Announcer:
0:00
Welcome to the MedEvidence! Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Gettings of WSOS St Augustine Radio and powered by Encore Research Group. Each Monday morning, Dr. Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. Medevidence! is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and healthcare. This is MedEvidence!
Kevin Geddings:
0:30
Dr. Michael Koren joining me live here on the studio line. We appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedules. We get ready for the new year. Of course, Dr. Koren a medical doctor, cardiologist and research scientist. He also heads up the show at ENCORE Research Group where you could participate in some leading edge clinical research. It might be a good New Year's resolution to participate in. Those will explain why your health could directly benefit from that. But, Dr. Koren, good morning.
Dr. Michael Koren:
0:57
Good morning, Kevin. Happy New Year.
Kevin Geddings:
0:59
Happy New Year to you as well. And, of course, a lot of folks are going to have health-related New Year's resolutions. They're running them through their head right now. They're driving around thinking about it. They have to pretty much set them in the stone by tomorrow night. I guess the most popular one is still hey, I'm going to lose weight in 2025. What's your sense?
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:17
Yeah, I think so. I think when you look at New Year's resolutions, I think, more than any other category, they fall into the health category.
Kevin Geddings:
1:24
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:24
So certainly we're here to help at ENCORE Research Research Group and certainly our site in St. Augustine is a place where a lot of interesting things are going on that can help people achieve their objectives, whatever they may be.
Kevin Geddings:
1:37
Yeah, well, indeed, you know it's so hard sometimes to implement a health related New Year's resolution. You don't have any support. You kind of have to do it on your own with your own willpower. But if they involve themselves in you know, a clinical trial, some leading-edge, you know medical research, if you will, they're going to get some pretty aggressive hands-on health treatment and some guidance, I would think in terms of wellness as well. Right?
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:01
Absolutely, absolutely. It's funny in the health space, a lot of people have very good intentions when the clock hits midnight and the new year arrives, but the truth is that unless you're part of a program, it's very difficult to follow through on those resolutions and to achieve those goals. So, whatever you end, up doing. I would encourage all the listeners to find a program, whether it's for weight loss or stopping smoking, or getting your cholesterol or blood pressure under control, or helping your liver. Whatever the case may be, we have a program for you and there are other programs out there, so give us a call and maybe we can help direct you to a good place for you to achieve your goals.
Kevin Geddings:
2:48
Yeah Well, Dr. Koren, as you know, I think the average day for people to lose their New Year's resolution is, I think, January 21st. The good thing about participating in a program at ENCORE Research Group where you're involved with clinical research is that you know that's going to be going long past January 21st. You're going to be seeing healthcare professionals, potentially for months, right?
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:04
Exactly, and there's no charge for what we do. So that takes away that barrier and it's fun. So put all those together and I think we can certainly help. Hopefully, a lot of people achieve their goals.
Kevin Geddings:
3:16
Well, so many folks out there Dr. Koren have issues cardiovascular health issues, of course, Dr. Koren is a cardiologist as well or they have issues with digestive health or kidney health or what have you. They can participate in leading-edge medical research. You know to deal with those issues because probably your New Year's resolution is tied to trying to improve your health regarding those problems,
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:40
Absolutely so. Let's just take an incredibly simple thing that a lot of people talk about as a New Year's resolution exercising more.
Kevin Geddings:
3:47
Yeah.
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:48
Well, how do you get to exercise more? Well, you get to exercise more, literally by just creating a schedule that you stick with. And certainly in the research environment, we're going to be encouraging those positive behaviors and maybe even help you develop schedules so that you're out there walking or riding your bike, or gardening or dancing, wherever the case may be. It's funny it doesn't really matter what type of exercise you do, but it has to be regular and it has to be continuous. So by participating in a research program, we're going to reinforce those positive behaviors, regardless of what the actual goal of the research is positive behaviors regardless of what the actual goal of the research is. So these are what we call ancillary benefits of participating in research by having that reinforcement.
Kevin Geddings:
4:31
Well and participating in research, in addition to getting the best health care you will ever experience, of course, and having it go long past that January 21st date when we all give up on our New Year's resolutions, there's also at least a little bit of compensation for your time as well, right?
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:47
Yes, in many cases Most of the studies we do have a budget for the patients to cover their travel and time expenses. Not all of them, but most of them, and that's an additional benefit.
Kevin Geddings:
4:57
Yeah, so before we let you go, Dr. Koren, what is your health-related New Year's resolution?
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:04
You had to sneak into health.
Kevin Geddings:
5:06
Well, it doesn't have to be health-related. I'll widen it.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:11
Well, I'll answer the question. So I would say that I'm going to go into mental health category.
Kevin Geddings:
5:18
Okay.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:19
And I work pretty hard, as you know.
Kevin Geddings:
5:21
Yes.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:22
And so each year, I have to make sure that I have some goals for leisure and for pursuing other things. This is a funny little aside, but in my generation, one of the things that we talked about in college, when you were applying for medical school, was that it was important for medical students to have an outlet, they don't get overly stressed during their training and they can keep up a good level of mental health. So, with that in mind, my New Year's resolution is to work on my music a little bit more.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:57
And in fact to have some of my songs play on WSOS. That's my goal for this year. So I don't know if you know anybody that can help me with that, but I may catch up with that idea several times before and after January 21st. Very good.
Kevin Geddings:
6:13
Well, I will commit to airing your song, whatever you come up with. How about that? And we'll do it as the lead-in to your normal Monday morning drive-time appearance. There's actually a lot of recording studios around this area, but we have a great one here in St. Augustine Eclipse Studios, where they work with folks. You might want to consider that. That's exciting, that's good, good stuff.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:37
I don't know if you know, but I do have a CD on iTunes. We can talk about that and maybe we can tease that during the course of the year.
Kevin Geddings:
6:45
Yeah, very good, and we'll get you to come here in studio, maybe do a live performance, you know, like they do on the Today Show.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:51
Well, I'm not sure. I'm definitely more of a composer than a performer, but we'll definitely talk about that.
Kevin Geddings:
6:58
That's a lot of fun. Well, Dr Michael Koren, a big part of our family here at WSOS, we encourage you all to go to the encoredocs. com website and see how you can participate in some pretty amazing research that will directly benefit your quality of life, your quality of health. We also encourage you as you have questions you're probably still spending some time with family, you know. Maybe health-related questions come up. Rather than trust Dr. Google, you know, check out the website MedEvidence. com and Dr. Koren. What are they going to find when they go to MedEvidence. com?
Dr. Michael Koren:
7:29
That's our platform for understanding the truth behind the data. Obviously, if you go on the web, there are an incredible number of competing health claims and where do you find the truth? And that's a bit of it, as we have multiple podcasts and other educational material. A lot of our podcasts are two physicians discussing an issue and people glean the truth from those discussions in a way that you'll never get just looking at Google or these new AI-directed bits of information that people are getting on the web these days.
Dr. Michael Koren:
8:02
So we really drill into what we know about a particular health area, what we don't know about a particular health area and how we derive information about the stuff we don't know through the clinical trial process.
Kevin Geddings:
8:14
Well, we encourage you to check it out. Medevidence. com there's information there available in a variety of different formats for you to consume, including podcasts and videos. I highly recommend it. Medevidence. com and share it with other people from all over the country who are also members of your family, friends who have health-related questions. Urge them to check out medevidence. com. Dr. Michael Koren, we hope you have a very safe New Year's and a happy New Year's celebration, okay.
Dr. Michael Koren:
8:40
Thank you, Kevin. Happy New Year to you and yours.
Announcer:
8:42
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence! podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence. com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
