From Reunion to Research: The Harvard Doc's Wake-up Call

Transcript Generated by AI.

Announcer: 0:00

Welcome to the MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Gettings of WSOS St Augustine Radio.

Dr. Michael Koren: 0:31

The other thing that was super interesting about my weekend was now my classmates are getting to an age where they're having medical problems, and many of them many of them told stories about their own journeys through the healthcare system, and one thing that all of them shared is how difficult it is, how complicated it is. So imagine if Harvard Medical School graduates are having trouble navigating the healthcare system, how hard it is for the average person that doesn't necessarily have the resources or training. So this made me feel really good about what we're doing in the clinical trial space. So I'll give you one example.

Dr. Michael Koren: 1:06

They actually did something called Back to Class and they presented a case of a 78-year-old person who had congestive heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction and also had diabetes and was also living alone and having trouble keeping up with his or her day-to-day activities.

Dr. Michael Koren: 1:24

And they broke it down in terms of all the different elements of what the system could do for the patient.

Dr. Michael Koren: 1:31

But the fact is is that the patient was so overwhelmed by it that they ended up needing to go from the hospital back to their doctor within a week just to kind of figure out what the heck's going on. And in this particular case, the patient was being overdosed medications. So imagine how difficult that is for the average person, and the neat thing about clinical trials is that we help you break this down so that person, for example, could have come into a clinical trial for patients with congestive heart failure and we would have helped that patient navigate the system, got them on a protocol that made it clear what they needed to do day-to-day, and also provided a resource at no charge, by the way that allowed them to now figure out how to take their medicines appropriately, how to interface with their other physicians. We certainly don't provide all kinds of healthcare, we're focused on one part of the protocol, but we do help people navigate these complexities of the health care system and really do that every day with our amazing coordinators.

Kevin Geddings: 2:30

Yeah, it's some of the best health care you'll ever experience when you choose to participate in a clinical trial once again with ENCORE Research Group. Learn more by going to EncoreDocs. com, encoredocs. com and Dr. Koren, maybe you can. I know there's so many different ongoing trials, but maybe highlight just one really quick for our listeners.

Dr. Michael Koren: 2:49

Well, I mentioned congestive heart failure and I would certainly encourage anybody who's been hospitalized with congestive heart failure or been given that diagnosis to give us a call to help us break it down. You know, even if you have a good relationship with your physician we all have a good relationship the truth is that when I'm in clinical practice, we're always so time-pressed that it's hard to get into all the detail. I actually send people from my practice to the clinical trial center because people there have more time to break things down. In fact, this morning one of the people that works for me at home had a conversation with me and I sent him to my office so that they can help figure out their health care needs and maybe get involved in a study that involves cardiac monitoring. So, again, when you have congestive heart failure, it could be because your heart muscle is weak and not pumping well enough, or it could be because your heart muscle is stiff and it may pump well but it doesn't relax well. So how?

Dr. Michael Koren: 3:50

do you?

Dr. Michael Koren: 3:50

even know that and we can help you figure that out at the research office. So that's one example. We have several studies right now for people that have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure or any situation in which you've been hospitalized because of a heart condition. Give us a call, we'll help you break it down.

Kevin Geddings: 4:05

Yeah, any of those sorts of conditions or chronic health conditions you know, including diabetes and the like. Or you're interested in the potential new oral vaccine for COVID? There are all sorts of opportunities. You don't necessarily have to have a chronic health condition to participate and be a part of some leading edge clinical research. It takes place right here in St John's County. ENCORE Research Group's office is located next door to UF Flagler Hospital in the Whetstone Building. You can call them right now, actually next door to UF Flagler Hospital in the Whetstone Building. You can call them right now actually 904-730-0166 to learn how you can participate and get some amazing health care 904-730-0166. And always at EncoreDocs. com. And also, before we let you go, Dr. Koren, medevidence. com. They should check out that website if they are.

Dr. Michael Koren: 4:55

Yeah, they should certainly check it out. In fact, I mentioned MedEvidence to my classmates and literally a dozen of them came up to me and they said they wanted to be interviewed talking about their particular specialty, their particular interest. So that was really gratifying for me to have that reception from my classmates from Harvard, and so you'll be seeing a lot of my classmates on MedEvidence over the course of the next couple of months. So check it out.

Kevin Geddings: 5:20

Yeah, well, once again, check out that website, medevidence. com the truth behind the data, the resource. You should go to that website first before you rely on Dr. Google and the like. Well, we're glad you had a great medical school reunion. You'll be ready for the next one. What's the next one? It's 75 years.

Dr. Michael Koren: 5:38

Well, it'll be every five years, but hopefully I'll do a better job of keeping in touch with my classmates this time. You always say that I think that's probably just human nature. You're sort of touched emotionally when you reconnect with your classmates and it's always hard when you get back to your day-to-day life to keep that connection going. But I will try my best.

Kevin Geddings: 5:57

There you go. So true, Dr Michael Koren. Thank you for your time. Be safe out there, okay I appreciate it you too, Kevin.

Announcer: 6:04

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