American Thought Leaders

Peter Schweizer, investigative journalist and bestselling author who probes corruption and national-security risks. He reveals industrial-scale birth tourism from China to U.S. states and territories. He discusses surrogacy by wealthy Chinese elites using American carriers. He outlines gaps in data, visa fraud facilitation, and strategic uses of migration by state actors.

Heng He, veteran China analyst and Epoch Times columnist, outlines why recent CCP military purges mark a historic turning point. He discusses how Xi allegedly broke party rules to remove generals. He explains the collapse of military command, risks from replacing professionals with political appointees, and how these shifts could alter China’s foreign posture and readiness.

Dr. Joanna Moncrieff is a British psychiatrist and author of “Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth.” She challenges the long-held belief that depression is caused by a lack of the hormone serotonin.“The serotonin myth … was first put out there in the 1960s, then picked up by the pharmaceutical industry in the 1990s and widely propagated by them as part of their campaign to sell SSRIs, their new generation of antidepressants,” she said.Contrary to what many people still believe, there’s no evidence that depression is caused by a lack of serotonin in the brain, Moncrieff said.“A few years ago, we published what’s called an umbrella review, a sort of meta review of all the different areas of research that have looked at this. … And we show that there is no consistent or convincing evidence in any of these areas of research for any association between serotonin and depression. So hence, the idea is a myth,” she said.In our interview, she explains how this narrative took hold and how it reshaped modern psychiatry.So what causes depression if not a lack of serotonin? Dr. Moncrieff, who is a professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London, regards depression as “meaningful human reactions to the circumstances of life now, and that is indeed how people used to think about them.”It’s not a biological disease, she said, but a normal reaction that anyone may experience at times throughout life.“It’s not something that we naturally just get over in a couple of weeks. It can take weeks and months of grieving, even for a short-term relationship that’s finished.”To label deep sadness as a pathological medical condition that needs to be fixed with drugs is the wrong approach and precludes seeing a person “who is suffering, who is going through a period of difficulty and trying to work out what that is and how we can support them with it,” Moncrieff said.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Erin Friday, an attorney and co-lead of Our Duty USA who defends parental rights against transgender medical interventions for minors. She recounts schools secretly using new names and pronouns, confrontations with child protective services, legal fights over social transitioning without consent, concerns about medical interventions for youth, and efforts to connect parents with legal and therapeutic help.

Dr. Shawn Baker, an orthopedic surgeon and author of The Carnivore Diet, advocates high-protein, low-carb approaches. He discusses the new protein-forward food pyramid, critiques ultra-processed foods, and explains ketosis and the carnivore diet. He covers inflammation, autoimmune relief, practical transition tips, and how meat-heavy eating affects satiety, lipids, and overall well-being.

Lou Reese, a biotech entrepreneur and co-CEO of United Biomedical, dives into groundbreaking innovations in immunotherapy for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. He discusses a synthetic peptide-based treatment that could revolutionize Alzheimer’s care. Lou also shares his intriguing experience with a peptide vaccine for COVID-19, which faced hurdles despite promising trial results. His insights shed light on the complex interactions between vaccine development and market competition, highlighting the need for transparency in medical research.

David Cohen, a UCLA professor renowned for his research on psychotropic drugs and mental health policy, critiques the failures of modern psychiatry. He discusses the alarming high rates of involuntary hospitalization in the U.S. and its ties to social control rather than true care. Cohen highlights the stark reality of post-hospital suicide rates and questions the effectiveness of the 'mental illness' label. He advocates for prioritizing human connection, social support, and addressing life problems over coercive treatments, urging a rethink of mental health strategies.

“Minnesota … is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).Minnesota has become the epicenter of several overlapping fraud investigations of childcare programs, small business pandemic loans, and Medicaid services. Earlier this month, Dr. Oz traveled to Minnesota to tour suspected fraud sites and meet with whistleblowers and announced that over $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding might be withheld.“What we’re seeing in Minnesota, which is billions of dollars of fraud that hurts our most vulnerable people and puts them at risk … is dwarfed by what I saw in California, which is whole-scale cultural malfeasance around health care,” Dr. Oz says.“The magnitude of fraud there, we believe, is approximating $4 billion just in hospice and home health care,” he says.Dr. Oz oversees programs that together constitute about one-fourth of the entire U.S. federal budget.In this episode, he breaks down how the home health care and hospice systems are being exploited on a massive scale and also how Medicare beneficiary numbers are being stolen and weaponized for fraudulent billing schemes.As the administration approaches its one‑year mark, he reflects on efforts to cut waste, lower drug prices, and transform health in America.President Donald Trump has recently unveiled his new “Great Healthcare Plan” to lower prices and increase transparency.“For decades, Americans have been paying three times more than Europeans and other developed nations have been paying for the exact same drugs made in the same facilities,” Dr. Oz says.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

One of the first executive orders President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration last January was titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” The order directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce a systematic review of pediatric transgender procedures and their impact on children within 90 days.In May 2025, HHS published a more than 400-page review, titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices.” In November last year, an updated, peer-reviewed version was published with additional appendices and supplements.Leor Sapir, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, is one of the report’s main outside co-authors. In our in-depth interview, Sapir provides a detailed overview of the review’s findings and conclusions.“We tried to be as factual and defensible as we possibly could,” he said.The goal of the report, he says, is to “engage with people in the medical profession who may not be aligned with the administration, but who do care about questions of medical evidence and medical ethics.”In this episode, he breaks down:- The prevalence of sex-changing procedures in the United States, as well as the reversal in approaches in various Scandinavian countries and in the UK.- How misleading and unscientific language was used by professionals across many fields to promote pediatric sex transitioning.- The role of the organization, World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), in establishing “gender-affirming care” as the accepted standard.- How clinicians, in his view, distorted the principle of patient autonomy to increase pediatric sex change surgeries.There is one chapter in the report that everyone should read, Sapir said. And that is the chapter about ethics.“The question on everybody’s mind is: Should we do it? That’s an ethical question. And medical ethics is, you would hope, [what] governs the field of medicine,” he told me.Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Mark Joseph, a film and music producer and founder of MJM Entertainment, dives into the fascinating journey of creating the biographical film about Ronald Reagan. He reveals how Reagan's childhood sermons ignited his anti-communist passion, recounts filming the project during the pandemic, and highlights the divide in critical versus audience reception. Joseph also shares Reagan's iconic moment at the Berlin Wall, emphasizing the historical significance behind his famous words, and discusses future plans to tell more rich, nuanced American stories.