Colorectal Cancer Rising for Millennials & Gen Z: How to Reverse the Trend

About 1 in 5 colorectal patients are now under the age of 55, and colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under age 50 and the second for women under 50.

During Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we present this encore presentation of our interview with Dr. Alan Venook. Dr. Venook is with the University of California-San Francisco and is one of the nation’s leading colorectal cancer researchers. He explained to “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter what it will take to reverse the rise in cases among young people.

Dr. Venook also talked about his research that found there’s no correlation in colorectal cancer patient survival or the risk of recurrent cancer over time with less radiation—a finding that goes against conventional wisdom.

Originally broadcast February 15 2024.

Alzheimer’s Researchers Under Fire: Acclaimed Journalist Explains Why

How reliable is the current research into the cause of Alzheimer’s disease? Award-winning author Charles Piller’s new book is “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's”; it’s raising important questions about certain images that may have been manipulated to bolster the amyloid hypothesis as the cause of Alzheimer’s.

Piller tells “Conversations on Health Care” that “what you have are a multitude of images — not just in Alzheimer’s disease but in many other areas — that have slipped through, that have not been well-examined, and that are, in fact, falsified, or appear to be falsified,” adding that closer scrutiny of images could spur scientists “to re-examine whether the experiments themselves are worth publishing.”

Piller couches this by noting that misconduct occurs in “a small percentage” of research and “does not represent the vast bulk” of work in the field. But a greater emphasis on checks and balances is needed, he says.

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also ask Piller to respond to criticism of his reporting as well as explain other potential sources of hope in the research field. For instance, clinical trials may reveal, as early as next year, the possible impact of GLP-1 inhibitors — medications developed for obesity and diabetes — on Alzheimer’s. Another theory examines the effect of latent viruses, such as herpes, on the brain.

Former Republican HHS Secretary Offers Bipartisan Wisdom

Dr. Louis Sullivan walked the halls of Congress and testified before committees when he was secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That experience, working in a bipartisan fashion in the President George H.W. Bush administration, is valuable now.

During Black History Month, we revisit our interview with Dr. Sullivan for lessons about leadership and the challenges that still exist in our healthcare system.

Dr. Sullivan advocates for more Blacks to train to become doctors and explains the challenges that remain for them joining the profession. Listen in as hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask him to share his insights.

Originally broadcast January, 2023.

Egg Prices Up: Hear From Experts About Why

$4.95 — that’s the record high price of a dozen of Grade A eggs in U.S. cities. Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, says expect them to go even higher.

That’s because H5N1, a form of bird flu, has affected more than 156 million commercial, backyard and wild birds in the United States in the last three years.

Osterholm, with nearly 50 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks, emphasizes the urgent need for improved pandemic preparedness. “It’s not a question of if, but when the next major outbreak will happen. Whether it’s a more contagious strain of COVID-19, the bird flu or a completely new virus, we need systems in place now to protect public health and save lives.”

He joins Apoorva Mandavilli, the science and global health reporter with The New York Times, to explore the critical lessons learned from COVID-19 and what must be done to prepare for future public health threats. “Bird flu may seem like a distant problem, but the global nature of infectious diseases means we’re all connected,” Mandavilli says. She also notes that public trust plays a crucial role in mitigating future pandemics. “Without transparency and clear communication, public health measures are far less effective.”

Conversations on Health Care hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also ask them how public health agencies must adapt, improve transparency and build global cooperation to combat future outbreaks.

Guardrails for Health AI: How, Why and When

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing health care—but how do we ensure it’s safe, effective, and responsible? Dr. Brian Anderson, CEO of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), explains to “Conversations on Health Care” how his organization is working to establish clear guidelines for responsible AI in health care.

Do Your 2025 Healthcare Predictions Match Up With What an Expert Says?

Noted healthcare leader Dr. Sachin Jain has been publicly releasing his annual predictions for the sector for five years and is proud of his “pretty accurate” track record. He’s out now with his list of top 10 predictions for the healthcare industry for 2025. Dr. Jain states that “Heretofore fringe ideas about wellness and disease causation and medications will continue to go mainstream.”

Dr. Jain has held top positions at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. More recently, he’s been a leader in the nonprofit health world, so he has a unique perspective on the entire field. Listen in as he discusses his ideas with “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

Health Care & President Trump: What’s Happened So Far

President Trump’s first days in office have resulted in a number of important changes in the healthcare landscape. President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization, rolled back drug pricing policies and limited gender-affirming care. In addition, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., awaits his confirmation hearing to serve as secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Conversations on Health Care hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter are bringing together leading healthcare journalists to discuss the new administration’s moves and what they mean. Their guests this week are:

1. Shannon Firth with MedPage Today
2. Michael McAuliff with Modern Healthcare; and 
3. Sarah Owermohle with STAT.

NEJM’s 1st AI Editor on Tech’s Pluses & Minuses

As the year begins, some patients remain concerned about how far artificial intelligence (AI) is creeping into the exam room. But AI has been part of health care longer than most realize, according to Dr. Isaac Kohane, a Harvard University professor.

Kohane is the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine’s first publication devoted to AI; it’s a groundbreaking role and we’re proud to share an encore presentation of the interview. He told hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that “In the 1980s, automated interpretation of an [echocardiogram] would have been considered AI. Now it’s the ability to look through a patient’s record and come up with a differential diagnosis, a second opinion, a therapeutic plan.”

Kohane shared a success story of a mother whose child had difficulty walking and chewing, suffered from headaches and had seen more than a dozen doctors over many years, with no diagnosis. After one doctor recommended a psychiatric course of action, the mother fed the reports from various past medical visits into a generative AI program, which provided an accurate diagnosis: tethered cord syndrome.

Cases like this can represent AI’s potential, said Kohane. But the nascent technology raises issues of bias. “You can run tests on these AI programs and say, ‘Would you propose that diagnosis more often if this was an African-American or an Indian-American?’ … And you can adjust these programs,” Kohane says. The exciting part is that the adjustment would be easier than undoing even unconscious bias among hundreds of thousands of health care professionals, he explained.

Originally broadcast August 22, 2023.

Healthcare Providers & ChatGPT Will See You Now: Our Brave New World

The World Health Organization has issued a statement expressing concern about artificial intelligence in health care. In 2023, Mayo Clinic’s then-Chief Information Officer Cris Ross joined us to discuss it. He led innovation projects at Mayo Clinic for over 30 years and told us “perhaps” we should be worried about ChatGPT.

“These technologies are value-neutral but their usage is not necessarily value-neutral. Bad people can use good technology for bad purposes. So I think there’s a very robust debate about whether these technologies should be regulated, whether they can be regulated, and if they are regulated, how we should do that,” Ross told us at the time.

Listen in on this encore presentation as Ross takes hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter through this brave new world that promises to affect every part of health care.

Originally broadcast June 8, 2023.

2024 Rewind & Look Ahead for Health Care Issues

Conversations on Health Care hopes the new year is off to a great start for you! But before we completely turn the page on 2024, we want to look back on our top issues and interviews from the past year. We spoke to leading experts about the health care policies that were part of the presidential race; the promise and peril of artificial intelligence; the research into happiness; and many other issues.

As President Trump, a new Congress and other new leaders in the states prepare for office, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter present this recap and look ahead to the ideas, innovations and insights driving health care.

Holidays, Headaches & Heartache: Best Advice from the “Happiness Doctor”

Dr. Amit Sood is called the “Happiness Doctor” for a good reason; his resilience approach has been included in over 35 clinical trials. The holiday season, occurring right after an intense election, is an ideal time to learn from Dr. Sood about how to recognize stress and reprogram the brain to deal with it. One of his top pieces of advice: Ask yourself if what is upsetting you will matter in five years? If the answer is no, let it go.

Dr. Sood is the CEO of Global Center for Resiliency and Wellbeing, the former chair of Student Life and Wellness at Mayo Clinic, and the author of the new book “ “It Takes You to Tango: Leverage the Science of Loneliness to Master the Art of Connection.” Join Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter for this insightful conversation that will help us all navigate negative thinking.

What Elon Musk & Peter Thiel Invest In to Make Lives Longer

Billionaires who dream of extending human life, including Elon Musk, believe they will have very supportive partners in the incoming Trump administration. They’re excited that President Trump has nominated Jim O’Neill for the number two spot at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services because of his history in the anti-aging movement.

David Gobel, the co-founder and CEO of the Methuselah Fund, says, “Jim O’Neill really understands the value of avoiding the suffering…of diseases that don’t actually have to happen if aging is held back. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other nominees are very much in line with the idea of holding aging back by whatever means.” President Trump has nominated Kennedy to serve as HHS secretary.

But “Conversations on Health Care” recently spoke with S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who questioned private and public dollars going to such efforts. “We’ll be lucky if 5% of the age cohort makes it to 100,” he said. Olshansky and his colleagues have presented data that humans are approaching a biologically-based limit to life.

Join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter for this look into the world of life extension and how Trump administration officials could push the country to embrace these unconventional practices. In addition, learn more about the first longevity patient protocol from Danielle Ruiz, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C, CEO and Medical Director, Everest Health.

Nurse Practitioners: A Growing Opportunity

Pres. Trump’s HIV/AIDS Record: A Look Back & Ahead

HIV/AIDS experts are cautiously watching as President Trump and his administration near inauguration day. On one hand, they remember how President Trump announced in 2019 his initiative called Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. It included Ready, Set, PrEP, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiative that provides free access to the HIV prevention medication PrEP for thousands of qualifying individuals.

But there are worries “about the next four years because we’re hearing about a potential decrease in funding,” that will be detrimental to programs, according to Dr. Marwan Haddad, Medical Director of the Center for Key Populations, Community Health Center, Inc., and a former chair of the HIV Medicine Association.

Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, Ph.D., MPH, Executive Director, Institute for Policy Solutions at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, highlighted these issues as communities recognized World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. For instance, the CDC reports new HIV infections fell by 19% from 2018 to 2022 but there’s been a 12% increase in infections among Latino people.

Our guests join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to discuss progress and the hurdles that still exist in the fight to end AIDS.

"Dr. Happiness" on Surviving Family Discussions at Thanksgiving

Dr. Amit Sood is called the “Happiness Doctor” for a good reason; his resilience approach has been included in over 35 clinical trials. The holiday season, occurring right after an intense election, is an ideal time to learn from Dr. Sood about how to recognize stress and reprogram the brain to deal with it. One of his top pieces of advice: Ask yourself if what is upsetting you will matter in five years? If the answer is no, let it go.

Dr. Sood is the CEO of Global Center for Resiliency and Wellbeing, the former chair of Student Life and Wellness at Mayo Clinic, and the author of the new book “It Takes You to Tango: Leverage the Science of Loneliness to Master the Art of Connection.” Join Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter for this insightful conversation that will help us all navigate negative thinking.

Did the millions spent matter? Election ’24 Health Care Ads

TV ads focused on health care issues — including transgender care, abortion and costs — ricocheted across the airwaves in the months leading up to election day. Erika Franklin Fowler, Ph.D., is a co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political ads. She joins “Conversations on Health Care” to discuss a controversial anti-transgender surgery ad from the Republicans that also benefited from free media attention, as well as House and Senate candidates picking up on similar themes in their advertising.

Preliminary numbers show $4.5 billion was spent on political TV and radio ads this year. These ads and their messages reflect the goals of President Trump and his new administration as they plan a return to power in the nation’s capital. Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter discuss the TV ad wars and their implications for health care policy with Dr. Franklin Fowler. 

When Area Hospitals Have the Same Owner, Does Medical Debt Go Up?

There are 27 million Americans who have medical debt on their credit reports right now—a drag on their pocketbooks and our health care system. Urban Institute researchers say they’ve found an interesting fact about those with medical debt: They live in communities with less healthcare competition because of common ownership. The data show that communities of color and people living in the South are disproportionately affected.

Fredric Blavin, Ph.D. and Breno Braga, Ph.D. say medical debt can intensify financial challenges, affect health care access and potentially worsen health outcomes. They report prices at monopoly hospitals are 12% higher than those in more competitive markets.

They share with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter a variety of ways policymakers can explore unraveling the market concentration-medical debt link and we share the perspective of the American Hospital Association. 

The Limits of Aging & Implications

The current life expectancy at birth is 74.8 years for males and for females it’s 80.2 years in the U.S. Does it catch your eye when you hear about predictions we’ll be able to live to 100 and beyond? Some researchers are throwing cold water on those notions. “We’ll be lucky if 5% of the age cohort makes it to 100,” says S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago.

He and his colleagues made headlines when they presented data that humans are approaching a biologically-based limit to life. Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask Olshansky about the implications of this research — for each of us personally and for policymakers — after decades of hearing predictions that life expectancy would continue to go up. Olshanky explains why we should celebrate longer life that has resulted from healthier diets and medical advances but now focus on improving quality of life in later years.

Reporters Examine Harris & Trump’s Health Care Policies: Election 2024

Early voting is underway in most of the U.S. right now (with few exceptions) and health care is on the ballot. There are increasing signs that former President Trump, if re-elected, will try to proceed with “massive changes” to the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is vowing to protect the law and continue federal drug price negotiations. Both candidates say they’ll seek to expand support for in-home health care.

Our guests are the reporters covering these issues. Shannon Firth, MedPage Today’s correspondent in Washington, shares an update from a contentious U.S. House race in Minnesota that’s focused on abortion. Sarah Owermohle, who reports on federal issues for STAT News, explains the situation in Montana following her recent visit to the state.

Join Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter for our Reporters’ Roundtable as we countdown to election day and discuss what the results will mean for the nation’s health.        

Election Year Stress? How Music Can Help the Mind Relax

The upcoming presidential election is stressing out 69% of American adults, according to a survey from the American Psychological Association. If you’re with the majority in feeling that way, there’s important advice to consider from worldwide acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming. She’s the editor of “Music and Mind,” a curated collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators and health care providers about the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience.

Renée shares how she discovered her own music and mind connection early in her career when she had back pain and how a dinner with three Supreme Court justices led her to become an unexpected advocate for neuroscience.   

Renée, a five-time Grammy award winner, also explains to hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter what happened when she saw the results of a functional MRI experiment she took and what it means for all of us