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Afib, AI Agents, and Other News

Health & Veritas

Release Date: 04/24/2025

Azita Emami: Educating Nurse-Leaders show art Azita Emami: Educating Nurse-Leaders

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Azita Emami, dean of the Yale School of Nursing, to discuss the school’s approach to training nurses who can have a seat at the table of healthcare decision-making. Harlan reports on his new study showing the low levels of evidence required for medical devices in the FDA’s Breakthrough Devices Program; Howie provides some good news about infectious diseases including malaria and HIV. Links: Breakthrough devices? Azita Emami Infectious diseases .

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America’s Healthcare Paradox and Other News show art America’s Healthcare Paradox and Other News

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan discuss the alarming healthcare cuts proposed in the budget bill currently moving through Congress, recent breakthroughs in HIV prevention and diabetes treatment, and the stark contrast between scientific progress and the deep structural flaws in the U.S. healthcare system. Links: The Budget Bill The Budget Bill and Universities The 340B Drug Program A Stem Cell Treatment for Diabetes Medicare Advantage and the VA A New HIV Drug Kennedy v. Braidwood The Big Picture for U.S. Healthcare Exercise and Cancer .

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Stephen Waxman: Easing the Horrors of Chronic Pain show art Stephen Waxman: Easing the Horrors of Chronic Pain

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Stephen Waxman, a leading neurology researcher, to discuss the promise of new methods developed by his lab to treat the ravages of pain. Harlan talks about the importance of ratings for Medicare Advantage plans; Howie assesses two sobering new reports on the solvency of Medicare. Links: Harlan’s Section Interview with Dr. Waxman Howie’s Section   .

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The ‘Big Beautiful BIll’ and Other News show art The ‘Big Beautiful BIll’ and Other News

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare issues making headlines, including public attitudes toward the Medicaid cuts in the budget bill making its way through Congress, a one-time gene therapy that could cure high cholesterol, “ambient” AI in the exam room, and the replacement of the the CDC’s entire vaccine advisory board.  Links: Remembering Atul Butte The Budget Bill Vinay Prasad Medicaid Cuts Gene Therapy to Prevent Heart Disease Anti-Vaxxers at the CDC Ambient AI

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Sarah DeSilvey: Creating Space for Healing show art Sarah DeSilvey: Creating Space for Healing

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Sarah DeSilvey to talk about her career as a rural nurse practitioner and her work to create a shared vocabulary for tracking social determinants of health. Harlan unpacks the research implications of the “big beautiful bill” in Congress, and reports on his new research about the link between state gun laws and deaths among children; Howie discusses the simple steps that can prevent syphilis from being passed from mothers to babies in utero.  Links: Budget Cuts Guns and Kids   Sarah DeSilvey Congenital Syphilis

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Dave Chokshi: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Pandemic show art Dave Chokshi: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Pandemic

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Dave Chokshi, who led New York City’s response to COVID-19 as health commissioner and serves as chair of the Common Health Coalition, which is working to prepare for future crises by strengthening partnerships between healthcare and public health. Harlan reports on a trip to China; Howie says it’s time for a global effort to expand rubella vaccination.  Links: Harlan in China Dave Chokshi Rubella .

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Live at the Yale Innovation Summit 2025 show art Live at the Yale Innovation Summit 2025

Health & Veritas

In a special episode recorded at Connecticut’s largest entrepreneurship event, Howie and guest host Megan Ranney, the dean of the Yale School of Public Health, welcome four Yale innovators: entrepreneur and YSPH lecturer Kaakpema “KP” Yelpaala; Basmah Safdar, incoming director of Women’s Health Research at Yale; Kayla Wooley, a YSPH graduate and the founder of two nursing home staffing companies; and Yale College student Laurie Jimenez, founder of FulcrumCare, a value-based dental provider for Medicaid and Medicare patients.  Links: The Yale Innovation Summit Kaakpema “KP”...

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Rebekah Gee: Improving Health, One Family at a Time show art Rebekah Gee: Improving Health, One Family at a Time

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Rebekah Gee, founder and CEO of Nest Health, which provides in-home care to kids on Medicaid and their families. Harlan reports on the first personalized CRISPR gene therapy for a rare genetic disease; Howie untangles the FDA’s restrictions on the COVID-19 booster and what it will mean for your ability to get a shot this fall.  Links: A Breakthrough CRISPR Treatment Nest Health Rebekah Gee on LinkedIn on Nest Health A New COVID Booster Policy .

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James Dodington: Protecting Kids from Gun Violence show art James Dodington: Protecting Kids from Gun Violence

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by James Dodington, a Yale pediatric emergency medicine physician and an expert in community-based violence prevention. Harlan reports on the remarkable financial results and sometimes questionable science of Hims & Hers Health; Howie discusses UnitedHealthcare’s faltering stock price in the face of anger over aggressive care denial and a lawsuit from shareholders. Links: Oscar Health and Hims & Hers James Dodington UnitedHealthcare  

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Thomas Gill: The Secrets to an Active Old Age show art Thomas Gill: The Secrets to an Active Old Age

Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Thomas Gill, a Yale geriatrician whose research tracks the factors that contribute to disability in older adults—and those that support continued independence. And they discuss the contrarian tapped to evaluate vaccines at the FDA, allegations of kickbacks against insurers, and the potential end of a loophole that has allowed states to collect additional Medicaid funding.  Links: Vinay Prasad at the FDA Insurance News Thomas Gill Medicaid Cuts .

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More Episodes

Howie reflects on his decades-long experience with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and the procedure that has changed his life. Howie and Harlan report on healthcare issues in the news, including the measles outbreak and a vision for a team of personal healthcare AI agents. And student research assistants Inès Gilles and Sophia Stumpf visit for a farewell interview.

Links:

Eric Topol: Ground Truths

Eric Topol: Super Agers

Harlan Krumholz: The Expert Guide to Beating Heart Disease: What You Absolutely Must Know

Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

“What to know about paroxysmal atrial fibrillation”

Joseph Akar, MD, PhD

Mayo Clinic: Atrial fibrillation ablation

“The True Cost of a Cardiac Ablation in the U.S.”

AI Agents

“The Four AI Agents of Your Health”

“This A.I. Forecast Predicts Storms Ahead”

Measles

CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks

“Measles Surge in Southwest Is Now the Largest Single Outbreak Since 2000”

Mayo Clinic: History of Measles

Food as Medicine

“Cooking with the curriculum: a pilot culinary medicine program at the Larner College of Medicine”

“Bringing Culinary Medicine to Yale’s New Teaching Kitchen”

Bird Flu

CDC: H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation

“Vietnam reports H5N1 avian flu case with encephalitis”

Exercise and Brain Waste

“Long-term physical exercise facilitates putative glymphatic and meningeal lymphatic vessel flow in humans”

“The brain makes a lot of waste. Now scientists think they know where it goes”


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