COVID

August 11, 2020

Original podcast series explores ideas, issues shaping health and health care

Listen to Episode 1 and subscribe on your favorite platform.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is launching Vanderbilt Health DNA: Discoveries in Action, an original podcast series exploring the issues and scientific advancements  shaping health, medicine and society.

‘Vanderbilt Health DNA: Discoveries in Action’ is available on all podcast platforms. Tune in to all 10 episodes.

The series takes the listener deep into the world of health care through conversations with more than 30 pioneers who are pushing boundaries and setting the stage for the next generation of medicine. DNA delves into the opportunity — and imperative — of creating a system and culture in health care that values the contributions of the person as a catalyst for working toward better health for all.

“This is a pivotal time for medicine and science where people are looking for expertise and hope regarding the way forward. The podcast series provides insights that are grounded in the latest research and, perhaps most importantly, demonstrates the passion of our experts behind this work,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “At Vanderbilt, we are tackling big questions from almost every direction that impacts health. I invite people to join us as we take on some of the most transformative issues and illustrate that health is more than our genes. It stems from how we live, how we think and how we communicate.”

The first episode, The Futurist: Your Life, Your Health, Your Care, explores how COVID-19 adds a new dimension to ‘personalized care’ by launching a telehealth sprint that extinguished longstanding notions of the effectiveness of remote care. The telehealth initiative sped up an existing push to make care more digital and is a blueprint for how to more quickly use technology to know where and how people, work, play and live as a tool to making them healthier.

On The Futurist, Balser is joined by Consuelo Wilkins, MD, MSCI, vice president and Associate Dean for Health Equity, and Bonnie Miller, MD, MMHC, former Executive Vice President for Educational Affairs and Senior Associate Dean for Health Sciences Education, to imagine the future, where learning and caring are integral to health.

The 10-episode series showcases issues ranging from the cutting-edge science and philosophy behind neurosurgery; how technology can sync with patients and providers to more efficiently serve both; the quest to eradicate and contain fast-moving infectious diseases such as COVID-19; and the importance of combating the depths of latent unconscious bias that limit vitality in the modern workplaces and communities. And much more.

Episodes will be released each week and will be available on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and the Health Podcast Network. Be a part of the dialogue on Twitter with #ListenDNA and following @VUMC_Insights.

To learn more about Vanderbilt Health DNA and access episode extras, visit www.listendna.com.