Outspoken Oncology

A radiologist tweets a joke about COVID-19 and a cardiologist tweets a serious note on the role of doctors in shaping social policy. Both are met with similarly outraged reactions. Saurabh Jha (@RogueRad), MBBS, MRCS, MS, and John Mandrola (@drjohnm), MD, share with Chadi the immediate aftermath of their tweets and reflect on how social media has become intolerant of diverse opinions. You don’t want to miss this unfiltered episode with two of the most prolific physicians on Twitter.

Chadi invites Mary L (Nora) Disis (@DrNDisis), MD, editor-in-chief of Jama Oncology, to learn the ins-and-outs of what it takes to be the lead editor of a highly prestigious oncology journal. She shares what went into her decision to accept the editor-in-chief position and help launch the journal in 2015, what goes into her thought process for rejecting submissions and handling disgruntled authors, management and pain points of “content” and “statistical” peer-reviewers, thoughts on the oversaturation of poorly written COVID-19 papers published in high-impact journals, and plans for the future direction of the journal.

Pamela Kunz (@PamelaKunzMD), MD, director of the gastrointestinal cancers program, Yale University School of Medicine, divulges the subtle microaggressions and power differentials that she and other women experience as they find success in academic medicine, including public undermining of leadership roles and challenges of establishing relationships with pharmaceutical companies for research grants. She explains how she found the courage to speak about these experiences as she was leaving an institution, the fear of retaliation, and her hopes to not only empower other women to speak up, but also to bring further awareness to these issues. Read Dr Kunz's article in Mercury News on the culture of gender discrimination at her previous institution (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/22/stanford-medical-school-professors-say-gender-discrimination-and-harassment-allowed-to-flourish/).

After a 2 month pause, Emily Landon (@emilymicheleL), MD, executive medical director of infection prevention and control, University of Chicago, returns for her eighth appearance on the show to comment on which COVID-19 population statistics should be considered most important for determining societal policy effectiveness, whether asymptomatic people are as likely to spread the virus as symptomatic people, the best types of masks for everyday people, the nuances of schools reopening with...

Chadi brings on two Lebanese doctors living in Beirut to discuss the tragedy that shook the nation earlier this month. Zakia Dimassi (@ZakiaDimassiMD), MD, MHPE, and Mohamad Ali Cheaito (@MohamadAliChea1), MD, recount their first-hand experiences of the moment the explosion happened, how poorly enforced COVID-19 safety regulations exacerbated the health crisis before the explosion and will likely continue to in the coming days, the hospital environment in the immediate aftermath, and more.

Benjamin Davies (@daviesbj), MD, professor of urology, University of Pittsburgh, shares the facts behind the true devastation that the opioid crisis is inflicting on the US; the blame that pharmaceutical advertising, inappropriate prescribing, and formulation of drugs have on the opioid crisis; the origins and early warning signs of the crisis; and whether there is data to suggest how much the crisis is costing the health care system.

Leah Sera (@leah_sera), PharmD, MA, BCPS, associate professor of pharmacy practice and science, University of Maryland, shares the details and her role as the Program Director of the University’s Master’s program in Medical Cannabis. She details how cannabis can be used as a medicine to treat conditions such as pain, nausea, and muscle spasms, and she also explains the difficulty in researching cannabis in a clinical setting. View Leah Sera's faculty profile...

Chadi sits down with a survivor of ovarian and breast cancer as well as her physician — a key advocate for a survivorship program at Advocate Healthcare System. The trio discuss the fault in the term “survivor” and why many patients reject this label, training that physicians need to better counsel patients on survivorship and everyday life, and the level of psychological and financial support that these patients need at every intersection of their journey.

Jack West (@JackWestMD), MD, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Nathan Pennell (@n8pennell), MD, PhD, Cleveland Clinic, debate the results of the ADAURA trial presented as a plenary session at the 2020 ASCO virtual meeting, especially the extrapolation from DFS to OS, balance of chemotherapy administration in the treatment arms, lumping of varying disease stages in treatment arms, and severity of toxicity issues.

Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS, director of the leukemia program, Cleveland Clinic, and esteemed author, essayist, and op-ed writer, discusses his latest work “When Blood Breaks Down” and the human interactions with leukemia patients that set the backdrop for discussions in the book. Read Chadi's review of the book at https://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2020/07/02/when-blood-breaks-down-it-can-break-your-heart/

Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD, scholar in residence, school of medicine, Stanford University, discusses “stereotype threat” and the challenges that women face when training to become surgeons, methods of researching gender inequity and bias in medicine, and bias against foreign medical graduates.

Chadi checks in with Graham Collins, David Steensma, and Vincent Rajkumar to discuss the most prevalent and noteworthy clinical research from the EHA meeting for Hodgkin lymphoma, MDS and AML, multiple myeloma, and DLBCL.

Cristiane Bergerot (@crisbergerot), PhD, health psychologist, City of Hope National Medical Center, discusses when patients should be involved with a psycho-oncologist, whether the psychological state of a patient has an impact on treatment outcomes, pre-diagnosis factors that may put a patient at higher risk of depression, and more.

Anish Koka (@anish_koka), MD, cardiologist in Philadelphia, and Saurabh Jha (@RogueRad), MD, radiologist in Philadelphia, discuss the initial reaction by MedTwitter to the pandemic outbreak, when the community realized it was a serious situation at hand, and the dangers of "politicizing" all aspects of the discussion.

Adam Cifu (@adamcifu), MD, internest in Chicago, and Michel Accad (@michelaccad), MD, cardiologist in San Francisco, debate how much evidence is needed for interventions during COVID-19, whether a short time frame to act calls for less scientific rigor in supporting interventions, and the reliance on RCTs vs other means of information.

Colleen Farrell (@colleenmfarrell), MD, internal medicine resident in NYC, shares the stresses experienced by medical residents treating COVID-19, the physical impact of being on the front lines with extended hours, and a harrowing personal story of the emotional toll of being engrossed in the hospital environment during these times.

Emily Landon, MD, executive medical director of infection prevention and control, University of Chicago, makes her seventh appearance on the show to discuss phased plans to reopen across the country, including how to keep the spread of the virus under control while interacting in indoor settings (eg, barber shops, gyms, airplanes, and restaurants), the importance of furthering contact tracing, and more.

Anita Gruninger, RN and certified case manager, discusses the difficulty of not being with her husband when he receives cancer treatment due to COVID-19, argues that "family" and "visitors" need to have different definitions when it comes to hospital visitation as well as exceptions that should be made for critically ill patients, and more.

Ethan Weiss (@ethanjweiss), MD, associate professor, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California at San Francisco, tells his story of volunteering to treat patients in NYC during the COVID-19 outbreak, including expectations of the work he was to do in advance of volunteering, adjusting to a new hospital environment, deciding to chronicle the volunteering experience and subsequent work, and the viral Twitter picture he posted on a crowded plane as he flew home. Dr Weiss’ bio...

Nilay Shah, PhD, chair of the division of health care policy and research, Mayo Clinic, explains the information and factors that go into the predictive models for the impact of COVID-19; examines the reliability of the Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, and Recovered (SEIR) model for policy decisions; breaks down some of the confounding effects of various input assumptions on the models; and more.