Medicine

We speak today by phone with Katy Butler, an accomplished journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, The Best American Science Writing, The Best American Essays, and The Best Buddhist Writing.

On this edition of ST on Health, we welcome Dr. Lamont Cavanagh, a Tulsa-based family physician who specializes in sports medicine, and who also works as an assistant professor at the OU-Tulsa School of Community Medicine. Moreover, Dr. Cavanagh spent five years as an U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, and he's now chief of aerospace medicine for the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard.

One of the sweeping changes going on in American health care today --- apart from the whole Affordable Care Act juggernaut --- is the gradual, incremental transfer from using "paper charts and files" to employing electronic health records (or EHRs). EHRs, as is noted at the HealthIT.gov website, "can provide many benefits for providers and their patients, but the benefits depend on how they're used.

On this installment of StudioTulsa on Health, we welcome Dr. Julie Silver, an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She's also a prolific medical author and blogger, and her books include "What Helped Get Me Through: Cancer Survivors Share Wisdom and Hope" (American Cancer Society) and "After Cancer Treatment: Heal Faster, Better, Stronger" (Johns Hopkins Press). But she's not just a cancer expert, she's also a survivor --- following her acute treatment for cancer while still in her thirties, Dr.

On this edition of ST on Health, guest host John Schumann presents an interesting conversation with the Augusta, Georgia-based physician, Dr. Rob Lamberts, who writes a popular medical blog called "Musings of a Distractible Mind" --- and who's also an expert on (and, indeed, a practitioner of) the so-called Direct Care method of health care. As Dr. Lamberts explains on his personal website, he left his longtime group practice in September of 2012 in order to "build a new solo practice, Dr. Rob Lamberts, LLC.

(Please note: This program originally aired earlier this year.) Our guest on ST is Dr. Victoria Sweet, an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a prize-winning historian. Dr. Sweet practiced medicine for twenty years at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco --- and she's just published a book about this remarkable facility, and about her time there, and, indeed, about the state of health care in America today.

Prescription drug abuse is becoming more and more of a serious problem in this country. According to some estimates, sales of such drugs have quadrupled over the last decade in the United States --- and Oklahoma actually ranks number one (out of all 50 states) in deaths attributed to Rx drug overdoses. On this edition of StudioTulsa on Health, guest host Dr. John Schumann speaks with Dr. William Yarborough, a local expert in this regard. Dr.

What happens to us when we die? Where does the line between life and death really or finally reside? These questions are as old as human consciousness itself. On this encore presentation of ST, we present an interesting discussion with Dr. Sam Parnia, the director of the well-known AWARE Study (as in, "AWAreness during REsuscitation") and one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death and near-death experiences. Dr.

On this edition of StudioTulsa on Health, guest host Dr. John Schumann speaks with the president and CEO of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, Craig Jones. About one in three Oklahomans lack adequate health insurance across our state; this means that state hospitals end up administering about $500 million in uncompensated care each year. Why is this the case? And can these numbers be changed? Jones also discusses Oklahoma's refusal to expand Medicaid, and how that decision will affect our hospitals --- as well as its impacts on health outcomes and measurements.

When medical experts, analysts, and researchers speak of "health care transformation" --- and the phrase has become increasingly common in certain circles --- they're referring to ongoing efforts to improve health outcomes, increase access to health/medical services, and enhance the way(s) in which care is delivered. Such efforts are meant to better connect scientific discovery, health care delivery, and reimbursement for health services. It's all about patient-centric care --- and much of it, as with so many things in our world today, comes down to technology.

On this edition of StudioTulsa on Health, Dr. John Henning Schumann, our guest host, speaks by phone with Jessica Wapner, a freelance science writer who's focused mainly on health care and medicine.

Everyone knows the Internet is affecting if not entirely changing just about every facet of life today, and one area where this is particularly apparent is that of health and medicine. (Have you ever googled your doctor? Or do you know someone who's done so?

Our guest on ST is Dr. Victoria Sweet, an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a prize-winning historian. Dr. Sweet practiced medicine for twenty years at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco --- and she's just published a book about this remarkable facility, and about her time there, and, indeed, about the state of health care in America today. This new book, just out from Riverhead Trade, is called "God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine." As we read of this book (and of this place) at Dr.

On this installment of StudioTulsa on Health, we chat with Dr. Neil E. Caporaso of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, which is a research program of the National Cancer Institute --- which is, in turn, one of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Caporaso will be the keynote speaker at "Celebrating the Art of Healing," a cancer-survivor symposium to be held here in Tulsa on Saturday the 13th. This event will happen in the Mary K. Chapman Health Plaza at St. John Medical Center, lasting from 8:15am to 2:30pm. Dr.

What happens to us when we die? Where does the line between life and death really or finally reside? These questions are as old as human consciousness itself. On this edition of ST, we present a very interesting discussion with Dr. Sam Parnia, the director of the well-known AWARE Study (as in, "AWAreness during REsuscitation") and one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death and near-death experiences. Dr.

Do you know how much was spent on health care in the U.S. in 2012? Would you believe $2.7 trillion? Today, more than ever, politicians, policy makers, pundits, and health care professionals are focused on the contradictory yet equally crucial aims of improving health care delivery and reducing the costs of that delivery. One individual focused in this way is Tom Adelson, the former State Senator for the 33rd District of Oklahoma, who now works in the private sector. Today, Dr. John Henning Schumann, our guest host, welcomes Adelson to the program.

On this installment of StudioTulsa on Health, our guest host, Dr. John Henning Schumann, chats with John Silva, CEO of Morton Comprehensive Health Services, a non-profit organization which dates back to 1921 --- it first came into being as Maurice Willows Hospital, when it was created by the American Red Cross in the immediate wake of the Tulsa Race Riot --- and which is now one of Oklahoma's largest community health centers.

Our ongoing StudioTulsa on Health series continues as we present an interesting discussion with Dr. Jennifer Clark, the Division Director of the Center for Palliative Care at OU-Tulsa's School of Community Medicine, where she is also an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Dr. Clark, who additionally serves as the Palliative Care Medical Director at Hillcrest Medical Center here in Tulsa, talks to guest host John Henning Schumann about what palliative care is, and what it isn't.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, which is a replay of an interview that originally aired in August of last year, we speak with the former medical director of the oldest (and one of the busiest) public hospitals in America, Dr. Eric Manheimer, who worked for many years at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. While internationally known for its psychiatric and criminal units, Bellevue is a full service public hospital that delivers babies, fights cancer, and is a major trauma center for the city.

On this edition of ST on Health, guest host John Henning Schumann speaks with Dr. David Kendrick of OU-Tulsa. Dr. Kendrick is the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center's Assistant Provost for Strategic Planning, an associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics, and a Kaiser Chair of Community Medicine at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine at OU-Tulsa. (You can read his full bio here.) Dr.

On this installment of ST, we debut an ongoing series of occasional, health-related interviews called StudioTulsa on Health. In this series, guest host Dr. John Schumann of OU-Tulsa, who's also a regular commentator for our program, will discuss matters of health care, health policy, and healthy living with people from throughout our community --- and, moreover, with individuals from throughout the wider fields of medicine and medical scholarship (whether they're active in these fields nationally or globally).

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we speak with the former medical director of the oldest (and one of the busiest) public hospitals in America, Dr. Eric Manheimer, who worked for many years at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. While internationally known for its psychiatric and criminal units, Bellevue is a full service public hospital that delivers babies, fights cancer, and is a major trauma center for the city.

Ever wonder why the U.S. spends double the amount on health care that any other country in the world does --- and yet, still, we as a nation do not enjoy the best health care? On this edition of ST, a discussion of efforts to improve American health care quality --- with an emphasis on where and how such quality-seeking efforts are occurring in Oklahoma.

The decision last month by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Car Act (or ACA) has opened up new avenues of opposition --- or, as some states would have it, new grounds on which to reject the law. In its momentous decision, the Court said basically that any state could opt out of the law's expansion of Medicaid with no penalties to its existing programs. Under the ACA, the federal government will help states expand their coverage of Medicaid patients to 133% of the poverty line.

Our guest is Dr. Ricki Lewis, a geneticist, journalist, professor, and genetic counselor. She's also the author of one of the most widely used college textbooks about genetics --- "Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications" (now in its tenth edition) --- and her latest book, just out from St. Martin's Press, is "The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It." Dr. Lewis will be a featured speaker later this week at the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society's Annual Conference, which has been happening here in Tulsa since Saturday the 26th.

On this edition of ST, a discussion of the neurobiology of pleasure --- and of how pleasures can turn into addictions. We chat by phone with David J. Linden, who is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology.

The crisis in primary care medicine is becoming more evident every day. Long wait times for an appointment, practices closed to new patients, and long waiting room times remind us that primary care physicians are being stretched. Despite record enrollments in American medical schools, however, fewer doctors are choosing primary care as their focus. On this edition of StudioTulsa, Boston General Internist Dr.

On today's program, we speak by phone with Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at The George Washington University. Dr. Mullan is one of the co-chairs for a conference called "Beyond Flexner 2012: Social Mission in Medical Education," which will happen next week at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa (at 100 East Second Street), from May 15th through the 17th. The conference is being presented by The W.K.