Episodes
Monday Sep 20, 2021
When to consider a second opinion
Monday Sep 20, 2021
Monday Sep 20, 2021
Seeking a second opinion can be the difference between a slow recovery or a positive outcome. Daniel Sciubba, MD, and Matthew Weiss, MD, explain their approach when a patient comes in asking for a second opinion.
Meet the experts
Daniel Sciubba, MD, is senior vice president of neurosurgery at Northwell Health; and chair of neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
Matthew Weiss, MD, surgeon and deputy physician in chief at Northwell’s Cancer Institute.
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
Suicide prevention in health care workers
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
Four hundred physicians die each year by suicide, a statistic that is both tragic and personal for advocates like Corey Feist, JD, MBA. In April 2020, his sister-in-law, Dr. Lorna Breen, took her own life shortly after recovering from COVID-19. She worked in emergency medicine, which has one of the highest rates of suicide of all medical specialties. To recognize Physician Suicide Awareness Day, Corey joined Northwell's Patricia Flynn and Mayer Bellehsen, PhD, to discuss barriers to seeking help, suicide prevention, and physician burnout, as well as sharing and expanding resources.
Meet the experts
Patricia Flynn, assistant vice president of wellness and employee assistance.
Mayer Bellehsen, PhD, director, Center for Traumatic Stress, Resilience, and Recovery.
Corey Feist is a health care executive and co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation.
Watch episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube.
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
Can schools reopen safely?
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
Thursday Sep 09, 2021
Many schools across the United States have been forced to close just weeks after reopening - more than 1,000 across 31 states - as the delta variant continues to spread. But, schools can reopen safely, says David Fagan, MD, if they follow proper mitigation efforts. He joins Charles Schleien, MD, to discuss: universal masking in schools; the spike of COVID cases in children nationally; the delta variant's impact; and what health care systems can do to help schools stay open.
Meet the experts
Dr. Schleien is the senior vice president and chair of the pediatric services at Northwell Health.
Dr. Fagan is vice chair of pediatric ambulatory administration for Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
Listen to episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOylAPfMBafmhQIwY75QbOzNcQEpz5tEr
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
9/11 first responders reflect on 20th anniversary, Part II
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
In Part II of this conversation, our panel of heroes explores the mental health concerns for 9/11 first responders 20 years later, and what Northwell is doing to help them cope. The Queens World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program integrates mental health into its program, which Jacqueline Moline, MD, MSc, details.
Eddie Reyes, program director for Northwell Health Emergency Management, and Scott Strauss, vice president of Northwell Health Corporate Security, share their experiences coping with the memories they carry and how they mark the anniversary of 9/11. They also reflect on those who they consider heroes - the civilians who assisted in rescue missions, working on the pile, bringing food and sending cards and letters in the months and weeks after the attack on 9/11.
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
9/11 first responders reflect on 20th anniversary, Part I
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
Retired NYPD officers Scott Strauss and Eddie Reyes spent nine months working on and in "the pile" after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Now 20 years later, both suffer from health issues related to those heroic efforts, which include a remarkable rescue famously portrayed in the Oliver Stone-directed film, "World Trade Center." Both also have found treatment -- and hope -- at Northwell Health's Queens World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. Administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the program tracks medical research into physical and mental health conditions related to 9/11 exposures.
Jacqueline Moline, MD, MSc, senior vice president of Northwell’s Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology and Prevention department, directs the WTC Health Program. She joins Eddie and Scott to reflect on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, as well as her experiences caring for those first responders.
More from the experts
Hear more from Scott Strauss and Eddie Reyes from Northwell's 2021 Side-by-Side NBC special.
Watch episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube.
Wednesday Aug 25, 2021
ER on Demand: A new emergency telehealth program
Wednesday Aug 25, 2021
Wednesday Aug 25, 2021
“ER on Demand” is a new telehealth program that makes it easy for patients to consult an emergency medicine doctor at home, even in the middle of the night. Jonathan Berkowitz, MD, medical director of emergency medical services at Northwell Health, and John D'Angelo, Northwell's chief of integrated operations, talk launching an overnight telehealth service and making it accessible from anywhere in New York State.
Read more about ER on Demand.
Watch episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Will I need a COVID booster shot?
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
Tuesday Aug 17, 2021
As federal officials consider COVID booster shots for all Americans, certain immunocompromised individuals began receiving a third dose of the mRNA vaccines this week following approvals from the FDA and CDC late last week. Onisis Stefas, PharmD, chief pharmacy officer for Northwell Health, explains the need for booster shots, who is eligible now and what else immunocompromised individuals can do to protect themselves against COVID-19, especially the delta variant.
Wednesday Aug 11, 2021
Facial feminization surgery
Wednesday Aug 11, 2021
Wednesday Aug 11, 2021
Approximately 1.4 million people in the U.S. identify as transgender or gender diverse. One of the biggest challenges to transgender individuals is acceptance in society. Facial feminization surgery (FFS) is a gender-affirming procedure that not only helps trans women become their authentic selves, it saves lives.
The goal of FFS – which employs multiple facial procedures of the brow, nose and chin – is to ease the transwoman’s psychosocial burden. It has been associated with improved mental health and quality of life.
James Bradley, MD, vice chair of plastic surgery at Northwell Health, and his colleagues were the first to show that virtual treatment planning before FFS provides superior results in terms of accuracy, safety and efficiency. They were the first to confirm that both facial recognition software, which uses artificial intelligence, and people correctly classify transwomen as “women” 98 percent of the time after surgery.
Joining Dr. Bradley on the podcast are Northwell physician assistant Sabrina Sam and FFS patient Rubi, who underwent the procedure in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She shares her story and why she says FFS saves lives.
The problem
Despite hormonal therapy, voice training, make-up and hair, transwomen are at risk for mis-gendering. Even with the growing number of non-discriminatory protections for this population, many continue to face bias in employment, healthcare and housing. This, along with the effects of gender dysphoria, can lead to high rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.
Artificial intelligence and virtual planning
Building on the surgical techniques originally developed in the 1980s, Dr. Bradley has made the various operations involved in FFS safer and more efficient through years of research. His first study focused on improving the safety, accuracy and efficiency of FFS through the use of virtual surgical planning, which entails developing computer models and physical prototypes before the surgery to use as aids during the procedure.
Two more studies examined whether facial recognition software and people could differentiate between cis- and trans-women after successful FFS based on images of faces. These were the first studies ever to evaluate the impact of FFS on how transwomen are gender-typed by both artificial and human intelligence.
Hear from more transgender women about FFS.
Watch episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube.
Wednesday Aug 04, 2021
Catching up on cannabis
Wednesday Aug 04, 2021
Wednesday Aug 04, 2021
New York legalized recreational cannabis in 2021, but researching its medical applications remains difficult. Diana Martins-Welch, MD, got involved with the state's medical cannabis program in 2016 and has certified more than 2,000 patients as a medical cannabis provider through her role as a palliative care expert.
On this episode, Dr. Martins-Welch discusses misinformation, the effect of cannabis on cancer patients and opioid use, and the need for federal legalization. She also compares New York state's relatively young medical cannabis program to those in other states like California and Colorado.
The director of supportive oncology services at the Monter Cancer Center also chairs Northwell's Medicinal Cannabis Workgroup, which brings together physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, researchers and other medical professionals to discuss medicinal cannabis expansion, increased access for patients and advocacy efforts. It has developed a comprehensive learning series and hopes to be recognized and used an approved course by New York state for health care practitioners registering as medical cannabis providers.
The medical cannabis workgroup is carrying out important research, which includes evaluation of the effects o medical cannabis on quality of life of cancer patients. Another looks at pelvic floor dysfunction in females and the use of medical cannabis suppositories.
Read Dr. Matins-Welch's op-ed in Newsday on the need to widen access to medical cannabis.
Watch episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube.
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
COVID vaccine safety surveillance
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
Thursday Jul 29, 2021
The medical safety net ensuring vaccine safety is historic, says Henry Bernstein, DO, MHCM, FAAP, a voting member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and a professor of pediatrics at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.
00:55 - Dr. Bernstein explains his role on the ACIP
03:02 - He explains the four reporting programs they use to monitor and learn from data on possible reactions to vaccines. Three of those have been around for many years, with the CDC's V-safe after vaccination health checker a new addition during COVID-19.
- V-safe: a text messaging-based system that enables people who received the COVID-19 vaccine to report any post-vaccine side effects via a free app. Users receive weekly messages for up to six weeks; then three-, six-, and 12-month check ins after the final dose of vaccine. Users are also reminded to get the second vaccine dose and a check-in afterward about their experience.
- VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System): a national database to which providers, vaccine manufacturers and the public can report side effects. The "early warning system" provides the CDC and FDA with information that helps identify health concerns and ensure vaccine safety.
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Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Project (CISA): a national network of vaccine safety experts from the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office (ISO) and medical research centers. There are seven centers around the county that serve as consultants around these less common events and also do research relating to vaccine safety, as well as work with health care providers when vaccine safety questions arise, or adverse events following immunization occur domestically.
- Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD): yet another monitoring system created by the CDC that gathers electronic health record data from nine participating integrated health care organizations on more than 12 million people each year.
07:34 - Dr. Bernstein shares insights from recent ACIP meetings reviewing reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination with either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines.
10:57 - ACIP's latest meeting in July focused on reports of Guillain-barre syndrome (GBS) after inoculation using the J&J vaccine. Of the roughly 100 reported cases of GBS in the US among recently vaccinated individuals (with the J&J vaccine), not all cases have been confirmed as GBS.
13:41 - In both cases - myocarditis, pericarditis and GBS, patients recover well. Emergency use authorization fact sheets, available to the public, now contain information about these findings to help inform individuals getting the vaccines.
16:33 - The 3 guiding principles of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
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Watch episodes of 20-Minute Health Talk on YouTube.
In addition to a professor of pediatrics, Dr. Bernstein is an Ex-Officio member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Committee on Infectious Disease (COID Red Book Committee) and Associate Editor of Red Book Online. He is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.