SuperBowl Special – Head Injuries and Concussions

This episode aired on February 6, 2011 and is now available as a free download on our iTunes page!

On this Super Bowl Sunday, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers. Several hours earlier, we tackled the topic of head injuries in professional sports by speaking with a panel of experts:

  • Alex Bagley, MD/PhD student at Harvard University
  • Dan Daneshvar, MD/PhD student at Boston University.
  • Dr. Matthew DiPaola, Radio Rounds Special Correspondent and Assistant Professor of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Wright State University.

Alex and Dan are the founders of the Sports Legacy Institute Community Educators (SLICE) program, where they study the science behind concussions. We discuss their work in the Boston area, educating youth about the dangers of head injuries, and we discuss the perception of concussions within the realm of professional sports.

Learn more about the SLICE program on their website and find out how you can get involved or contact Alex and Dan directly.

Again, remember that, as always, the free-to-download podcast of this episode (and all past episodes) can be found on our iTunes page!

An Apple a Day

This episode — the Season 5 Premiere — aired on January 30, 2011. and is now available as a free download on our iTunes page! You can also listen to the entire episode here on our site!

We kick off the new year by addressing a topic that is central to many new year’s resolutions: eating healthier. At the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in California, veteran OB/GYN physician Dr. Preston Maring decided to create an organic farmers’ market right outside the doors to his hospital.

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Maring about his motivations behind the project, as well as his views on pursuing a healthier lifestyle through better eating options. Also joining us on the program is Dr. Maring’s son, Ben, who is a 4th year medical student at New York University. Moreover, Ben is a culinary school graduate and has worked to incorporate his two interests while a medical student. He founded a program called CHEF — Cook Healthy, Eat Fresh —  which teaches future physicians about nutrition in the context of common diseases, such as diabetes.

Learn more about Dr. Maring and his son in this recent New York Times article

Again, remember that, as always, the free-to-download podcast of this episode (and all past episodes) can be found on our iTunes page!

Facing the Skeptics

This episode, which aired on February 21, 2010, is now available on iTunes!

This episode features Dr. Steven Novella, Director of Neurology at Yale University and host of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe — a wildly popular podcast that explores the myths that pervade science and medicine. Dr. Novella discusses the anti-vaccination movement and what it means for the current practice of medicine, and he also shares his thoughts on complementary/alternative medicine.

This episode’s ‘Residency Insights’ segment showcases a pair of physicians sharing stories from their careers, with each highlighting personal interactions that they have had with patients and that they carry with them as a reminder of the incredible human side of medicine.  Dr. Tim Pritts (Director of the General Surgery Residency Program at the University of Cincinnati) and Dr. Steven Reichert (Director of Cornell University’s Internal Medicine Residency Program at New York Hospital Queens) appear on the program.

A Stroke of Insight

The free podcast of this episode is available on our iTunes page!

On Sunday November 8, 2009, Radio Rounds welcomed special guest Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, who in 2008 was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World (don’t worry — in the coming years, we’ll try and speak to the other 99 as well).

In December 1996, Dr. Taylor woke up to discover that she was experiencing a stroke — but amazingly, as a neuroanatomist, she knew and realized exactly what was happening to her. Three weeks later, neurosurgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital removed a golf-ball sized clot from her brain, and Taylor went on to write a book about her experience and her eight-year recovery. The book is entitled My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, which spent 17 weeks on the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Bestseller list.

In this episode, Dr. Taylor discusses her experience, her current perspective on life, and her tireless work as an advocate of stroke patients. She also talks about how people around the world have responded to her unique, inspiring story and gave advice to physicians on how to treat stroke patients.