Episodes

Guess what all the following have in common?

• Advanced ultrasound imaging
• Cervical cancer tests
• mRNA technology
• Flu mist
• Nicotine patch

They are all now available and widely used because of an important step lawmakers in Washington took over 45 years ago. Co-host Margaret Flinter says, “This is the biggest legislative success story that we’ve never heard of.” Join her and co-host Mark Masselli as they discover how a little-noticed decision has saved countless lives and unlocked trillions of dollars of innovation.

The guests are:

• Joseph Allen, executive director, Bayh-Dole Coalition
• Robert Dannals, Ph.D., 2026 American Innovator Award recipient

In one month, we’ll celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. But among the fireworks and festivities, a serious point may get overlooked: 

The founders also revolutionized public health when they formed the United States.

• George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all supported smallpox inoculation efforts.
• Benjamin Franklin established the first public hospital and medical school in the American colonies.
• The founders helped advance the then-novel idea that government has a role in protecting the health and well-being of its citizens.

What influenced their thinking and how do these actions still affect health care today?

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter explore these questions with Jeanne Abrams, author of “Revolutionary Medicine: The Founding Fathers and Mothers in Sickness and in Health.”

Researchers are “fetching” new discoveries about the incredible benefits pets and animals provide for human health. Steven Feldman, a proud feline father, is at the center of these efforts as the president of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute.

“Most people probably have a feeling that their pets are good for them, and we’re the organization that’s putting science behind that,” he tells hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter. “We’re a nonprofit, and we take in donations, and we put all that money into research, we fund research on the human health benefits of pets, our mental health, our physical health and our social health, as communities and as society.”

HABRI-supported studies have shown that therapy animals can:

• reduce anxiety in children undergoing medical treatment
• improve patient experiences in emergency departments
• contribute to lower healthcare costs through fewer doctor visits among pet owners

Researchers are also studying how pets may reduce loneliness, strengthen communities and improve heart health and longevity, especially among older adults and people living alone.

Successful human-animal relationships depend not only on the animal but also on responsible care, training and the bond built between pets and their owners over time.

He also says, “A lot of the research has been done on dogs. We’re actually looking to fund as many new cat studies as possible, because … cat ownership is rising at its fastest rate in a long time.”

Right before many of us get ready for a long weekend of hot dogs and potato chips, two health public policy experts are shaking up what we think we know about food. Study after study has found that ultra-processed foods are linked to “heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, and early death, even when nutrient content appears similar to less-processed foods.”

But Gabriel Rosenberg, Ph.D., and Jan Dutkiewicz, Ph.D., make a different argument in their book “Feed the People! Why Industrial Food Is Good and How to Make It Even Better.” They say the problems are due to too much sodium, excess sugar, fat and red meat. They say ultra-processed food is not inherently bad and they say almost all the food we eat qualifies as “industrial food.”  

The authors join hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to also talk about:

• Why we need to turn down the rhetoric on the food wars
• Why we don’t need to radically change industrial food — just improve the average diet and meal
• The problems with community gardens 

Agree or disagree, our guests provide food for thought.

For more than five decades, Craig Robinson has helped shape the future of community health in West Virginia and beyond.

Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter talk with the longtime executive director of Cabin Creek Health Systems to reflect on a career spent expanding access to care in rural communities, building innovative community health models, and helping miners and families access the health care they need.

“You see miners that are like 35 years old trying to play with a kid in their yard… and they finally have to sit down. They can’t do it anymore because of shortness of breath,” Robinson says.

Robinson shares how local leadership, trusted partnerships, and community health centers became lifelines for thousands of families.

“They say a third of the West Virginia population uses community health centers as their source of care, primary care…they are the ones that take on the bigger health problems like addiction and black lung.”

Robinson also discusses addiction care, workforce development, diabetes prevention, and why community health centers remain essential to the future of American health care.

The authors of a new book reveal that former President Obama told them that he had an “inability to boil issues down to their essence, to tell a story…” and explained how it hurt him as he tried to pass the Affordable Care Act.

This insight and others are at the core of Dr. David Blumenthal and Jim Morone’s book, “Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science.”  

Such observations will be heightened in the coming weeks as the Obama Presidential Center prepares to open, which will look back at the decisions, tensions and turning points that reshaped U.S. health care.

Hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter explore with the guests the 15 years when health policy shot to the center of America’s partisan wars. They write about the following leaders:

• President Trump: His administration’s work on vaccines through Operation Warp Speed “set a model for how future administrations can tackle technical challenges during crisis”
• Former President Biden: His overlooked public health legacy and where he went off course in his public role