Few phrases get my blood pumping like "This season on." It usually marks the start of a juicy two-minute trailer for a reality show, filled with surprises and red herrings.
Spoiler alert: This season of the First Opinion Podcast, which launched Wednesday, will not include any surprise hookups or jaw-dropping betrayals. But it will be fresh and full of thought-provoking conversation on policy, the life sciences industry, and more. (How has Bravo not cast me yet?)
The first five episodes will focus on the 2024 campaign from the top of the ticket on down. And in a bit of a departure from the past, not every guest will be the author of a recent First Opinion essay.
This week, I spoke with Kathleen Daughety, VP of campaigns and civic engagement at the mental health advocacy organization Inseparable. We discussed how mental health is (and isn't) showing up in the presidential race and what it really means to make mental health care accessible. As I briefly tell Kathleen, this is a topic that is very personal for me. I hope you'll listen and subscribe.
Who else would you like to hear on the podcast, both before and after Election Day? What changes should producers Theresa Gaffney and Hyacinth Empinado, senior producer Alissa Ambrose, and I consider? What other health podcasts are you listening to and enjoying? Email me: first.opinion@statnews.com.
This week on First Opinion: If so much of doctors' limited time is being spent answering inbox messages, perhaps medicine needs a new specialty in asynchronous care. As we approach the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the crisis in Israel and Gaza, two professors of medicine argue that institutions should adopt policies of neutrality on contentious issues. American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown urges Congress to pass legislation that can save lives. Jane Martin, an OB/GYN in Louisiana, talks about how a new state law limits her ability to provide emergency care. Sandeep Jauhar and Maria Avila explore the surprisingly tricky question of when marijuana use should disqualify a patient for an organ transplant. Barron H. Lerner shares the uncomfortable (in all senses of the word) history of the pelvic exam. Philanthropists Laura and John Arnold write, "Rampant consolidation in health care has resulted in higher prices for patients."
And in STAT+, Cheri Banks of the Federation of American Scientists reports on her organization's recent project interviewing 30 current and former FDA advisory committee members about what they want.
Recommendation of the week: Get ready for Nobel season by listening to science history author Sam Kean's podcast "The Disappearing Spoon," which is full of marvelous anecdotes. In the most recent episode, "The Scientific Way to Fool a Nazi," Sam tells the story of Gyorgy Hevesy, also known as George de Hevesy, winner of the 1943 Nobel in chemistry and a remarkable trickster. Come for fooling Nazis, stay for his ingenious way of proving his landlady was serving day-old meat.
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