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:
0:31
As promised, Dr. Michael Koren joining us here, live on the studio line. We appreciate him taking time out of his day to be with us. And, Dr. Koren, you with me, I am. How are you, Kevin? Well, doing, well, yes, and, as we mentioned, Dr. Koren has been traveling the globe and giving some great talks in places as exotic as Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Michael Koren:
0:50
Right, that's right. Yeah, I just got back from an extended trip. I was in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. and in Saudi Arabia. I gave 14 lectures in six days in three different cities.
Kevin Geddings:
1:02
Wow
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:04
So I had a whirlwind tour of that very, very interesting country and really learned a lot and shared a lot of really cool information with a very sophisticated group of Saudi physicians and other health care providers.
Kevin Geddings:
1:16
So a lot of times, when we think about places like that, I mean, how does their health care system, or for us average folks accessing health care, is it better? The same, less than it would be here in the United States?
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:29
Well, it's a rich country to mind everybody. Obviously, they have tremendous oil wealth and everybody basically gets some insurance. And then, in addition to that, there are private markets for insurance.
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:40
But for example when you go to a hospital, everybody is basically covered, and then there's sort of gradations of the level of health care beyond what the public gets. So that's the basic structure. Their physicians are extremely well-trained. By the way, the professional language in Saudi Arabia is English, so all of my lectures were conducted in English and everybody in the audience was conversant in English, and lectures by the Saudis were conducted in English as part of our symposia. That occurred while I was lecturing through that country, so that was super interesting. And the other interesting point is the way women and men interact in Saudi Arabia, which I found absolutely fascinating.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:21
So, as people probably know, women haven't had the rights that we take for granted here in Western countries. So, for example, women were only allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia as of 2019. But the women seem to be pretty much okay with this, and a lot of women, in their roles as physicians and pharmacists, cover their faces completely. And I had this one really interesting anecdote where I gave a lecture and the person who gave the lecture before me was the head pharmacist at a major Saudi hospital. With her face completely covered and in a black robe. She mentioned to me that she had done her training at the University of Maryland in the States and was really the person who made major decisions for the hospital about what drugs would be used, and she was very clear in her knowledge.
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:13
She gave a lecture and then, when the male moderator of this session said that her time had run out. She actually turned to the man and said I'm not done yet. I'm going to speak until I'm done. So she was actually very forceful and went on for another 10 minutes and got reminded again that her time was up. She said well, I'm almost done, I just want to make a couple more points. So even though, she was completely covered. She was very confident in her role as an expert and as a woman that works in the Saudi system.
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:43
So I thought that was super interesting.
Kevin Geddings:
3:44
It is super interesting, especially in a country where what? 10 years ago they weren't allowed to have a driver's license, yeah, yeah. So what was the message you were trying to extend to them? What were you trying to help them better understand?
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:57
Yeah, so, as a lipid expert, they were super interested in my views on how to do better. Unfortunately, despite the fact that we have really good medications, we still don't do a very good job of getting people to their cholesterol goals, particularly their LDL cholesterol, which is the really bad cholesterol, and so we had done a study that we designed here in the US In fact, I had a major role in the design of the study and that got published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology last year, and I presented those data to the Saudi physicians, who were absolutely fascinated by that. They were so appreciative of the fact that I was sharing this information and that there was a lot of learning that happened based on the participation of clinical trial patients here in the US, particularly in Northeast Florida. So I'll tell the people out in Northeast Florida that people all around the world, particularly health care providers in places that you may not think of, are super, super appreciative of all the work that you do when you help us conduct these clinical research programs.
Kevin Geddings:
4:59
Wow, Well, that was a great experience, right? I don't think had you been there before.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:04
I have not. I've been to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Israel and Egypt, but I have not been to Saudi Arabia. So definitely a little bit of a different culture. Really nice people, gentle people and, again, very, very interesting culturally, particularly the role of women in the health care space and the fact that they're actually very much involved, very much respected, despite the fact that they cover themselves up.
Kevin Geddings:
5:29
Right. Well, now that you've been there. I guess President Trump's going to follow you today, and tomorrow he's going to Saudi Arabia.
Kevin Geddings:
5:34
You're a trendsetter.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:37
Well, certainly that was one of the discussion points. Historically, the US has had a really good relationship with Saudi Arabia, and even though it's a country in the Middle East that's directly next to Iran, I asked a lot of people in Saudi Arabia, have they ever been to Iran? And virtually all of them said no. So there's a rivalry between those two countries that I think is underappreciated in the US, so I found that also very fascinating.
Kevin Geddings:
6:04
Absolutely, hey, before we let you go, of course, good medical information and research results of research. Medical research can also be found at MedEvidence MedEvidence. com, right, Dr. Koren.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:16
Yeah, and the Saudis were very, very interested in this. I showed them some of the work we're doing on that. They absolutely loved it. They loved the technology that we're bringing to clinical research and the technology we're bringing to patient education. So, you know, definitely check it out. I think as we get more and more traction from MedE vidence!, it'll certainly become more international, but people really love how we break down medical issues and help people understand what we know about a particular issue, the things we don't know about a particular issue and how we learn about the things we don't know. So I definitely encourage people to check it out.
Kevin Geddings:
6:50
Well, once again, that website is medevidence. com. That's medevidence. com and Dr. Koren, we appreciate you. I think we're going to try to make up a couple of missed opportunities and have you back on again on Wednesday morning, if that works for your schedule.
Dr. Michael Koren:
7:04
I look forward to it, Kevin.
Kevin Geddings:
7:05
All right, thank you, doctor. We'll talk soon.
Announcer:
7:07
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence. com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
