Author: sdas

H1N1 Special Report

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

In late September 2009, Radio Rounds featured a special report on the H1N1 pandemic around the world and across the country. Joining the Radio Rounds team in this episode, from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, is Dr. Inzune Hwang (left).

Dr. Hwang was the Technical Specialty Unit Lead for the 2009 H1N1 Response at the CDC’s Emergency Operations Center, and in this episode, he updates listeners on all of the up-to-date efforts at the CDC to understand the H1N1 flu strain and to limit its spread across the United States this fall. We discuss the propensity of the H1N1 strain to preferentially infect younger populations, as well as issues related to the upcoming state-by-state vaccine distribution.

Is there really cause for concern? Dr. Hwang addresses that very question.

Surviving the ‘Initiation’

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

This episode of Radio Rounds kicked off a special three-week series featuring best-selling physician-authors who have written well-known memoirs about their experiences during residency.

To kick off our series, Radio Rounds spoke with Dr. Sandeep Jauhar (left) author of a book entitled Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation. “Intern” is the term traditionally used to refer to a first-year medical resident (i.e. a physician in the year after graduating from medical school), and the book describes Dr. Jauhar’s disillusionment upon entering the medical profession — a sentiment which he explained in our conversation with him in this episode. The first year of residency is a famously brutal experience for young physicians, and in this episode, Dr. Jauhar eloquently discusses his journey through that year and beyond.

Today, Dr. Jauhar is the Director of the Heart Failure Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and an Assistant Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Needless to say, he survived his initiation and lived to talk — and write — about it!

Hope with Honesty

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

In this episode, the Radio Rounds team is joined by Dr. Paula M. Termuhlen (left), the Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Director of the General Surgery Residency Program at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine (BSOM).

Dr. Termuhlen speaks about the difficulties and rewards of treating cancer patients, noting that a physician must convey to the patient and their family a balance of “hope with honesty” — hence the title of the episode. She also shares her personal reasons for being so invested in the field of surgical oncology. In addition, Dr. Termuhlen discusses topics such as resident work hours, academic dishonesty, and the process of selecting fourth year medical students to enter a surgical residency — a process she undertakes each year as Residency Director.

An additional highlight of this episode is a brief conversation about co-host Lakshman Swamy’s recent skydiving appearance!

Rounds Goes Genetic

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

This episode of Radio Rounds features a dynamic and truly eye-opening interview with pediatrician and author Dr. Robert Marion, whose new book — Genetic Rounds: A Doctor’s Life in the Field that Revolutionized Medicine — is a poignant description of his daily work in the cutting-edge field of clinical genetics.

Dr. Marion (left) speaks candidly with ‘Rounds’ hosts Avash Kalra and Lakshman Swamy about a variety of topics — including his experiences during residency during the early 1980s, which are described in his bestseller The Intern Blues. He tells stories that highlight what can happen to physicians when they are pushed to their physical and mental limits. And he offers advice regarding how aspiring physicians can survive.

For more information, check out Dr. Marion’s website here!

Cutting to the Heart of the Matter

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

Featured in this episode is Dr. Anthony Acinapura (left), a seasoned cardiothoracic surgeon in New York City. Dr. Acinapura has made an impact in both New York and nationally, lowering mortality rates on a national basis by helping to create a cardiothoracic database for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons still used today.

Having practiced for 47 years — going on 48 — Dr. Acinapura talks with the Radio Rounds team about the immense changes that he has seen in cardiovascular medicine and surgery during the last half-century. As one might expect, that change has been dramatic.

And Dr. Acinapura has had a front row seat.

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.

Advocacy in Medicine

You can hear a clip from this episode on our BEST OF SEASON ONE file, available as a free podcast download on iTunes.

This episode was the Season One Finale and featured an action-packed conclusion to the flagship season of Radio Rounds. Our featured guest was Dr. Alvin Jackson (left), the Director of the Ohio Department of Health. Dr Jackson offered his thoughts and insight on a variety of topics — health policy concerns, health disparities, his personal work caring for migrant workers, and his recent meeting in Washington with President Barack Obama.

We were also joined by a lineup of leaders from various student organizations at the Boonshoft School of Medicine. Representing the American Medical Association (AMA) were Tony Hesketh MSIII and George Salloum MSII, and representing the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) were Shanthi Ramesh MSII and Dr. Aaron Patterson. Dr. Patterson, who graduated earlier this month, also discussed his work and the importance of advocacy with the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA).

We also had some fun during the show by inviting one of our professors, Dr. B. Laurel Elder, to sing a song that she recently composed for the BSOM Class of 2012 — the “Microbiology Top 50.” You can listen to this entertaining clip as a separate file available on our iTunes page!

Tracy Kidder – Beyond Mountains Beyond Mountains

The Season Two Finale aired Sunday, December 6, 2009, and the free podcast is available to download on our iTunes page!

This episode features Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder(left), the author of Mountains Beyond Mountains — an acclaimed nonfiction account of international health icon Dr. Paul Farmer — and also the recently released Strength in What Remains.

Kidder’s Strength in What Remains tells the astounding true story of a young man from Burundi who escapes genocide, only to arrive in New York City with only $200 in his pocket and no knowledge of the English language. The man, named Deo, sleeps on park benches in Central Park… until he manages to attend Columbia University, complete a medical degree, and go back to his native country to found a clinic.

In this episode, Kidder joins Radio Rounds as part of his book tour for Strength in What Remains. Kidder describes his experiences with Dr. Farmer and Deo — specifically, what it was like to immerse himself in their lives, their worlds and then write his best-selling books about them. He comments on the process of being with Deo as he returned to the country, Burundi, where he at one time had lost almost everything he had.

JAMA – The Editor-in-Chief

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

This was the 25th episode of Radio Rounds, and hosts and founders Avash Kalra, Lakshman Swamy, and Shamie Das take a fond look back at their favorite memories from the show since it premiered in April 2009. In addition, they welcome special guest Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, the Editor-in-Chief of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association — one of the premier medical journals in the world.

In November 2009, Executive Producer Shamie Das traveled to Houston, TX, to the American Medical Association (AMA) National Interim Conference, where he met keynote speaker Dr. DeAngelis and recorded this interview. Dr. DeAngelis is also a Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has been the recipient of seven honorary doctorate degrees and numerous awards for humanitarianism and medical excellence.

In the interview, she discusses how she came to be the Editor-in-Chief of JAMA and her views on evidence-based medicine and medical education.

Conrad Fischer Part II – Hope. The Facts. Heroism.

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

This episode features the second half to Radio Rounds’ conversation with Dr. Conrad Fischer, author of Routine Miracles: Restoring Faith and Hope in Medicine. Make sure to listen to both parts of the interview (Episodes 215 and 216)!

In Part II of our interview, Dr. Fischer continues his message of hope and heroism in medicine, and he discusses how current medical students and physicians can overcome negativity that sometimes might rear its ugly head regarding the medical profession — whether it’s in the media or from physicians themselves. NOW, he says, is the best time to be in medicine — not 25 years ago, as you may hear some people say.

He describes his book, Routine Miracles, as a “manifesto for action” within the current culture of medicine, and he uses his closing message to assure the listeners of the inspiring and unprecedented work that physicians and the profession of medicine are doing.