Exploring Aging, Cardiovascular Disease, and Proactive Healthcare

Narrator: 0:00

Welcome to the MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Gettings of WSOS St Augustine Radio and powered by ENCORE Research Group. Each Monday morning, Dr. Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. MedEvidence is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and health care. This is MedEvidence.

Kevin Geddings: 0:30

Dr. Michael Koren is here with us. Are you still enjoying some leftover turkey, Dr. Koren?

Dr. Michael Koren: 0:35

Good morning Kevin. Actually, we did a heart-healthy Thanksgiving and I actually enjoyed a wonderful piece of halibut for my Thanksgiving feast. That would be good fresh halibut is really good.

Kevin Geddings: 0:47

That's yummy, yes.

Narrator: 0:49

Kevin Geddings: 0:50

Dr. Koren is here with us and of course we were talking about Thanksgiving, and sometimes those conversations around the dinner table are afterwards and people are sitting around can be interesting, and you've noticed right that they change as we change over time, correct?

Dr. Michael Koren: 1:05

Yeah, it's interesting. So we're just chatting about that. 40 years ago, when I was a young college buck and I got together with friends and family, I might be talking about who I was dating. Then you fast forward a decade or two and then I'd be focusing on what's going on with my business and practice and what my aspirations would be. And this year the focus was definitely health care and, of course, as the cardiologist table, I got a lot of heart questions. But more broadly, people get more concerned about their health as they get older and that becomes the dominant focus of the conversation.

Kevin Geddings: 1:42

Absolutely so. I know a couple of years ago people were talking about COVID and comparing experiences and that sort of thing. What can you imagine people are talking about? And what should they be talking about? Where the conversations especially as we head into the Christmas holidays and New Years, where they might actually be constructive about health care?

Dr. Michael Koren: 2:03

Yeah, so it's an interesting question. So I definitely got lots of heart questions over the last four days, interacting with lots of friends and family, and I think that there is a little bit of a shift in focus from the viruses to the number one killer of Americans, which is cardiovascular disease. So I got a lot of questions about cholesterol issues. I got a lot of questions about what diagnostic tests to take to see if you have heart disease and whether or not symptoms that may be vague or related to your heart or not. That was clearly a change, and the obesity epidemic was a big topic of conversation. Should you take Ozempics? Should you take another one of these drugs that helps suppress appetite? Can you deal with diet and exercise alone? What are the risks of being overweight vs. your cholesterol and your blood pressure, and all these sorts of conversations. So that was actually the dominant discussion. There were a number of conversations that I had with a bunch of different people that I had to interact with over the weekend.

Kevin Geddings: 3:01

Absolutely. Dr. Michael Koren is with us, of course, from ENCORE Research Group and they of course are involved in leading-edge medical research and they do that right here in Northeast Florida, including with offices here in St. Augustine near UF Flagler Hospital. You can learn more about all the different studies that you can participate in by going to ENCOREdocs. com. That's ENCOREdocs. com, the phone number 904-730-0166. I would think Dr. Koren that as we head into the holidays and people have a little bit of flexibility in their schedule, this would be a good time to contemplate maybe being involved in some medical research in 2024, right?

Dr. Michael Koren: 3:39

Yeah, absolutely. One of the take-home lessons of the weekend is that people want to be active in their healthcare and sometimes they don't know how to do that and sometimes the current medical system makes that difficult. So of course, everybody has their horror stories about how they've tried to access the healthcare system one way or another and have had some frustrations and difficulties. And certainly research is a way that's a really pleasant and easy way to get involved in investing in your healthcare by just learning more and being part of an important process. So I think people will enjoy that and virtually everybody who participates in one research study would say that they're open for next one. So that's usually a good affirmation of what we're doing day to day. The other issue is technology, and the other I would say the number two conversation over the dinner table was the pluses and minuses of technology, and is artificial intelligence a friend or foe? And we don't know the answer to that, but we do know is that people are really looking for objective sources of information online and, in celebration of Cyber Monday, I would suggest that everybody take a look at the MedEvidence website, which is our effort to get really credible information unbiased information to people and help them understand the way physicians especially clinical trial physicians, very analytical physicians think about healthcare issues, and I've gotten tremendously positive feedback over the weekend from people that had a chance to look at the site. So to your point, Kevin maybe if you have a little bit of flexibility in the schedule, come down to the research office or give us a call. Maybe there's a study that would be good for you. But maybe just take a look at the website and just understand how we look at healthcare issues, which is fundamentally different than trying to sell you something.

Kevin Geddings: 5:25

Yeah, no kidding, on this Cyber Monday, of course you can access MedEvidence. com. That's MedEvidence. com. And how much does it go to cost, Dr Koren?

Dr. Michael Koren: 5:36

To access it? It's going to cost you about two minutes of your time and nothing more.

Kevin Geddings: 5:40

How about that.

Dr. Michael Koren: 5:41

And then you'll get a lifetime of return is a great return on investment. Taking a look at this website.

Kevin Geddings: 5:47

What's great is you can access it and you don't even need a special code, right? No, that's amazing. No, Cyber Monday code for a discount and it's always available seriously, yeah, to that point.

Dr. Michael Koren: 6:00

It took me three hours to get my Jaguar tickets last week, but MedEvidence will take you three seconds.

Kevin Geddings: 6:06

There you go. Well, lots of good information there. We encourage you to check that out and also share that website with others you know who. S ometimes, I think, get lost in the weeds with Dr. Google and the like. You can get some good information by going to MedEvidence. com easy to consume and a very intuitive website. So, Dr. K oren, any closing thoughts before we let you go.

Dr. Michael Koren: 6:26

Well, it is Cyber Monday, so go out and work on that Christmas shopping list. And invest in your healthcare. In fact, when you think about it, that may be the best gift that you can give to you and your loved ones, absolutely so I'd have people think about that idea.

Kevin Geddings: 6:43

Well, Dr. Michael Koren, once again with ENCORE Research Center and also with the website MedEvidence. com. Learn more about how you can participate in leading cutting edge medical research clinical trials that are going on right here in St John's County by going to on ENCORE docs. com. Dr. Koren, thank you very much. Be safe out there and we'll talk with you next week.

Dr. Michael Koren: 7:05

Have a great week, Kevin.

Narrator: 7:06

Thanks for joining the Med Evidence podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence. com medevidencecom or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.