Raise the Line

Limiting the side effects of cancer treatments has been an animating force in the field of oncology for many years, and there’s been progress to report on that front, but what if you could target cancer tumors without using radiation or chemotherapy and instead generate heat from inside the tumor to kill cells?
That’s the quest of our guest today, Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green, whose promising research using lasers and nanoparticles to eliminate tumors received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA earlier this year. “The laser beam that we're using is low power like a laser pointer, and without activation by the laser, the nanoparticles are harmless. Both are targeted just at the site of the tumor so because we don’t use systemic delivery, we avoid all of the systemic side effects,” she explains.
Dr. Green is also the founder and president of the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation, named for an aunt who raised her and who died of cancer without pursuing curative treatment because of her fear of the side effects. Shortly after, her aunt’s husband also died of cancer, opting for treatments that took a heavy toll on his body. “At 22 years old, I saw the horrors of cancer and the horrors of cancer treatment and just felt in my heart that there has to be something better than this,” she tells host Michael Carrese.
On this fascinating episode of Raise the Line from Elsevier, we'll explore the science behind Dr. Green's approach, the challenges of raising the millions of dollars needed for human clinical trials, and rethinking the current funding landscape for cancer treatments.
Mentioned in this episode:
Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation

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"It's really hard to justify a test that has any complications if there isn't any reasonable expectation of benefit," says Dr. Rita Redberg, who has spent her career trying to help fellow clinicians consider the actual value of routine screenings and diagnostic testing in asymptomatic patients. Dr. Redberg -- a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco for more than three decades -- is one of the leading voices advocating for a “high-value care” approach, an uphill fight in a healthcare system that tends to reward action over restraint. Her highest profile effort was launching the instructive “Less is More” series in JAMA Internal Medicine when she served as its editor-in-chief for 14 years.
On a related track, her research on the assessment of the safety and effectiveness of medical technology, specifically high-risk cardiovascular devices, has yielded a troubling picture. "We found only 1% of devices enter the market through the FDA's most rigorous approval process. The high-quality evidence to support benefit for these devices that I had assumed was present, wasn't actually there.”
Join Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith for an eye-opening exploration of what Dr. Redberg considers to be the overlooked risks and false reassurance of common tests and procedures, and her efforts to put the “do no harm” principle of medicine at the forefront of everyday practice.
Mentioned in this episode:
UCSF School of Medicine
JAMA Internal Medicine's Less is More Series

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For millions of young women and girls, often the first place they turn with questions about their bodies isn't a doctor's office, it's social media which can lead to encountering many misconceptions and outright misinformation. Or, if the right voices show up, it can mean something else entirely.

Our guest today, Dr. Charis Chambers, is one of those voices. She’s a board-certified OB/GYN with specialty certification in Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology, and Chief Medical Officer at Clue, a leading period and cycle-tracking app. She's also the founder of The Period Doctor, a platform she launched in 2019 to provide medically accurate reproductive health information and to place more minority physicians in the spaces where patients are already looking for answers.

As she tells Raise the Line from Elsevier host Lindsey Smith, Dr. Chambers embraces the role of being a bridge between generations: "I can serve as a medical mediator where I advocate for the child and then educate the parent so that the child’s concerns are met."

Stay tuned to this important conversation to also learn about:

Her new book, The Period and Puberty Parenting Revolution, which tackles many of the same myths she encounters every day in her clinic;

Why stubborn myths around periods rarely hold up once you ask where they come from;

How she thinks about the responsibility, and limits, of being a trusted medical voice on social media.

Mentioned in this episode:

Clue

The Period Doctor

The Period and Puberty Parenting Revolution

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

"I'd already finished my cardiovascular unit. I'd finished my pulmonary unit. I had never heard about this in any of my classes." That was Dr. Joel Bervell's reaction to discovering that a device used every day in hospitals -- the pulse oximeter -- reads less accurately on darker skin tones. He posted a 30-second video about this consequential discrepancy that, to his utter surprise, gained over 500,000 views by the next morning.

That video launched Dr. Bervell into orbit as a social media presence and created his identity as The Medical Mythbuster. In just a few years, he’s built a following of two million people, earned a Peabody Award and was named to the inaugural Time 100 Creators list, all while finishing his residency. 

On this episode of Raise the Line, host Lindsey Smith welcomes Dr. Bervell to explore the roots of this kind of bias and the real world impact of drawing attention to it. “The most impactful biases in medicine exist because no one stops to ask who was included in the original data and who was left out,” Dr. Bervell explains.

Stay tuned to also learn about:

His YouTube animated series The Doctor is In which helps kids understand how their bodies work, as well as providing medical role models;

How to build trust with marginalized communities;

His forthcoming book, The Default Body which examines who medicine was actually designed for.

Mentioned in this episode:
Dr. Bervell on Instagram
TikTok Channel
Facebook
"The Doctor Is In" Show

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Despite gains in recent years, Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities are still under-represented in the U.S. nursing workforce. We’re going to explore that gap and how to close it on this episode of Raise the Line from Elsevier with Dr. Ernest Grant, Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the Duke University School of Nursing. "You get a patient who is more compliant when they see someone who looks like them, who is from their culture and who can advocate on their behalf," he tells host Lindsey Smith. 

Dr. Grant bases that and other insights on a rich professional background that includes 50 years in nursing, being a leading advocate for his profession and breaking down barriers himself as a male nurse of color and the first man elected president of the American Nurses Association. 

In this thoughtful conversation, Dr. Grant reflects on what it took to earn credibility in leadership roles, how he’s navigating the political climate on DEI initiatives, and the causes and solutions to the persistent shortage in nursing faculty, among other pressing issues. Tune in for a uniquely-informed look at what it will take to build a stronger, more representative nursing profession.

Mentioned in this episode:

Duke University School of Nursing

American Nurses Association

If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast