Health & Veritas

Howie and Harlan discuss health headlines including the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak; a recent FDA decision allowing pharmacies to compound certain peptides; and a concerning report from Medicare trustees on the program's financial future. They also dive into the health habits they're changing this year and a new feature from ChatGPT allowing users to connect medical records and health data to the platform.
Watch a video edition of this episode.
Show Notes:
Healthy Habits
Health & Veritas: Ezekiel Emanuel
"What's Erythritol? And Is It Bad for You?"
NIH: Aging and Alcohol
"Low-plastic diet and urinary levels of plastic-associated phthalates and bisphenols: the randomized controlled PERTH Trial"
Health & Veritas: Eric Topol
Cyclosporiasis Outbreak

CDC: Surveillance of Cyclosporiasis
FDA: Investigation of 9-State Outbreak of Cyclospora Illnesses: Iceberg Lettuce (July 2026)
"Cyclospora Outbreak Linked to Iceberg Lettuce in 9 States"
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: Norovirus
FDA: Cyclospora
CDC: Clinical Overview of Cyclosporiasis
CDC: About FoodNet
CDC: About PulseNet
FDA: FSMA Final Rule on Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods
Peptides and the FDA
Health & Veritas: Trust, Truth, and Moral Distress
"Peptides: What they are, potential benefits, and safety concerns"
"FDA committee votes to make peptides more widely available"
LinkedIn: Ezekiel Emanuel
The Future of Medicare
OASDI: Trustees Report Summary
U.S. Department of the Treasury: Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports
H.R.1: An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14.
IRS: Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
ChatGPT Ventures into Health
"Launching Health in ChatGPT"
"OpenAI makes Health in ChatGPT widely available, moving deeper into consumer health"
"ChatGPT Led to a Man's Near-Fatal Health Crisis, Lawsuit Claims"
LinkedIn: David Rhew
A Record Measles Season
Health & Veritas: Measles Outbreaks, Preventative Cardiology, and Other News
CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks
"Measles Cases in the U.S. Are at a 35-Year High"
"What ProPublica Found in the Genetic Code of America's Measles Outbreaks"
Pan American Health Organization
Senator Bill Cassidy
In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.
Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.
Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Melanie Matheu, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Lyric Bio, who also shares evidence-based health and science information on TikTok as LaughterinLight PhD. They discuss developing new antibody therapies, building biotech companies, and communicating complex science to the public. Harlan warns that AI could drive up healthcare costs unless payment models change; Howie highlights encouraging declines in traffic deaths while noting the growing risks associated with e-bikes and e-scooters.
Show notes:
AI and Healthcare Costs
"What Is Fee for Service in Healthcare and How It Works"
"Payment for Clinical AI"
"CMS floats new Medicare payment category for AI diagnostic software: 6 notes"
Melanie Matheu
LaughterinLight PhD on TikTok
Lyric Bio
Hyper-IgM (HIgM) Syndromes
Polyclonal Antibodies (PAbs)
Autoimmune Diseases
Kawasaki disease
NIH: R01 research grants
Prellis Biologics
Cyclosporiasis
"FDA says false-positive lettuce test doesn't change Taylor Farms cyclospora probe"
WHO: Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dr. Zachary Rubin
From Bench to Bedside podcast
Zachary Rubin: All About Allergies: How to Live Well with Asthma, Food Allergies, Hay Fever and More
Road Safety
"The '100 Deadliest Days' Have Begun"
WHO: "Road deaths fall by 21% globally but stronger action is needed to save lives"
NHTSA: "Crash-Stats: Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rate in 2025"
Consumer Product Safety Commission: "Micromobility Products-Related Deaths Injuries and Hazard Patterns 2017-2024"

In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.
Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.
Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Shivan Mehta, associate chief innovation officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, to discuss how healthcare organizations can use behavioral science to remove barriers that keep patients from getting recommended care. Harlan warns that ill-defined rules governing scientific collaboration with China could chill medical research; Howie revisits the discovery of Legionnaires' disease 50 years ago as New York confronts a new outbreak.
Show notes:
Restrictions on Collaboration
National Science Foundation "Prohibition on Collaborations with Restricted Entities"
"Fact of the Week: China Has Surpassed the US in the Number of Drug Clinical Trials, With 1,100 More Trials Listed"
Texas Executive Order GA-48
Governor Greg Abbott's executive order restricting travel to China and other countries.
Shivan Mehta
Shivan Mehta: "Texting in Health Care—Preserving Impact and Managing Influx"
Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD
"Randomized controlled trials – The what, when, how and why"
CDC: Screening for Colorectal Cancer
Cleveland Clinic: What is a Gastroenterologist?
Cologuard Plus Colon Cancer Screening Test
Mayo Clinic: Colonoscopy
"What to know about the new blood-based test for colorectal cancer"
Mayo Clinic: Fecal immunochemical test
Mayo Clinic: Colon polyps
Cleveland Clinic: Fecal Occult Blood Test
"Non-invasive blood and stool CRC screening tests: Available modalities and their clinical application"
"Race/Ethnicity and Adoption of a Population Health Management Approach to Colorectal Cancer Screening in a Community-Based Healthcare System"
Integrated Delivery System
Corinne M. Rhodes, MD, MPH
Legionnaires' Disease
CDC: Legionnaires' Disease
"New York Is Having a Legionnaires' Outbreak. Here's What to Know."
 "Mayor Mamdani Takes Aggressive Action to Address Upper East Side Legionnaires' Disease Community Cluster"

In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.
Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.
Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

Howie and Harlan are joined by Kate Heilpern, president of Yale New Haven Hospital, to discuss the hospital's 200-year history, the financial pressures facing health systems, and how Yale New Haven is balancing innovation with its mission to serve the local community. Harlan examines the growing burden of U.S. healthcare costs; Howie highlights encouraging trends in infant mortality, life expectancy, overdose deaths, and cancer survival.
Show notes:
Healthcare Costs
"National Health Expenditure Projections, 2025–34: Strong Utilization Growth Initially, Legislative Impacts Later"
"KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms"
"Americans See Health Care Costs, Deficit, Inflation as Big Problems Facing the Nation"
"How Much and Why ACA Marketplace Premiums Are Going Up in 2027"
"U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2026"
"The Cost of Health Insurance for a Family Jumps to $27,000"
Zack Cooper
"FDA approves Trutakna for IgA nephropathy"
Kate Heilpern
Yale New Haven Hospital: Vision, Mission, and Values
Yale New Haven Hospital: History and Heritage
"A Bicentennial Milestone: Yale New Haven Hospital Reflects on 200 Years of Care"
Megan L. Ranney
Azita Emami
CDC: Social Determinants of Health
Health & Veritas Episode 188: "Kate Heilpern: Jumping into the Deep End"
American Hospital Association: "Costs of Caring"
Adams Neurosciences Center
Positive Trends in Mortality
CDC: Infant Mortality Quarterly Provisional Estimates
"Life Expectancy in U.S. Hit Record High of 79 Years in 2024, CDC Says"
CDC: "Provisional Data: U.S. Death Rate Fell to a Record Low in 2025"
CDC: Provisional Drug Overdose Data
CDC: Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2024
"American Cancer Society Releases Latest Cancer Statistics"

In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.
Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.
Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.

In this special episode, Howie and Harlan revisit their conversation with trauma surgeon Selwyn Rogers, whose book Healing the Gun Violence Epidemic: Ending Violence, Rebuilding Communities, and a Trauma Surgeon's Vision for Restoring Hope was published on July 7.
Show notes:
Selwyn Rogers: Healing the Gun Violence Epidemic: Ending Violence, Rebuilding Communities, and a Trauma Surgeon's Vision for Restoring Hope
Albert Ko
"Selwyn Rogers named associate editor of prestigious New England Journal of Medicine"
Selwyn Rogers: "Hope—Beyond Firearm Trauma"
Selwyn Rogers: "Structural Racism and Firearm Injury: Operationalizing Health Equity in Trauma Care"
Brain Death: What it is, Stages & Criteria
New York Times Live Updates: Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Case
Annual Gun Violence Data 2023

In the Yale School of Management's MBA for Executives program, you'll get a full MBA education in 22 months while applying new skills to your organization in real time.
Yale's Executive Master of Public Health offers a rigorous public health education for working professionals, with the flexibility of evening online classes alongside three on-campus trainings.
Email Howie and Harlan comments or questions.