Today, I proudly welcome my cancer survivor comrade at arms, Jen Singer. Jen's got the trifecta of "shit happens," having survived cancer, heart failure, and "COVID Classic" back in February of 2020 when no one had any idea what the hell was going on. She is the creator of "How To Be Sick," patient-friendly ebooks called "The Just Diagnosed Guides" to provide the newly diagnosed with the information they really need to know now. Because who actually knows what they need to know when they never knew they needed to know it? She's an outspoken professional despiser of Dr. Google, which I think we could all agree is the worst place to go when bad things happen. And as fellow cancer survivors, we bonded over how the hell we're both still alive all these years later through humor, empathy, and virtual cocktails. Enjoy the show.

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I was privileged to welcome Dr. Danielle Carnival, White House Cancer Moonshot Coordinator, to the studio. We talked about the President's priorities, principal directives, and legislative strategies, as well as what Americans can look forward to in the coming months and years through this ambitious and transformational National initiative. Carnival, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience, served as chief of staff and senior policy director for the 2016-2017 White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force. Subsequently, she served as vice president of the Biden Cancer Initiative. She's also a friend of Wegman's. So there's that, too. To learn more about the Whitehouse Cancer Moonshot initiative, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/cancermoonshot. Enjoy the show.

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Today on the show, I welcome Vikram Bhaskaran, and Dr. Rohan Ramakrishna (Chief of Neurological Surgery at New York Presbyterian) live in-studio to talk about Roon, their intriguing new cancer navigation platform for patients and caregivers. Roon is personal to Vikram as his whole career shifted from Pinterest executive to caring for his Father when he was diagnosed with ALS. Roon claims to be "the most supportive place online for people navigating complex health conditions, starting with Glioblastoma." so we power-test how that holds up against unmet patient needs. Rohan is only the second neurosurgeon I've had on the show, so, as a brain cancer survivor, I naturally asked him all sorts of pointed questions like, "What's it like to touch someone's brain?" These guys are the real deal with core compassion for empathy in medicine and helping patients in need access what they never knew they needed. Enjoy the show.

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Today we’re dropping a very special throwback to an early episode of Out of Patients.

Too often, patients are blatantly taken advantage of by Industry who profit off of our stories and our experience dealing with a disease we didn't ask to have. If our experience is so critical to Industry's bottom line, there should exist fundamental compensation standards under which which they operate. Period.

Matthew Zachary welcomes OffScrip Media Senior Producers Andrew MacDowell (Co-Founder and COO,) Jen Horonjeff (Founder/CEO of Savvy Coop) and Sandy Vassos (Nonprofit Executive and OffScrip Media Advisor for Strategic Relationships)

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The amazing Victoria Fenton joins me today from across the pond in England to share one of the greatest British accents I've ever welcomed to the program. Well, that and the fabulous feeling when you know something is wrong with your body, and no medical professional will take you seriously while regurgitating back to you that it's all in your head. Victoria was misdiagnosed for over a decade as a teenager while suffering from all sorts of life-threatening symptoms. Consistently greeted with "You have mental health issues. Get over it." she was finally diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a group of hereditary disorders of connective tissue. She realized that when you have no control over something, it helps you take control of it. She chose to immerse herself in natural language processing and cognitive behavioral therapy. She soon realized the obvious: Our minds and our bodies can control the way we interact with the universe around us. Not heal. Not sure. But help manage the way we deal with stressors. Enjoy the show.

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Today we’re dropping a very special throwback to a bonus episode of Out of Patients. Out of Patients is just one of many shows on the OffScrip Health network – and we want to make sure all of our excellent podcasts are on your radar!

The Heart of Healthcare is a show that explores the social determinants of health, including our food system, housing, climate change, and more. It’s hosted by long-time healthcare advocate Halle Tecco. Halle recently had the opportunity to welcome Mark Cuban to the show. 

The two hit it off and talked about the soaring costs of prescription drugs and his new venture – Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. 

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My guest today is Dr. Selin Kurnaz, Founder and CEO of Massive Bio, a company that is as impressive as it sounds. Its mission is to solve one of the single most critical scathing holes in healthcare: the "last mile" of clinical trial enrollment. What does that mean? You'll find out during our conversation, and rightfully so; the explanation will further deepen your pre-existing disdain for "the system." Selin is a no-BS serial entrepreneur who defines herself as a "non-status-quo businesswoman." whose sole purpose is to ensure every cancer patient gets access to a clinical trial; because only 20% of all patients that qualify for a clinical trial never actually fully enroll in that trial. And that is not OK. All that and more on the show today, let's get started.

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Mat The W and Elura Thou Nanos talk about celebrity musician forays into mental health advocacy, doctors doing really bad things and recent SCOTUS arguments on California's pork regulations. Oink!

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On the show today, Matthew is joined live in-studio by Larry Reines, a young adult rare disease advocate and Founding Member of the Aaron Myer Consulting Group. From humble beginnings as a 12-year-old paperboy learning the ropes of supply chain, customer service, and accounting, his life took a nasty turn when he was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition known as Progressive Myeloproliferative Disorder. 27 years later, he's still here and is thriving as USA Swimming certified coach, and master of his own domain as a business leader, philanthropist and patient advocate for young adults and the rare disease community.

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Elura and Matthew are joined by PrEP advocate and Tub Talks host Damon Jacobs, LMFT to give a monkeypox update and discuss two stories relating to the Affordable Care Act. Damon also tells his own story of trying to access the monkeypox vaccine in New York earlier this summer.

Here are the three extra headlines you don't want to miss:

Your dog's nose knows if you’re feeling stressed out via NBC

Record numbers of nurses are quitting the NHS in England, figures show via BBC

Biden Vaccine Mandate for Health Workers Survives Supreme Court Appeal via Bloomberg

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In today's special bonus episode, Matthew welcomes the venerable Dr. Mitzi Krockover to the show. Mitzy is a board-certified internist, former VP of Women's health at Humana, and the Founding Medical Director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center. What makes this episode even more remarkable is that Mitzi's acclaimed podcast, Beyond The Paper Gown, has joined the OffScrip Health podcast network as one of our flagship programs. Beyond The Paper Gown—available wherever you listen to your podcasts—is committed to engaging, educating, and inspiring a community of women to achieve optimal health and well-being and to effect meaningful change on the systems that impact women's health. Her guests have included some of the most influential and inspirational entrepreneurs leaning into today's age of digital health, diagnostics technology, and appreciation for how social media has transformed how patients engage with—and trust—medicine. Today's conversation focuses on a recent episode of her show entitled "Aftershocks: Unexpected Consequences Of The Roe v. Wade Decision." 

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Dr. David Fajgenbaum is many things, but for the purposes of this episode, let's just say he went from an all-star college athlete to being read his last rites in a matter of weeks. In addition to his tenure as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UPenn's Perelman School of Medicine, David is the author of Chasing My Cure: A Doctor's Race To Turn Hope Into Action. Why? Well, because he experimented on himself to discover the very medicine that would save his life and others. Born of his condition, David then co-founded the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, a global initiative dedicated to accelerating research and treatment for Castleman disease (CD) to improve survival for all patients with CD. He's young. He's smart. He's funny. And he's someone you're definitely going to want to be friends with. Enjoy the show.

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Matthew Zachary and Elura Nanos discuss an uptick in longterm birth control use by teens, how the CDC is subtly changing its COVID messaging in plain sight, and how one hospital in Virginia deserves lots of attention for the fuckery it's caused its patients.

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Welcome to "Dear Cancer," a takeover episode of Out of Patients with special guest hosts Dr. Mark Lewis, an oncologist from Intermountain Medical Center, and Stephanie Elsea, a volunteer patient advocate from The Lustgarten Foundation. Together with Matthew Zachary, Mark and Stephanie break down the latest cancer research medical jargon into human terms, especially with the help of another special guest, Matt's daughter, Hannah. With grace, humor, and passion, the three share personal stories that connect them deeply to this cause. They wish only to help patients strike that balancing act between hope and hope by banishing pessimism and embracing reality about their prognoses. Throughout the episode, the team covers everything from understanding different types of tumors, what biomarkers are (and their importance), and clinical trials can sound less, um.. "clinical." They also discuss the latest findings and some extremely positive results from the Crestone Research Study.

See if biomarker testing is right for you, and sign up today at http://dearcancer.health/findout.

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My guest today is Dr. Richard Parker, Chief Medical Officer at Arcadia, an exciting venture focused on using "big data" to ensure the right information about care is delivered to the right patient when needed. What a concept! For the math nerds out there, they harness millions of data points—like your diagnosis, medications, zip code, etc.—to create a sort of flowchart and navigation tool. Rich tells me it's not Skynet, and we are not at the dawn of a robot apocalypse. What's even more interesting is how Rich got started in his career in Chinese linguistics and how that enabled him to his role as Chief Medical Officer for Beth Israel Deaconess in Massachusetts. Oh, and we rifle through the 1980s and compare notes on how dangerous playgrounds used to be. Enjoy the show.

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Elura Nanos and Matthew Zachary discuss Ryan Reynolds and his colonoscopy campaign, how J&J is dodging cancer patients through the Texas-two-step and why healthcare workers are striking around the country.

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A recent study showed that it takes a doctor 11 seconds to interrupt a patient. My guest today is Kistein Monkhouse, a public health expert and patient advocate advocating for health equity. She is the CEO and founder of Patient Orator, a HIPAA-compliant digital health mobile app that improves how people talk to doctors and how doctors talk to people. Kistein speaks softly but carries a big stick and, with her immigrant backstory, demonstrates the power of perseverance, empathy, and entrepreneurship to make a dent in the universe for the patient community. Please enjoy this extraordinarily authentic conversation.

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What do cancer survivors, free speech and license plates have in common? A legal case happening in Delaware! Join Elura Nanos and Matthew Zachary as they dissect the latest healthcare news including: what’s happening with the CDC reorg, monkeypox and a story on a breast cancer survivor’s legal battle to make the Delaware DMV allow her “FCANCER” license plate on the road. Welcome to the first episode of Health Careless, formerly known as Vax On.

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Fran Drescher once said, "Stage 1 is the cure." Not any longer. Medical technology and genetics have come so far these days that it's now possible never to get cancer in the first place. At least some cancers that is. No, we're not talking about "prevention" in the traditional sense. My in-studio guest Dr. Lishan Aklog and I talk about "pre-cancer," a condition where cells in your body that are at risk of becoming cancer can now be detected and treated before any actual malignancy begins. How unbelievably insane is that? Lishan is an acclaimed thoracic surgeon and entrepreneur who once fled political violence in Ethiopia as a child and now helms PAVMed, a truly next-gen enterprise bringing to market these miraculous tests that can detect pre-cancer. Deservedly so, Lishan was recently named a Top 50 Healthcare/Technology CEO of 2021 and speaks to such essential issues as empathy in medicine, fighting with the FDA, and boiling down complex medical jargon so the average human can understand it. How novel. Enjoy the show.

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18 months, 72 episodes, countless Uncrustables references, and one global pandemic later, it’s time to retire the VAX ON segment and transform it into an even bigger segment on the Out of Patients podcast feed. There’s a whole world of opportunity outside of COVID fuckery waiting to be lauded, chastised, berated, heralded, castigated, and brazenly deconstructed. So join us as Matthew and Elura hop in the Wayback machine and reflect on how it all began, what they did to stay alive, and where we’ve landed across these pandemic years.

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