Kids, The Pitt, and Flu Shots: A Candid Discussion with Dr. Alok Patel
Real Talk with Pediatrician and Media Personality Dr. Alok Patel I didn’t expect a 7 a.m. hockey practice to turn into a parenting lesson, an emergency-medicine meditation, and a weirdly hopeful conversation about being human. But that’s exactly what happened with Dr. Alok Patel. It started in the most Canadian way possible: a rink, a […]
Dr. Alok Patel’s Parenting Toolkit: ER Decisions, Screens, and Mental Health
After my conversation with Dr. Alok Patel on Episode 96, I got a lot of messages from parents asking for the practical stuff. The scripts. The decision trees. The actual links. So here it is—everything we talked about, turned into tools you can actually use. 1. When to Go to the ER (and When Not […]
Invisible Illnesses with Dr. David Clarke
There’s a particular phrase in medicine that sounds tidy, efficient, and responsible. It’s the kind of sentence you can say at the end of a long clinic day when you’ve reviewed the labs, scanned the imaging, and ruled out the disasters. “Nothing’s wrong. All the tests are normal.” For years, I heard versions of it. […]
Invisible Illnesses with Dr. David Clarke: What to Do When All Your Tests Are Normal
Your tests came back normal. That should be good news. But if you’re still in pain, still exhausted, still dealing with symptoms that are ruining your life, “normal tests” doesn’t feel like relief. It feels like abandonment. After my conversation with Dr. David Clarke on neuroplastic symptoms, I got flooded with messages from people asking: […]
The Silent Illnesses, Loud Discoveries, and Plastic Futures: A Global Conversation with Dr. Erwin Loh
It’s not often you meet someone who can confidently explain CRISPR gene-editing, post-viral syndromes, and LinkedIn trolls—all in one conversation. But then again, not everyone is Dr. Erwin Loh. What a treat it was when I randomly reached out to him on LinkedIn, after following many of his interesting posts, to invite him on the […]
From Fentanyl to Frontlines: The Second Life of Dr. Dov GebienBy Dr. Mark Bonta
Occasionally, you read a story that lodges itself in your mind, impossible to shake. That’s what happened to me when I first read Dr. Dov Gebien’s account in Toronto Life—a harrowing, vulnerable, and courageous piece titled “I had the perfect life. Then I got hooked on fentanyl.” In it, he lays bare the descent from […]
Ditching the Shame, Not the Dessert: A Real Talk on Obesity with Dr. Sasha High
There’s something uniquely humbling about standing in line at a Caribbean buffet with four kids in tow, trying to convince yourself that this time you’ll skip dessert. I recently found myself doing exactly that — only to overhear a heated exchange between a couple ahead of me. A man, who was clearly living with obesity, […]
A Consultant, a Rebel, and the Leviathan: My Chat with Dr. Malcolm Kendrick
If I had a dollar for every time I prescribed a statin, I’d probably own a moderately successful coffee shop by now. Maybe a place with decent espresso and an ironic name like The Lipid Lounge. But here I am, a consultant in General Internal Medicine, wrestling with a conversation I never thought I’d have […]
How Does A Doc Pack For Vacation? A Travel Medicine Masterclass with Dr David Carr, Emergency Medicine, and Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, Infectious Diseases
The Realities of Travel Medicine Most of us think about packing the essentials—passport, phone charger, and enough clothes to avoid emergency underwear shopping. But what about medical essentials? What do actual ER doctors and infectious disease specialists take with them when they travel? And when that “Is there a doctor on board?” call happens mid-flight, […]
The Intersection of Nutrition and Surgery with Drs. Sagar Desai and Kyle Waldman
This week, we dove into the fascinating world of pharmaconeutrition with Dr. Sagar Desai, an orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Kyle Waldman, an anesthesiologist. These two “bros,” as I lovingly refer to them, might fit some of the stereotypes of their specialties—Kyle with his focus and finesse, Sagar with his sports-driven energy—but their work goes far […]