Evolution of Medicine Podcast
Could chronic infections and inflammation play a role in Alzheimer's disease? In this episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell sits down with Dr. Richard Horowitz, a pioneer in Lyme disease treatment and integrative medicine, to explore the relationship between chronic infections, inflammation, and neurological health. Dr. Horowitz shares his 42-year journey treating more than 13,000 chronically ill patients and explains how his experience led him to develop the 16-point MSIDS (Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome) model. This framework examines potential contributors to...
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What if your bathroom habits could reveal important clues about your health? In this episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell sits down with Scott Hickle, CEO and co-founder of Throne Science, to explore how smart toilet technology is making it possible to track digestive health, urinary function, and hydration through AI-powered monitoring. Scott explains how Throne uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to passively monitor stool consistency, color, volume, and frequency, alongside urine concentration and urinary flow rate. By collecting objective data over time, this...
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What if building a successful practice also meant building a stronger family life? In this episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell sits down with Dave Inglis, author of Chief Family Officer, and Dr. Jennifer Forristal, naturopathic doctor and founder of The Umbrella Project, to explore the connection between family relationships, emotional well-being, and professional success. Functional medicine practitioners spend considerable time developing their practices, improving systems, and supporting their patients. But what happens when the same intentionality is not applied to the...
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What if the future of brain health depends on looking beyond the brain itself? In this solo episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell shares insights from his keynote presentation at the Integrated Medicine for Mental Health Conference and explores the emerging vision of the brain medicine revolution. James discusses why cognitive decline requires a personalized approach that considers multiple potential contributors, including inflammation, metabolism, hormones, nutrition, vascular health, the microbiome, and environmental exposures. He explains how functional and precision medicine...
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What if healing was less about forcing the body to recover—and more about creating the conditions for coherence? In this episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell speaks with Dr. Cynthia Li about her personal recovery from chronic illness and the deeper healing principles that emerged through Qigong, embodied flow, and energetic medicine. After struggling with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, dysautonomia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and post-viral illness, Dr. Li discovered that true healing extended beyond protocols and physical interventions. Through practices rooted in ancient Chinese...
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In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Dr. Zach Bush to explore the concept of biological elegance and what it could mean for the future of health and healthcare. Zach begins by describing what he calls "nature deficit disorder"—the growing separation between humans and the natural world through industrialization, technology, convenience, and increasingly mechanistic systems. He connects this separation to a broader loss of connection with the biological systems that support human health. The conversation then turns to one of the biggest blind spots for practitioners: the belief...
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In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with holistic psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora to discuss her new book, Season of the Witch: The Psychiatrist's Case for Magic. Dr. Vora's first book, The Anatomy of Anxiety, directly translated her functional medicine approach to mental health. This book came from a deeper, more spiritual inquiry. She describes it as part grief memoir, part cultural commentary, and still a prescriptive functional medicine book. Her central argument is that many of us learned to perform a left-brained, rational type of intelligence while suppressing our mystical,...
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In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Kirkland Newman, founder of MindHealth360 and Executive Director of the IMMH (Integrative Medicine for Mental Health) conference. Newman's path into integrative mental health began with her own experience of severe postpartum depression after both of her pregnancies. Offered only antidepressants by her psychiatrist — with no explanation for why she was suddenly experiencing panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, and depression — she sought answers from an OBGYN, an endocrinologist, two GPs, and multiple psychiatrists, none of whom investigated...
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In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Nikki Schultek, founding director of the Pathobiome Research Center at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and founder of the Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative, a global research consortium. Schultek's path into this work began with her own illness 11 years ago — a multi-system chronic condition driven by a tick bite and co-infections including Chlamydia pneumoniae, which went misdiagnosed by 12 specialists for a year before Dr. Charles Stratton at Vanderbilt identified and treated the underlying infections, restoring her to...
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In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Dr. Helen Lavretsky — integrative and geriatric psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and professor of psychiatry at UCLA, where she directs clinical research on integrated mental health and serves as research director for UCLA's Integrative Medicine Collaborative. Her path into the field began through Kundalini Yoga, sparking 20 years of studying mind-body practices with rigorous neuroscience. Despite initial pushback in academic psychiatry, her evidence ultimately gained widespread acceptance. She details her clinical model: a partnership where...
info_outlineCould chronic infections and inflammation play a role in Alzheimer's disease?
In this episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell sits down with Dr. Richard Horowitz, a pioneer in Lyme disease treatment and integrative medicine, to explore the relationship between chronic infections, inflammation, and neurological health.
Dr. Horowitz shares his 42-year journey treating more than 13,000 chronically ill patients and explains how his experience led him to develop the 16-point MSIDS (Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome) model. This framework examines potential contributors to chronic inflammation, including bacterial and parasitic infections, reactivated viruses, mold exposure, environmental toxins, microbiome disruption, hormonal dysfunction, and mitochondrial impairment.
A major focus of the conversation is the potential connection between chronic Lyme disease and Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Horowitz discusses research involving spirochetal infections, biofilms, neuroinflammation, and Alzheimer's-related biomarkers. He also shares a published case study involving a patient whose p-tau 217 biomarker reportedly decreased by 63% following a nine-week dapsone protocol. The findings highlight an area for further investigation, including the need for larger controlled clinical trials.
James and Dr. Horowitz also explore why chronic illness requires a broader approach to healthcare. They discuss the importance of investigating multiple inflammatory factors, addressing individual patient needs, and considering the interconnected roles of infections, environmental exposures, immune function, and metabolic health.
Beyond the science, Dr. Horowitz shares a personal perspective on the art of medicine, explaining how compassion, meditation, and the human connection between practitioners and patients have shaped his approach throughout his career.
Finally, they discuss the future of functional medicine, including preventive healthcare, practitioner collaboration, and the development of chronic disease centers of excellence.
This episode offers an in-depth look at chronic inflammation, emerging research into neurological health, and the importance of a personalized, whole-person approach to complex chronic conditions.
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About the Guest:
Dr. Richard Horowitz is an internal medicine physician and a pioneer in Lyme disease treatment and integrative medicine. With more than four decades of clinical experience and over 13,000 chronically ill patients treated, he developed the 16-point MSIDS (Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome) model to investigate the multiple potential contributors to chronic inflammation and complex chronic illness.
He is also the author of Ending Chronic Illness: A Revolutionary Program to Reverse Inflammation and Heal Persistent Disease, which explores his approach to understanding and addressing chronic inflammatory conditions.
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