Podcast: The Top Takeaways From This Year of Health Matters

Episode Transcript

Courtney: Welcome to a special episode from NewYork-Presbyterian. I’m Courtney Allison, the host of our Health Matters podcast, and today I’m here with Erin Welsh.

Erin: Hi, I’m Erin Welsh, the host of Advances in Care. Courtney, thanks so much for having me today. I am so excited to do this.

Courtney: I am so excited to speak with you too. I’m a big fan and I’m excited to dive in today.

Erin: Yes, we have so much to cover. Tell us what we’re gonna be talking about today.

Courtney: Well, today we’re going to recap some 2025 takeaways from Health Matters and your show with NewYork-Presbyterian – Advances in Care.

Erin: Yes, we’re going to talk a little about the things that really stuck with us, share a couple of our favorite moments and some of the really helpful things that we learned that made a real impact on our own mindset and our own health.

Courtney: Of course, this isn’t the first time Health Matters listeners have heard your voice because we recently featured an episode of Advances in Care on Health Matters. It was part one of your emergency department episodes, and it was a really powerful testament to the work of emergency medicine.

Erin: It was such an incredible set of episodes to put together, you know, to be able to excel and thrive, even under those conditions, you have to be able to think through and solve problems just on the turn of a dime. And getting Dr. Farmer’s insight into this mindset and just how important teamwork is to making this all happen was so impactful.

Courtney: You reminded me, one line I liked, I think it was from Dr. Mills, she said, “it’s not controlled chaos, it’s organized intensity.” Which I thought was very good.

Erin: Perfect. Yep, exactly.

Courtney: Right. And we’re in New York City,

Erin: Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is the place where ED departments really shine and have to shine.

Erin: Yeah. What was it like for you talking to Dr. Farmer for Health Matters?

Courtney: Oh, it was so great. We talked to Dr. Farmer about emergency preparedness and she gave us some really practical, actionable tips. Like I live in a small New York City apartment  and she told me I don’t have to stock up on supplies for the next month. That just things for the next few days or week are fine.

Erin: Should we play a little snippet from that conversation?

Courtney: Yes. Let’s do it.

Courtney in Interview: So what are some basic skills that it would be useful for someone in every household to have?

Dr. Farmer: I absolutely think everybody should have CPR training. I think about it as a parent, like I want my babysitter or my nanny, or whoever’s gonna watch my son when I go out for a run. Like I want them to have that CPR training.. Knowing how to call 9-1-1, knowing how to activate your emergency response within your household. 

Erin: I love this message because what Dr. Farmer suggests is, at its core, very simple. It’s very straightforward. Everyone should have some sort of CPR training, first aid training, emergency preparedness in some degree. I’m not currently CPR certified, but now it is absolutely at the top of my to-do list.

Courtney: Well, that’s exactly what I was going to say, ’cause I did learn CPR maybe 10, 15 years ago at an old job. And I realized I’m really due, like, I know it’s like staying alive.

I know there’s like the beat to the music, but I, I do need a refresher. 

Erin: That was a really helpful tip also that Dr. Farmer shared where, you know, this is something that is easily accessible. Like, you can do this on a weekend. Just find a time, find a day, a community center, and you have that. And, I’m a big hiker, and whenever I go to the mountains, I make sure that I carry a first aid kit in my pack, but that first aid kit really is only helpful if you know how to use it. And so that is something also that I took away from this episode.

Courtney: Now another doctor that joined both Advances in Care and Health Matters this year is Dr. David Majure for Health Matters. He previously covered GLP-1s with us, and I really loved how he explored the role of GLP-1s in managing heart disease for Advances in Care, where you go a little further into the research.

Erin: That’s right. You know, that episode of Advances in Care, it was truly perspective shifting for me. You know, this class of drugs has been around for a number of years, but it seems like we are only now at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to identifying some of their broader impacts beyond weight loss.

Courtney: Let’s hear a little of that episode. 

Erin in Interview: I’m curious to get your take on how you see this class of drugs transforming medicine or transforming the way that you treat your heart failure patients.

Dr. Majure: They’re transformative. There’s no doubt about it. The transformation in particular in the patients that I take care of, who invariably have high cardiovascular risk, who have heart failure syndromes, who often have diabetes. The greater societal questions are almost philosophical in nature. Certainly political and definitely cultural. It touches on how should we be viewing health in our society? We have to take care of the people that are in front of us with the problems as they are, but it behooves us to create a society that prevents these conditions to begin with,, and we have a long way to go to get there, but we have to do it.

Courtney: I love how he says these drugs are transformative, there’s no denying it, but there’s a little nuance to it. It’s a little complex, and he just, you know, he really balances that so well. 

Erin: I completely agree, and I appreciated his message about looking beyond these individual conditions or medications. You know, that that part treatment immediately is so important, but we also need to be approaching healthcare from a population or preventative standpoint. I mean, that’s, that’s why I love public health so much. So I’m really glad that he, you know, really communicated that message.

Courtney: I remember he says like, society, we need to do a better job. Like look at the drugstore. You can go in and get what you need and then you’re on checkout line and there’s like candy bars, processed foods, chips. You know our society doesn’t do a good job of supporting people always to make these healthy choices.

Erin: And it’s really incredible to get that insight from a physician who is, you know, on the front lines developing these or investigating these different medications and seeing like, hey, wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to use as many as we are using, like wouldn’t it be great if we could prevent these problems in the first place?

Courtney: Absolutely. And then moving to our episode on Health Matters, Dr. Majure talked about another timely topic: cooking with seed oils. Let’s hear a clip of that one too.

Dr. Majure: The general thing is to say that there is no strong evidence that seed oils are harmful, and there is ample evidence that suggests that the commonly consumed seed oils, once again, canola and soy are, are potentially beneficial for us. Now there has been a lot of talk about the impact of frying the seed oils and in particular, leaving the seed oils in these deep fryers for a long period of time, reutilizing them and that possibly by heating them over and over again, you might create more pro-inflammatory molecules. That has been difficult to prove in the lab, but honestly, what I would say to you is, maybe you shouldn’t be eating a lot of fried foods to begin with.

Courtney: Dr. Majure, always giving it to us straight. Just cut through some of the misinformation out there, and a lot of this is common sense when you think about it. Frying food probably isn’t so good for you, but you can get so lost in the misinformation and what you’re hearing on social media. But a lot of it is some common sense stuff that he backs up with science and studies.

Erin: Gotta love evidence-based medicine, right? Evidence-based information. 

Courtney:  Yeah.

Erin: Yeah like, we don’t need to worry about this oil or that oil. How much are we using though, and how much of them are we using? What are the contexts in which we’re using these oils? Those are really the questions to ask ourselves and to consider about, you know, when it comes to the safety of oils in general.

Courtney:  It’s true, and Dr. Majure is always so insightful. I find his lens really helpful and I love talking with him. Switching gears a bit, something I really loved this year was our storytelling episodes. On Health Matters, we visited doctors outside the hospital to see their hobbies and their passions. We visited Dr. Peter Liou at his home where he played piano for us, which was amazing. And we also traveled to a sheep farm to watch Dr. David Slotwiner herd sheep with his dogs.

Erin: Sheep herding dogs was absolutely not a topic that I would’ve expected to come across on a medical podcast, but once Dr. Slotwiner explained it, it made complete sense.

Courtney: I didn’t know visiting a sheep herding farm would be in my podcast, and yet it was, and it was such a highlight of my year.

Erin: How much fun was that? I’m so jealous.

Courtney: So much fun. There are pictures of me with our producers, with baby lambs. We had the best time.

Erin: Ugh. I love that.

Courtney: Let’s go back to the farm and hear from Dr. Slotwiner.

Courtney in Interview: Can you talk about what you maybe have learned through this experience and how it’s changed you? 

Dr. Slotwiner: Yes. Yes. Sure. Well, dog’s really like a calm, confident leader, and, uh, being around sheep definitely takes some getting used to for me. So it’s taught me how important what I do is on how Cosmo acts and not just for Cosmo. And I think that tends to be true for every walk of life, right? The dog is really a mirror of your behavior and your, your confidence and skill, and so it’s helped me focus on being those and, and acting and, and believing and being confident, uh, in my actions, so. 

Erin: Loved hearing those chickens. Just fantastic atmosphere. Transportive.

Courtney: It was, I love talking with Dr. Slotwiner. I can’t help but think of my own dog. I have a very reactive dog and so occasionally I am a little anxious walking him because I’m afraid he is going to lunge at someone. And we talked to a trainer and he was like, Courtney, you have to breathe. Like the dog is sensing your anxiety and you’re gonna make it worse. And I like how Dr. Slotwiiner also applies that to life and skills as a leader. I think when you stay calm, people around you stay calm. So I think just the way he thinks about things and connects those dots, I really appreciated. 

Erin: What can we learn from our dog? I mean, I love my dog, but like, I’ve never thought about what he has taught me and maybe he hasn’t, but, um, ’cause he, he can’t, he can’t herd sheep as far as I know. Um, but yeah.

Courtney: Come to the farm.

Erin: Yeah, but getting that perspective on where we pick up skills in our life and keeping an open mind to who can teach us things was, it was really neat to hear.

Courtney: And I think Dr. Slotwiner said that in his conversation that for him as a leader, he kind of tends to wanna be like a little nicer. And sometimes the dogs teach him, like, sometimes you just have to be firm and direct. A dog won’t understand, you know, if you’re not being firm and direct. Yeah, so lots of good lessons from Dr. Slotwiner and the dogs at the sheep farm. That was really one of my favorites from the year. And when we asked you to share your favorites from the year, you suggested the episode featuring Dr. Andrew Goldstone. What a moving story. 

Erin: So in this episode I talked with Dr. Goldstone about a technique called the split-root domino partial heart transplant, which involves multiple patients – kids, in this case –  receiving different heart valves. It’s a really intense operation or series of operations, and in a complicated procedure like this, the surgeons are dealing with a bunch of moving parts.They’re juggling a lot of different patients, the timeline has to be really tight, and everything has to be coordinated down to the very last detail. And listening to Dr. Goldstone tell the story of this groundbreaking procedure, it was so powerful because you could hear in his voice, in his telling, how meaningful this was for him.

Courtney: It was riveting to listen to. Let’s hear a little of that one.

Dr. Goldstone:  We had a situation where we had patients that needed separate valves. One needed just an aortic valve and one needed just a pulmonary valve. And so we had a donor who was the right size and had the right size valves for each of these patients, and we said, well, we could potentially set off a cascade where we help three kids with one heart transplant.

Courtney: This episode is so, so moving, and I think they said lots of other institutions now reach out to NewYork-Presbyterian to learn to understand the skills for this kind of procedure.

Erin: Right. And it takes something like this to really, you know, this is a, a keystone moment to then drive the field forward. Once you establish this can be done, here’s how we did it. And then other institutions maybe have that confidence, have that, okay, we can point to this and say let’s move this field forward even more.

Courtney: And I love that about your show, just how it covers all these pioneering things our doctors are doing and all these advances.

Erin: It’s really inspiring, and it brings this much needed sense of humanity to these achievements because science is human right? And so it’s really helpful to kind of make that personal connection. And that’s, yeah, it is what I really love about working on Advances in Care. 

Courtney: Yes. And if we’re talking about 2025 highlights, we also have to talk about the episode you did on psychedelics research, with Dr. Richard Friedman and Dr. David Hellerstein. 

Erin: Mm-hmm.

Courtney: This one I really loved. As someone who, admittedly my brain can ruminate or get a little stuck on something, and hearing how the psychedelics and different treatments can kind of break your brain from that rut was fascinating.

Erin: It really was. I mean, to cut through all of the noise surrounding like, oh, psychedelics, and, you know, and be like, what? But what do they actually do? What, what do we think is actually happening? And how does this compare to standard treatments?

Courtney: Yeah and how these new therapies might help people who aren’t responding to conventional options. Let’s listen to a clip from Dr. Hellerstein on what they’re seeing in the research on psychedelics: 

Dr. Hellerstein: Clearly there’s a neuroscience component because they’re having this rapid, profound, and somehow mysteriously lasting effect on brain networks, connectivity and nerve cell growth. But they can be used for many different disorders, depression and anxiety disorders, OCD, addiction. And then the psychoanalytic piece is really interesting because when people use these drugs, they re-experience these major, very profoundly affecting life experiences. So their traumas, their losses, their deaths, their people they miss, their fantasies. They re-experience it in a very powerful way. So it sort of connects to the feeling of, you must uncover things and reveal things and work things through, which was from the days of, of psychoanalysis.

Courtney: I dunno where to start. Mind blown. Just this –

Erin: I mean, enough said. Yeah.

Courtney: I think just hearing in this episode about neuroplasticity, about nerve regrowth, all the science behind what’s going on in our mind, and then what he’s saying about re-experiencing these major moments in our lives and how that can be therapeutic. 

Erin: Right?

Courtney: What blew your mind about this episode?

Erin: Oh gosh. I mean everything. Dr. Hellerstein and Dr. Friedman shared their perspectives on how these compounds might work to treat mental health disorders, and at the same time, I really appreciated how they emphasized that if these psychedelics are used, they represent just one component of mental health care. And this was, uh, really helpful just to kind of put the psychedelics in context with our standard modes of treatment.

Courtney: I really just appreciated listening, just learning about the brain. ‘Cause I think for all I know is thoughts or thoughts, but the way they framed it, it was like, there are two different ways the brain works, and in one way it’s focusing on what’s happening outside in the world, and the other one is really focusing inward and that’s where the rumination and everything starts and that there’s a way to kind of like suppress the one that’s focusing too inward.

Erin: Yes. I think, I think you’re right, that, like, internal versus external focus was a really good, you know, way to frame this. And one episode of Health Matters took this head on when you went to Citifield to talk with David Wright and Dr. Anthony Puliafico.

Courtney: Yes, I loved our episode with David Wright, the former Mets third baseman, and Dr. Anthony Puliafico. I loved how Dr. Puliafico talked about the importance of resilience. Let’s hear a little of that from Dr. Puliafico.

Dr, Puliafico: Resilience is, is so relevant for all of us, whether we’re talking about sports, whether we’re talking about schoolwork, careers, life. Resilience is really just kind of seeing ourselves through adversity and how we see ourselves through adversity. I think having that growth mindset, being willing to take on challenges and push ourselves really helps us with resilience. Another big piece of resilience is being flexible. So being able to take on challenges, shift and pivot when we face challenges, or when we struggle and sticking with goals, and like looking at the challenge instead of saying, why me? Like, why didn’t I make this sports team? Or why did I get fired? Or why is this relationship not working? Instead of getting stuck there, seeing the opportunity for learning and for growth. That’s how I think about resilience.

Courtney: I love this episode. And something else David Wright said that I thought was amazing. Like he said, even if you’re an amazing baseball player, you’re still failing seven out of 10 times like that puts you in the hall of fame, which just puts things in perspective.

Erin: Absolutely, failure is integral. Like I, I think that there’s, there tends to be this, this negative perspective or negative connotation of failure. And we don’t remember, we don’t, we don’t consider how important failure is in growth. It’s moving beyond that failure and learning from that failure that really is what makes advancements possible.

Courtney: I just think it was really inspiring to see David Wright speaking openly about overcoming failure, beating anxiety, like for someone like him to be having this conversation, I think can really help people.

Erin: Yeah. Using, using your platform to be open and to de-stigmatize these things, that’s, that’s really, it’s really incredible to hear someone do that.

Courtney: Yeah. I think at one point in the conversation, Dr. Puliafico even said, he is like, look, even David Wright struggles with things kids, you know? And that’s really great. Even – David Wright said that, like professional baseball players, artists, everyone you see up there, they’re all struggling or they’re all trying to overcome something or let go of failure, and so you’re not alone.

Erin: Well, what an important message.

Courtney: Well, we’ve only touched on a few of the highlights from this year. I feel like I could keep talking forever.

Erin: Yes.

Courtney: If you sum it all up, do you have one or two major takeaways for your own health, from the work of telling these stories, whether it’s something we’ve already discussed or something new?

Erin: Oh my gosh, Courtney. I mean there are so many, like we have covered, both you and I have covered so many fascinating topics this year, but I have to say for me, besides just like resilience and flexibility and incorporating that into my day-to-day life, was, uh, Dr. Farmer’s advice that we should all have some sort of training in emergency preparedness. I mean, such a small change, but one with real impact. How about you, Courtney? What’s been the most impactful thing for your own health after these 2025 episodes?

Courtney: Well, I think the thing I always tell people about my work here at NewYork-Presbyterian is every doctor I talk to, no matter what kind of medicine they practice, the tenets always seem to be sleep, exercise, and eating right. Green leafy vegetables, colorful fruits and vegetables. I just try to think of those basics, um, and do what I can because it’s the one thing, it’s, it’s, it’s always the answer. And eating more fiber. They also say to eat more fiber.

Erin: Oh my gosh. Fixer. Yeah. Fiber’s a good one. Yep.

Courtney: Erin, thank you so much for taking some time to talk about the high points of the year.

Erin: This was really fun.

Courtney: And a huge thanks to all the experts who spoke with us for both Advances in Care and Health Matters through 2025. It’s really such a privilege to bring their stories and their wisdom to our listeners.

Erin: Health Matters and Advances in Care are productions of NewYork-Presbyterian.

Courtney: The views shared on this podcast solely reflect the expertise and experience of our guests.

Erin: To learn more about our doctors’ work with patients, check out the show notes.

Courtney: NewYork-Presbyterian is here to help you stay amazing at every stage of your life.

Erin: To get the latest episodes of Health Matters and Advances in Care, be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.