Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale College and Yale School of Public Health graduate Arya Singh, who reflects on growing up with spinal muscular atrophy, what it takes to build a full life with a disability, and how family support and institutional culture shape what inclusion looks like in practice. Harlan reports on the rapid rise of AI as a front door to health information; Howie responds to the withdrawal of a proposed federal ban on indoor tanning for minors. Show notes: AI Health Advice Health & Veritas Episode 207: Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare "OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT for Healthcare, a gen AI workspace for hospitals and clinics" "Anthropic Launches AI Healthcare Tools As Competition With OpenAI Heats Up" "Doctronic raises $40 million as race to apply AI in clinical care heats up" "KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Use of AI For Health Information and Advice" Arya Singh Health & Veritas Episode 35: Dr. Amy Justice: Unlocking the Insights in Healthcare Data Howie reflects on Arya Singh's graduation from Yale. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) "At Yale, Arya Singh overcame her fears—and found a new side of herself" "This Yale student won't let a rare genetic disease stand in her way" "A Mother's Moonshot"A Stanford Business profile of Loren Eng, Singh's mother. Arya Singh: "What it's like to have a rare disease—and how clinical trials changed my life" "For Arya" A Forbes article on Singh's parents. Video: Yale College 2022 Class Day Exercises Singh's speech to her classmates. "3 Rings, 2 College Students and 1 Big Risk" A New York Times "Vows" column on Singh's wedding. Arya Singh: Courageous Calla & The Clinical Trial Arya Singh: "Beyond broken elevators" Arya Singh: "Making It Work for Students in Wheelchairs to Leave Home: Experiences and Decision Making Regarding the Residential College Experience" Tanning Beds "FDA pulls proposed rule barring teens from using tanning beds" FDA: General and Plastic Surgery Devices: Restricted Sale, Distribution, and Use of Sunlamp Products; Withdrawal of Proposed Rule "Molecular effects of indoor tanning" "Indoor Tanning and the Risk of Overall and Early-Onset Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" "Indoor Tanning Legislation: Here's Where We Stand" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

They break down the end of flu season and why vaccine effectiveness and public confidence matter. New 2026 cholesterol guidelines pushing earlier treatment and novel tests get attention. Rising measles activity, outbreaks, and threats to herd immunity are discussed. They also cover NIH funding tensions, a court pause on vaccine guidance changes, football-related brain injury studies, and Medicare Advantage overpayment concerns.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine surgical oncologist Kevin Billingsley, who discusses how robotics and advanced imaging are reshaping what it means to be a surgeon and offers guidance for those facing a cancer diagnosis. Harlan reports on a company testing AI-based prescription renewals and raises concerns about safety and oversight; Howie reflects on new survey data showing declining public trust in health institutions. Show notes: Unsupervised AI Health & Veritas Episode 207: Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare "Vinod Khosla: Machines will replace 80 percent of doctors" Doctronic AI Regulatory Mitigation Agreement "AI could soon renew prescriptions without clinician help. Should the FDA make sure it's safe?" "Exclusive: Researchers trick a bot that prescribes meds" "Don't trust this $4 solution for getting a prescription" "CVS Health And Google Launch AI Business To 'Personalize Healthcare'" Health & Veritas Episode 206: Mary-Ann Etiebet: Confronting Preventable Disease Harlan discusses ARPA-H. Kevin Billingsley Laparoscopy Robotic Surgery "History of robotic surgery: from AESOP and ZEUS to da Vinci" "Personal Best" Atul Gawande compares surgeons to athletes. "Future of Surgical Training Will Include Major Shift in Education Model" "Will your next surgeon be a robot? Autonomy and AI in robotic surgery" "Dying Words" Jerome Groopman on the relationship between oncologists and patients. "Teamwork in Healthcare: Key Discoveries Enabling Safer, High-Quality Care" Smoking and Cancer Benefits of Physical Activity Physical Activity and Cancer Health & Veritas: Melinda Irwin: Can Nutrition and Exercise Improve Cancer Outcomes? "What Alcohol Does to the Body" Who do you trust? "Stark Divide: Americans More Confident in Career Scientists at U.S. Health Agencies Than Leaders" "Poll: Americans increasingly trust career scientists, not leaders, at CDC, NIH, and FDA" Your Local Epidemiologist: "Top 5 questions about school vaccination requirements" Health & Veritas Katelyn Jetelina: A Visit from Your Local Epidemiologist" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale School of Medicine neurologist Kevin Sheth to discuss how collaboration helps drive breakthroughs in brain health, including advances in detecting stroke and other neurological diseases earlier and more precisely. Harlan reflects on lessons from his family's recent experience navigating the healthcare system; Howie examines the expanding marketplace for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and the challenges of ensuring safe and appropriate use. Show notes: The Family Perspective Cleveland Clinic: Percutaneous Coronary Intervention "What's the Difference Between a CCU and an ICU?" Kevin Sheth Alva Health Mayo Clinic: Stroke Video: Kevin Sheth at the Yale Innovation Summit Sandra Saldana, PhD, MBA "Buddy System" NIH: Multiple Principal Investigators "Assessing the Decade of the Brain" "Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma biomarkers in Alzheimer disease" Kevin Sheth: "Burden of Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke Across the US From 1990 to 2019" Endovascular Thrombectomy (EVT) Ischemic vs Hemorrhagic Stroke "What is cognitive reserve?" Cheaper Obesity Drugs "Will Novo Nordisk's slashing of obesity drug prices save patients' money? It depends" "Novo Nordisk to halve US list price of Wegovy from 2027" "Walgreens Virtual Healthcare Adds Weight Management Services to Support Patients on Their Weight Loss Journey" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Yale economist Janet Currie to discuss how early-life investments in health, education, and environmental protection shape children's lifelong well-being and economic opportunity. Harlan highlights a new Medicare payment model that would reward measurable improvements in chronic disease outcomes; Howie reflects on the spread of medical misinformation and a new effort to push back. Show notes: The ACCESS Payment Model CMS: ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model "ACCESS: What this new payment model means for physicians and patients" "FDA Launches TEMPO: A First-of-Its-Kind Digital Health Pilot to Expand Access to Chronic Disease Technologies" Janet Currie "Welcoming Janet Currie: A Pioneer in the Economics of Children and Families Joins Yale" Janet Currie: "Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector: The Effect of Legal Structure on Dispute Costs and Wages" Janet Currie: "Child health as human capital" Janet Currie: "Killing Me Softly: The Fetal Origins Hypothesis" "Medicaid and Children's Health: 5 Issues to Watch Amid Recent Federal Changes" Janet Currie: "Medicaid: What Does It Do, and Can We Do It Better?" Janet Currie: "Does Head Start Make a Difference?" Janet Currie: "Longer Term Effects of Head Start" Janet Currie: "Lead and Juvenile Delinquency: New Evidence from Linked Birth, School, and Juvenile Detention Records" Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) Series Janet Currie: "Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women" Janet Currie: "Doctor Decision Making and Patient Outcomes" Janet Currie's American Economic Association Presidential Address: "Investing in Children to Address the Child Mental Health Crisis" "Addressing Common Misconceptions About the Child Mental Health Crisis" Janet Currie: "To What Extent are Trends in Teen Mental Health Driven by Changes in Reporting?" Janet Currie: "Rules versus Discretion: Treatment of Mental Illness in US Adolescents" Misinformation Mayo Clinic: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Symptoms and causes "Inside RFK Jr.'s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice condition" Health & Veritas Episode 197: Peter Hotez: Mapping the Anti-Science Machine "It's time for a new era of advocacy for physicians" "Childhood Vaccination Rates Have Dropped Again, C.D.C. Data Shows" "Take It From a Scientist. Facts Matter, and They Don't Care How You Feel." "A small study on Covid vaccine safety sparks an online tempest" Health & Veritas Episode 192: Akiko Iwasaki: What Have We Learned About Long COVID? In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Evangelos Oikonomou, a cardiologist and data scientist at the Yale School of Medicine, to discuss how AI can extract overlooked signs of heart disease from routine ECGs, imaging studies, and electronic health records—and how to deploy these AI tools responsibly at scale. Harlan explains whether a widely covered study suggesting that coffee may lower the risk of dementia should change your daily brew; Howie grapples with the ethical questions surrounding a proposed hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. Show notes: Coffee and Dementia "Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function" "Coffee linked to slower brain ageing in study of 130,000 people" "2 to 3 Cups of Coffee a Day May Reduce Dementia Risk. But Not if It's Decaf." Evangelos Oikonomou "What Is Opportunistic Screening in Healthcare?" Evangelos Oikonomou: "Artificial intelligence in medical imaging: A radiomic guide to precision phenotyping of cardiovascular disease" Evangelos Oikonomou: "Non-invasive detection of coronary inflammation using computed tomography and prediction of residual cardiovascular risk (the CRISP CT study): a post-hoc analysis of prospective outcome data" Evangelos Oikonomou: "Artificial intelligence-guided detection of under-recognised cardiomyopathies on point-of-care cardiac ultrasonography: a multicentre study" "Fellow Focus in Four: Evangelos Oikonomou, MD, DPhil, Cardiovascular Medicine" Health & Veritas Episode 80: Josh Geballe: Turning Yale Innovation into Startups Evangelos Oikonomou: "TARGET-AI: A Foundational Approach for the Targeted Deployment of Artificial Intelligence Electrocardiography in the Electronic Health Record" "Using AI to Guide AI" "Are A.I. Tools Making Doctors Worse at Their Jobs?" "The Robot Doctor Will See You Now" Health & Veritas Episode 207: Robert Wachter: AI Is Already Remaking Healthcare "A large language model for complex cardiology care" Vaccine Trial Ethics WHO: Statement on the planned hepatitis B birth dose vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau "Planned US-funded baby vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau blasted by WHO" "Guinea-Bissau suspends US-funded vaccine trial as African scientists question its motives" "Guinea-Bissau Installs Military Ruler After Claims of a 'Fabricated' Coup" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Joel Hirschhorn, geneticist and pediatric endocrinologist who maps how many genes shape traits. He explains how thousands of tiny genetic variants combine to influence height and obesity. He outlines limits of predicting individuals from DNA. He discusses translating polygenic findings to disease understanding and ethical limits of selecting traits.

Howie and Harlan discuss an escalating measles outbreak in the U.S. and a project piloted by Yale School of Medicine professor Erica Spatz to deliver preventative care in barbershops and beauty salons. Also examined: flu season, nipah virus, and the perils of focusing on healthcare business models. Show notes: Measles CDC: Measles Outbreak Associated with an Infectious Traveler—Colorado, May–June 2025 CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks Snohomish County Health Department: Snohomish County Confirms Three New Measles Cases "Measles in an ICE facility is a public health failure" Value-Based Care "Value-Based Care: What It Is, and Why It's Needed" "Supporting Value-Based Health Care—Aligning Financial and Legal Accountability" American Hospital Association: 3 Ways AI Can Improve Revenue-Cycle Management Preventative Cardiology Yale School of Medicine: Erica Spatz, MD, MHS Pressure Check Marketplace Health Insurance Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Marketplace 2026 Open Enrollment Period Report: National Snapshot Respiratory Illness CDC: Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 3, ending January 24, 2026 "After 3-week decline, flu cases rise across the US; RSV, COVID activity high in certain states" Nipah Virus CDC: About Nipah Virus WHO: Nipah virus infection—India In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by internist and author Robert Wachter to discuss his new book, which explores how AI is already changing day-to-day medical practice and argues that it can improve care, reduce burnout, and even help repair a broken healthcare system. Show notes: Robert Wachter: A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future Robert Wachter: The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age Robert Wachter: "Pattern Recognition" "AI Prognosis: Readers' predictions for health AI in 2026. What's on your bingo card?" Robert Wachter: "Will The AI Jobpocalypse Hit Healthcare?" Video: Geoff Hinton on deep learning and radiology "Call me Dr Ishmael: trends in electronic health record notes available at emergency department visits and admissions" "OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to connect user medical records, wellness apps" "Utah launches first-in-the-nation trial that lets AI renew your prescription" Robert Wachter: "Will AI Rescue Primary Care?" "We found what you're asking ChatGPT about health. A doctor scored its answers." Robert Wachter: "We Need Medical AI for Patients" Robert Wachter: "Medicine's AI Knowledge War Heats Up" Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education: Proceedings and Recommendations Robert Wachter: Deskilling and Healthcare AI" "Are A.I. Tools Making Doctors Worse at Their Jobs?" "The Robot Doctor Will See You Now" Atul Gawande: "Personal Best" In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time. Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings. Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Mary-Ann Etiebet, president and CEO of Vital Strategies focused on prevention and health equity. She discusses scaling policy tools like health taxes, strengthening public-health systems and civil registration, and tackling rising noncommunicable diseases globally. Short, direct conversations about implementation, countering industry pushback, and using data and AI for measurement and vital statistics.