073 Dr Joseph Galati - Your Health First: At the Leading Edge of Liver Transplant Medicine

Dr Joseph Galati is a liver disease expert, speaker, radio host, entrepreneur and author who is devoted to the care of patients with all facets of liver diseases, obesity, fatty liver and related disorders. Since 2003, Dr. Galati has been a familiar voice on Texas radio airwaves, producing and hosting Your Health First every Sunday evening on the program’s flagship station, 740 KTRH in Houston.

Today, Dr. Galati joins the show to share what inspired him to specialize on the liver, the incredible leading edge work he is doing in liver transplant medicine, and debunks the stigma behind diseases such as Hepatitis and Cirrhosis.

Key Takeaways

01:40 – Dr. Joseph Galati joins the show to share his passion for radio, the stigma of Hepatitis and Cirrhosis of the liver, and the work he does as a liver specialist

12:45 – What inspired Dr. Galati to become a physician

21:23 – From Brooklyn to Houston and operating in the leading edge of liver transplant medicine

24:37 – Dr. Galati talks about his book, Eating Yourself Sick

28:22 – Final words of wisdom from Dr. Galati

34:42 – Dr. Flowers thanks Dr. Galati for joining today’s show and lets listeners know where they can learn more about Liver Specialists of Texas

Tweetable Quotes

“There is something very valuable in reflecting backwards, how things were. Things were good. Things were bad. There were lessons learned and to learn from our elders in a sense.” (05:33) (Dr. Galati)

“First of all, a lot of people don’t know where their liver is. I’ll be examining them and I’ll pull their gown up and I’ll be palpating around and they’ll ask, ‘What are you doing up there?’ And so, that’s a big point that people don’t even know where their liver is and so if they have a pain in their side, they don’t know that it could be their liver or their gallbladder. The liver is the largest organ, next to the skin, and the unique thing about that, first of all, is it is involved in over two hundred different biochemical reactions. It does a lot of stuff.” (06:41) (Dr. Galati)

“Alcohol accounts for about forty-nine percent of all cirrhosis, which means fifty percent is due to obesity, and fatty liver, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, autoimmune disease, too much copper, too much iron in your blood. So, if you understand that Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver and Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver, you’re not automatically deemed an alcoholic or bad person. It comes out of this stigma.” (09:58) (Dr. Galati)

“We have, over the last ten years at Houston Methodist Hospital, become the number one liver transplant program - or number two depending on the month and different volumes - which is a Herculean effort to go from the lower third to the top, beating out household names like Cornell, Mount Saini, UCLA, Chicago, Miami.” (23:54) (Dr. Galati)

“There is something that’s been around since the earliest days of transplant called ‘The Six Month Rule,’ which basically says if you have Alcohol Use Disorder - you are an alcoholic, you have cirrhosis - bad boy. You have to sit in time-out for six months until you go to recovery, abstinence, you get a sponsor, you work your way through a 12-Step Program, you have proof of abstinence. Then come back and talk to us and we’ll talk about transplant.” (29:17) (Dr. Galati)

Resources Mentioned

JFlowers Health Institute – https://jflowershealth.com/

JFlowers Health Institute Contact – [phone]

Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen

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