Kevin Geddings:
0:29
Dr. Michael Koren is here with me live, of course, on the studio line, and he joins us every Monday morning around this time. He's a medical doctor, research scientist, of course, and does a lot of clinical research work, has for years. I was privileged to be on stage with him at WJCT, the public radio station here in our part of the world, on Friday. The doctor sponsored a lunch and learn. We had a couple hundred people show up, great audience, asked some really good questions. The topic was we were trying to deal with the whole conspiracy theories in medicine that, of course, have really been prolific in the age of social media. Right, doctor?
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:02
Yeah, one thank you for the great session. It was fabulous. We talked about a lot of things, including the effect of social media on the way people perceive news in general and specifically medical news, and how important that is, and your insight into that was quite valuable. But I think you saw from the enthusiasm of the audience that there is a thirst for people to understand the truth behind the data, which, of course, is our tagline for MedEvidence. So that's very gratifying to me. It's good to see that people want to dig in a little bit, not look at medical information at first glance, but rather understand it at a much deeper level and then ultimately make good decisions for themselves and their families.
Kevin Geddings:
1:49
Yeah, it's always great to get to spend some time with listeners and regular folks, if you will. The one thing I got from the audience, just talking with them individually before we went on stage too, is they want to know where they should go to get reliable information. They understand that when they Google or they rely on Facebook that the information they're getting is suspect. But I think they were sort of looking for where to go. MedEvidence. com a great resource, of course, MedEvidence. com Just need to try to get the word out even more right.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:17
Totally, totally. And you used the word echo chamber to describe the current Google slash social media environment, where somebody puts out some idea, sometimes a crazy idea, but then it gets repeated over and over again and people start to wonder if it has credibility. So to have a format like MedEvidence, where you have two very knowledgeable and respectful physicians discussing an issue and explaining to people what we know about it, what we don't know about it and how we're going to learn about stuff that we don't know, I think is an extremely valuable resource for people.
Kevin Geddings:
2:54
Yeah, absolutely. Well, people had some great questions. You know they wanted to know about the status of vaccines and the like and what's going on, indeed, to that end. We are heading into the fall. It's not that many weeks. School's going to be underway here in just a couple of weeks. That means cold and flu season, right?
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:08
Yeah, yeah, and thank you for bringing that up. So we know that, in general, the cold and flu season is typically going to be in the time frame of November through March, and now is the time for you to look at your strategy for yourself and for your family. And we know that there are these seasonal viruses such as COVID flu and RSV. We now have vaccines for these things. Of course, we're doing research in these areas as well, and I would you know, I would suggest everybody that maybe think about whether or not they are vulnerable themselves, whether or not they have vulnerable family members and, if they do, maybe come by the research office and see whether or not there's a program that might be suitable for you as a patient or your family member. And now is definitely the time to do it, because the immunity from these vaccines will peak, probably right as the cold and flu season starts. So it's a good time to get involved now so that you're prepared and protected when the cold and flu season hits us hard.
Kevin Geddings:
4:10
Dr. Michael Koren, of course, with us live on the studio line, and indeed we think that, oh, we have a wedding coming up this weekend. And so we say, oh, maybe Thursday or Friday I'll go get, you know, a flu vaccine. Well, that's not how it works.
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:24
No, first of all, the way the systems work is that places like big grocery stores or your doctor's office, they have to order these vaccines and then once they order them, they've paid for them, and so they now have the obligation to try to market them so that they can get reimbursed for their expenditure. In the research realm, you never pay for anything. In fact, if you're part of one of our programs, chances are we'll send you a little check to acknowledge your time and effort.
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:56
But more importantly is that we'll give you a full informational rundown on what your risks are and, probably most importantly, once you get into the cold and flu season, you'll have resources to determine that, if you feel ill, whether or not you have a full-blown case of COVID or RSV or whatever the case may be. So it's a resource and research that's not just getting the vaccine but also all the follow-up throughout the cold and flu season.
Kevin Geddings:
5:24
Well, once again, if you want to learn more about participating in all sorts of clinical trials that relate to cold and flu and COVID, along with a variety of other issues, including high cholesterol, blood pressure issues, other cardiac issues, digestive issues, all those things are opportunities for you to be compensated, as well as to be on the leading edge of medicine, right, Dr. Koren?
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:53
Totally, totally. And you brought up cholesterol issues and, as you know, that's near and dear to my heart as a preventative cardiologist.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:56
And we've been talking a lot about this lipoprotein little A, which we quote affectionately end quote call the really really really, really bad cholesterol and it's interesting because it's something that we've known for many years is associated with a very high risk of heart attack and stroke and aortic stenosis. But doctors haven't necessarily tested for it because we didn't have any way to treat it. Well, that's changed. Now there are four products in development that treat lipoprotein little a extremely effectively, so we'd encourage people to learn.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:30
Are you at risk for lipoprotein A and, if you are, whether or not you're a candidate for some of the work that we're doing.
Kevin Geddings:
7:10
And before we let you go, Dr. Koren, one last plug for MedEvidence, so that we can get people to share this important website.
Dr. Michael Koren:
7:23
Sure, MedEvidence is our educational platform. We call it the truth behind the data and we have lots of podcasts and PowerPoint presentations and other educational material that people can review and then determine really what's true, what's not true and, again, how we learn about the stuff that we don't know about yet. So it's a very objective way and entertaining way to look at medicine and to break down an issue. We've done recent podcasts looking at issues related to acne, to fatty liver disease, to cholesterol issues, to eosinophilic esophagitis, a condition where you may have difficulty swallowing even as a teenager.
Dr. Michael Koren:
7:58
So on, and on and on.
Dr. Michael Koren:
7:59
There's a good chance that if there's a medical issue of concern to you, we've addressed it in one of our podcasts. So take a look, let us know what you think and, most importantly, have a plan for all these things. Stuff doesn't just happen. Things happen when you have a plan, and if you have a good plan, you can make good decisions .
Dr. Michael Koren:
8:17
Absolutely, yourself and your family
Kevin Geddings:
8:18
Absolutely Well once again. Dr. Michael Koren we always appreciate him joins us every Monday morning around this time. Learn more about what he's talking about, how you can participate in leading-edge clinical trials, receive compensation but, more importantly, receive great health care. Go to EncoreDocs. com. Encoredocs. com, Dr. Koren. Be safe out there, okay.
Dr. Michael Koren:
8:38
I appreciate you too, Kevin.
Announcer:
8:41
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence. com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
