Raise the Line

We’re marking Rare Disease Month 2026 by highlighting the powerful story of Shanthi Hegde, a young patient advocate working to transform how bleeding disorders are understood, treated, and supported. This work is fueled by her own arduous journey with two rare bleeding disorders and immune dysregulatory syndrome, and an extended diagnostic odyssey marked by dismissal, underdiagnosis, and structural bias. “I was told many times by m...

Few issues have tested public trust in medicine as deeply as vaccines, and few individuals have influenced that dialogue more than Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a longtime member of the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee. In this timely and candid interview with Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith, Dr. Offit points to this year’s severe flu season and a resurgenc...

“I do not believe we should be testing to test. We have to know, is this test going to change management and is it going to make a difference,” says pediatric allergist-immunologist Dr. Zachary Rubin. His knack for providing that sort of straightforward guidance explains why Dr. Rubin has become a trusted voice on allergies, asthma, and vaccines for his millions of followers on social media platforms. It’s also why we couldn’t ask ...

“Climate change is the biggest health threat of our century, so we need to train clinicians for a future where it will alter disease patterns, the demand on health systems, and how care is delivered,” says Dr. Sandro Demaio, director of the WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health, underscoring the stakes behind the organization’s first regionally-focused climate and health strategy. The five-year plan Dr. Demaio is leadi...

We have a special episode of Raise the Line on tap today featuring the debut of host Dr. Parsa Mohri, who will now be leading our NextGen Journeys series that highlights the fresh perspectives of learners and early career healthcare professionals around the world on education, medicine, and the future of care. Parsa was himself a NextGen guest in 2024 as a medical student at Acibadem University in Turkey. He’s now a general physici...

New research is transforming the outlook for cervical and uterine cancers -- two of the most serious gynecologic malignancies worldwide – and we’ll be hearing from one of the people shaping that progress, Dr. Mary McCormack, on this episode of Raise the Line. From her perch as the senior clinical oncologist for gynecological cancer at University College London Hospitals, Dr. McCormack has been a driving force in clinical research i...

“The world is a very volatile place, with currently 110 conflicts globally, and yet healthcare staff in the hospitals, even here in London, are not prepared to be the only clinician who can help in a crisis or hostile setting,” says Dr. James Gough, CEO of the David Nott Foundation, which equips providers with the skills and confidence needed to function in war and other extraordinary situations. A former British Army doctor injure...

“People are not looking for a perfect, polished answer. They're looking for a human to speak to them like a human,” says Jessica Malaty Rivera, an infectious disease epidemiologist and one of the most trusted science communicators in the U.S. to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. That philosophy explains her relatable, judgement-free approach to communications which aims to make science more human, more accessible and less institut...

“Delivering a baby one day and holding a patient’s hand at the end of life literally the next day...that continuity is very powerful,” says Dr. Jen Brull, board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). And as she points out, that continuity also builds trust with patients, an increasingly valuable commodity when faith in medicine and science is declining. As you might expect given her role, Dr. Brull believes stre...

“This is a time to reimagine public health and public health/healthcare system integration,” says Dr. Deb Houry, the former chief medical officer for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this thoughtful Raise the Line conversation, Dr. Houry reflects on unprecedented federal action in vaccine guidance and other issues since her noteworthy resignation from the CDC in August, and sees a more decentralized landscape e...

“My most powerful content is when I lead with my voice as a mom because I have the same concerns about keeping my kids safe as my audience does. It’s a powerful and effective way to find common ground with people,” says Dr. Jess Steier, a popular public health scientist and science communicator seeking to bridge divides and foster trust through empathetic, evidence-based communication. Dr. Steier has several platforms from which to...

“I realized that rather than talking one-to-one with patients in the exam room, you could talk one-to-many on social media,” says Dr. Kevin Pho, explaining the origins of KevinMD, the highly influential information sharing site he created for physicians, medical students and patients twenty years ago. Since then, KevinMD has become a valuable space for clinicians and patients to share stories and perspectives on topics from burnout...

“We’ve created this ecosystem where the vast majority of information on social media, particularly in nutrition science, is inaccurate or misleading,” says Dr. Jessica Knurick, a registered dietitian and Ph.D. in nutrition science specializing in chronic disease prevention. As you’ll learn on this episode of Raise the Line with host Lindsey Smith, countering that trend has become Dr. Knurick’s focus in the past several years, and h...

Could studying the DNA of extinct animals – or even bringing them back to life – help us save today’s endangered species and inform modern medicine?  That may sound like the premise for a Hollywood movie, but it’s work that our Raise the Line guest, Dr. Beth Shapiro, is actually engaged in as Chief Science Officer at Colossal Biosciences, which describes itself as the world’s first and only de-extinction company.  “It's not just ab...

According to the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, women make up 70% of the global healthcare workforce but hold only about 25% of leadership positions. Our guest today on Raise the Line, Dr. Roopa Dhatt, has been a leading voice in the movement to correct that imbalance through co-founding an organization called Women in Global Health (WGH), which has established chapters in over 60 countries since it ...

“They say it takes a village to raise a child. I really think it takes a village to treat a patient,” says Dr. Lanae Mullane, a naturopathic doctor and clinical strategist who has spent years at the forefront of bridging functional medicine, nutraceutical development, and digital health. In this episode of Raise the Line, host Lindsey Smith explores Dr. Mullane’s view that naturopathic medicine complements conventional care by expa...

“It’s kind of a miracle, frankly,” says Dr. John Buse, a distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, referring to the effectiveness of GLP-1 receptor agonist medications such as Ozempic in treating type 2 diabetes, promoting significant weight loss, and reducing cardiovascular risk. As a physician scientist for the last three decades at UNC, Dr. Buse has played a key role in ushering in this new ...

“It wasn’t a profession, it was a way of life,” observes internationally respected psychiatrist Dr. Nasser Loza, reflecting on a century-long family legacy in mental health care that began when his grandfather founded The Behman Hospital in Cairo. In this candid Raise the Line conversation with host Michael Carrese, Dr. Loza traces the transformation of psychiatry he’s witnessed in his long career as increases in classifications, p...