Episodes

  • Disease Knows No Politics with former NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni

    Disease Knows No Politics with former NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni
    Dec 15 2025
    Dr. Elias Zerhouni, former NIH Director under President George W. Bush and Presidential Science Envoy under President Barack Obama, joins Jim for a candid conversation about healthcare, science, and public trust. He talks about his new memoir, Disease Knows No Politics, and his journey from war-torn Algeria to an array of leadership positions in American medicine. He shares stories from his professional life, including breakthroughs he made in MRI imaging that are being reshaped by AI. This conversation explores the intersection of politics and medicine. It's personal, surprising, fun and most of all, it will make you feel. In this episode, you'll learn: 1. Why Dr. Zerhouni wrote his memoir Disease Knows No Politics and why he believes its message matters right now 2. What was really happening behind the scenes during the stem cell debates and early pandemic discussions 3. How radiology and imaging laid the groundwork for today’s medical AI innovations 4. How growing up during the Algerian War shaped his resilience, worldview, and leadership style. 5. Why he believes China’s strategic investment in science echoes Einstein’s philosophy that breakthroughs come from long term vision, not short term politics
    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • What's Next In Digital Health? Jim's Asking Lee Shapiro, Partner at 7wire Ventures and Board Member at the American Heart Association

    What's Next In Digital Health? Jim's Asking Lee Shapiro, Partner at 7wire Ventures and Board Member at the American Heart Association
    Dec 8 2025
    Lee Shapiro is getting real. His career has touched law, venture capital, philanthropy, healthcare, and tech. He's worked with many of the most influential companies in digital health. He's lead Livongo, scaled Allscripts, and is now shaping the future of consumer health as partner at 7wireVentures. In this episode, we're talking about where healthcare innovation is headed and how personalized care is evolving. We're also exploring his role at the American Heart Association where he serves on the National Board of Directors . Tune in to hear his perspective on healthcare, innovation and what trends he believes will define the next era. In this episode, you'll learn: 1. How 7wireVentures invests in companies simplifying care-navigation, access, chronic disease management, and consumer-facing digital health 2. How the AHA invests through grants, venture funds, and its accelerator to bring innovations to market 3. How the AHA’s Go Red for Women Fund is investing in new biomarkers and clinical trials for women’s heart disease 4. How AI is used to detect heart disease earlier, personalize care, and shape future standards 5. What health tech is solving, from GLP-1 support, to zero-interest medical loans, to simpler navigation of costly and confusing healthcare
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
  • The Future of Storytelling with the visionary himself, Charlie Melcher

    The Future of Storytelling with the visionary himself, Charlie Melcher
    Nov 24 2025
    Today, I’m hosting my friend Charlie Melcher on Get Real. We had this conversation on the day his new book, The Future of Storytelling, hit shelves. You may also have listened to his well-known podcast with the same title. I’ve been lucky to hear the behind the scenes of this book and his life's work during our hikes up Mount Tam, and I can’t wait for you to gt to know a bit more about his vision. Charlie has shaped how books, brands and industries tell their stories. In this episode, we talk about his career, the digital era that almost convinced people books were over, and the innovations that followed. We also explore how he works with companies and what it means to live stories instead of watch them. Buy his book The Future of Storytelling wherever books are sold! In this episode, hear: 1. How Charlie used the digital revolution to reinvent his career 2. How the recession of 2008 to 2009 changed content and media entirely 3. How his six emerging modes of storytelling are shaping everything from podcasts to theme parks 4. How AI will merge with these new storytelling categories 5. What the future of community, creativity and connection looks like
    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
  • Jesse Solomon on Cancer, Early Detection, Survivor Advocacy, and Bravo!

    Jesse Solomon on Cancer, Early Detection, Survivor Advocacy, and Bravo!
    Nov 17 2025
    You probably know Jesse Solomon from Summer House on Bravo and from his up and coming singing career. Today, Jim and Jesse are chatting about advocacy and cancer. Jesse is a two-time testicular cancer survivor who uses his platform to reduce the stigma around testicular cancer and to encourage young men to prevent the event by getting checked yearly. Jesse is fun, loving, and unafraid to get real, which is a quality Jim appreciates in others and upholds himself. We’re going to hear about Jesse's journey from working in finance to Bravo and about his involvement with nonprofits to spread awareness about testicular cancer and to connect with other cancer survivors. This is an episode you won't want to miss.
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • Is Men’s Sexual Health a Biomarker for Overall Health? Dr. Paul Turek Thinks So

    Is Men’s Sexual Health a Biomarker for Overall Health? Dr. Paul Turek Thinks So
    Oct 27 2025
    This week, Jim is chatting with his own doctor, Dr. Paul Turek, one of the nation’s leading experts in male fertility and founder of The Turek Clinic. Jim and Dr. Turek talk about why sperm health reflects overall health, and how mental health, physical health, epigenetics, lifestyle, and environment ALL affect fertility. They discuss how men's resistance to the doctors is more often due to the fact that they are siloed. Kids have pediatricians. At 16, girls move on to their gynecologists, who become primary care doctors, while boy's health care fades. This conversation will hopefully help you see how men’s health and fertility require a holistic, 360-degree approach to the body, mind, and spirit. In this episode, you'll learn: 1. How sperm health reflects total wellness 2. How microplastics affect fertility 3. Why men lose consistent care after youth 4. How GLP-1 drugs may help sperm count 5. What happens during “manopause”
    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
  • Dr. Cliff Hudis on The Optimistic Future of Cancer Treatment

    Dr. Cliff Hudis on The Optimistic Future of Cancer Treatment
    Oct 13 2025
    This week, Jim is speaking with the incomparable Dr. Cliff Hudis about his work in oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering to his shift into the public sector as CEO of The American Society of Clininal Oncology. Cliff is a wealth of knowledge and insights and this audience will cling to every word. He's a delight of a person, full of warmth, heart, and just the right amount of fight. We discussed the first iteration of his career in breast cancer and the incredible leaps in treatment he witnessed including the discovery of BRCA and HER2 in the early 1990's. We're also Getting Real about the roadblocks in the way of advancing the research, development and treatment of cancer, specifically the push and pull between public and private sector funding. Cliff stresses the importance governmental funding plays in cancer treatment and boosting scientist and doctor morale. Finally, as always, we touch and music, specifically The Rolling Stones, which you won't want to miss! In this episode, you'll learn: 1. How coordinated global research efforts drove one of medicine’s biggest mortality declines 2. How agriculture, economics, and environment are as critical as biology in reducing risk 3. That federal funding is driver of progress. Bipartisan congressional support keeps research alive even in uncertain times 4. Where early detection stands and why evidence, not hype, defines what screening tools doctors should use on patients 5. What’s real and what’s not yet real in cancer vaccines and immunotherapy
    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • Dr. Adrienne Youdim Knows Why Hunger Is So Much Bigger Than Food

    Dr. Adrienne Youdim Knows Why Hunger Is So Much Bigger Than Food
    Sep 29 2025
    This week, the tables are turning! Jim is trading hot seats with Dr. Adrienne Youdim, physician, author, and TEDx speaker. He was on her podcast HealthBite and now she's on Get Real. He's worked with Dr. Youdim during his weight loss journey, both in number crunching and dietary shifts, and also in finding the source of his hunger, and thus his pain and grief. Dr. Youdim runs her practice in Beverly Hills where she helps high achieving clients shift their physical and emotional health, so that they can discover even greater professional health. She believes success is best achieved when we're connected to our well-being. We're excited to share her work and her expertise. In this episode, you'll learn: 1. About the importance of body composition when we're losing fat versus muscle 2. That true nourishment goes way beyond food 3. That hunger is way more than physical 4. That GLP-1's wont do the trick without comprehensive and consistent lifestyle shifts 5. That when we turn off the food noise and pause before reaching for the snack, we connect with feelings we need to in order to heal
    Show More Show Less
    39 mins
  • Scheana Shay Shares The Good Side of Talking About Mental Health

    Scheana Shay Shares The Good Side of Talking About Mental Health
    Sep 15 2025
    Jim is getting real with his friend Scheana Shay about her new book The Good Side. He met Scheana and her husband Brock with his late wife Audra a few years ago. They bonded over a shared belief in lifelong marriage and the resilience required for its ups and downs. Scheana opens up about living with OCD and postpartum OCD, the years of misdiagnoses, and what it felt like to finally put a name to her struggles. She and Jim talk about why telling the truth to friends and family is a requirement and how facing the truth is healing. Scheana also shares what it’s like to raise a daughter in the spotlight, balancing openness with protection. Writing The Good Side gave her a way to process her journey on Vanderpump Rules and The Valley. In this episode, you'll learn: 1. Whether Lisa Vanderpump has read Scheana's memoir 2. The ways her marriage is moving through its own truth telling 3. The origin of the name Summer, her daughter's name, and how it connects Jim to Scheana 4. How talking about her post partum OCD has helped other women get to their own diagnosis 5. The pressures of living life on reality TV
    Show More Show Less
    34 mins