The Original Guide to Men's Health will be taking the month of May off and will be returning June 5th with brand new content for you. Until then be well, take care of yourselves and we will see you in June!

Another pandemic will happen. When it does, will we be prepared? What are we doing to make certain that we are?

Our guest is the Director of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. Hear about what is being done to facilitate and improve our ability to face another pandemic.

Guest:

 

"Major General (ret) Paul Friedrichs, MD, FACS, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR)"

 

Major General (ret) Paul Friedrichs, Inaugural Director of OPPR and Principal Advisor on Pandemic Preparedness and Response

 

Major General Friedrichs is currently Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council (NSC). Prior to joining the NSC, Dr. Friedrichs most recently served as the Joint Staff Surgeon and the medical advisor to the Department of Defense (DoD) COVID-19 Task Force. Throughout his career he has worked closely with Federal, State, Tribal, local, and territorial government partners, as well as industry and academic counterparts and has been active in multiple professional medical societies. Dr. Friedrichs has also overseen the DoD global patient evacuation system, supporting global medical care and numerous interagency domestic and global disaster responses. He led the DoD Task Force which developed plans to implement high reliability medical principles across DoD and stood up the Air Force’s first medical analytics capabilities. Over the course of his 37-year career, he has led military hospitals and regional and global health care systems, published multiple medical papers, and consistently sought opportunities to partner with colleagues to improve health care delivery and preparedness. As the United States’ representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Committee of Military Medical Chiefs, he worked closely with many of America’s closest allies and partners throughout the pandemic and in developing medical support to the Ukrainian military.

 

Dr. Friedrichs is a board-certified physician who has cared for hundreds of patients in combat and managed broad domestic and global public health threats. He has spent all of his career in public service, having first received his commission through Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1986 and rising to Major General in 2023.

During This Episode We Discuss:

 

Overview of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy

What are the goals for the office

How will  the office function

How will the office coordinate with state health agencies, health delivery systems, medication manufacturers , support and personal protective device manufacturers, research and  testing facilities?

The importance of a robust Public Health System. How does a public health system integrate into the office's response policy?

What can the office do to facilitate a functioning national,regional and local deployment of response teams?

How can we speak to the public, ie messaging about the science of pandemic causation, diagnosis, containment and treatment strategies without the politicalization that occurred with the Covid pandemic?

What recommendations and routines does the Air Force use to keep it’s personnel healthy? 

 

Why do we find it challenging to take care of ourselves, follow up on health concerns or enter into preventive health maintenance? Men in particular seem to have more difficulty in this regard. Even when we have the knowledge to pursue evaluation we sometimes fail to follow through. 

Health Behavior is complex and has a multitude of factors influencing our decisions. Join in to listen to 2 experts review the theory of health behavior, as well as other health models.

Guest:

Grace Lasker, Ph.D, MCHES, CN, CHC (she/her)

Director of Health Studies; Teaching Professor, Nursing and Health Studies

Adjunct Teaching Professor, Dept. of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences

University of Washington Bothell

 

Joseph Henrich,Ph.D

Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology

Department of Human Evolutionary Biology

Harvard University

 

We are pushing back the publication of our next episode of The Original Guide to Men's Health by one week due to a scheduling issue. We will be back with new content for you on March 13th with an excellent episode all about Health Behavior, what is it, what do we know about, and how do we change it?   Join us next week for a fantastic episode of  The Original Guide to Men's Health!

The final two presentations of the ‘Real Talk on Men’s Health’ event are presented in this episode. 

The first presentation provides the listener with important information regarding the early detection of Prostate and Testicular Cancers.

 

The second presentation reveals important information regarding the new ‘ Obesity Medications” as well as information on Obesity, Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome.

Guests:

 

Men’s Cancers:

Early Detection for Prostate and Testicular Cancers
 


Yaw A. Nyame, MD, MS, MBA
Deputy Associate Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Urology and Fred Hutch Cancer Center, University of Washington

 

Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes & Obesity : Updates in Management & Medications

JOSHUA THALER, MD, PhD

Associate Professor Division of Endocrinology and Nutrition, University of Washington School of Medicine

UW Medicine Diabetes Institute

 

This episode represents 2 additional presentations from the October 25 live event titled’

Real Talk on Men’s Health.

 

In this Episode the following presentations are featured:

Heart Health: Keep Your Heart Beating and Benign Prostatic Enlargement

Guest:

 

Heart Health: Keep Your Heart Beating

Dr Eugene Yang, MD,MS, FACC, Clinical Professor Department of Cardiology University of Washington School of Medicine. He is the Carl and Renee Behnke Endowed Professor for Asian Health and the Medical Director, UW Physicians Eastside Specialty Center as well as the Co Director UW Medicine Cardiovascular Wellness and Prevention Program.

 

Benign Prostatic Enlargement:

 

Dr Will Fuller, MD. Dr Fuller is an Attending Urologist, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Urology

During This Episode We Discuss:

 

Primary Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease

Behavioral and lifestyle optimization of risk factors

2019 American College of Cardiology(ACC)  and American Heart Association (AHA)Prevention Guidelines

The ACC ASCVD Risk Estimator

Cholesterol Goals

Blood Pressure Goals

Lifestyle Recommendations

Sodium and Blood Pressure

Heart Healthy Diets

Exercise and Heart Health

 

Prostate Anatomy

Prostate Enlargement Symptoms

Evaluation of Prostate Enlargement 

Treatment options for Prostate Enlargement

 

In October a special event occurred in Seattle titled Real Talk on Men’s Health, an evening of presentations on prevention and lifestyle tips from men’s health experts. The event also reviewed a groundbreaking effort to create a state commission on boys and men.

Presentations covered the following topics:

Longevity, Sexual Health, ED & Testosterone, Heart Health, Benign Prostatic Enlargement, Prostate and Testicular Cancer, Metabolic  Syndrome, Diabetes and Obesity  (updates in management & medications), and a update regarding House Bill 1270, a Washington State bill to create a state commission for boys and men.

 

This episode of the Original Guide to Men’s Health will include 3 of the presentations from that evening. We begin with a brief update on why a commission for boys and men is so important. Following that, is  a presentation on longevity and completing this episode is a presentation on sexual health. ED and Tesosterone. 

Guest:

 

Update on House Bill 1270: 

 

Blair Daly founder and director of the Washington Initiative for Boys and Men

Joe Cook Volunteer Youth Leader

 

Longevity: Living Better and Longer:

 

Matt Kaeberlein, PhD CEO Optispan, Professor of Pathology, an Affiliate Professor of Oral Health Sciences UW School of Medicine. He is the former Director Health Aging and Longevity Research Institute and the Biological Mechanisms of Health Aging Training Program. He is also the former co - director of UW Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging

 

Sexual Health, ED and Testosterone: 

 

Marah Hehemann, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Urology, UW School of Medicine, and the Director of Male Sexual and Reproductive Health, Puget Sound VA

 

Health Insurance continues to be a very complex, difficult to understand and in many instances less than transparent entity. 

 

This episode explores health insurance from multiple perspectives (individuals, employers, health care providers and care delivery organizations. 

 

The role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM’s) is also explored

 

Guest:

 

Dr Jeffrey Frankel, MD,  Is a Past President of the Washington State Urology Society, a Past President of the Western Section of the American Urological Association, a Past President of the American Association of Clinical Urologists, and he currently chairs the Government Affairs Committee for the Washington State Urology Society He has practiced Urology in the King County area since1985.

During This Episode We Discuss:

 

What is your responsibility regarding your insurance coverage prior to visiting a medical providers office, undergoing a procedure or study and or surgery.

 

How does your coverage differ from someone else who might be under the same plan

 

What happens when you are in Network or out of Network.. What does that mean?

 

What happens when you care provider becomes employed by a healthcare entity, clinic or insurance company

 

How does Medicare, Medicaid work? How is it different from private insurance?

 

What are Medicare advantage plans?

 

What are Pharmacy Benefit Managers? 

 

 

Recommended Resources:

 

Episode 17 Understanding and Navigating the health Insurance System, The Original Guide to Men’s Health

 

 Those aches and pains in your fingers, hand, elbow, toes, foot, ankle and knee, what causes them ? What to do when they seem to be getting more severe and are interfering with your activities? What are the various types of arthritis? 

Not all Rheumatological disease is arthritis, what else does this area of medical specialties deal with?

We explore the major Rheumatological diseases with a leading Rheumatologist and experienced clinician, researcher.

Guest:

 

S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, PhD has served as Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at HSS and at Weill Cornell Medical College since 2020. He is immediate Past President of the Rheumatology Research Foundation and a former member of Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).  He received a BS degree from the University of Notre Dame, and an MD degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.  After serving as a Medicine Resident and Chief Medical Resident at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, he completed a fellowship in Rheumatology at UAB, where he also obtained a PhD degree in Microbiology/Immunology. From 2008 to 2020, he was Director of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Dr. Bridges has been named to Best Doctors in America, Castle-Connolly Top Doctors, and to the 2023 New York Super Doctors list. He has received the UAB Department of Medicine’s Max Cooper Award for Research Excellence and the UAB School of Public Health’s Sam Brown Bridge Builder Award. He is former Co-Editor of Arthritis & Rheumatology and past Chair of the NIH Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Study Section.  His research focus is rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility, autoantibodies, and biomarkers of treatment response. He has authored more than 185 manuscripts, many book chapters, and served as editor of three books. 

During This Episode We Discuss:

What are Rheumatological diseases? What differentiates sore joints from Rheumatoid or Osteoarthritis? How do we differentiate , diagnose and treat these diseases?

What are some of the newer therapies?

 When should you see a physician about your aches and pains in your joints? 

When should you see a Rheumatologist?

What are some of the other major Rheumatological diseases? 

What should we know about Lupus, Psoriatic arthritis, and Gout.

 

In this episode we explore our understanding of longevity with a leading longevity researcher.

Guest:

 

Dr Matt Kaeberlein, PhD

Former Director, Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute

Former Director, Biological Mechanisms of Healthy Aging Training Program

Co-Director, UW Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging

Co-Director, Dog Aging Project

Professor of Pathology

Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences

Adjunct Professor of Oral Health Sciences

 

Dr. Kaeberlein’s research interests are focused on biological mechanisms of aging in order to facilitate translational interventions that promote healthspan and improve quality of life. He has published more than 200 scientific papers, has been recognized by several prestigious awards, and has Fellow status in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Aging Association, and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).  Dr. Kaeberlein is currently the CEO of the American Aging Association and has served on the Board of Directors for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), AGE, and GSA. Dr. Kaeberlein is the founding Director of the UW Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute, the Director of the UW Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, Former Director of the Biological Mechanisms of Healthy Aging Training Program, and founder and co-Director of the Dog Aging Project.

 

Recommended Resources:

 

Twitter @mkaeberlein

 

Peter Attia: Podcast, book, articles

 

Learn all you need to know about Kidney Stones,who is at risk, the various types of stones and presentations. 

Guest:

 

Robert M. Sweet, MD, FACS, MAMSE

Professor of Urology, Surgery and Bioengineering(adj)

Medical Director UW Medicine Kidney Stone Center

Chief, Division of Healthcare Simulation Sciences

Executive Director of WISH and CREST

University of Washington

 

Dr. Sweet is a Joint Professor of Urology and Surgery and Adjunct Professor in Bioengineering at the University of Washington.  He is the Inaugural Chief of the Division for Healthcare Simulation Science and the Founding Medical Director of the UW Medicine Kidney Stone Center.

Dr. Sweet founded and led the University of Minnesota’s SimPORTAL and cofounded the University of Washington’s ISIS which was renamed the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho Institute for Simulation Technologies (WISH) when he assumed the Executive Director position.  He is the PI for all programs in the Center for Research in Education and Simulation Technologies (CREST) including the “Advanced Modular Manikin” 

During This Episode We Discuss:

 

We review the diagnosis and various presentations of stones- Why are some painful and others not so much?

 

 How are Kidney Stones diagnosed? What constitutes a Kidney Stone emergency?

 

Who has stones that might pass versus stones that require therapy. How are Kidney Stones managed and treated?

 

How can we prevent Kidney Stones

 

The role of the Kidney Stone Center

 

 

Recommended Resources:

 

Kidney Stones National Kidney Foundation: https://www.kidney.org/atoz/kidneystones