Episodes

Originally broadcast March 13, 2025

Emmy award-winning actor Michael J. Fox shocked the world when he announced over 25 years ago that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Since then, he’s devoted his talents to eliminating Parkinson’s in our lifetime.

Researchers with The Michael J. Fox Foundation now have impressive progress to report. They’ve developed a biomarker test to measure the protein alpha synuclein that’s helping to diagnose Parkinson’s with more than 90% accuracy, even proving effective at identifying people who may later develop the disease.

“I think this is going to be a game changer for clinical trials and for patient care in the future,” says Samantha Hutten, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and vice president of translational research at the foundation. “But right now it is really a research tool that can be used to inform research and also how we design clinical trials.”

A positive test, for example, may not be able to tell patients which type of alpha synuclein disease they have, whether it’s Parkinson’s, Lewy body dementia or multiple systems atrophy.

“I think there’s huge excitement around it, particularly about the impact on clinical trials,” says Rebecca Miller, Ph.D., an associate professor at Yale University’s School of Medicine who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2013 at age 38. “We’re all looking for a drug that will really be disease-modifying.”

Hutten tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter that the biomarker test is an “all-comers” study, meaning patients can participate if they’ve been diagnosed or have family with Parkinson’s, or have risk factors like loss of sense of smell or REM sleep behavior disorder.

The test comes at a crucial time: the global rate of Parkinson’s has doubled since Fox first revealed his condition.

Originally broadcast February 15, 2024

About 1 in 5 colorectal patients are now under the age of 55, and colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under age 50 and the second for women under 50.

During Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we present this encore presentation of our interview with Dr. Alan Venook. Dr. Venook is with the University of California-San Francisco and is one of the nation’s leading colorectal cancer researchers. He explained to “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter what it will take to reverse the rise in cases among young people.

Dr. Venook also talked about his research that found there’s no correlation in colorectal cancer patient survival or the risk of recurrent cancer over time with less radiation—a finding that goes against conventional wisdom.

Originally broadcast February 27, 2025.

How reliable is the current research into the cause of Alzheimer’s disease? Award-winning author Charles Piller’s new book is “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s”; it’s raising important questions about certain images that may have been manipulated to bolster the amyloid hypothesis as the cause of Alzheimer’s.

Piller tells “Conversations on Health Care” that “what you have are a multitude of images — not just in Alzheimer’s disease but in many other areas — that have slipped through, that have not been well-examined, and that are, in fact, falsified, or appear to be falsified,” adding that closer scrutiny of images could spur scientists “to re-examine whether the experiments themselves are worth publishing.”

Piller couches this by noting that misconduct occurs in “a small percentage” of research and “does not represent the vast bulk” of work in the field. But a greater emphasis on checks and balances is needed, he says.

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also ask Piller to respond to criticism of his reporting as well as explain other potential sources of hope in the research field. For instance, clinical trials may reveal, as early as next year, the possible impact of GLP-1 inhibitors — medications developed for obesity and diabetes — on Alzheimer’s. Another theory examines the effect of latent viruses, such as herpes, on the brain.

Dr. Louis Sullivan walked the halls of Congress and testified before committees when he was secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That experience, working in a bipartisan fashion in the President George H.W. Bush administration, is valuable now.

During Black History Month, we revisit our interview with Dr. Sullivan for lessons about leadership and the challenges that still exist in our healthcare system.

Dr. Sullivan advocates for more Blacks to train to become doctors and explains the challenges that still exist for them joining the profession. Listen in as hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter ask him to share his insights.

Originally broadcast January, 2023.

Originally broadcast February 13, 2025

$4.95 — that’s the record high price of a dozen of Grade A eggs in U.S. cities. Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, says expect them to go even higher.

That’s because H5N1, a form of bird flu, has affected more than 156 million commercial, backyard and wild birds in the United States in the last three years.

Osterholm, with nearly 50 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks, emphasizes the urgent need for improved pandemic preparedness. “It’s not a question of if, but when the next major outbreak will happen. Whether it’s a more contagious strain of COVID-19, the bird flu or a completely new virus, we need systems in place now to protect public health and save lives.”

He joins Apoorva Mandavilli, the science and global health reporter with The New York Times, to explore the critical lessons learned from COVID-19 and what must be done to prepare for future public health threats. “Bird flu may seem like a distant problem, but the global nature of infectious diseases means we’re all connected,” Mandavilli says. She also notes that public trust plays a crucial role in mitigating future pandemics. “Without transparency and clear communication, public health measures are far less effective.”

Conversations on Health Care hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also ask them how public health agencies must adapt, improve transparency and build global cooperation to combat future outbreaks.

Originally broadcast February 6, 2025

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing health care—but how do we ensure it’s safe, effective, and responsible? Dr. Brian Anderson, CEO of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), explains to “Conversations on Health Care” how his organization is working to establish clear guidelines for responsible AI in health care.

Formed in 2021 during the pandemic, CHAI has grown from eight organizations to nearly 3,000, bringing together healthcare leaders, tech companies, and policymakers to build industry-wide best practices. A key achievement is development of a draft Framework for Responsible Health AI, which includes an AI Assurance Standards Guide—a critical step in setting transparency and accountability benchmarks for AI tools.

“I think there are a lot of challenges in the AI ecosystem right now,” Dr. Anderson tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. “One of them certainly is trust in the healthcare space. You look at survey after survey – people broadly in society don’t trust AI with really consequential decisions like those that we face in healthcare.”

Of particular interest to the community health center sector is the news that Dr. Kyu (“Q”) Rhee, CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers, is joining the CHAI board.

Dr. Anderson compared AI transparency to food labeling: just as consumers expect to know what’s in their food, healthcare providers need clear disclosures about AI models—what data they were trained on, their limitations, and their suitability for different patients. CHAI’s proposed AI Nutrition Label aims to provide exactly that level of insight, helping health systems make informed decisions about AI deployment.