Raise the Line
Join host Lindsey Smith and other Osmosis team members for a global conversation about improving health and healthcare with prominent figures in education and healthcare innovation such as Chelsea Clinton, Mark Cuban, Dr. Ashish Jha, Dr. Eric Topol, Dr. Vivian Lee and Sal Khan, as well as senior leaders at organizations such as the CDC, National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University, WHO, Harvard University, NYU Langone and many others.
Overcoming Misconceptions About Geriatrics: Dr. Julia Hiner, Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program Director at McGovern Medical School

"Older adults have this special clarity about who they are and what they want, which is incredibly inspiring," says Dr. Julia Hiner, explaining, in part, why she loves her work as a geriatrician in Houston, Texas. She also enjoys the challenge of the medical complexity these patients present and the opportunity it creates to see the patient as a whole person. In fact, as youâll hear in this upbeat conversation with Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith, thereâs almost nothing about geriatrics that Dr. Hiner does not enjoy, which explains her passion for teaching the subject at McGo...
The Importance of Seeing Rare Disease Patients Holistically: Eric & Kristi Levine, Parents of a Child with CACNA1A

"It was pretty apparent to me that something was going on with him," says Kristi Levine, describing the realization that, based on her experience as a Montessori teacher, her infant son, Trey, was missing developmental milestones. Unfortunately, Kristiâs hunch turned out to be correct and Trey was later diagnosed with a rare genetic mutation called CACNA1A which is impacting his motor skills, balance, coordination and speech. Kristi and her husband, Eric, join host Michael Carrese on this installment in our Year of the Zebraseries to help us understand the disorder and its implications for Trey and their fa...
How Providers Can Join the Battle Against Misinformation: Dr. Raven Baxter, Director of Science Communication at the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness

We have a special guest on today's episode whose voice will be familiar to regular listeners. Last year at this time, Dr. Raven Baxter occupied the Raise the Line host chair for a special ten-part series we produced in collaboration with the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness (CoRe) at Mount Sinai in New York City, where she serves as the Director of Science Communication. The series explored the latest understandings of post-acute infection syndromes -- such as Chronic Lyme and Long COVID -- with an array of experts from the Center and other researchers and providers. I...
Advocating for Black Nurses In An Anti-DEI Environment: Dr. Sheldon Fields, President of the National Black Nurses Association

On this episode of âRaise the Lineâ we welcome Dr. Sheldon Fields, a trailblazer in the nursing field and the president of the National Black Nurses Association. In a candid conversation, Dr. Fields shares his inspiring journey from the bedside to becoming a prominent figure in nursing, HIV/AIDS prevention and academia and also shares the challenges he faced as a Black man in a predominantly white and female field. "I fell in love with a profession that has not always loved me back," he tells host Kelsey Lafayette. Dr. Fields brings over thirty years of experience as an educ...
Equipping Todayâs Medical Students to Manage Uncertainty: Professor Katarzyna Taran, Medical University of ĆĂłdĆș

Weâre honored to continue our global tour of medical education today with Professor Katarzyna Taran, MD, PhD, a pioneering interdisciplinary researcher of tumor cell biology, an award winning educator noted for her focus on student engagement, and -- in a first for a Raise the Line guest -- a shooting sports certified coach and referee. As Professor Taran explains to host Michael Carrese, these seemingly disparate professional activities require the same underlying attributes: patience, the ability to overcome barriers, openness and adaptation. She believes those last qualities are especially important for todayâs medical students to acquire given the...
Using Technology to Build a Global Community of Medical Students: Alfred Collins, Community Specialist at Osmosis from Elsevier

We like to think of Osmosis from Elsevier as a global community of millions of learners, connected by a desire to serve humanity and an inclination to use a diverse mix of educational resources to help them become excellent healthcare practitioners. On todayâs episode of Raise the Line, weâre going to learn how Osmosis has created an opportunity for hundreds of those students from sixty countries to actually solidify those connections through the Osmosis Health Leadership Initiative (OHLI). Our guide to this effort is Osmosis Community Specialist Alfred Collins, who brings a keen interest in developing tech solu...
Aligning Education Technology With How Students Live and Learn: David Game, SVP of Product Management, Global Medical Education at Elsevier

David Game remembers the days when the use of digital technology in education publishing amounted to putting a dictionary on a compact disc. Now, as the senior vice president of Product Management, Global Medical Education at Elsevier, he oversees a suite of learning materials that use artificial intelligence, virtual reality and 3-D modeling. âWeâve expanded into immersive technology with Apple Vision Pro that enables you to be inside the human body, to see and explore the human heart from the inside out and it is absolutely stunning,â says Game, whose long career in publishing includes experience in North Americ...
Helping All Medical Providers Understand Genomic Testing: Dr. Ethylin Wang Jabs, Mayo Clinic and Dr. Antonie Kline, Harvey Institute for Human Genetics

An interesting new study from the Geisinger health system in Pennsylvania examining if genomic screening in a large population increases the identification of disease risk prompted Raise the Line to re-release a previous episode about a textbook designed to help all medical providers understand the clinical applications of genomic testing. Genomics in the Clinic: A Practical Guide to Genetic Testing, Evaluation, and Counseling from Elsevier Science Direct dives into the use of this important tool in diagnosis and screening, indicating how individuals may respond to drug therapies, and more. âWe really need to educate all healthcare providers about the practice...
Fighting the Deceiving Label of âRareâ: Zainab Alani, Fourth Year Student at University of Glasgow School of Medicine and Rare Conditions Advocate

To mark International Rare Disease Day, we're going to introduce you to a remarkable young woman, Zainab Alani, who is not letting her challenging rare condition stand in the way of her dream of becoming a physician. After noticing Zainabâs struggles with muscle weakness and fatigue at age 15, her mother â a physician â took her to doctors advocating for a diagnosis of the rare autoimmune condition generalized myasthenia gravis (MG). Unfortunately, a series of clinicians attributed her symptoms to her menstrual cycle and other errant causes and even accused Zainab of being âa lazy teenager.â âDespite having that support and knowledg...
What Clinicians Can Learn About Managing Uncertainty: Dr. Jenny Moffett of RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin

Having the ability to manage uncertainty is helpful in all professions, but perhaps especially so in medicine where uncertainty abounds and the stakes for managing it are high. Despite that, medical students receive little training in this area, something which our guest today, Dr. Jenny Moffett of RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin, is working to change. âThere are approaches to uncertainty that can be learned. We can change our perspective and perceptions around uncertainty, stepping away from always viewing it as something aversive, but perhaps maybe looking at it with a little bit more curiosity an...
The Role of Clinicians in Addressing Climate Change: Dr. Catharina Giudice, Climate and Human Health Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The Role of Clinicians in Addressing Climate Change: Dr. Catharina Giudice, Climate and Human Health Fellow, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
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âThe healthcare system is in this interesting intersection when it comes to its roles and responsibilities as it pertains to climate change,â says our Raise the Line guest Dr. Catharina Giudice, a research fellow in climate and human health at Harvard University. As she explains to host Hillary Acer, the medical industry is a major producer of the greenhouse gasses that are contributing to serious health impacts on patients, especially those who are a...
Tackle Every Opportunity: Nikolas Bletnitsky, Third Year Student at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine

We continue our NextGen Journeys series today featuring fresh perspectives on education, medicine, and the future of health care with an impressive medical student who was brought to our attention by a previous podcast guest, Dr. Michael Foti, whom we'd like to thank for the recommendation. Nikolas Bletnitsky is in his third year at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Middletown, but that's just one element in his medical education. Over the last several years, Nick has done extensive work in the field of OB-GYN -- completing clinical electives in Paris, France and Bologna, Italy, in addition to the Mayo...
Managing AIâs Threat to the Provider-Patient Relationship: Dr. Colin Doherty, Head of School at Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine

Today, our ongoing global tour of medical education on Raise the Line stops in the Republic of Ireland by way of a conversation with the head of school at Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine, Dr. Colin Doherty, who is in the midst of revising the schoolâs curriculum. In that process, particular attention is being given to how medical education needs to change to adjust to the potentially transformative impacts on health, healthcare and society from artificial intelligence, big data and climate change. As Dr. Doherty tells host Caleb Furnas, a recent creative workshop with internal and external st...
Creating Moments of Trust Between Patients and Nurses: Dr. Philip Dickison, CEO of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing

On this episode of Raise the Line, we're going to learn about the organization behind one of the most important exams in healthcare: the NCLEX, which is the licensing exam for nurses in the US. The influence of the test, which is overseen by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), is hard to overstate because of its role in driving what nursing students and educators focus on. That was made evident when the heavily revamped Next Generation NCLEX, launched in 2023, placed much greater emphasis on clinical judgment than had been the case on past exams. âI th...
Reducing Language Barriers in Medical Education: Mohammad Kabakibi, Founder of Chain of Education and Dania Reina, E-learning Creator

We have a special Raise the Line episode today that takes a look at some behind-the-scenes work happening at Osmosis from Elsevier to expand the reach and impact of our educational content, which is now being used by learners in nearly 200 countries. Over the past year, dozens of volunteers have been hard at work translating over 100 Osmosis videos into Arabic while simultaneously researching whether these translations increase student engagement and comprehension, and improve educational equity. Our host, Dr. Amin Azzam -- who has played an oversight role in this project -- is joined by two other key members of...
Helping All Medical Providers Understand Genomic Testing: Dr. Ethylin Wang Jabs, Mayo Clinic and Dr. Antonie Kline, Harvey Institute for Human Genetics

We kick off 2025 on Raise the Line by sharing some good news for providers struggling to keep up with the growing number of applications for genomic testing: a new book from Elsevier Science Direct has been designed to arm you with the knowledge you need. Genomics in the Clinic: A Practical Guide to Genetic Testing, Evaluation, and Counseling dives into the use of this important tool in diagnosis and screening, indicating how individuals may respond to drug therapies, and more. âWe really need to educate all healthcare providers about the practice of genetics because they're going to be involved di...
Brothers Inspire and Share Life Lessons Through Endurance Sports: Kyle and Brent Pease of the Kyle Pease Foundation

Brothers Inspire and Share Life Lessons Through Endurance Sports: Kyle and Brent Pease of the Kyle Pease Foundation
Today, we have an especially inspiring episode in our Year of the Zebra series on rare conditions featuring Kyle Pease and his brother Brent, who recently helped each other complete the 140.6 mile Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, a challenge they also took on together in 2018. What makes their story extraordinary is that Kyle, who was born with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, participated in these races with Brent's assistance, making them the first push-assist brother duo to finish...
The Growing Importance of Simulation in Nursing Education: Dr. Pamela Jeffries, Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing

The use of simulation in nursing education has been growing in recent years not only because of its proven effectiveness as a training method, but because of limits on clinical training placements, and a dearth of nursing faculty. Today on Raise the Line, weâre happy to welcome one of the pioneers in this area, Dr. Pamela Jeffries, the Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing which is consistently ranked among the top graduate nursing schools in the US. âNow that we've moved to competency-based education and outcomes, I feel simulation is one of the mechanisms that's going to h...
How a Childâs Illness Made Her Parents Better Doctors: Dr. Marta Perez, OB-GYN and Rare Disease Parent

âBeing a provider yourself doesn't protect you or your loved ones from illnesses and it really brings the humanity back into medicine to recognize that we're all struggling and that the patient in front of you is processing what they hear in their own way,â says Dr. Marta Perez, and OB-GYN and mother of a child with a rare condition. As Perez shares with host Lindsey Smith, her young daughterâs struggles with Smith-Magenis Syndrome â which causes an array of developmental delays and other challenges -- has made her, and her physician husband, better doctors by sharpening their understanding of the di...
The Challenges and Rewards of Completing Medical School at Seventy: Toh Hong Keng, Retired Business Executive and Recent Medical School Graduate

This episode of Raise the Line is special for a couple of reasons. Our guest, Toh Hong Keng recently graduated from medical school at the age of seventy, making him one of the oldest medical students in the world; and Shiv Gaglani is taking a break from his 3rd year of medical school -- which he is completing at the age of 35 -- to make a rare appearance hosting the show so he can compare notes with Toh about being a non-traditional med student and to learn from his inspiring example. Toh is a retired tech sales executive who...
Building Student Confidence and Competence with Simulation: April Rowe Neal, Assistant Professor at Winona State University

Leaning into the ancient wisdom that âpractice makes perfectâ nursing educators are increasingly embracing approaches such as simulation and competency based education that provide students with low-risk opportunities to practice skills. You might even say that the  âsee one, do one, teach oneâ framework has evolved into âsee one, do one, debrief, get assessed and do it again.â But while research shows these hands-on methods lead to increased patient safety and better clinical outcomes, they can be challenging to implement as weâll learn on this episode from April Rowe Neal, PhD, RN, the graduate nursing simulation educator at Winona State Univ...
A Cancer Patientâs Journey to âJust Liveâ: Michelle Hughes

2024 is the year todayâs Raise the Line guest, Michelle Hughes, is supposed to die. Thatâs according to the diagnosis she received three years ago from an oncologist who told her she had a rare, incurable form of cancer that had already caused innumerable tumors throughout her body.  As a mother of three â with her youngest child being just a few weeks old at the time of her diagnosis â this was obviously devastating news. But fortunately, the optimism and encouragement of a second oncologist allowed for a new path forward. âIt changed my entire world when that one doctor had ho...
Humanism Improves Healthcare for Providers and Patients: Dr. Kathy Reeves, President and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation

What good are dazzling advancements in science â such as the rapid development of an effective COVID vaccine â if public distrust of science and medicine leads people to reject them? Thatâs the sort of question animating the work of todayâs Raise the Line guest Dr. Kathy Reeves, president and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. A key part of the answer, Reeves believes, is to increase the level of humanism in healthcare, defined as providing kind, safe, trustworthy care. âHumanism in healthcare is the vehicle to allow science to make an impact, and it is what is needed to c...
Providing Physical Therapy Services in the Home: Palak Shah, Co-Founder and Head of Clinical Services at Luna

We've learned quite a bit on Raise the Line about the growing trend of providing medical care in the home, particularly as it relates to services enabled by advances in remote monitoring technologies. In this episode, weâre adding to that base of knowledge by focusing on what's happening with in-home physical therapy services. Our guide will be Palak Shah, PT, the co-founder and head of clinical services at Luna, a leading provider of in-home physical therapy that has completed one million patient visits in twenty-eight states since its founding in 2019. âOur patients appreciate this option so much because ther...
Seeking Answers in the Gut-Brain Connection: Dr. Nicholas Talley, Professor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle

Over a long and very active career as a researcher, clinician and educator, Dr. Nicholas Talley has witnessed the traditional mind/body dichotomy fade in relevance as science has determined just how integrated they really are. âThe body talks to the mind, the mind talks to the body, and we're exploring how this happens and what we can do to interfere, if you like, to make a difference and perhaps restore health by doing so,â he says. Dr. Talley, a distinguished laureate professor at the University of Newcastle in Australia, is an international authority in the field of neurogastroenterology with...
Being Open To and Learning From Career Detours: Dr. Andres Acevedo-Melo, Academic Editor at PLOS ONE Journal

Todayâs Raise the Line guest provides a great example of how to embrace the range of career options that are available to medical practitioners. In the dozen years since earning his medical degree, Dr. Andres Acevedo-Melo has been a medical liaison and advisor for two of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, provided recruitment support for clinical trials, and been an editor with a publisher of open access journals. He also spent two years as a student leader in our Osmosis Medical Education Fellows program. âYou might have a plan for your whole medical career, but you can...
Medical Education as a Passport to Making a Difference: Jermaine Blakely, Third Year Medical Student at Howard University College of Medicine

âI thought that education and medicine was a pathway for me to not only get out of my small town but to also make a huge impact somewhere in the world,â says Jermaine Blakely, a third-year medical student at Howard University College of Medicine. But Blakely didnât wait for medical school to start making a difference. While an undergrad at Morehouse College, he created a program that paired students with local churches to help the homeless, as well as women who were victims of domestic violence. Although he was pre-med at Morehouse, his path to medical school included detour...
Learn to Focus On the Things You Can Do: Brian Kennedy, Director of Sales Analytics at Elsevier and Rare Disease Patient

One way to look at today's guest is that if he were a zebra, he would have extra stripes because, unfortunately, he has more than one rare condition, which is a first for a guest in our Year of the Zebra series. After struggling with various GI issues most of his life, Brian Kennedy, an Elsevier colleague, was diagnosed several years ago with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), a rare disorder that prevents the pancreas from playing its proper role in aiding digestion. At the same time, he was told he had MALS, another rare condition, that interferes with blood...
Creating Practice Models That Work Better for Providers and Patients: Dr. Ginamarie Papia, Founder of Divinely Guided Health

âIf you really want to build a relationship with your patients, a model based on insurance doesn't enable you to spend enough time with them to build that connection,â says Dr. Ginamarie Papia, a practitioner of integrative medicine based in New York. That explains why the 30-something entrepreneur has just launched her own virtual âdirect-to-patientâ medical practice that she describes as a more affordable version of the concierge model. The move reflects frustration among providers of her generation with the confining, administrative approach to healthcare delivery thatâs contributing to high levels of burnout, and their desire for a better wor...
The Partnership Between Rare Disease Families and Researchers: Jennifer Wells and Dr. Maya Chopra

As we continue our Year of the Zebra focus on rare disorders, weâre going to focus on the productive relationships that can develop between the families of children with rare diseases and the researchers who are trying to develop treatments and cures. Join Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith as she explores the various dimensions involved with Jennifer Wells, whose young son has a neurodevelopmental syndrome called CAGS (Chopra Amiel Gordon Syndrome) and her son's physician, Dr. Maya Chopra, a clinical geneticist who co-discovered the gene in question and who is leading an international study on CAGS. âIt's so im...
Boosting Rare Disease Research Through Sports: Rob Long, Executive Director at Uplifting Athletes

In 2010, our guest, Rob Long, was on the cusp of an NFL career after being a star punter at Syracuse University. But that bright future was sidelined when Rob was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumor just five days after his final college game. Fortunately, emergency surgery and treatment gave him a second chance. As youâll learn in this fascinating episode of Raise the Line, a new purpose took the place of his NFL dreams and today he's the executive director of Uplifting Athletes, a nonprofit using sports to raise awareness and resources for rare diseases. On...
Being a Doctor Will Give Me Meaningful Monday Mornings: Parsa Mohri, Medical Student at Acibadem University

Given Osmosis from Elsevierâs mission to educate the next generation of healthcare providers, itâs fitting that our 500th episode of the Raise the Line podcast features a conversation with Parsa Mohri, a medical student at Acibadem University in Turkey.  As youâll learn in this thoughtful interview with host Hillary Acer, Parsa applied a âMonday morningâ test in choosing medicine as a career: what kind of job would he feel motivated to go to at the start of every work week for decades. âI picked medicine because I could find meaning and value in the work as well as enjoyi...
Pathologists Are the Most Important Doctor Youâll Never Meet: Dr. Jennifer Hunt, Interim Dean at the University of Florida College of Medicine

âWhen I make a diagnosis of cancer, that's changing the landscape of that patient's life forever. Their trajectory is being set by the words I write down on my report. So, thatâs why I say pathologists are the most important doctors youâll never meet,â explains Dr. Jennifer Hunt, interim dean at the  University of Florida College of Medicine. As she tells host Michael Carrese, it was the intervention of mentors that facilitated her exploration of pathology, sparking a passion in her for the importance of mentorship and sponsorship. Her career as a practitioner, educator and leader at some of the...
Innovative Models for Bringing Care to the Home and Community: Dr. Sarah Szanton, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

âNurses have a lot of answers. We're problem solvers. We're innovators,â says Dr. Sarah Szanton, who is a case in point for using her experience doing home visits as a nurse practitioner to help pioneer an innovative model of elder care called CAPABLE. Itâs a four-month long program in which a nurse, occupational therapist and handy worker address difficulties an older adult may have in daily living as well as the safety issues in their home so they are able to age in place while achieving the best possible health status and quality of life. So far, it has se...
How Endurance Sports Inform My Approach to Medical Training: Dr. Estello Hill, Gastroenterology Fellow at the University of British Columbia

You might think training for and completing ultramarathons while managing the long hours and other demands of a medical residency would be too much to handle, but in the case of Dr. Estello Hill, athletics have fueled his success on the job. âIt's really taught me what I'm capable of, how I can push myself and when I should dial back. I think it's given me an intense sense of balance with everything,â he explains. Dr. Hill just wrapped up his internal medicine residency at the University of British Columbia and has begun a fellowship there in gastroenterology where he c...
Reflections At the Dawn Of A Physicianâs Career: Dr. Brian Le, Urgent Care Physician and Osmosis Consultant

For our NextGen Journeys series, host Hillary Acer sat down with Dr. Brian Le at a major moment of transition as he was just finishing up his residency in family medicine at Adventist Health in Glendale, California. As he embarks on his next chapter, Dr. Le reflects on the highlights of his medical education journey and takes stock of the key lessons he will bring forward with him. âI think the biggest thing that I've learned so far is you really don't know what you don't know, which goes to one of the reasons why I wanted to pursue me...
Understanding the Promise and Limitations of AI in Healthcare Delivery: Dr. Bradley Max Segal, Department of Health, South Africa

In this installment of in our Next Gen Journeys series featuring conversations with learners and early career practitioners in medical professions around the globe, we introduce you to Dr. Bradley Max Segal, a physician in the Department of Health, South Africa with a self-described passion for technology and innovation. Although heâs only a few years out of medical school, Dr. Segal has worked extensively at the intersection of healthcare and data science to develop solutions to the challenges found in low resource health systems, often serving as a bridge between technical and clinical teams. âOftentimes you have groups that...
A Look at Medical Education in Northern Europe: Dr. Povilas Ignatavicius, Vice Dean at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences

Today on Raise the Line, we make a stop in Northern Europe on our ongoing tour of medical education around the globe and bring you the perspective of Dr. Povilas Ignatavicius, a hepato-pancreato-biliary and liver transplant surgeon and vice dean at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, which is the largest institution of higher education for biomedical sciences in that country. In particular, Dr. Ignatavicius shares his insights on medical simulation and student evaluations, which are among his areas of responsibility. As he describes to host Michael Carrese, his school takes an approach to simulation that values a continual presence of...
The Role of Social Prescribing in Treatment of Chronic Illness: Special Series from The Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses at Mount Sinai

Last yearâs declaration by the U.S Surgeon General that loneliness and isolation are a public health crisis was based on research showing that they have a negative impact on mental health, blood pressure, cognitive performance and, most relevant to our discussion today on Raise the Line, immune system function. Thatâs why itâs important for people dealing with chronic illnesses to stay socially connected at whatever level they are capable of, says our guest Dr. Rose Perry, a neuroscientist and executive director of an applied research non-profit called Social Creatures. âWhen your symptoms aren't good, being isolated...
Balancing Work and Wellbeing as a Resident: Dr. Kyle Dymanus, Urology Resident at Rush University Medical Center

Medical school and residency are daunting enough without dealing with a chronic illness on top of it, but that has been the reality for our guest today, Dr. Kyle Dymanus. In this candid interview with Raise the Line host Hillary Acer, Dymanus shares a wealth of wisdom about balancing studies, work and wellbeing gained during her years as a med student at Medical College of Georgia and her current residency in urology at Rush University Medical Center. A key for her was having a network of supporters outside of her professional circle to help her manage ulcerative colitis, a c...