Big Questions with Cal Fussman

Cal has spent his life writing stories and telling them on stage. Big Questions started after he told stories for three straight hours on Tim Ferriss's podcast. But Cal finds a new power in storytelling through Harvard's Annie Brewster, a physician who used her own story to help heal herself after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis roughly twenty years ago. Annie went on to start a non-profit to help others understand their health problems through storytelling, and this conversation gives Cal the seed of an idea . . . and may help you, too.

Until this week, Cal never knew that more than ten percent of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 were physicians. Doctors are now found in tech roles that can bring exponential improvements to the masses. Amazon's Adam Glasofer is a great example.

Johnny Crowder is motivation to all when it comes to changing the way you think about your health. He's actually rewired his brain to get the best possible behavior from himself. His life is an extreme example of overcoming mental health problems. But the work he's put in to understand the human brain can be used by anybody who needs to overcome ANY problem.

Glen Tullman, creator of Transcarent, discusses reshaping healthcare, making a difference in healthcare and electronic prescribing, starting Lavongo, the transformation of healthcare, putting people in charge of their healthcare, and recognizing the importance of healthcare professionals.

Matt Hollingsworth, the CEO of Carta Healthcare, has had a sense of the way healthcare can Impact a family's financial health since . . . well, perhaps since he was in the womb and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. She refused chemotherapy to protect him. Matt's life has been deeply influenced by his family's battles with cancer. It's common knowledge that one of every two Americans has medical debt and that medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy. But beyond that, Matt explains to Cal what our $4 trillion annual spend on healthcare is doing to your paycheck. A fresh look at a topic that is hard to get a grip on.

Cal is introduced to a man who's orchestrated 4,000 college scholarships to students from low-income areas and who plans to extend 30,000 scholarships through an organization called Hope Chicago. This gets Cal to thinking about helping one child to become a doctor at a time when one in five healthcare workers has left the field during Covid. Pete makes that scholarship happen for Cal and Big Questions, and leaves Cal wondering how to generate 49 more!

Cal finds himself looking down different highways and byways in the wide arc of healthcare and begins to wonder about the ways to make the biggest impact. Then he awakens one night at 3 a.m. with an urge to relisten to the first podcast he did on the subject. It was with Navy surgeon and dermatologist Reagan Anderson before COVID. It resonates now more than ever.

Cal looks for a way to bring people together during the acrimony following the Supreme Court decision reversing Roe vs. Wade and setting the stage for the prohibition of abortion in certain states. So he made an unusual decision to publish an episode that he was planning for September – during Prostate Cancer Awareness month. The idea behind it is for people of different sexes and opinions to share knowledge in a kind way – in this case about an often-misunderstood male organ. Dr. Neil Baum, a urologist from New Orleans, gives the primer. The hope is that we all become more curious and understanding of each other's health needs and opinions. Because if we can't come together as a nation over healthcare, what can we come together over?

On average, every American eats 100 bowls of cereal a year. Most are filled with highly-sugared, highly-processed carbohydrates fronted by wonderful animations of characters that lure kids in to thinking they're breakfast pals. Cal used to be one of those kids, and he loved those sweet, crunchy cereals. Now, Cal wonders how much healthier America would be if it were eating cereals that taste great but contain virtually no sugar made by Magic Spoon. His conversation with company founder Gabi Lewis takes us all to new places. A healthy Birthday Cake cereal???

Cal meets two guys who've created an App that does not let you forget anything -- and creates a memory archive. That made Cal feel sharper and healthier in an instant. Not only is the Twos App free. But the founders gave Cal a two-dollar bill as a promotional gesture just to try it out. Cal did, and has been using the Twos App ever since. Founders Parker Klein and Joe Steilberg got so excited to come on Big Questions, they offered to Venmo $2 to anybody who tries the Twos App. Cal's sure this will delight listeners . . . but he hopes it doesn't bankrupt Parker and Joe.