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. New episodes are available every Thursday.
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Howard P. Forman
Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Economics, Public Health, and Management; Co-founder, Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership, MD/MBA Program, and MBA for Executives Program
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Professor Forman is a Professor of Diagnostic Radiology (and faculty director for Finance), Public Health (Health Policy), Economics and Management. Professor Forman directs the Health Care management program in the Yale School of Public Health and teaches healthcare economics in the Yale College Economics Department. He is the faculty founder and director of the MD/MBA program as well as the faculty director of the healthcare focus area in the School of Management’s MBA for Executives program. He is the co-founder and special advisor to the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership program. He co-hosts the Health & Veritas podcast with Dr. Harlan Krumholz.
As a practicing emergency/trauma radiologist, he is actively involved in patient care and issues related to financial administration, healthcare compliance, and contracting. His research has been focused on improving imaging services delivery through better access to information. He has worked as a health policy fellow in the U.S. Senate, on Medicare legislation.
During the COVID Pandemic, Professor Forman has actively tracked outbreaks at local, national, and international levels; expounding on mitigation strategies and engaging to dispel misinformation through social and print media. He has been a frequent guest commentator and expert on national video and audio platforms.
Harlan M. Krumholz
Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine and Professor in the Institute of Social Policy Studies, of Investigative Medicine, and of Public Health (Health Policy); and Director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation
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Harlan Krumholz is a cardiologist and scientist at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital. He is the Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine, and Professor in the Institute of Social Policy Studies, of Investigative Medicine, and of Public Health (Health Policy), and the Director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. He is a leading expert in the science to improve the quality and efficiency of care, eliminate disparities and promote equity, improve integrity and transparency in medical research, engage patients in their care, and avoid wasteful practices. Recent efforts are focused on harnessing the digital transformation in healthcare to accelerate knowledge generation and facilitate the delivery of care aligned with each patient’s needs and preferences.
Dr. Krumholz is director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), an organization dedicated to improving health and health care through research, tools, and practices that produce discovery, heighten accountability and promote better public health and clinical care. He co-founded and co-leads the Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) Project, designed to increase access to clinical research data and promote their use to generate new knowledge. He also co-founded and co-leads medRxiv, a non-profit preprint server for the medical and health sciences. He was a founding faculty co-director of the Yale Center for Research Computing.
Dr. Krumholz has been honored by membership in the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He was named a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association and received their Award of Meritorious Achievement and their Clinical Research Prize. He served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Krumholz received the Friendship Award from the People’s Republic of China in recognition of his collaborative efforts to develop a national cardiovascular research network and was named by the Chinese Society of Cardiology as a Top-10 Distinguished International Cardiologist for his contributions to the development of cardiovascular medicine in China. He founded the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Council and co-founded their annual conference. He was the founding editor of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes; founding editor of CardioExchange, a social media site of the publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine; and editor of Journal Watch Cardiology of the New England Journal of Medicine. He was a founding Governor of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Episodes
An Inspiring Nobel Win and Other News
Howie and Harlan discuss the inspiring story behind the Nobel Prize in medicine, the settlement in the Cigna false billing case, and new research providing more evidence for the effectiveness of statins in reducing cardiovascular risk.
Nita Ahuja: Epigenetics and Cancer
Howie and Harlan are joined by Nita Ahuja, a Yale surgeon and researcher, to discuss new methods in for detecting and treating cancers and the barriers faced by women surgeons. Harlan answers questions about an FDA panel’s finding that the decongestant phenylephrine is ineffective; Howie looks at the trends making hospital finances unsustainable.
Peter Hotez: Opposing the Anti-Science Movement
In a special episode, Howie and Harlan are joined by the virologist and advocate Peter Hotez to discuss his new book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning. This interview was recorded in late August.
Ted Long: A Model for Effective Primary Care
Howie and Harlan are joined by Ted Long, senior vice president of ambulatory care and population health at New York City Health + Hospitals, to discuss New York City’s remarkable success in providing care to its most vulnerable citizens. Harlan discusses the state of research into long COVID, including his own studies; Howie reports on the first round of drug-price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Zhenqiu Lin: Measuring Quality, Improving Care
Howie and Harlan are joined by Zhenqiu Lin, senior director of analytics at Yale’s Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, to discuss how quality measures can make care more consistent and effective and improve outcomes for patients. Howie provides an update on research on repetitive head trauma among young football players; Harlan reports on new findings about the benefits of semaglutide for people with heart disease.
Best of Health & Veritas, Summer 2023
Howie and Harlan look back on some of their favorite moments from the first 92 episodes of Health & Veritas.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy: Building a Culture of Health
In this special episode, Howie and Harlan are joined by Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States, and a graduate of the Yale School of Management and the Yale School of Medicine.
Alan Friedman: To Err Is Human
Howie and Harlan are joined by Alan Friedman, chief medical officer at Yale New Haven Hospital, to talk about the organizational and cultural changes that the hospital has made to minimize medical errors and unprofessional behavior that harm patients. Howie reports on a Yale study showing a gap in excess deaths between Republicans and Democrats after the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced; Harlan discusses the continued problem of financial toxicity for patients, and a new study casting doubt on the effectiveness of “neuroprotective” diets.
Melissa Davis: Can a Radiologist Trust AI?
Howie and Harlan are joined by Melissa Davis, a Yale radiologist and a graduate of Yale SOM’s MBA for Executives program, to discuss the ‘whoa’ moments and the weaknesses she has encountered using artificial intelligence to help interpret scans. Harlan reflects on the slow progress toward a healthcare system that rewards value rather than volume; Howie reports on new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.