Health & Veritas

Epizodes

• Mark Siegel: The Craft of Teaching Doctors 04.06.2026 44min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Mark Siegel, director of Yale's internal medicine residency program, to discuss his approach to mentoring young physicians and building a medical community grounded in purpose and compassion. Harlan examines a breakthrough targeted therapy that could reshape the treatment of pancreatic cancer and other hard-to-treat cancers; Howie tracks the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and argues that policy decisions are hampering the global response. Show notes: A Cancer Breakthrough Pancreatic cancer: Symptoms and causes "Daraxonrasib or Chemotherapy in Previously Treated Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer" "Multi-Selective RAS(ON) Inhibitor Nearly Doubles Survival Time in People With Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer" "KRAS mutation: from undruggable to druggable in cancer" Mark Siegel Mark Siegel: Program Director Notes Mark Siegel on Substack Academic medicine Signaling system Mark Siegel: "What I've Learned in 63 Years" Yale School of Medicine: Residency & Fellowship Programs Mark Siegel: "A Sudden Loss Of Vision"  Health & Veritas Episode 224: Nicholas Christakis: The Science of Human Connection Ebola WHO: Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak, Democratic Republic of the Congo WHO: Ebola, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2026   WHO: Alert and Response "'We are catching up'—WHO chief on DR Congo's Ebola fight"  "Uganda Closes Border With Congo as Ebola Fears Rise" "Kenyan Court Deals New Blow to Plans for U.S. Ebola Unit" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Live at the Yale Innovation Summit 2026 01.06.2026 47min

  Howie is joined by guest host Megan Ranney, dean of the the Yale School of Public Health, for a live episode recorded at the Yale Innovation Summit, featuring conversations with five innovators at the intersection of healthcare, public health, and entrepreneurship. Jaya Dadwal, a recent graduate of the School of Public Health and founder of forEVA Health, focused on raising healthcare standards for the female body Monique Rainford, a Yale School of Medicine ob-gyn and founder of Enrich Health, focused on addressing disparities in maternal health Kimberley Steele, a bariatric surgeon and program director at the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Yusuf Ransome, a faculty member at the School of Public Health and founder of Soul Health, a faith tech solution focused on addressing the mental wellbeing of the "missing middle" Janani Ramaswamy, head of IP and licensing services at Yale Ventures Show notes: The Yale Innovation Summit Yale Innovation Summit 2026 Yale Ventures Jaya Dadwal forEVA  FDA: Essure Permanent Birth Control "Problems Reported with Essure" Jennifer McFadden "Women's Health Strategy for England" A UK government report including the finding that 84% of women report that their voices have not been listened to in the healthcare system. Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) Monique Rainford Megan Ranney and Monique Rainford: "Opinion: Over-the-counter birth control pill could make a huge difference" Enrich Health Monique Rainford: Pregnant While Black: Advancing Justice for Maternal Health in America Sejal Hathi: "Nine Months of Medical Attention. Then Almost Nothing" Kimberley Steele Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Lymphatic System: Function, Conditions & Disorders ARPA-H: Lymphatic Imaging, Genomics, and Phenotyping Technologies (LIGHT) ARPA-H: Groundbreaking Lymphatic Interventions and Drug Explorations (GLIDE) "GLIDE set to prevent and cure human disease by targeting the lymphatic system" Yusuf Ransome Yusuf Ransome  on LinkedIn: "The hardest part of building a solution is when your own family depends on it" SOCAH Lab Pew Research: "Spirituality Among Americans" Janani Ramaswamy "Arvinas Announces FDA Approval of VEPPANU (vepdegestrant) for the Treatment of ESR1m, ER+/HER2- Advanced Breast Cancer" Arvinas Yale Ventures: Accelerators, Programs, and Innovation Centers HealthTech Works In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Nicholas Christakis: The Science of Human Connection 28.05.2026 52min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Nicholas Christakis, director of Yale's Human Nature Lab, to discuss his research on social networks, human connection, and the forces that help societies cooperate and endure. Harlan discusses promising phase 3 results for retatrutide, Eli Lilly's experimental "triple G" obesity drug; Howie provides an update on the fast-growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Show notes: Obesity Drugs "Lilly's triple agonist, retatrutide, delivered powerful weight loss in pivotal Phase 3 obesity trial" "Triple–Hormone-Receptor Agonist Retatrutide for Obesity—A Phase 2 Trial" Bariatric surgery Nicholas Christakis Human Nature Lab Nicholas Christakis: Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society Free rider problem Phenotype Stephen Pinker The Enlightenment Nicholas Christakis on YouTube: For the Love of Science  Nicholas Christakis: "The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network Over 32 Years" Social contagion Altruism Wet lab vs. dry lab  Microbiome Communicable vs. non-communicable diseases Nicholas Christakis: "The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network" Nicholas Christakis on YouTube : "Learning in a Time of War" Tymofiy Mylovanov The president of the Kyiv School of Economics, who invited Christakis to lecture in Ukraine. Ebola CDC: Ebola Disease 2026  CDC: Ebola Disease Basics  "The Ebola virus spreading in Congo is a rare species with no vaccines or treatments" Hypertension Watch last week's episode on YouTube. In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Who Gets to Shape Healthcare? 21.05.2026 48min

  Howie and Harlan discuss how AI is transforming medical research and publishing, the growing role of consumer health platforms and wearables, new advances in stroke treatment, and the debate over rising hospital costs. They also examine the FDA's approval of flavored vaping products and the nomination of a new surgeon general. Watch a video version of this episode on YouTube. Show notes: Social Media Health & Veritas on Instagram Howie's viral reel on Hantavirus Howie on X AI and Research Claude Code by Anthropic medRxiv Progress in Treating Strokes "Endovascular Treatment of Medium-Vessel-Occlusion Strokes" "Endovascular thrombectomy after large-vessel ischaemic stroke: a meta-analysis of individual patient data from five randomised trials" "In Memoriam: Eugene Braunwald, MD, MACC" The Costs of Healthcare The Keckley Report "The Hospital-Health Insurer War hurts Everyone" Hospitals: Higher Value, Higher Prices "This Is the Biggest Culprit for High Health Care Spending" "It's The Prices, Stupid: Why The United States Is So Different From Other Countries"  Atrial fibrillation: symptoms and causes Atrial fibrillation ablation Health Care Affordability Lab Zack Cooper's lab at Yale. Wearables Venture into Healthcare "WHOOP Expands Health Platform with On-Demand Clinician Access and New AI Features" "Introducing ChatGPT Health" "Introducing the all-new Fitbit Air" "Dear Tim" Myoung Cha's blog post on Apple's impact on health. FDA Resignations Over Vape Policy Health & Veritas Episode 78: Elizabeth Arleo: Advice for Working Mothers from a Women's Health Specialist Howie discusses e-cigarettes and lung injuries. Health & Veritas Episode 118: Lucila Ohno-Machado: AI and the Art of Medicine  Howie mentions mixed evidence for vaping as an alternative to smoking. "With Commissioner Under Pressure, F.D.A. Opens Door to Flavored Vapes" "FDA Commissioner Marty Makary Resigns—Trump Posts His Resignation Text" "Top Kennedy Spokesman Resigns in Protest of Move to Allow Flavored Vapes" The Financial Side of GLP-1s Hims & Hers Investor Presentation "Hims & Hers Health, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results" Surgeon General Nominees "Trump Withdraws Nomination of Casey Means for Surgeon General" "Exclusive: Deleted tweets reveal new surgeon general pick criticized Trump and RFK Jr. health policies" "Trump's new surgeon general nominee has both praised and criticized his administration" "The Madness in RFK Jr.'s Autism Method" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Josh Geballe: Building Yale's Innovation Engine 14.05.2026 41min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Josh Geballe, head of Yale Ventures, to discuss how changes in Yale's mindset, policies, and support systems have helped turn university research into impactful companies. Harlan examines the growing problem of AI-hallucinated citations in published research; Howie provides an update on the deadly Andes hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship. Show notes: Fake Citations "Fabricated citations: an audit across 2·5 million biomedical papers" JACC Journals Josh Geballe Yale Innovation Summit 2026  Yale Ventures Joe Tsai Alibaba Group Craig Crews "Yale Spinout Halda Therapeutics Announces $3B Acquisition by Johnson & Johnson" "D-Wave Announces Agreement to Acquire Quantum Circuits Inc., Establishing World's Leading Quantum Computing Company" "Arvinas and Pfizer Enter into a Transaction with Rigel Pharmaceuticals for the Exclusive Global Rights of VEPPANU (vepdegestrant)" Yale Ventures: Healthtech Works Yale Ventures: Planetary Solutions Alexion BioLabs Hantavirus Outbreak Hantavirus "Passengers from virus-stricken cruise ship fly to home countries" "French woman with hantavirus has severe form of disease, is in 'final stage of supportive care'" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Lee Schwamm: Onboarding AI at the Hospital 07.05.2026 49min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Lee Schwamm, the Yale School of Medicine's associate dean for digital strategy & transformation and chief digital health officer of the Yale New Haven Health System, to discuss how the system is working to rapidly evaluate and deploy AI tools without compromising patient safety and oversight. Harlan highlights vaccine studies reportedly held back from publication and argues for greater scientific transparency; Howie reports on a deadly outbreak of Andes hantavirus aboard a cruise ship. Show notes: Suppressing Science "F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe" "Safety Monitoring of Multiple Health Outcomes Following 2023–2024 COVID-19 Vaccination among Medicare Beneficiaries Aged 65 Years and Older in the United States" One of the studies initially blocked by the FDA, published in medRxiv. Akiko Iwasaki: "Freedom of scientific inquiry: reclaiming space for controversy" Lee Schwamm "What is digital transformation?" "Use of Ambient AI Scribes to Reduce Administrative Burden and Professional Burnout" Imaging and radiology "What Is Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)? An Expert Guide"  "Platform Solutions vs. Point Solutions: What's the Difference?" "A prospective clinical feasibility study of a conversational diagnostic AI in an ambulatory primary care clinic" "A scoping review of silent trials for medical artificial intelligence" "Heart failure risk stratification using artificial intelligence applied to electrocardiogram images: a multinational study" Center for Health Care Innovation "Beyond Sterling Hall: Artificial Intelligence is a 'Natural'" Institutional Review Board "What is hyperscale?" AgileMD: eCART "Geoff Hinton: On Radiology" "What is a private cloud?" "What Is a GPU?" Lee Schwamm on what makes an excellent digital patient experience: An excellent digital patient experience is one that moves complexity away from the patient and makes it easy for patients to access, navigate, and coordinate care across the continuum without needing to fragment their care across multiple healthcare delivery systems.  It provides seamless longitudinal continuity of identity, so patients are never asked twice for the same information and their preferences endure between sessions and across experiences. This intelligent hyper-personalization enables care journeys that meaningful, effective and seamlessly intermingle traditional and digital care. At a macro level, these experiences are delivered equitably and adjust to the patient's level of digital engagement, engendering trust and conveying empathy. An equitable digital front door is one that opens easily for everyone, allows access to the needed services, and improves clinical care and operational efficiency rather than simply digitizing existing ineffective or byzantine processes. Lastly, excellent digital patient experiences are not just built but are maintained and curated, through continuous measurement, iteration, and alignment to the needs of patients rather than the organizational structure of the health system. Hantavirus Oceanwide Expeditions Press Releases Hantavirus "What Is Hantavirus, the Rare Disease That Killed Betsy Arakawa?" "Hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel, Multi-country" Updates from the World Health Organization on X "'Super-Spreaders' and Person-to-Person Transmission of Andes Virus in Argentina" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Wolfram Goessling: Lessons from the Other Side of Cancer 30.04.2026 45min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine liver specialist Wolfram Goessling, who reflects on his experience surviving a rare cancer and how it reshaped his approach to patient care, communication, and leadership. Harlan discusses a Utah pilot program that is letting AI authorize prescription renewals, prompting alarm from physicians; Howie reports on a study challenging the effectiveness of a widely used knee procedure. Show notes: The Prescribing AI "Utah and Doctronic Announce Groundbreaking Partnership for AI Prescription Medication Renewals" Doctronic AI Mitigation Agreement "AI Prescribing Medications In Utah: A Flawed Regulatory Playbook" "Utah medical board calls for 'suspension' of AI doctor experiment" "The Status Quo Is the Biggest Risk" Doctronic responds to coverage of the Utah partnership. Wolfram Goessling Wolfram Goessling: Staying Alive: An Oncologist Fights His Cancer The publisher's site for Wolfram Goessling's book on his personal fight with cancer. Staying Alive: An Oncologist Fights His Cancer The Amazon page for the book. Facing Cancer The IMDB page for the documentary about Wolfram Goessling's experience. Facing CancerWatch the documentary with English subtitles. Angiosarcoma Goessling Lab "Wolfram Goessling, MD, PhD, to be Appointed Chair of YSM Internal Medicine, Chief of Internal Medicine at YNHH, & Physician-in-Chief for Medicine" Hepatology Gastroenterologist "What Is Shared Decision Making?" "Teach-Back: Intervention" Liver Cancer Jaundice Appendicitis "Meet Wolfram Goessling, New Chair of the Yale Department of Internal Medicine" Longwood Symphony Orchestra  Knee Surgery "Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy versus Sham Surgery for a Degenerative Meniscal Tear" "Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy for Degenerative Tear—10-Year Outcomes" "Analysis of Charges and Payments for Outpatient Arthroscopic Meniscectomy From 2005 to 2014: Hospital Reimbursement Increased Steadily as Surgeon Payments Declined" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Trust, Truth, and Moral Distress 23.04.2026 44min

  Howie and Harlan take on tough questions at the intersection of medicine and society. They trace the deadly history of anti-vaccine activism, unpack Yale's report on trust in higher education, and explore the peptide craze. They also confront the rising moral distress among clinicians working in systems that too often prevent them from caring for patients the way they were trained to. Plus, student research assistant Tobias Liu stops by for a farewell conversation. Show notes: Tobias Segment "Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Kickback Resolutions and Associated Financial Penalties, 2000-2025" Anti-Vaccination Alfred Russel Wallace WHO: Smallpox "US surpasses 1,000 measles cases for the 3rd time in 26 years" Trust in Higher Education "Report of the Committee on Trust in Higher Education" "Yale Report Finds Colleges Deserve Blame for Higher Education's Problems" "Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale" Peptides WebMD: Peptides "Peptides take off as a DIY treatment but is that a good idea?" "A peptide in FDA's step" Moral Distress "Moral Distress and Occupational Burnout in US Physicians" "The Moral Crisis of America's Doctors" The Pitt Psychedelics "Trump expedites review of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders" "U.S. Overdose Deaths Decrease Almost 27% in 2024" 2026 Breakthrough Prize "Breakthrough Prize 2026" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Stephen Latham: The End of Irreversibility 16.04.2026 41min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Stephen Latham, a Yale School of Medicine senior research scholar and the director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. Stephen reflects on his journey to a career at the intersection of law and medicine, and explains why the legal definition of death is becoming less useful in an era of rapidly advancing medical technologies. Harlan unpacks recent analysis of smoking rates in the U.S.; Howie contextualizes recent accusations of Medicaid fraud in New York.  Show notes: Smoking Rates "Tobacco Product Use among U.S. Adults, 2023–2024" "Smoking rates are at a historic low. You're not hearing about it from the government"  "Cigarette Smoking is Down Nationwide, but Not Equally Across All Groups"  Stephen Latham American Medical Association American Medical Association: Code of Medical Ethics Oregon's Death with Dignity Act "Harvard's grade inflation experiment"  "Professors face grading dilemma: too many A's, little taste for limits" "Harvard University Plans To Delay Its Cap On A Grades For One Year" "Cellular recovery after prolonged warm ischaemia of the whole body"  Uniform Determination of Death Act Cleveland Clinic: Organ Donation and Transplantation Bexorg "Bexorg: The Yale Spinout That Figured Out How to Keep Brains Going Outside the Body" Brain Perfusion - An Overview  "Political Theory, Values and Public Health"  "AI-guided CAR designs and targeted pathway modulation to enhance multi-antigen CAR T cell durability and overcome antigen escape" "Conscience, Disobedience, and Standard of Care"  Medicaid "Trump administration admits a glaring error in its accusations about New York health care fraud"  "5 Key Facts About Medicaid Program Integrity – Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Improper Payments" "Medicare Program Integrity and Efforts to Root Out Improper Payments, Fraud, Waste and Abuse" IRS: The tax gap    In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Deborah Proctor: Help That Endures 09.04.2026 38min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine gastroenterologist Deborah Proctor, who reflects on her decades of work in Honduras and how her approach to service has shifted from short-term medical missions to sustained, community-driven partnership. Harlan reports on an AI breakthrough with implications for the security of healthcare systems; Howie marks National Public Health Week with a look at two centuries of major public health gains. Show notes: AI Breakthrough Anthropic: Project Glasswing "Anthropic Claims Its New A.I. Model, Mythos, Is a Cybersecurity 'Reckoning'" Glasswinged Butterfly "Cybersecurity incident forces Brockton Hospital to use paper records" Thomas Friedman: "Anthropic's Restraint Is a Terrifying Warning Sign"  Hard Fork podcast Deborah Proctor Gastroenterologist Honduras Children's Project Deborah Proctor: Every Child Counts: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty by Educating One Child at a Time Voluntourism Teletón Yale Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center Public Health Progress National Public Health Week World Health Day Life Expectancy History of smallpox vaccination Cholera in Victorian London "A History of the Surgeon General's Reports on Smoking and Health" "Australia's Social Media Ban for Children Takes Effect" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Selwyn Rogers: Bearing Witness to Violence 02.04.2026 46min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by trauma surgeon Selwyn Rogers, who reflects on caring for victims of gun violence and speaking with families in their darkest moments—and explains why the problem must be understood as a shared societal responsibility. Harlan examines new evidence suggesting U.S. healthcare spending has grown more slowly than expected; Howie discusses a retracted Lancet article that highlights the risks of undisclosed conflicts of interest. Show notes: Healthcare Costs "Has the United States Bent the Health Care Cost Curve?" David M. Cutler "Baumol's cost disease" Harlan Krumholz: "Out‐of‐Pocket Annual Health Expenditures and Financial Toxicity From Healthcare Costs in Patients With Heart Failure in the United States"  Selwyn Rogers Selwyn Rogers: Healing the Gun Violence Epidemic: Ending Violence, Rebuilding Communities, and a Trauma Surgeon's Vision for Restoring Hope Albert Ko "Selwyn Rogers named associate editor of prestigious New England Journal of Medicine" Selwyn Rogers: "Hope—Beyond Firearm Trauma" Selwyn Rogers: "Structural Racism and Firearm Injury: Operationalizing Health Equity in Trauma Care" Brain Death: What it is, Stages & Criteria New York Times Live Updates: Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Case  Annual Gun Violence Data 2023 Conflicts of Interest "Retraction: Cosmetic talc powder" "Historians Unearth a Conflict of Interest, Prompting a Retraction by The Lancet Journal" Johns Manville Trust Fund and Lawsuits Mark Lanier Health & Veritas Episode 215: Arya Singh: Beyond Accessibility In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Arya Singh: Beyond Accessibility 26.03.2026 45min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale College and Yale School of Public Health graduate Arya Singh, who reflects on growing up with spinal muscular atrophy, what it takes to build a full life with a disability, and how family support and institutional culture shape what inclusion looks like in practice. Harlan reports on the rapid rise of AI as a front door to health information; Howie responds to the withdrawal of a proposed federal ban on indoor tanning for minors. Show notes: AI Health Advice Health & Veritas Episode 207: Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare "OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT for Healthcare, a gen AI workspace for hospitals and clinics" "Anthropic Launches AI Healthcare Tools As Competition With OpenAI Heats Up" "Doctronic raises $40 million as race to apply AI in clinical care heats up" "KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Use of AI For Health Information and Advice" Arya Singh Health & Veritas Episode 35: Dr. Amy Justice: Unlocking the Insights in Healthcare Data Howie reflects on Arya Singh's graduation from Yale. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) "At Yale, Arya Singh overcame her fears—and found a new side of herself" "This Yale student won't let a rare genetic disease stand in her way" "A Mother's Moonshot"A Stanford Business profile of Loren Eng, Singh's mother.  Arya Singh: "What it's like to have a rare disease—and how clinical trials changed my life" "For Arya" A Forbes article on Singh's parents. Video: Yale College 2022 Class Day Exercises Singh's speech to her classmates. "3 Rings, 2 College Students and 1 Big Risk" A New York Times "Vows" column on Singh's wedding. Arya Singh: Courageous Calla & The Clinical Trial Arya Singh: "Beyond broken elevators" Arya Singh: "Making It Work for Students in Wheelchairs to Leave Home: Experiences and Decision Making Regarding the Residential College Experience" Tanning Beds "FDA pulls proposed rule barring teens from using tanning beds" FDA: General and Plastic Surgery Devices: Restricted Sale, Distribution, and Use of Sunlamp Products; Withdrawal of Proposed Rule "Molecular effects of indoor tanning" "Indoor Tanning and the Risk of Overall and Early-Onset Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" "Indoor Tanning Legislation: Here's Where We Stand" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Vaccines, Cholesterol, and Other News 19.03.2026 37min

  Howie and Harlan discuss the end of flu season, vaccine effectiveness, and the challenge of rebuilding public confidence in immunization. Also: new cholesterol guidelines that push earlier treatment, measles outbreaks and the erosion of herd immunity, a court ruling pausing changes to vaccine guidelines, signs of stabilization at the NIH, new evidence on football and brain injury, and a MedPAC report suggesting Medicare Advantage plans are overpaid. Show notes: Looking Back at the Flu Season CDC 2024–2025 Influenza Season Summary CDC: Influenza-Associated Pediatric Deaths  CDC Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report CDC: Interim Estimates of 2025–26 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness  New Cholesterol Guidelines 2026 ACC/AHA/AACVPR/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia "ACC/American Heart Association Issue Updated Guideline for Managing Lipids, Cholesterol" Lipoprotein (a): Levels & Testing Apolipoprotein B (Apo B) Test  "Major changes to cardiovascular guidelines suggest taking statins as young as 30"  "Statins: How They Work & Side Effects" American Heart Association PREVENT Online Calculator  Measles Update CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks  U.S. Measles Tracker  South Carolina Department of Public Health: 2025 Measles Outbreak  Utah Department of Health and Human Services: Utah measles outbreak response  CDC Measles Vaccine Recommendations  What's Happening at the NIH? "NIH will spend its full budget this year, agency director promises House appropriators"  "NIH chief calms nerves on grants, hiring"  "WATCH: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya testifies at NIH oversight hearing before House panel"  Harlan Krumholz: "Grant Applications With a Result-Based Orientation"  New Mexico's Measles Success CDC: Measles Outbreak—New Mexico, 2025  Football, Brain Health, and the Biology of Repetitive Hits "Cognitive and Neuropsychiatric Function in Former American Football Players"  "Inflammation, Limbic White Matter Microstructure, and Clinical Symptoms in Retired American Football Players With Repetitive Head Impacts"  ACIP Lawsuit "Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)"  "Judge blocks RFK Jr. advisers' vaccine changes"  "Federal judge stalls health secretary RFK Jr.'s overhaul of vaccine policy"  "Federal Judge Puts Brakes on RFK Jr's Vaccine Agenda"  Medicare Advantage Under the Microscope MedPAC: March 2026 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy  "Congressional advisers call to rein in Medicare Advantage spending amid industry pressure" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Kevin Billingsley: The Making of the Modern Surgeon 12.03.2026 37min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine surgical oncologist Kevin Billingsley, who discusses how robotics and advanced imaging are reshaping what it means to be a surgeon and offers guidance for those facing a cancer diagnosis. Harlan reports on a company testing AI-based prescription renewals and raises concerns about safety and oversight; Howie reflects on new survey data showing declining public trust in health institutions. Show notes: Unsupervised AI Health & Veritas Episode 207: Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare "Vinod Khosla: Machines will replace 80 percent of doctors" Doctronic AI Regulatory Mitigation Agreement "AI could soon renew prescriptions without clinician help. Should the FDA make sure it's safe?" "Exclusive: Researchers trick a bot that prescribes meds" "Don't trust this $4 solution for getting a prescription" "CVS Health And Google Launch AI Business To 'Personalize Healthcare'" Health & Veritas Episode 206: Mary-Ann Etiebet: Confronting Preventable Disease Harlan discusses ARPA-H. Kevin Billingsley Laparoscopy Robotic Surgery "History of robotic surgery: from AESOP and ZEUS to da Vinci" "Personal Best" Atul Gawande compares surgeons to athletes.  "Future of Surgical Training Will Include Major Shift in Education Model" "Will your next surgeon be a robot? Autonomy and AI in robotic surgery" "Dying Words" Jerome Groopman on the relationship between oncologists and patients. "Teamwork in Healthcare: Key Discoveries Enabling Safer, High-Quality Care" Smoking and Cancer Benefits of Physical Activity Physical Activity and Cancer Health & Veritas: Melinda Irwin: Can Nutrition and Exercise Improve Cancer Outcomes? "What Alcohol Does to the Body" Who do you trust? "Stark Divide: Americans More Confident in Career Scientists at U.S. Health Agencies Than Leaders" "Poll: Americans increasingly trust career scientists, not leaders, at CDC, NIH, and FDA" Your Local Epidemiologist: "Top 5 questions about school vaccination requirements" Health & Veritas Katelyn Jetelina: A Visit from Your Local Epidemiologist" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Kevin Sheth: Innovation Toward a Healthier Brain 05.03.2026 41min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine neurologist Kevin Sheth to discuss how collaboration helps drive breakthroughs in brain health, including advances in detecting stroke and other neurological diseases earlier and more precisely. Harlan reflects on lessons from his family's recent experience navigating the healthcare system; Howie examines the expanding marketplace for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and the challenges of ensuring safe and appropriate use. Show notes: The Family Perspective Cleveland Clinic: Percutaneous Coronary Intervention "What's the Difference Between a CCU and an ICU?" Kevin Sheth Alva Health Mayo Clinic: Stroke Video: Kevin Sheth at the Yale Innovation Summit Sandra Saldana, PhD, MBA "Buddy System"  NIH: Multiple Principal Investigators "Assessing the Decade of the Brain" "Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma biomarkers in Alzheimer disease" Kevin Sheth: "Burden of Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke Across the US From 1990 to 2019"  Endovascular Thrombectomy (EVT) Ischemic vs Hemorrhagic Stroke "What is cognitive reserve?"  Cheaper Obesity Drugs "Will Novo Nordisk's slashing of obesity drug prices save patients' money? It depends"  "Novo Nordisk to halve US list price of Wegovy from 2027"  "Walgreens Virtual Healthcare Adds Weight Management Services to Support Patients on Their Weight Loss Journey"  In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Janet Currie: Investing in Kids 26.02.2026 37min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale economist Janet Currie to discuss how early-life investments in health, education, and environmental protection shape children's lifelong well-being and economic opportunity. Harlan highlights a new Medicare payment model that would reward measurable improvements in chronic disease outcomes; Howie reflects on the spread of medical misinformation and a new effort to push back. Show notes: The ACCESS Payment Model CMS: ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model "ACCESS: What this new payment model means for physicians and patients" "FDA Launches TEMPO: A First-of-Its-Kind Digital Health Pilot to Expand Access to Chronic Disease Technologies" Janet Currie "Welcoming Janet Currie: A Pioneer in the Economics of Children and Families Joins Yale" Janet Currie: "Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector: The Effect of Legal Structure on Dispute Costs and Wages" Janet Currie: "Child health as human capital" Janet Currie: "Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis" "Medicaid and Children's Health: 5 Issues to Watch Amid Recent Federal Changes" Janet Currie: "Medicaid: What Does It Do, and Can We Do It Better?" Janet Currie: "Does Head Start Make a Difference?" Janet Currie: "Longer Term Effects of Head Start" Janet Currie: "Lead and Juvenile Delinquency: New Evidence from Linked Birth, School, and Juvenile Detention Records" Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) Series Janet Currie: "Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women" Janet Currie: "Doctor Decision Making and Patient Outcomes" Janet Currie's American Economic Association Presidential Address: "Investing in Children to Address the Child Mental Health Crisis" "Addressing Common Misconceptions About the Child Mental Health Crisis" Janet Currie: "To What Extent are Trends in Teen Mental Health Driven by Changes in Reporting?" Janet Currie: "Rules versus Discretion: Treatment of Mental Illness in US Adolescents"  Misinformation Mayo Clinic: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Symptoms and causes "Inside RFK Jr.'s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice condition" Health & Veritas Episode 197: Peter Hotez: Mapping the Anti-Science Machine "It's time for a new era of advocacy for physicians" "Childhood Vaccination Rates Have Dropped Again, C.D.C. Data Shows" "Take It From a Scientist. Facts Matter, and They Don't Care How You Feel." "A small study on Covid vaccine safety sparks an online tempest" Health & Veritas Episode 192: Akiko Iwasaki: What Have We Learned About Long COVID? In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Evangelos Oikonomou: Decoding the Hidden Signals of Heart Disease 19.02.2026 43min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by Evangelos Oikonomou, a cardiologist and data scientist at the Yale School of Medicine, to discuss how AI can extract overlooked signs of heart disease from routine ECGs, imaging studies, and electronic health records—and how to deploy these AI tools responsibly at scale. Harlan explains whether a widely covered study suggesting that coffee may lower the risk of dementia should change your daily brew; Howie grapples with the ethical questions surrounding a proposed hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. Show notes: Coffee and Dementia "Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function" "Coffee linked to slower brain ageing in study of 130,000 people" "2 to 3 Cups of Coffee a Day May Reduce Dementia Risk. But Not if It's Decaf." Evangelos Oikonomou "What Is Opportunistic Screening in Healthcare?" Evangelos Oikonomou: "Artificial intelligence in medical imaging: A radiomic guide to precision phenotyping of cardiovascular disease" Evangelos Oikonomou: "Non-invasive detection of coronary inflammation using computed tomography and prediction of residual cardiovascular risk (the CRISP CT study): a post-hoc analysis of prospective outcome data" Evangelos Oikonomou: "Artificial intelligence-guided detection of under-recognised cardiomyopathies on point-of-care cardiac ultrasonography: a multicentre study" "Fellow Focus in Four: Evangelos Oikonomou, MD, DPhil, Cardiovascular Medicine" Health & Veritas Episode 80: Josh Geballe: Turning Yale Innovation into Startups Evangelos Oikonomou: "TARGET-AI: A Foundational Approach for the Targeted Deployment of Artificial Intelligence Electrocardiography in the Electronic Health Record" "Using AI to Guide AI" "Are A.I. Tools Making Doctors Worse at Their Jobs?" "The Robot Doctor Will See You Now" Health & Veritas Episode 207: Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare "A large language model for complex cardiology care" Vaccine Trial Ethics WHO: Statement on the planned hepatitis B birth dose vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau "Planned US-funded baby vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau blasted by WHO" "Guinea-Bissau suspends US-funded vaccine trial as African scientists question its motives" "Guinea-Bissau Installs Military Ruler After Claims of a 'Fabricated' Coup" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Joel Hirschhorn: How Genes Add Up 12.02.2026 43min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by geneticist and endocrinologist Joel Hirschhorn to discuss how thousands of genetic variants collectively shape disease and traits like height and obesity. Harlan reviews new research on diet soda and dementia; Howie surveys recent market swings, including the rise of Solace Health and the decline of Hims & Hers. Show notes: Diet Soda and Dementia "Soda consumption and risk of dementia: The Northern Manhattan study"  "Why One Cardiologist Has Drunk His Last Diet Soda" Joel Hirschhorn National Human Genome Research Institute: Mendelian Inheritance MedlinePlus: FGFR3 gene  Cleveland Clinic: Achondroplasia National Human Genome Research: Polygenic Trait  Hirschhorn Lab "A saturated map of common genetic variants associated with human height"  "What are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)?" ScienceDirect: Genetic Variant Joel Hirschhorn: "Genome-Wide Association Study of Quantitative Kidney Function in 52,531 Individuals with Diabetes Identifies Five Diabetes-Specific Loci" Joel Hirschhorn: "Polygenic prediction of body mass index and obesity through the life course and across ancestries" "Obesity Prediction Could Be Guided by Genetic Risk Scores" "Genome-wide association study shows BCL11A associated with persistent fetal hemoglobin and amelioration of the phenotype of β-thalassemia"  Society for Science: Noam Elkies MIT: Eric S. Lander Ups and Downs "Understanding Creative Destruction: Driving Innovation and Economic Change" "Solace Health raises $130M series C for advocacy platform" "Molina Healthcare's stocks fall as company plans exit from Medicare Advantage"  "Centene swings to loss but predicts stabilization in 2026" "UnitedHealth limps into 2026 with a smaller business and fresh challenges" "Hims & Hers Falls 14% After Pulling Copycat Wegovy Pill—Novo Nordisk Up 8%"  "Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Measles Outbreaks, Preventative Cardiology, and Other News 05.02.2026 34min

  Howie and Harlan discuss an escalating measles outbreak in the U.S. and a project piloted by Yale School of Medicine professor Erica Spatz to deliver preventative care in barbershops and beauty salons. Also examined: flu season, nipah virus, and the perils of focusing on healthcare business models. Show notes:  Measles CDC: Measles Outbreak Associated with an Infectious Traveler—Colorado, May–June 2025 CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks Snohomish County Health Department: Snohomish County Confirms Three New Measles Cases "Measles in an ICE facility is a public health failure" Value-Based Care "Value-Based Care: What It Is, and Why It's Needed" "Supporting Value-Based Health Care—Aligning Financial and Legal Accountability" American Hospital Association: 3 Ways AI Can Improve Revenue-Cycle Management Preventative Cardiology Yale School of Medicine: Erica Spatz, MD, MHS Pressure Check Marketplace Health Insurance Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Marketplace 2026 Open Enrollment Period Report: National Snapshot Respiratory Illness CDC: Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 3, ending January 24, 2026 "After 3-week decline, flu cases rise across the US; RSV, COVID activity high in certain states" Nipah Virus CDC: About Nipah Virus WHO: Nipah virus infection—India In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.
• Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare 03.02.2026 38min

  Howie and Harlan are joined by internist and author Robert Wachter to discuss his new book, which explores how AI is already changing day-to-day medical practice and argues that it can improve care, reduce burnout, and even help repair a broken healthcare system. Show notes: Robert Wachter: A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future Robert Wachter: The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age Robert Wachter: "Pattern Recognition" "AI Prognosis: Readers' predictions for health AI in 2026. What's on your bingo card?" Robert Wachter: "Will The AI Jobpocalypse Hit Healthcare?" Video: Geoff Hinton on deep learning and radiology "Call me Dr Ishmael: trends in electronic health record notes available at emergency department visits and admissions" "OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to connect user medical records, wellness apps" "Utah launches first-in-the-nation trial that lets AI renew your prescription" Robert Wachter: "Will AI Rescue Primary Care?" "We found what you're asking ChatGPT about health. A doctor scored its answers." Robert Wachter: "We Need Medical AI for Patients" Robert Wachter: "Medicine's AI Knowledge War Heats Up"  Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: Proceedings and Recommendations Robert Wachter: Deskilling and Healthcare AI" "Are A.I. Tools Making Doctors Worse at Their Jobs?" "The Robot Doctor Will See You Now" Atul Gawande: "Personal Best" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.