First Opinion Podcast

On this week's The Readout LOUD podcast from STAT, International researchers got a reprieve in the courts this week. But many are still considering leaving the states for opportunities elsewhere. What does that mean for the future of American medical research? We discuss that, plus the latest news in the life sciences, on this week's episode of "The Readout LOUD." STAT reporter Jonathan Wosen and Fanta Aw, the executive director of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, join the podcast to discuss a recent court decision around foreign visas for students. We also discuss the Definium's psychedelics data and what it means for that field as a whole.

The medical journalism world was rocked recently when the mavens behind the Associated Press Stylebook announced a seismic change: It was embracing "healthcare" as one word, after decades of styling it as two. When the change was debuted at ACES, a conference of editors, “people cheered, there was a commotion. It seemed like it was really warmly received,” Sarah Mupo, STAT’s director of editorial operations and keeper of the STAT style guide, told me on this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast.” On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” Sarah and Torie talk about how she approached making the big decision — and why a single space can carry such meeting.

Every time Dawn Zuidgeest-Craft intended to apply to medical school, life got in the way. But after 45 years as a neonatal nurse practitioner, she finally did it, beginning medical school at the age of 69 in 2022. She hadn’t originally intended to practice after graduating, but soon, a week before she turns 73, Zuidgeest-Craft will begin her residency in family medicine. “I know what I’m getting into. I think a lot of young wannabes don’t have a clue, but I have a big clue,” she said. Starting residency at her age comes with some surprising challenges: For instance, how does her employer handle a resident who is also on Medicare? We discussed her journey to and through medical school, the public response to her story, and how long she hopes to practice.

Back in September, at what would prove to be an infamous press conference, President Trump repeated a claim popular among vaccine critics: Autism “doesn’t exist with the Amish community, and they don’t take all of this junk,” he said, referring to vaccines. That’s not true, according to Braxton Mitchell, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Cory Anderson, who is a postdoctoral researcher in population health and demography at Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute. Both have studied the Amish and public health — and, they say, vaccination and autism are far from the only interesting and important topics here. Listen to hear more about the Amish approach to the medical system, vaccines, paying for care, and much more.

If you’ve ever donated blood, you know about the screening process: Have you traveled to certain countries? Engaged in risky sexual activities? One question that they don’t ask is: Have you been vaccinated against Covid-19? But some patients and their families, worried by misinformation around Covid-19 vaccines, are insisting on getting blood transfusions from donors who haven’t been vaccinated. When that happens, says Deva Sharma, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology and transfusion medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, they often don’t speak directly to the physician. Instead, the families — often parents of pediatric patients — turn to their nurses, or even directly call the blood bank to make requests. (That approach does not work, according to Sharma.) On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch speaks with Sharma, who recently co-authored a study looking at 15 patients and families who requested directed donor blood transfusions — that is, transfusions from donors they know personally. That might seem harmless, Sharma says, but there are serious risks: “[T]here were delays in medical care, including delays in transfusion for very severe anemia and also delays in surgical care,” she told me. They discuss the need for hospital policies on direct donations, the ethical considerations, and why, exactly, patients are so insistent on unvaccinated blood.

In recent years, people are increasingly blaming perimenopause for a constellation of symptoms: weight gain, hair loss, brain fog. But does the evidence support this point of view? Who’s profiting from it? And what does it mean for perimenopause to be such a hot topic? On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch speaks with Patricia Bencivenga and Adriane Fugh-Berman of the Georgetown University Medical Center’s Pharmed Out project about their research on menopause and perimenopause, and why they’re concerned about women being too quick to blame their hormones. “Women have been seen as erratic and unstable due to their hormone changes and their hormones for hundreds of years, right? You’re erratic, and untrustworthy when you’re pubescent, and then again your hormones are out of control when you’re PMSing, and then again, when you were having your period or you’re on the rag, or then again when you are pregnant, or then when you postpartum, or now perimenopausal or menopausal. So at what point are we going to be seen as fully stable and secure people?” said Bencivenga.

In 2023, Netflix released a documentary titled “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones,” which looked at some small, geographically isolated places around the world in which, reportedly, residents regularly lived to 100 or beyond. It was just the most recent installment to a longevity franchise that began roughly 25 years ago. But how real are “blue zones”? And has the concept’s commercialization drowned out its scientific value? Medical journalist Shelley Wood, author of the novel “The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley,” and cardiologist Eric Topol, author of “Super Agers,” recently teamed up recently to write a First Opinion essay examining blue zones at 25 years. They join host Tori Bosch on this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast” to discuss their findings and how the idea of blue zones fits into the current longevity craze. They argue that the concept, which originated with mountain villages in Sardinia, Italy, may have been flawed from the start, given how many records were destroyed by World War II — but that it still promotes some valuable ideas, especially in an age of longevity pseudoscience.

His real name is Will Flanary, but you probably know him as Dr. Glaucomflecken — the internet’s go-to doctor/comedian. On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” we talked about how he mixes humor with some of the most pressing issues facing health care, from misinformation on social media to the corporate takeover of medicine. In particular, Flanary has been deeply involved with advocacy around PeaceHealth’s decision to use a corporate group to staff the emergency department in Eugene, Oregon, instead of the community-based physicians who had been there for more than 35 years. “There's a lot people in hospital administration, in health insurance, in private equity, doing bad things for patients and for doctors. And one unifying characteristic of every story … is that they don't want people to know what's happening. They want to keep it out of the news,” he told me. “They don't want this kind of scrutiny because they know this is really unpopular and that maybe this isn't the best for patient care, but it's maybe good for pocketbooks, maybe good for other reasons that are not as altruistic.” By “making a stink” on social media, he said, he hopes he can bring scrutiny to those trying to avoid it.

One of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s refrains has focused on medical education: Doctors don’t know enough about nutrition and preventive medicine, he likes to say. He has encouraged medical schools to beef up (tallow up?) their education on healthy eating and its connection to chronic disease. What do medical students think of this? On this week’s episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch spoke with Tiffany Onyejiaka, a fourth-year medical student, and Lauren Rice, who is poised to start her residency in internal medicine this summer. Both have written First Opinion essays on Kennedy’s claims. In November, Tiffany argued that it would be more productive to support the work of registered dietitians and encourage them to collaborate with doctors. More recently, Lauren wrote that she agreed that medical school needs more of a preventive health mindset. I brought them together to discuss each other’s arguments and compare their experiences in medical school. “Our country's health is going down a very poor trajectory and something needs to change,” Lauren said on the podcast. “I don't have the answer to what that needs to be. I don't think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the answer. I don't think anyone has the answers. But the conversation needs to start and it needs to a conversation with a lot people at the table.”

Have you ever wondered how many drugs are behind the counter at your local pharmacy? According to Thomas Goetz — a journalist, entrepreneur, and host of the new podcast “Drug Story” —  “there are over 3,000 drugs behind a typical pharmacist counter.” And behind each drug is a story. On “Drug Story,” which debuted in January, Goetz picks one drug and examines its history, the disease it treats, and how it intersects with society and public health. “In every drug, every medication, there is a much larger story to tell about health and medicine and society and business and economics,” he told me on this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast.” We talked about Ambien, Ozempic, and how drugs attempt to treat the ways modern life is incompatible with the human body; how his thinking about weight loss drugs has changed over the years; and much more — including my ill-fated attempts to feed a baby salmon puree to stave off fish allergies.