Second Opinion LIVE!

Guest: Shellie Williams, MD Guest: Reed Tuckson, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Currently more than 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, a number that could triple by 2050 unless advances are made in early detection, treatments and prevention. Second Opinion Live hosts Dr. Michael Greenberg and Dr. Matt Birnholz discuss the many benefits for patients who receive an early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, one of which is the ability to participate in a clinical trial, with guest Dr. Shellie Williams from The University of Chicago Medical Center and the Alzheimer's Association. Our Second Opinion Live hosts also discuss the latest national survey on the state of American Health with Dr. Reed Tuckson from the United Health Foundation. Broadcast Funding for this program was provided in part by the Alzheimer's Association and its free nation-wide Alzheimer's clinical trials matching service - TrialMatchTM.

Guest: Glenn Geelhoed, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Dr. Glenn Geelhoed is a marathoner, photographer, and big game hunter, who has been on over 200 international medical missions to developing countries, and helped broker peace between warring Sudanese tribes. He talks with Second Opinion Live hosts Dr. Michael Greenberg and Dr. Matthew Birnholz about what he has learned from his patients in the poorest parts of the world about doing more with fewer resources. Plus: medical oddities, and conflicting research on sodium.

Guest: Alan Roberts, MD Guest: James Levine, MD, PhD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Dr. Matt Birnholz hosts this program solo, as his co-host, Dr. Michael Greenberg, recovers from knee surgery. This week, Dr. Birnholz considers what the physician learns when he finds himself in the position of the patient. This week's program includes an interview with Dr. Alan Roberts, author of the memoir Hot Flashes in a Cold World: My Struggle to Be a Husband a Doctor and a Man in the Face of Prostate Cancer. Also: Dr. James Levine joins us to talk about his inactivity studies at the Mayo Clinic; plus, the Brain Observatory at UCSD, and more.

Guest: Gayle Sulik, PhD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Pink ribbon campaigns have been highly successful in rallying recognition and funding around breast cancer. But our guest thinks the cheerful image of such campaigns whitewashes realities of the disease, both in terms of statistics and patient experiences. Plus: Warnings about the drug cocktail known as “bath salts,” and a novel innovation for biomarking GI ailments with color.

Guest: Evelyn J. Bromet, PhD Guest: John D. Boice, ScD Guest: Tsuyoshi Akiyama, MD, PhD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD This rebroadcast of the March 30th program continues analysis of the health issues in Japan following that country’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear crisis, with a focus on two key healthcare issues— radiation danger and mental health. Our guests include an American radiation epidemiolgist and psychiatric epidemiologist, and a psychiatrist working in Japan with the Japanese Society of Neurology and Psychiatry, the equivalent to the American Psychological Association.

Guest: John Howe, MD Guest: Susan Briggs, MD, MPH Guest: Makoto Iwahara, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD This program was originally broadcast live on March 16, 2011, and focuses on putting into context the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent ever-changing nuclear crisis in Japan, from a healthcare perspective. Our guests discuss by phone the current medical needs, disaster management issues, and the Japanese healthcare system's readiness. Donations can be made to the relief effort through a variety of organizations, including the Japanese Medical Society of America, at www.jmsa.org.

Guest: Sanjiv Chopra, MD, FACP Guest: Herbert Chase, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Hosts Dr. Matt Birnholz and Dr. Michael Greenberg talk to Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, faculty dean of continuing medical education at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the book Doctor Chopra Says: Medical Facts & Myths Everyone Should Know, about medical research that changes so fast even physicians can't keep up. And, "Jeopardy!" contestant Ken Jennings said that he, for one, welcomed "our new computer overlords." What about a computer physician's assistant? Dr. Birnholz caught up with Dr. Herbert Chase, professor of clinical medicine in biomedical informatics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who is teaching IBM's "Watson" computer how to help doctors. Plus: Bodily fluids in the news.

Guest: Mary Cappello, PhD Guest: Joseph Kim, MD, MPH Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Second Opinion Live looks at the future of robotics in medicine, with Dr. Joseph Kim; the naming of famous murmurs; and the pioneering work of endoscopist Dr. Chevalier Jackson, the subject of author Mary Cappello's book Swallow: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestion, Inspiration, and the Curious Doctor Who Extracted Them (The New Press, 2010).

Guest: Anthony Alessi, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Guest: Robert J. Egge Dr. Anthony Alessi reports from Haiti, making his fifth trip there to mark the one-year anniversary of the magnitude 7 earthquake that precipitated a massive humanitarian and health crisis in that already-beleagured country. Also, Robert Egee, vice president of public policy and advocacy at the Azheimer's Association, introduces the recently signed landmark National Alzheimer's Project Act. Gary Epstein sits in for the vacationing Dr. Michael Greenberg, alongside host Dr. Matthew Birnholz.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Guest: Anthony Atala, MD This week's guest is Dr. Anthony Atala, who oversees the world's largest lab devoted to bioengineering body parts, from inkjet-printed hearts to tiny livers, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He gives us an update from the cutting edge of medicine. Also, we get to the bottom line on how to protect your earnings in the coming tax year. And we talk with Dr. Marya Zilberberg about her recent article on The Healthcare Blog on medical testing and an approach toward a "less is more" philosophy of patient care.

Guest: Everett Winslow Lovrien, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD This week, hosts Drs. Matt Birnholz and Michael Greenberg wrap up 2010 with a look at the year's most notable research; as well as some notably retracted research, with Jef Akst of The Scientist; and talk with Dr. Everett Winslow Lovrien, whose book Doctor Guilt? looks at how thousands of hemophilia patients in the 1970s and 80s came to be treated with HIV-tainted medication. Plus: Just in time for your holiday parties, notable findings on cheese fondue and vodka, gleaned from the pages of the British Medical Journal's Christmas issue.

Guest: Jennifer Ackerman Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD On this week's program, hosts Dr. Matthew Birnholz and Dr. Michael Greenberg welcome Jennifer Ackerman, author of Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of the Common Cold, to talk about the history of what we know about this most successful human pathogen. Plus, the "nudge": Britain's new kinder, gentler approach to public health. Is nudging better than legislation to persuade people to engage in healthier behaviors? Or do we need more of a shove than a nudge? What should the government do to foster the public health?

Guest: Frank Britt Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Our guest is Frank Britt, president and CEO of medical education provider Pri-Med, with us to talk about Pri-Med's new Open Network initiative, designed to bring new models for delivering education to the practicing clinician. Plus: medical jargon. Do you talk up or down to your patients? Are there terms that should never be said in front of patients? And, we're bringing back some medical terms that nobody's used in so long, they've practically disappeared altogether.

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Guest: Anna Dhody, MFS Hosts Drs. Matt Birnholz and Michael Greenberg get into the Halloween spirit, with an interview with Anna Dhody, curator of the often macabre, always educational, Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Plus, they discucss the results of ReachMD's poll of healthcare professionals' opinions on healthcare reform legislation. And, we want to know what YOU think. Tell us your reaction to federal healthcare reform legislation. Vote and post your comments in the online version of the poll.

Guest: Marc Abrahams Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD In this re-broadcast of the October 13th live show, we’ve invited Marc Abrahams, the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and the mastermind behind the annual Ig-Nobel Prize, for science that makes people laugh, then makes them think. Plus: a few others making a difference in fields of science and medicine; and making a difference locally this Halloween.

Guest: Judith Karp, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD In this show, Drs Birnholz and Greenberg talk Dr. Judith Karp, an authority on molecular mechanisms of leukemia and lymphoma, from John Hopkins University School of Medicine, and chair of the Oncology Care Live virtual congress. Why a virtual conference? How does it work? What will attendees learn? Plus: the continuing debate on mammography, and a bra that could save your life.

Guest: Robert M. Golub, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD Autumn is upon us in the medical community, and hosts Dr. Matt Birnholz and Dr. Michael Greenberg turn their attention to medical education. They talk with Dr. Robert Golub, senior editor of JAMA, about the path from trainee to skilled physician and this year’s annual medical education-themed issue. Plus: The game "Operation" turns 45, Dr. Birnholz tries live surgery, and the video-blogging hospitalist known as ZDoggMD pays tribute his physician-father’s incredible physical exam skills.

Guest: Rebecca Thomley, PhD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD In this rebroadcast of the September 1st show, Dr. Greenberg interviews Rebecca Thomley about the mental health situtation in New Orleans, five years after Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Thomley runs a nonprofit relief organization that opened a walk-in mental health clinic in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. Plus: DNA testing comes to the fair and new research on palliative care.

Host: Michael Greenberg, MD and Matthew Birnholz, MD Guest: Rebecca Thomley, PhD In this rebroadcast of the September 1st show, Dr. Greenberg interviews Rebecca Thomley about the mental health situtation in New Orleans, five years after Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Thomley runs a nonprofit relief organization that opened a walk-in mental health clinic in New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward. Plus: DNA testing comes to the fair and new research on palliative care.

Guest: Sanjay Gupta, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, discusses the challenges in balancing the roles of physician and journalist, with host Dr. Matt Birnholz. Do we need ethical guidelines? And are the rules different in a disaster? Plus, Drs. Birnholz and Greenberg debate a controversial prenatal hormonal treatment, dissect the case of the tumor that turned out to be a green pea, and more.