Dr. Robert Baron outlines major updates in type 2 diabetes care, emphasizing that blood sugar control alone does not significantly reduce cardiovascular risk, though it helps prevent microvascular complications. New guidelines now prioritize medications with proven cardiovascular and kidney benefits—GLP-1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors—over traditional first-line therapy like metformin. Baron explains how these newer drugs not only lower blood sugar but also reduce the risk of heart atta...
Aug 08, 2025•57 min
Sarah Banks, Ph.D. explores why Alzheimer's disease affects women differently than men, emphasizing distinct patterns in tau pathology, cognitive testing bias, and treatment response. She explains how women tend to show a rapid buildup of tau during early cognitive decline, which may contribute to their higher prevalence of Alzheimer's. Banks also highlights how common diagnostic tools may overlook symptoms in women and how approved treatments may offer less benefit for them. Her research at UC ...
Aug 07, 2025•5 min
UCSF researchers June Chan and Stacey Kenfield share evidence-based strategies for improving prostate cancer outcomes through exercise and diet. They highlight studies showing that physical activity—including resistance and high-intensity interval training—is linked to lower risk of prostate cancer progression and death. They discuss plant-based diets, dietary indices, and specific foods like tomatoes, fish, and nuts, along with the benefits of substituting plant oils for butter. Their analysis ...
Aug 03, 2025•33 min
Dr. Robert Baron reviews best practices in lipid management for preventing cardiovascular disease, with a focus on statin use. He outlines the strong evidence for statins in reducing heart attack and stroke risk by 25–33%, particularly in patients with clinical atherosclerotic disease, diabetes, or high LDL. He explains why shared decision-making is key in primary prevention, where guidelines vary and risk thresholds are debated. Baron discusses the shift to the newer PREVENT risk calculator, wh...
Aug 01, 2025•59 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Dr. Mary Dubon of Harvard Medical School talk about adaptive and para sports for youth with physical and developmental disabilities. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40617]
Jul 30, 2025•37 min
Dr. Steven Seyedin presents an overview of PSA recurrence and risk factors for assessment. A PSA test is a blood test used to detect prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in the blood, which can be elevated in cases of prostate cancer and is a common screening tool. He explains how PET, CT, and MRI work, highlighting the precision of PSA PET in detecting cancer spread by targeting PSA proteins on tumor cells. This imaging method combines PET and CT to reveal metastatic disease with greater accu...
Jul 28, 2025•13 min
Jennifer Anger, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. investigates interstitial cystitis (IC), also known as painful bladder syndrome, with a focus on improving care through research on sex, gender, and health disparities. Using Veterans Affairs (VA) data, Anger challenges the outdated belief that IC predominantly affects women. She explores how comorbidities such as PTSD and depression, common among veterans, influence bladder pain, and examines how factors like exercisJennifer Anger, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. uses VA...
Jul 28, 2025•5 min
Gladys (Sandy) Ramos, M.D. outlines the comprehensive maternal care services at UC San Diego, emphasizing clinical excellence, innovation, and community impact. She highlights programs in diabetes and pregnancy, high-risk obstetrics, postpartum and HIV care, and maternal mental health. Ramos describes cutting-edge capabilities in fetal and placental imaging, including expertise in placenta accreta and genetic counseling. A fetal surgery program is launching soon, expanding access to specialized ...
Jul 27, 2025•7 min
UCLA’s Avishek Adhikari, PhD, presents new research on the role of GABAergic neurons in the brain’s periaqueductal gray (PAG) region. Previously studied for their involvement in fear and defensive behaviors, these neurons were found to promote food-seeking behavior when activated—even in fully fed mice. Using calcium imaging and optogenetics, Adhikari’s team discovered that these neurons are active during food approach but suppressed during eating. The effect is stronger for high-value foods lik...
Jul 25, 2025•59 min
Sheng Zhong, Ph.D. pioneers technologies that advance women’s reproductive health. Zhong develops a minimally invasive method to analyze extracellular RNA secreted by embryos during IVF. By sequencing tiny samples of spent culture media, they generate comprehensive RNA profiles and use machine learning to identify biomarkers that predict embryo quality with accuracy comparable to traditional imaging. This breakthrough offers a gentler, data-driven alternative for assessing embryo viability, with...
Jul 24, 2025•4 min
Join Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D. for a guided meditation. Follow along as he teaches simple breathing techniques and short practices designed to build focus and calm the nervous system. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40783]
Jul 21, 2025•9 min
Andrea Z. LaCroix, Ph.D. presents major public health trends affecting women across the lifespan, from rising maternal mortality and chronic disease risks linked to pregnancy complications to the ongoing need for improved menopause care. She highlights innovative research, including digital tools for menopause education, studies on cancer survivorship, and efforts to predict healthy aging using epigenetic clocks and physical activity data. LaCroix shows how decades of research continue to shape ...
Jul 21, 2025•17 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Dr. Diane Cullinane talks about the spectrum of therapeutic approaches for working with people with autism. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40615]
Jul 20, 2025•40 min
UCSF’s Dr. Cornelia Ding demystifies the prostate cancer pathology report and explains how to read and understand it. The report contains five key sections: patient information, diagnosis and comments, gross description, and any addendums or amendments. It serves multiple purposes—as a medical, legal, and clinical communication tool—and often contains technical language not written for patients. Dr. Ding walks through important terminology such as Gleason score, Grade Groups, and specific diagno...
Jul 18, 2025•15 min
Prostate cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer and second leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S., with evolving screening and treatment practices reshaping care in 2025. UCSF's Dr. Matthew Cooperberg highlights a shift away from overdiagnosis and overtreatment of low-risk cancers, focusing instead on identifying aggressive disease through tools like MRI and advanced biomarker tests. A new “smarter screening” model now guides primary care, recommending long testing interv...
Jul 16, 2025•13 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Yao Du from the Keck School of Medicine at USC, talk about the risks and benefits of technology and generative AI. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40624]
Jul 14, 2025•35 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Edlyn Peña, Professor of Educational Leadership Doctoral Program at California Lutheran University, Emma Cladis, a Vanguard University student, talk about college for people with autism. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40612]
Jul 13, 2025•47 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Dr. Eric London, Director of the Autism Treatment Laboratory at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, examines the evolving understanding of autism’s diagnostic label. Speaking as a psychiatrist, researcher, and parent of a child on the autism spectrum, he explores how definitions of autism have changed over time and are largely based on subjective behavioral observations. London highlights the gr...
Jul 11, 2025•41 min
Dr. Hao Nguyen presents focal therapy as a promising treatment option for carefully selected prostate cancer patients, especially those with intermediate-risk, localized disease. Unlike whole-gland treatments, focal therapy targets only the tumor while preserving healthy tissue, reducing the risk of side effects like urinary or sexual dysfunction. UCSF offers multiple approaches—high-intensity focused ultrasound, cryotherapy, and irreversible electroporation—selected based on tumor location and ...
Jul 07, 2025•10 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Marta E. Wosińska from the Center on Health Policyat The Brookings Institution talks about medication shortages. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40616]
Jul 07, 2025•43 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Dr. Whitney Deal, an emergency physician at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, talks about using the least restrictive approach when dealing with an agitated autistic patient. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40614]
Jul 02, 2025•49 min
UCSF oncologist Dr. Jonathan Chou discusses how genetics and genomics are transforming the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. He explains how inherited and acquired mutations—especially in DNA repair genes like BRCA2—can impact both cancer risk and treatment decisions. Dr. Chou outlines how UCSF researchers use tumor and blood-based biopsies to identify key mutations and genomic features that help tailor care for each patient. Examples include how genomic scores can predict response to ...
Jun 30, 2025•10 min
In this excerpt, Dr. Natalie Marshall shares tips on starting exercise routines. Dr. Marshall emphasizes how doing something, exercise-wise, is significantly better than doing nothing. Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40687]
Jun 30, 2025•5 min
UCSF's Dr. Rahul Aggarwal explains the role of clinical trials in advancing prostate cancer treatment and how trial design is evolving to match today’s more personalized approaches. He highlights how UCSF has contributed to major prostate cancer therapies and emphasizes the importance of genetic and genomic testing in identifying suitable trials for each patient. Dr. Aggarwal explains the different trial phases, clarifies common myths—such as concerns about placebos—and stresses that trials are ...
Jun 26, 2025•10 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Anne V. Kirby, Associate Professor, University of Utah, talks about suicide prevention in the autism community. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40610]
Jun 25, 2025•44 min
As part of the 2025 Developmental Disabilities Conference, Peggy McManus with The National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health/Got Transition talks about barriers, inequities and policy options for youth aging out of public programs. Series: "Developmental Disabilities Update" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40609]
Jun 22, 2025•38 min
In this excerpt, Dr. Natalie Marshall focuses on numerous forms of strength training as it is the best way to increase muscle mass and and it will help you get started “building muscle for life." Series: "Osher WISE: Well-being and Integrative Science for Everyone" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 40686]
Jun 18, 2025•2 min
Experts discuss recent advances in how maternal health and immune function during pregnancy affect infant development and long-term outcomes. Research focuses on immune adaptations, complications like preterm birth, and neuroimmune pathways, using techniques such as mass cytometry, spatial proteomics, and chemogenetics to identify biomarkers and mechanisms that guide prevention and treatment strategies. Sandy Ramos, M.D. Clinical Landscape and OGRS Opportunities Louise Laurent, M.D.,Ph.D. Single...
Jun 12, 2025•49 min
Explore key aspects of aging and menopause, focusing on women’s health and how biological changes impact overall well-being. Experts discuss current research on healthy aging, including the role of physical activity, brain health, and hormone changes during menopause. They highlight how sex differences affect diseases like Alzheimer’s and emphasize the importance of personalized approaches to treatment and prevention. The presentation also underscores ongoing studies and resources aimed at impro...
Jun 11, 2025•46 min
Menstruation is the cyclical shedding of the endometrium triggered by falling progesterone levels. Menstruation is a rare trait found in less than 2% of mammals and likely evolved independently at least 4 times. Why do some mammals menstruate while most do not? The leading hypothesis is that menstruation occurs as a nonadaptive consequence of spontaneous decidualization of the endometrium, which evolved to increase biosensoring of embryo quality. While the trait of spontaneous decidualization (a...
Jun 09, 2025•24 min
