Episodes

Shoshana Ungerleider is a Hospitalist, founder of End Well & an educator focusing on end-of-life care. She joins us to discuss the evolution of her career, changing the narrative around how we talk about death,

Aimee Gardner has a PhD in Organizational Psychology and is Assistant Dean of Evaluation & Research at Baylor College of Medicine. She joins us for a provocative discussion of how residency programs select medical students.

Ingrid Nembhard is an Associate Professor of Health Care Management at the University of Pennsylvania and she is the definition of a pluripotent researcher, teacher & mentor. She studies and coaches around how we can improve team-based culture & organizational learning. We discuss the importance of feeling part of a high-performing team, how team-based culture forms, and how it translates into patient-centered care. This is riveting stuff & her insights are amazing! Key Learnings 1. What gets ...

Mark Hertling dedicated 37 years of service to the United States Army, serving in two wars before retiring as a Lieutenant General. He then stepped into developing physician leaders and has found tremendous success in this crossover. His book "Growing Physician Leaders" is superb and is applicable across many fields, not just medicine. We discuss his unique post-Army career, where the tension points exist within medical leadership, and how his curriculum works. Key Learnings 1 Transitioning fr...

Peter Hotez is a Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine. He is the world's authority on vaccine science not simply because of scientific background, but because of his active and valuable advocacy work across many platforms. He joins us to discuss the measles explosions in the United States and Europe, the devastation wrought by the anti-vaccine movement Key Learnings 1. Why your faithful host is angry 2. The 3 vaccines that ...

Laurie Garrett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote an extraordinary article in The British Medical Journal on gender equity in healthcare called “The Trouble With Girls.” She joins us to discuss the deep inequities she describes, the drivers behind them today and the extraordinary response the paper engendered. Key Learnings 1. The impetus behind writing “The Trouble With Girls” 2. The steps required for advancement and the demonstrable gender bias associated with each one laid ou...

It's Super Bowl week, so it's time to discuss Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in NFL players. Visar Berisha is an Associate Professor of Engineering at Arizona State University, focusing on speech and hearing science.

Kristin Wikelius is a Senior Policy Director with United States of Care and she joins us to discuss the vision of the organization, how illness and sickness can provide common ground for progress, and why Medicaid at the state level is a good place to start Key Learnings 1. What is United States of Care and what is the mission & vision 2. Health and illness as a societal leveler independent of any other considerations 3. Initial goals of shifting healthcare debate from something defined by a...

Grace Farris is a Hospitalist, Chief of Division of Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai West, and an accomplished cartoonist with works featured in Annals of Internal Medicine & Buzzfeed. She joins us to discuss the role cartooning plays in her career, the potential of graphic art as an accelerant to learning, and some serious comics discussion. A unique conversation with an incredibly talented physician! Key Learnings Unpacking a Calvin & Hobbes essay that freaked your host out Origins of the ev...

Robert Pearl is a physician leader in the United States of the highest order. He is widely published and frequently featured on multiple TV networks. He joins us in our first episode of 2019 to lay out the great challenges facing physicians and patients in America, his incredible passion to drive change, and how we can move the needle in the right direction. Key Learnings 1. How his personal experiences with the problems of American healthcare led to the creation of his Forbes article 2. What...

In our final episode of 2018, we have a proper A-list MD, Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal, joining us. He is a master diagnostician who never fails to dazzle an audience with his process for evaluating and solving the most challenging cases. We discuss how he learns and trains, the need to look for “desirable difficulty” and how his mistakes are his most valuable tool. This is our first Grand Slam episode! All 4 Pillars of Explore The Space are fully engaged in this conversation! Key Learnings 1. Why D...

Dr. Keith Murray is an Emergency Physician at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and serves as Medical Director for Pittsburgh SWAT. He was a part of the first responder units that entered the Tree Of Life Synagogue during the mass shooting that occurred there on October 27th. He joins us to discuss becoming a SWAT Medical Director as well as his experiences before, during and after the shooting. Key Learnings 1. Defining the role of a Medical Director for a SWAT team 2. Finding a niche ...

Eric Byrnes comes back after writing a book and completing the Triathlon Across America. We cover transitioning from Major League Baseball, how his definition of mental toughness has changed, and creating Team Go-Hard. Key Learnings 1. Eric & I start the podcast saying nice things about one another 2. Being asked to talk about The Mental & Physical Edge 3. How Eric using triathlons to dig out of a post-baseball career rut 4. The Triathlon Across America: 55 days from San Francisco to Manhatt...

Rabbi George Gittleman is the Senior Rabbi at Congregation Shomrei Torah in Santa Rosa, CA. Over the course of navigating crises like September 11th, the Sonoma County Wildfires, and the recent Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, he has run the gamut of experiences in leadership under pressure. He joins us to discuss the extraordinary insights he has gathered and the tools he uses to be at his best when it is needed most. Key Learnings 1. Recognizing when the normal parameters around leadership g...

Dr. Taylor Brana is a Psychiatry resident and the host of The Happy Doc podcast. He joins us to discuss bringing fresh eyes to key challenges facing physicians, some key drivers of happiness & fulfillment, and creating his fantastic new project. Key Learnings 1. The origins of The Happy Doc and asking the question “are there happy doctors?” 2. Focusing on both rebuilding and maintaining physicians at all stages of their careers, especially early on 3. What is consistent among medical student...

Dr. Mary Brandt is a Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Medical Ethics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and is in full-time clinical practice as a Pediatric Surgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. She joins us to discuss the rapidly growing physician response to a tweet around gun violence in America and the #thisismylane movement. Key Learnings 1. The power of doctors sharing pictures of the aftermath of gun violence with #thisismylane, #itisourlane...

Dr. Nina Shapiro is a Professor of Surgery specializing in Pediatric Otolaryngology at UCLA. She is also a highly sought-after speaker on medical topics across the media spectrum. She joins us to discuss her new book “Hype” and how we discuss controversial topics with the public and with patients. Key Learnings 1. Dealing with the question of “who are you to write a book about general health issues?” 2. The rocket fuel of hype in medicine and choosing the title of her book. 3. The value of r...

We are proud to welcome you to the new home of Explore The Space. The url is the same, the site is entirely different. We’ve defined the 4 Pillars of Explore The Space, we’ve got the entire archive of 80 shows, there’s a new blog, more social media, and resources from the interface of healthcare and society. Please come look around www.explorethespaceshow and let us know what you think by emailing mark@explorethespaceshow.com. Please subscribe to the show and leave a rating and review on iTunes ...

Dave Berke is a retired Marine fighter pilot and Top Gun instructor who now is a part of the leadership team at Echelon Front. He is back for a fourth time on Explore The Space to continue our exploration of team based culture. Every time we have these conversations, I’m fired up for the next one. Key Learnings We start off with another round of Quick Hitters! When work spills over into life Why excelling at work is a recipe to do well elsewhere Keeping friends and family informed as a corn...

Lizzie Johnson is a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle who covers wildfires in California. She joins us on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Wine Country Wildfires of 2017 to reflect on what happened, how the community has rallied, and the challenges still facing the recovery. Key Learnings Becoming the “Fire Girl” Arriving in Santa Rosa after the fires started Reporting from the ruins of Coffey Park How this wildfire impacted the sense of safety for people across the world ...

Emily Silverman is a Hospitalist and the creator of "The Nocturnists" podcast and live show. If you love stories from the dark corners of medicine, and the light and lively corners as well, "The Nocturnists" is an amazing place to spend some time.

Maureen Bisognano is a nurse who has held many roles over her extraordinary career in healthcare, most recently as President of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. She now serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for the Well-Being Trust, which is a national foundation dedicated to advancing the mental, social, and spiritual health of the United States. She joins us for a remarkable conversation about the origins of the Well-Being Trust, the work done thus far to address “diseases of despair”...

The Badwater 135 is one of the toughest footraces on the planet, Michelle West is preparing to run it for the third time. We caught up with her less than 24 hours before she starts running 135 miles through Death Valley, CA and had an amazing conversation with someone on the cusp of an extraordinary challenge. This is an incredibly unique discussion just before she embarks on one of the hardest physical tests that exists. Key Points On the eve of the Badwater 135, one of the toughest footraces...

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a Pediatrician who brought the epidemic of lead exposure in the water supply of Flint, Michigan to national exposure in 2015. She has become an example for physicians and scientists of how and why they can and must stand up on social issues. She joins us to discuss her incredible work, the importance of courage and how to build it, and her wonderful new book “What The Eyes Don’t See.” She reminds us too, that the strength she displays “is in all of us. This is all of ou...