Why NIH’s Dr. Collins Accompanies Opera’s Renee Fleming in Highlighting Music & Mind’s Power

What happens when music therapists and neuroscientists team up? Patients win, says Dr. Francis Collins. From adults with Parkinson’s disease to children with autism, music has the power to help people walk, talk, ease pain and so much more.

Dr. Collins recently stepped down from his role as the longest-serving director of National Institutes of Health. As he faces a personal battle against prostate cancer, he’s exploring the promising impact that music and art therapy could hold for patients with health challenges.

Dr. Collins is hoping to develop a deeper understanding of music’s influence on brain circuitry. The goal? To help patients ease the symptoms of conditions like chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and dementia.

His interview with hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter is a follow-up to a conversation with opera singer Renée Fleming about her new book “Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness,” for which Dr. Collins wrote the foreword.

Gary Cohen, Founder and President of Health Care Without Harm

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Gary Cohen, 2015 MacArthur Fellow and Founder and President of Health Care Without Harm. His work is focused on motivating the health care industry "do no harm" by reducing the use of toxic materials and fossil fuels to positively impact climate change.

UN Climate Summit Fell Short, But Gary Cohen Says President Biden’s Build Back Better Act Holds Great Promise

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Gary Cohen, Founder of Health Care Without Harm, an award-winning global non-profit seeking to create an environmentally-responsible health system. Winner of the MacArthur Foundation’s ‘Genius Grant’ for his work reducing the health industry's pollution footprint, he says the COP26 UN Climate summit in Glasgow didn’t go far enough to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which means a billion people will be exposed to dangerous heat stress. Mr. Cohen says the recently-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill makes some progress addressing climate change, but that the President’s Build Back Better Act could have a dramatic impact. He says de-carbonizing the nation's health industry will build healthier communities and address health inequity.

Flu Update from CDC Dir. Cohen: So Far, Not An Early Flu Season

Dr. Mandy Cohen, the new CDC director, is facing big hurdles as she tries to explain to Americans the benefits of three vaccines now available at the same time: the updated COVID and the flu vaccine (for everyone 6 months and older) and the RSV vaccine (for eligible older adults). There's vaccine skepticism and have been some issues with insurance payments. At the same time, she’s trying to rebuild trust in the CDC when polls show that has been eroding.

CDC Director Warns of More Dangers From Hurricane Helene

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Mandy Cohen described to “Conversations on Health Care” that their role right now is ensuring impacted residents understand the health risks that are present and could continue to grow in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Dr. Cohen says while local, state and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials are in the acute response phase, CDC is doing its part by ensuring people realize there are growing risks, including from flooded roads that are not safe to drive over. The CDC says when returning to a flooded home after a natural disaster, be aware that the house may be contaminated with mold or sewage, which can make people sick.

“As a North Carolinian, my heart goes out to the people in the western part of our state. People had power outages, which means food has spoiled in the refrigerator…make sure you’re not eating spoiled food,” says Dr. Cohen, who previously served as North Carolina’s top state health official. “Our water systems have gotten hard hit, so thinking about whether if you need to be on bottled water. In the recovery phase…we’re likely to see more mosquitos because we’ll see standing water and making sure folks are doing what they need to do to protect themselves.”

Click now to hear her interview with Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

Harm Reduction in U.S. Substance Use Disorder Efforts: Top Official Explains How It Works

This week “Conversations on Health Care” discusses the Biden administration’s National Drug Control Strategy. Tom Coderre, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), explains what harm reduction is and how it’s helping.

Join us as Coderre answers questions from hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter about SAMHSA’s mission to reduce the impact of substance use disorder and mental illness on America's communities.

Majority House Whip Rep James Clyburn — Health reform after Massachusetts, where do we go from here?

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on what happens next with health reform after Massachusetts. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with Congressman James E, Clyburn, D-South Carolina, House Majority Whip, about the prospects for breaking through the legislative logjam on healthcare reform.

From Civil Rights to the ACA: House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Fight for Health Equity in America

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter celebrate 10 years on the air and our 500th episode with Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), House Majority Whip and the third ranking Democrat in Congress. He talks about the legacy of the Affordable Care Act in advancing health equity, and the need to strengthen the nation's community health centers through a national broadband and telehealth initiative to more effectively deploy quality health care to all Americans.

Inflection Point: US House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Race, Police, and the Pandemic

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with House Majority Whip, US Congressman James Clyburn who says we have reached an inflection point in American history in addressing the high cost to communities of color from health disparities, policing injustices and economic inequality. Congressman Clyburn examines important legislation aimed at stemming racially motivated police brutality, as well as improving health care access for vulnerable Americans through expansion of community health centers and telehealth.

Who’s Community Health Centers’ Top Ally? Powerful House Leader Makes the Case

Majority Whip James Clyburn, the third-most powerful Democrat in the U.S. House, makes a passionate case for community health centers. His goal is to get a center within commuting distance of each American. “Every time legislation comes forward on health care I’m always trying to figure out how we can get community health centers to benefit from this legislation…not satisfied with where we are because we are not where we need to be yet,” he says.

Clyburn also confirms to hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that President Biden’s cancer moonshot will have the “rocket fuel” it needs to succeed and he responds to critics of the Inflation Reduction Act. Join us as we kick off our 14th season with this important conversation.

Dr. Paul Cleary, dean of the Yale School of Public Health and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Paul Cleary, the dean of the Yale School of Public Health, about why engaging the community is so important in the school's latest research, and about some of the ways quality measures and patient satisfaction surveys are improving health outcomes.

Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on improving the quality and effectiveness of health care. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Carolyn Clancy from AHRQ, about its role in American health care, engaging people with their health care and putting clinical research into practice.

Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Clancy discusses AHRQ's recent report: Making Health Care Safer II - which offers evidence-based analysis of a number of patient safety practice recommendations intended to improve patient safety and reduce costly and deadly errors in health care.

Dr. Larry Chu, Founder and Executive Director of Stanford Medicine X

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Larry Chu, anesthesiologist and Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine where is also Founder and Executive Director of Stanford Medicine X, a yearly conference created to bring providers, patient groups and designers together to catalyze the development of patient-centered health technologies.

Dr. Nicholas Christakis, researcher and Harvard professor of medical sociology.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on the social factors that affect health. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Harvard professor Dr. Nicholas Christakis about his research on social connections and social determinants of health that impact our personal, community, and public health.

Lies and Misinformation Led to Hundreds of Thousands of US Deaths: Yale’s Dr. Nicholas Christakis on Enduring Impact of COVID-19

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Nicholas Christakis, Director of Yale’s Human Nature Lab and expert on the influence of social networks on health and behavior. In his recent book, Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live, he examines the patterns of pandemics throughout human history and says the "appalling” US response, driven by denial from the White House and amplified by misinformation on social media channels, led to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. He predicts the pandemic will wind down in 2022, and that a period of innovation and improvements to health care delivery will follow, fueled by lessons learned from this crisis.

White House Vaccinations Chief Dr. Bechara Choucair on the Road to Vaccinating America

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Bechara Choucair, White House Vaccinations Coordinator. Dr. Choucair discusses the remarkable pace of vaccine distribution in recent weeks, and the Biden Administration’s plans to deliver 200 million vaccines in 100 days. He addresses the challenges at vaccine production facilities, the impact of the American Rescue Plan on efforts to scale up vaccine production and delivery, as well as the important role played by community health centers to address the health needs the most vulnerable populations impacted by the pandemic.

Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Aneesh Chopra, the first United States Chief Technology Officer. Aneesh discusses growing the economy through innovations in healthcare technology, new federal initiatives to improve the healthcare system, and what "unleashing" data means for patients, innovators and the healthcare system as a whole.

Aneesh Chopra, First U.S. Chief Technology Officer

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Aneesh Chopra, Co-Founder of Hunch Analytics, author of "Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government". Appointed by President Obama as the first US Chief Technology Officer in 2009, he discusses the job of transitioning American government and health care into the digital age.

Raj Chetty, PhD, Professor of Public Economics at Stanford University

This week, Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Raj Chetty, PhD, MacArthur Fellow and Professor of Public Economics at Stanford University, who's much-lauded research focuses on the impact of zip code on health and economic outcomes. Dr Chetty is lead author on a recent study confirming the widening gap in life expectancy between the poor and the wealthy.