Health & Veritas
Howard Forman and Harlan Krumholz, two Yale physician-professors, discuss the latest news and ideas in healthcare and seek out the truth amid the noise.
Health & Veritas is produced with the Yale School of Management and the Yale School of Public Health.

Episodes
- PodcastEpisode 108Duration 32:55
Tara Sanft: Life after Cancer
Howie and Harlan are joined by Tara Sanft, chief patient experience officer at Yale’s Smilow Cancer Hospital and director of the Survivorship Program at the Yale Cancer Center. Harlan reports on his study of patients with long-lasting symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine; Howie reflects on the historic decline in cigarette smoking in the United States.
Links:
Post-Vaccination Syndrome
Patient Experience and Cancer Survivorship
Tara Sanft: “Rekindling Joy in Medicine Through Thoughtful Communication: A Practical Guide”
“Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Breast Cancer Screening and Operative Treatment”
“Impact of Financial Burden of Cancer on Survivors’ Quality of Life”
Yale Medicine: Cancer Survivorship
The White House: Cancer Moonshot
The Decline in Smoking
“Trends in US Adult Smoking Prevalence, 2011 to 2022”
"BAT Writing Off £25 Billion on US Cigarettes, Shares Fall"
"Vaping Declines Among High School Students, Survey Shows"
"Why Philip Morris Stock Is Falling After Earnings Beat Expectations"
"Big Tobacco Rethinks Its Smoking Addiction"
National Cancer Institute: Cancer Stat Facts: Common Cancer Sites
Read an unedited transcript of this episode.Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 107Duration 33:32
Stephanie Sudikoff: The Power of Medical Simulation
Howie and Harlan are joined by Stephanie Sudikoff, an expert on using simulation to train healthcare professionals, to discuss her new venture working to expand treatment for neonatal jaundice and how simulating procedures can assist in quality control and ongoing training. They also look at new developments in AI in radiology and the economics of a powerful treatment for inflammation.
Links:
AI and Radiology
“Imaging AI hogs the spotlight at RSNA, with debuts from GE, Siemens, Philips”
“Accuracy of ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing for Simplifying Radiology Reports”
“Characterizing the Clinical Adoption of Medical AI Devices through U.S. Insurance Claims”
“Kim Kardashian Got a Full Body Scan, Why Medical Experts are Concerned”
Heart Flow: Revolutionizing Precision Heart Care
Neonatal Jaundice and Medical Simulation
Little Sparrows Technologies: Big Ideas for Little Babies
“‘The Damar Effect’—the nationwide backorder on a lifesaving machine and the 620% increase in CPR”
The Economics of Dupixent
“With new trial data, a blockbuster therapy from Sanofi, Regeneron could find an even bigger market”
“A Drug for Itchy Dogs Costs $1,200. Why Is the Human Equivalent $43,000?”
“Dupilumab for COPD with Type 2 Inflammation Indicated by Eosinophil Counts”
Regeneron: “Dupixent ® (Dupilumab) significantly reduced COPD exacerbations in second trial”
“HHS Selects the First Drugs for Medicare Drug Price Negotiation”
Read an unedited transcript of this episode.Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 106Duration 31:14
Jerold Mande: Our Food Is Making Us Sick
Howie and Harlan are joined by Jerold Mande, a nutrition expert who has served in the FDA, where he led the graphic design of the Nutrition Facts label, and the USDA. Harlan reports on promising new therapies for sickle cell disease, high cholesterol, and hypertension; Howie reflects on the Thanksgiving holiday and the contributions of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who died this week.
Links:
New Therapies
“Sickle-Cell Treatment Created With Gene Editing Wins U.K. Approval”
“Updated data show long-term benefits of CRISPR treatment for sickle cell, beta thalassemia”
Food and Health
“An Epidemic of Chronic Illness Is Killing Us Too Soon”
“Fatty Liver Was a Disease of the Old. Then Kids Started Getting Sick.”
USDA: Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts
Tufts University | Food Prices for Nutrition | Diet cost metrics for a better-fed world
“Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate”
“New evidence links ultra-processed foods with a range of health risks”
“Americans Are Addicted to 'Ultra-Processed' Foods, and It's Killing Us”
The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
USDA: Learn how to eat healthy with MyPlate
Rosalynn Carter and Doing Good
“Altruism, Happiness, and Health: It’s Good to Be Good”
“Rosalynn Carter, First Lady and a Political Partner, Dies at 96”
Read an unedited transcript of this episode.Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 105Duration 31:57
John Morton: The State of Obesity Treatment
Howie and Harlan review the results of a new study testing the effects of anti-obesity medications on cardiovascular health. Then they're joined by Yale's John Morton, a leading bariatric surgeon, to discuss the state of weight-loss surgery and its long-term impact on patients' lives.
Links:
Obesity Drugs
“GLP-1 agonists: Diabetes drugs and weight loss”
“Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes”
“AMA urges insurance coverage parity for emerging obesity treatment options”
“National Coverage Determination: Treatment of Obesity”
“2022 Employer Health Benefits Survey: Section 10 - Plan Funding”
Bariatric Surgery
Mayo Clinic: Bariatric Surgery Overview
“Outcomes of the Ontario Bariatric Network: a cohort study”
“Weight loss drugs and the push for Medicare coverage”
“A Short History of Bernard Fisher’s Contributions to Randomized Clinical Trials”
“Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after The Biggest Loser competition”
Read an unedited transcript of this episode.Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 104Duration 32:23
Dhruv Khullar: The Physician-Journalist
Howie and Harlan are joined by the New Yorker's Dhruv Khullar to talk about his life as a clinician, researcher, and journalist. Harlan looks at how direct-to-consumer healthcare companies like Hims & Hers Health are capitalizing on patients' reluctance to share sensitive issues with traditional providers; Howie reports on the health issues on the ballot in this week's election.
Links:
The Loss of Trust and the Rise of Hims & Hers Health
“Hims & Hers reports 57% revenue increase, launch of AI offering and more earnings news”
“Hims & Hers Health Sees Long-Term Tailwind from Weight Management Business”
“FDA approves Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide for weight loss, paving way for wider use of blockbuster drug”
Dhruv Khullar
Dhruv Khullar: “Why Are We So Bad at Getting Better?"
The New Yorker: Articles by Dhruv Khullar
“A Program to Prevent Functional Decline in Physically Frail, Elderly Persons who Live at Home”
Dhruv Khullar: “What a Heat Wave Does to Your Body"
Kim Stanley Robinson: The Ministry for the Future
Dhruv Khullar: “The Struggle to Define Long Covid"
Health on the Ballot
“Democrats Take Control of Virginia Legislature”
“Ohio Vote Continues a Winning Streak for Abortion Rights”
“Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves wins 2nd term, defeating Democrat Brandon Presley”
“Poll: 92% of Mississippi voters concerned about hospital crisis, 72% favor Medicaid expansion”
“Marijuana use linked with increased risk of heart attack, heart failure”
NIH: Marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached all-time high in 2021
Read an unedited transcript of this episode.Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 103Duration 32:46
Melinda Pettigrew: The Battle Against Antimicrobial Resistance
Howie and Harlan are joined by Melinda Pettigrew of the Yale School of Public Health to discuss the changes needed in the prescription and agriculture use of antibiotics to address the crisis of antimicrobial resistance. Harlan reports on a survey underlining the scale of medical misinformation among Americans; Howie discusses a new tool for the treatment of unhoused people.
Links:
Medical Misinformation
Harlan Krumholz: “A prescription for the US FDA for the regulation of health misinformation”
“Vaccine Confidence Falls as Belief in Health Misinformation Grows”
Melinda Pettigrew and Antimicrobial Resistance
“Melinda Pettigrew—The next dean of SPH!”
“New Law Will Help Combat Growing Threat of Antibiotic Resistance”
“Two Yale alum tackle infection diagnostics”
FDA Fact Sheet: Veterinary Feed Directive Final Rule and Next Steps
CDC: Measuring Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing
Treating the Unhoused
“Housing Supply and the Drivers of Homelessness”
CMS: Place of Service Code Set
“New place of service code for treating unsheltered people”
“‘You Have to Learn to Listen’: How a Doctor Cares for Boston’s Homeless”
Read an unedited transcript of this episode.Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 102Duration 34:31
The Latest on COVID-19 Vaccines, and Other News
Howie and Harlan discuss current issues in healthcare, including burnout at the hospital, the downsides to Medicare Advantage, and how AI is helping radiologists catch tiny blood clots.
Links:
COVID-19 and Vaccinations
“Newborn and Early Infant Outcomes Following Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy”
CDC: Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines
“Myocarditis and Pericarditis After mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination”
“COVID Shots May Slightly Raise Stroke Risk in the Oldest Recipients”
“SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers pro-atherogenic inflammatory responses in human coronary vessels”
Medicare Advantage
2023 Medicare Open Enrollment Guide
“How Health Insurers and Brokers Are Marketing Medicare”
“Elevance Health Reports $13 Billion Profit and Insurer ups Forecast once again”
Mental Health in Healthcare
“Health care workers report increase in burnout, harassment since the COVID pandemic: CDC”
“Health Workers Face a Mental Health Crisis”
“Suicide Risks of Health Care Workers in the US”
“Stabbed. Kicked. Spit On.Violence in American Hospitals Is Out of Control.”
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
“Prospective Evaluation of AI Triage of Pulmonary Emboli on CT Pulmonary Angiograms”
“AI Risk Score on Screening Mammograms Preceding Breast Cancer Diagnosis”
What’s a Normal Temperature?
“Defining Usual Oral Temperature Ranges in Outpatients Using an Unsupervised Learning Algorithm”
Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 101Duration 42:26
Katherine Baicker: Rigorous Thinking about Hard Problems
Howie and Harlan are joined by health economist Katherine Baicker of the University of Chicago to discuss her career in academia and government, the landmark Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, and the optimal design for universal healthcare coverage. Harlan asks why life expectancy in the U.S. increasingly lags behind peer nations; Howie discusses the politics threatening the PEPFAR program, which has saved millions of lives around the world.
Links:
U.S. Life Expectancy
“How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?”
The American Health Care Paradox: Why Spending More is Getting Us Less
Healthcare Policy
Katherine Baicker: “Oregon Health Insurance Experiment”
Katherine Baicker: “The Oregon Experiment—Effects of Medicaid on Clinical Outcomes”
“How to Use the Oregon Medicaid Study to Your Ideological Advantage”
Katherine Baicker: “Workplace wellness programs can generate savings”
We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care
Katherine Baicker: “A Different Framework to Achieve Universal Coverage in the US”
PEPFAR
The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
“PEPFAR Reauthorization: The Debate About Abortion”
Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 100Duration 32:27
Peter Salovey: A More Unified, Accessible, and Innovative Yale
In the 100th episode of Health & Veritas, Howie and Harlan are joined by Peter Salovey, the president of Yale University and a pioneering psychology scholar. They discuss Salovey’s tenure as president, which ends in 2024; the future of the newly independent Yale School of Public Health; and Salovey’s influential research on emotional intelligence.
Links:
“Statement regarding YSPH transitioning to an independent school at Yale”
Peter Salovey: “Emotional Intelligence”
Yale School of Medicine: “Medical school and health system form a new affiliation”
“President's house will be a home”
For Humanity: the Yale Campaign
Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.
- PodcastEpisode 99Duration 32:45
Marc Auerbach: Getting Emergency Departments Kid-Ready
Howie and Harlan are joined by Marc Auerbach, a professor of pediatric emergency medicine at Yale, to discuss his work using standards and simulation to improve the treatment of children in emergency departments throughout the United States. Harlan reflects on the importance of simple, well-designed clinical trials to make rapid improvements to care; Howie reports on a congressional study asking whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center has succeeded in lowering costs and increasing quality.
Links:
Timely Clinical Trials
“Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with Covid-19”
“Now is the time to fix the evidence generation system”
“The Clinical Trials Enterprise in the United States: A Call for Disruptive Innovation”
The Yale Paxlovid for Long COVID (PAX LC) Trial
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Connecticut Emergency Medical Services for Children: Innovation and Improvement Center
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center
CMS: About the CMS Innovation Center
“Accelerating Care Delivery Transformation—The CMS Innovation Center’s Role in the Next Decade”
Learn more about the MBA for Executives program at Yale SOM.