaces that support the whole patient — not just the clinical procedure — with a particular focus on women's health. The conversation centers on the Nemours Children's Hospital Advanced Delivery Unit in Delaware, a recently completed project for high-risk pregnancies that Laura describes as her most rewarding work. Key themes covered: Design as healing: How environment directly affects patient stress, blood pressure, and willingness to communicate openly with clinicians. The Nemours ADU project: A unit serving mothers who know their babies will need immediate medical care at birth. The design balances state-of-the-art clinical functionality (labor rooms, operating rooms with resuscitation areas, direct NICU corridors) with hotel-like comforts — spa-style bathrooms, nature views, personalized lighting, and even spaces for staff-hosted baby showers. Sensory design: Patient-controlled lighting and color-changing artwork, digital signage replacing paper signs, noise-zoned corridors, and frosted windows bringing daylight into operating rooms. Staff wellbeing: How good design improves staff retention and morale, with the nursing director reporting she still smiles walking in every morning. Urban hospitals: Practical strategies for inner-city facilities without idyllic settings — borrowed light, biophilic elements, printed window shades, and accessible staff respite spaces. Three lessons: Collaboration and shared vision, fighting for good design decisions, and proof that speed (18 months for 30,000 sq ft) doesn't have to compromise quality.

When Doctors Become Caregivers: Supporting Carers, Community Health, and the Limits of Quick Fixes On the Health Design Podcast, Moyez Jiwa speaks with physician Tyson Garfield about how his perspective on patient experience shifted after his partner was diagnosed with a mucinous borderline ovarian tumor, underwent radical surgery, and faced a prolonged recovery that felt fractured despite good surgical care. Tyson describes the emotional labor, uncertainty before pathology, and using the AI tool OpenEvidence, as well as the need for caregiver support through primary care access and “the village,” noting the healthcare system funds individuals but not unpaid carers. They discuss rural and urban aging challenges including transport dependence, food deserts, limited internet, clinician retention, and fragmented community ties, and highlight community-focused care models like PACE and the importance of social workers. They also debate rising demand for semaglutides/GLP-1s, concerns about long-term effects such as sarcopenia, and the need for clinicians to be more vocal advocates for healthy aging and evidence-based information. 00:00 Welcome Back Tyson 00:39 Partner Diagnosis Shock 03:55 Recovery Gaps Exposed 05:09 Emotional Labor Uncertainty 09:13 Caregiver Needs Support 10:51 Supporting the Carers 12:04 Why Village Unfunded 15:14 Rural Aging Tasmania 19:48 Building Rural Care Models 22:09 Keeping Doctors Rural 26:28 Urban Isolation Caregivers 30:33 Sharing Info Legal Risks 32:56 Ethics What Matters Most 34:51 Social Drivers Physician Role 37:46 Food Deserts GLP1 Debate 42:13 Advocacy Against Quick Fixes 45:06 Closing Thanks Farewell

Dr. Tim McLerran is a physician-turned product leader with a mission to bring human and machine intelligence together in the service of clinical challenges. During a research fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, Tim co-developed methods to rapidly measure the molecular milieu of human blood using mass spectrometry. This exposed him to the massive volume of data in precision medicine, and precipitated a realization that artificial intelligence would have to be a part of medicine in order for us to make full use of the data available for each patient. As an entrepreneur and product leader, Tim has developed and deployed systems which provide AI support to clinicians in diagnosis, management, documentation, and patient communication. He is dedicated to the quadruple aim of healthcare, practices user-centered design, favors lean and agile methods of software development, and actively advocates for the ethical principles laid out by the American Medical Association in their November 2024 statement "Augmented Intelligence Development, Deployment, and Use in Health Care".

Jill Wener, MD is a board-certified Internist, ICF-certified professional coach, certified EFT/tapping practitioner and trainer, anti-racism educator, DEI consultant, trauma specialist, allyship coach, and expert in physician wellness. Jill is passionate about helping people take responsibility for their problems and teaching them practical, easy, rewarding, and trauma-informed tools to take self-improvement to the next level. Jill is the co-creator of the CME-accredited Conscious Anti-Racism training programs, the host of the Conscious Anti-Racism podcast, and the co-author of the best-selling Conscious Anti-Racism book. She has created CME-accredited EFT/tapping and meditation courses. Jill has worked with clients such as Georgia Aquarium, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Yale University, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Centene, Santa Clara Medical Society, Rush University Medical Center, ChenMed, the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health, Emory University, Atkins Global, and the National Alliance for Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions.