In this episode, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Marc Gosselin, MD about his journey to radiology, being a radiology program director, dealing with burnout, transitioning from academics to private practice, and overdiagnosis in radiology. They discuss in situ thrombosis versus pulmonary emboli, whether medical evidence should have an expiration date, and why physicians should admit fault when they are wrong. Who is Marc Gosselin? Dr. Marc Gosselin is the head of cardiopulmonary imaging at Vision radiology, a retired full professor at Oregon Health and Science University. Previously ..read more

In this episode, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Hussam Alkaissi, MD about his journey in medicine, experience with populations with high consanguinity, and uncovering of rare diseases. They touch on several unusual cases Hussam has solved including one of CHILD syndrome, homocystinuria, and acute hypercalcemia. Who is Hussam Alkaissi? Dr. Hussam Alkaissi is an Endocrinology Clinical Fellow at the NIH/NIDDK. He has an interest in diabetes, glucose metabolism, insulin signaling, and insulin resistance. References: Hussam's Twitter Hussam's Academic Works Nature paper on link between E ..read more

In this episode, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Bryan Carmody, MD, about physician shortages, resident unionization, and the OB/GYN ERAS divorce. They discuss the recent changes to legislation in Tennessee which allows international medical graduates to bypass the US residency system. They also touch on the Weisman versus Barnes Jewish Hospital court case. If you missed the initial episode with Bryan Carmody Episode #6, be sure to check that out. Who is Bryan Carmody? Dr. Bryan Carmody is a pediatric nephrologist at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He has made a name for himself as ..read more

In this episode, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Joann Elmore, MD, about screening mammography. Dr. Elmore shares insights on the USPSTF's new draft mammography recommendations, which lowers the breast cancer screening age from 50 to 40. They discuss the difference in American and European call back rates for biopsy and whether mammography screening programs have substantially improved breast cancer mortality rates or if improvements are primarily due to enhanced treatment methods. They also touch on the potential for AI to transform radiology and pathology. Who is Joann Elmore? Joann ..read more

In this conversation, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist Dan Morgan, MD, about infection prevention, diagnostic stewardship, diagnostic reasoning, and medical overuse. They discuss regional differences in medical use and delve into a cluster-randomized controlled trial of contact precautions in ICU patients to evaluate whether this prevents C. Diff, MRSA, and VRE. They also touch on AI's potential role in clinical decision support, and the question of how to improve clinician statistical reasoning. Who is Dan Morgan? Dan Morgan, MD, MS is ..read more

In this conversation, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Robin Hanson, PhD, about healthcare and medicine. They discuss three randomized controlled trials on the population-wide benefits of medicine (RAND health insurance experiment, Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, and the Karnataka Hospital Insurance Experiment), which do not demonstrate benefit for more medical care. They talk about the conspicuous caring hypothesis put forward in Robin's book The Elephant in the Brain. Other topics discussed include end-of-life care, medicine as something Sacred, and prediction markets in medicine ..read more

In this conversation, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Simon Whitney, MD, JD, about his book From Oversight to Overkill. They discuss the history of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), including ethically questionable experiments such as Chester Southam's cancer cell injections, the Willowbrook experiment, as well as the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study (AKA Tuskegee experiment). They then discuss Peter Buxton, Henry Beecher, James Shannon, and the congressional oversight of federally funded research. Finally, they touch on the ISIS-2 study, Pronovost's checklist, OHRP's crackdo ..read more

In this conversation, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Andrew Foy, MD, about evidence-based medicine, applying Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy (GDMT) to hospitalized patients, and evaluating aggressive versus conservative blood pressure goals in patients with comorbitidies. They discuss Dr. Foy's article on Hayek, critical appraisal of the medical literature, medical conservatism, and his skepticism around Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography as compared to Functional Stress Testing in patients with coronary artery disease. Finally, they touch on alternative visions of medical p ..read more

In this conversation, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Parker Rogers about his recent job-market paper "Regulating the Innovators: Approval Costs and Innovation in Medical Technologies" which examines the impact of FDA regulation on innovation, market structure, and product safety. They discuss the FDA's medical device risk classification and his analysis of down-classification events (from higher to lower risk categories), which shows deregulation has a positive impact on innovation, firms producing devices, as well as product safety. They also touch on the value of regulation versus ..read more

In this conversation, Daniel Belkin and Mitch Belkin interview Ross Levine, MD, PhD about Acute Myeloid Leukemia and its treatment. They discuss the different types of leukemias, the history of AML treatment, including chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation. They touch on Graft vs Host Disease, treatment after relapse, and open questions in leukemia, including future trials, and futher investigation of ven/aza (Azacitidine/venetoclax). Who is Ross Levine? Dr. Ross Levine of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Levine studies hematologic malignancies and is a world-renowned exper ..read more