The Wound-Dresser

Season 4, Episode 10: Dr. Ali Houshmand is the president of Rowan University and the thought leader behind the  Rowan Wellness Village. Listen to Ali discuss the vision for the Rowan Wellness Village, the components of a healthy community and strategies for cultivating purpose for young adults and senior citizens.

Season 4, Episode 9: Gianna Calligy is a fourth-year medical student at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and a youth mentor for children affected by addiction. Listen to Gianna discuss the effects of substance use on families, the work of Camp Mariposa and her own reflections on addiction medicine.Camp Mariposa is a free year-round addiction prevention and youth mentoring program for ages 9-17 who are affected by the substance use of a family member. Campers build knowledge, life skills, confidence, and connect with peers and trained adult mentors. Check it out here!

(REWIND) Season 2, Episode 6: Professor John Kaag is the Chair of Philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Listen to John talk about mental illness, the golden mean and how transcendence is related to healing.

Season 4, Episode 8: Dr. Donald Friedman is a retired rheumatologist and mindful self-compassion advocate based in Philadelphia. Listen to Don discuss the three components of mindful self-compassion, the prevailing myths about this practice and how mindful self-compassion can help physicians cope with clinical errors.

Season 4, Episode 7: Dr. Anna Wexler is a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies emerging technologies and do-it-yourself (DIY) medicine. Listen to Anna discuss common DIY medicine applications, the conditions under which DIY medicine movements emerge, and approaches for physicians to discuss DIY medicine with patients. 

(REWIND) Season 1, Episode 7: Dr. Ethan Tarasov is a retired radiologist from central New Jersey. Listen to Ethan talk about the evolution of imaging during his career and the musical compositions that have been his focus since retiring from medicine. See soundingseamusic.com to check out his work!

(REWIND) Season 3, Episode 3: Dr. Gregg Furie is an internal medicine physician and medical director for climate and sustainability at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. Listen to Gregg discuss the effects of climate change on our health, ongoing policy initiatives to reduce healthcare emissions and his approach to addressing climate change with patients.

Season 4, Episode 6: Dr. Ju-Lin Wang is a trauma surgeon at Cooper University Healthcare in Camden, New Jersey. Listen to Ju-Lin discuss the clinical decision trees used to stabilize trauma patients, partnerships between trauma surgery and the military and the importance of trauma awareness campaigns in our communities. 

Season 4, Episode 5: Dr. Meggie Crnic is a Philadelphia-based medical historian and author of The Beach Cure: A History of Healing on Northeastern Shores. Listen to Meggie discuss the elements that make beach environments therapeutic, a history of floating hospitals on the eastern seaboard and the interplay of science and lived experience when studying healing landscapes.

Season 4, Episode 4: Dr. Jocelyn Mitchell-Williams is the senior associate dean for medical education at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She also has extensive experience designing service-learning programs for medical students. Listen to Jocelyn discuss the recent evolution of Camden, New Jersey, pipeline to medical profession programs and the importance of advocacy in medicine.

Season 4, Episode 3: Dr. Jason Han is a cardiothoracic surgeon at Cooper University Healthcare and a writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Listen to Jason discuss the importance of creativity in surgery, the state of surgical education and the stereotypes that have traditionally defined the surgical profession.

Season 4, Episode 2: Kathleen Noonan is president and CEO of Camden Coalition which seeks to improve the health and well-being of people with complex needs. Listen to Kathleen discuss ecosystems of care, regional health hubs and Camden Coalition's Housing First program.

Season 4, Episode 1: Dr. Marschall Runge is the former dean of University of Michigan Medical School and CEO of Michigan Medicine. He is also the author of the The Great Healthcare Disruption: Big Tech, Bold Policy, and the Future of American Medicine. Listen to Marschall discuss realistic expectations for our healthcare system, the potential uses of artificial intelligence in medicine and the importance of primary care providers.Check out Dr. Runge's work here.

(REWIND) Season 2, Episode 18: Sarah DiGregorio is a freelance healthcare journalist from Brooklyn, New York. She is also the author of Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World. Listen to Sarah talk about the nurse-patient relationship, healthcare billing and the political nature of nursing.

(REWIND) Season 2, Episode 10: Dr. Aly Cohen is an integrative rheumatologist and environmental health expert in Princeton, NJ. Listen to Aly discuss the regulation of chemicals in consumer products, the effects of these chemicals on our health, and her experiences navigating the healthcare payment structure. Check out Dr. Cohen's environmental health initiative, The Smart Human, here.

(REWIND) Season 1, Episode 14: Dr. Chiti Parikh is an author and integrative medicine physician at New York Presbyterian – Weill Cornell Medical Center. Listen to Chiti talk about the definition of integrative medicine, the types of patients who seek out integrative care and the importance of addressing spirituality during patient visits.Check out Dr. Parikh's book Intentional Health here.

Season 3, Episode 20: Dr. Colin West is an internal medicine physician and Medical Director for Employee Well-Being at Mayo Clinic. Listen to Colin discuss individual and system-based strategies for addressing burnout, the MVPs of wellbeing (meaning, value and purpose) and research tools for measuring burnout and wellbeing.

Season 3, Episode 19: Dr. Kimya Imani Jackson is a standardized patient actor and trainer based in Philadelphia. Listen to Kimya discuss how she got into standardized patient acting, guidelines for physical touch during a clinical encounter and advice for delivering bad news to patients.

Season 3, Episode 18: Dr. Jonathan Reisman is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and writer based in Philadelphia. Listen to Jonathan discuss the use of scripts when delivering bad news, the future of A.I. in medicine and the replaceability of physicians.Check out Dr. Jonathan Reisman's New York Times op-ed on A.I. here and his book The Unseen Body here

Season 3, Episode 17: Dr. Mara Gordon is a writer and primary care physician for Cooper University Healthcare in Camden, NJ. Listen to Mara discuss her motivations for writing about healthcare, ways to create change in our healthcare system and the rationale for size-inclusive medicine. Check out Dr. Gordon's work here: https://sites.google.com/view/mara-gordon/

Season 3, Episode 16: Dr. Chad Horne is a political philosopher of health at Northwestern University. Listen to Chad discuss the purpose of health insurance, the Affordable Care Act and the egalitarian and market failures approaches to justice in health.

Season 3, Episode 15: Dr. Farr Curlin is a palliative medicine physician and Josiah Trent Professor of Medical Humanities in the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, & History of Medicine at Duke University. Listen to Farr discuss health in the context of palliative medicine, medical aid in dying and the interaction of patient and physician values.

Season 3, Episode 14: Dr. David Swope is a teaching professor of embryology at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. Listen to David discuss the concept of active learning, recent trends in medical education and best practices for staying up to date on medical advances.

Season 3, Episode 13: Dr. Mary Hague-Yearl is the head librarian at the Osler Library of the History of Medicine at McGill University. Listen to Mary discuss ongoing programs at the Osler Library, the importance of studying the history of medicine and the ethical legacy of historical physicians.

Season 3, Episode 12: Dr. Richard Schaefer is an orthopedic specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine and an editor at CLOSLER. Listen to Richard discuss the pillars of CLOSLER, his past writing pieces, and helpful strategies for connecting with patients.

Season 3, Episode 11: Dr. Amjol Shrestha is the vice president of Philadelphia Stoa and a philosophy professor at Rowan University. Listen to Amjol discuss the guiding principles of stoicism and how these principles can be helpful in improving the wellbeing of both patients and healthcare professionals.

Season 3, Episode 10: Yaas Azmoudeh is a medical student at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and a teacher of Vinyasa, Hatha and Tantra yoga. Listen to Yaas discuss the historical roots of yoga practice, her various yoga training experiences, and how yoga can be a helpful medical therapy for patients. 

Season 3, Episode 9: Dr. Elyce Cardonick is a cancer and pregnancy specialist at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. Listen to Elyce discuss the founding of the Cancer and Pregnancy Registry in 1997, the Hope for Two support network and common misconceptions regarding medical treatment during pregnancy.

Season 3, Episode 8: Dr. Richard Fischer is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. Listen to Richard discuss the experience of being a male OBGYN physician, the work of midwives and doulas, and factors that contribute to complicated pregnancies.

Season 3, Episode 7: Amir Davoodi is a medical student at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. He also holds dual American and Iranian citizenship. Listen to Amir talk about recent civil unrest in Iran, the bioethical dilemmas faced by Iranian doctors and the role of physicians in the political sphere.

Season 3, Episode 6: Maggie Burzynski is a second year medical student at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and a LGBTQ+ health advocate. Listen to Maggie discuss the care of LGBTQ+ patients, the use of gender-neutral language in the clinical setting and her experiences as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Season 3, Episode 5: Dr. Jeffrey Greeson is the director of the Mindfulness, Stress and Health Lab at Rowan University. Listen to Jeff discuss the health benefits of mindfulness, the challenges of measuring outcomes in mindfulness research and the distinctions between secular mindfulness and traditional Buddhist practice. 

Season 3, Episode 4: Dr. Paschal Nwako is the county health officer in Camden County, NJ. Listen to Paschal discuss health education initiatives, underfunding of public health programs and the role of public health departments during COVID-19.

Season 3, Episode 3: Dr. Gregg Furie is an internal medicine physician and medical director for climate and sustainability at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA. Listen to Gregg discuss the effects of climate change on our health, ongoing policy initiatives to reduce healthcare emissions and his approach to addressing climate change with patients.

Season 3, Episode 2: Dr. Henry Fraimow is an infectious disease physician at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. Listen to Henry discuss common patient questions about COVID-19, the early months of the pandemic and the challenges of conducting research during the peak of COVID-19. 

Season 3, Episode 1: Dr. Keri Cronin is an internal medicine resident at Mount Sinai Morningside and West in New York City. In 2021, during her second year of medical school, Dr. Cronin was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Listen to Keri talk about her treatment journey, the importance of peer support among cancer survivors and the rising rates of cancer in young adults.

Season 2, Episode 19: Dr. Rolando Del Maestro is professor emeritus in neuro-oncology at McGill University and is the current president of the American Osler Society. Listen to Rolando discuss the art of neurosurgery, the legacy of Sir William Osler and the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.Please visit the website below to read Dr. Del Maestro's essay "The Best Part Started with a Kiss: Memories and Reflections". This piece was published in the June 2023 edition of the American Osler Society's publication, The Oslerian. Website: https://www.americanosler.org/content/the-oslerian

Season 2, Episode 18: Sarah DiGregorio is a freelance healthcare journalist from Brooklyn, New York. She is also the author of Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World. Listen to Sarah talk about the nurse-patient relationship, healthcare billing and the political nature of nursing.  

Season 2, Episode 17: Dr. Sarah Perelman is the chief resident in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. Listen to Sarah talk about research in the ED, her experiences during COVID-19 and management of patients who suffer from substance abuse and gun violence.

Season 2, Episode 16: David Price is the executive director at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD. Listen to David discuss the medications used by Civil War physicians, the legacy of Dr. Jonathan Letterman and the similarities between the Civil War and the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Season 2, Episode 15: Rev. Caroline Peacock is the director of spiritual health at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Listen to Caroline talk about spiritual distress in cancer patients, mystical experiences and the role of spiritual care practitioners in providing psychedelic-assisted therapy. 

Season 2, Episode 14: Dr. Faith Young is an addiction medicine specialist with Cooper University Healthcare in Camden, NJ. Listen to Fay talk about her journey in medicine, her approach to palliative care and her experiences working with patients who struggle with addiction.

Season 2, Episode 13: Ashley Shaw is a reiki practitioner in Pitman, NJ. Listen to Ashley talk about the fundamentals of reiki, the relationship between meditation and reiki, and how reiki can complement mainstream healthcare.

Season 2, Episode 12: Parker Lyons is a senior financial analyst at Twitter in San Diego, California. In December 2021, Parker was hospitalized for two months at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota due to complications stemming from ulcerative colitis. Listen to Parker discuss his near-death experiences, the healing power of relationships and the brokenness in our healthcare system. A written account of Parker's health journey:Part 1: https://medium.com/p/f06e0501a1c6Part 2: https://medium.com/@parkerhlyons13/im-freaking-alive-an-update-bet-the-under-94d6200fb902

Season 2, Episode 11: Dr. Edward Viner is a Professor of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) in Camden, NJ. He is also the founding director of CMSRU's Center for Humanism. Listen to Ed discuss the commercialization of medicine, the electronic medical record and CMSRU's role in the Camden community.

Season 2, Episode 10: Dr. Aly Cohen is an integrative rheumatologist and environmental health expert in Princeton, NJ. Listen to Aly discuss the regulation of chemicals in consumer products, the effects of these chemicals on our health, and her experiences navigating the healthcare payment structure. See below for more information about Dr. Cohen:Dr. Aly Cohen is triple board-certified in rheumatology, internal medicine, and integrative medicine, as well as an environmental health expert in Princeton, New Jersey. She has collaborated with the Environmental Working Group, Cancer Schmancer, and other disease- prevention or­ganizations, and is coeditor of the textbook, Integrative Environmental Medicine, part of the Oxford University Press/Weil Integrative Medicine, Academic Series. In 2015, she created TheSmartHuman.com to share environ­mental health, disease prevention, and wellness information with the public. She lectures nationally on environmental health topics for el­ementary/ high schools, colleges/ universities, medical schools, and physician- training programs, and she is a regular expert guest for tele­vision, print, and podcasts. She has been the recipient of countless awards, including Top Docs NJ in rheumatology from 2016-2021, the NJ Healthcare Heroes Award in Education for The Smart Human educational platform in 2015, and the 2016 Burton L. Eichler Award for humanitarianism.Dr Aly Cohen is the co-author of the, bestselling, consumer guidebook, Non-Toxic: Guide to Living Healthy in a Chemical World, published by Oxford University Press, and part of the Dr. Weil Healthy Living Guides.Dr. Cohen is working to educate and empower the next generation to make safer, smarter lifestyle choices through the creation of en­vironmental health and prevention curricula for schools nationally. Her TEDx talk, “How to Protect Your Kids from Toxic Chemicals", can be found on YouTube, and you can follow her health and wellness tips and recommendations on Facebook at The Smart Human, Twitter, and Instagram: @thesmarthuman. Sign up for The Smart Human newsletter, read her latest posts at TheSmartHuman.com, and listen to her podcast The Smart Human.Dr. Cohen is a member of the medical advisory board for “Cancer Schmancer”, actor Fran Drescher's cancer prevention foundation, and she was a speaker at the Annual Cancer Schmancer Health Summit in January 2022.She lives on a farm in New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and lots of furry friends.

Season 2, Episode 9: Lou Shapiro is President and CEO of Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Listen to Lou talk about his experiences during COVID-19, the growth of telehealth and the ongoing trend of mergers and acquisitions within healthcare. 

Season 2, Episode 8: Dr. Ansara Vaz is an attending anesthesiologist with NYU Langone Health. She also serves as the vice chair of the diversity committee in NYU's Department of Anesthesiology. Listen to Ansara talk about the medications used by anesthesiologists, the reasons why promoting diversity in medicine is important and her first-hand experiences of racism in our healthcare system.

Season 2, Episode 7: Dr. Oleg Fabrikant is an oriental medicine physician with Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Listen to Oleg discuss acupuncture, herbal medicine and the holistic nature of disease.

Season 2, Episode 6: Professor John Kaag is the Chair of Philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Listen to John talk about mental illness, the golden mean and how transcendence is related to healing.