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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Recap of Episode 214: A Stroke of Insight

This past Sunday (Nov. 8) on Radio Rounds, we were joined by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, who last year was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (don't worry -- in the coming years, we'll try and speak to the other 99 as well).

In December 1996, Dr. Taylor woke up to discover that she was experiencing a stroke -- but amazingly, as a neuroanatomist, she knew and realized exactly what was happening to her. Three weeks later, neurosurgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital removed a golf-ball sized clot from her brain, and Taylor went on to write a book about her experience and her eight-year recovery. The book is entitled My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey, which spent 17 weeks on the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Bestseller list.

In this episode, Dr. Taylor told us all about her experience, her current perspective on life, and her tireless work as an advocate of stroke patients. She also talked about how people around the world have responded to her unique story and gave advice to physicians on how to treat stroke patients.

This was a really inspiring conversation, and we hope you get a chance to listen to the podcast! For this show (which will be posted soon) and for all of our past episodes, check out our iTunes page, where every episode is free to download.

UP NEXT: Next Sunday (November 15 at 12 p.m. ET), we will be joined by Dr. Conrad Fischer, the Chairman of Medicine at Kaplan Medical and author of the recently released book Routine Miracles: Personal Journeys of Patients and Doctors Discovering the Powers of Modern Medicine. We will also feature a special segment regarding Veteran's Day, which is recognized in the U.S. this week (November 11).
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Meet the Hosts

Avash Kalra is a medical student at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. He is a 2005 graduate of Cornell University, where he majored in Psychology. Before starting medical school, Avash worked for one year at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland, where he conducted research on lifespan extension. He then worked for one year as a clinical research coordinator in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Avash was born in England and lived there for 11 years. He spends his free time working as a staff writer for an NCAA hockey website. Over time, he has developed unhealthy obsessions with college hockey, poker, and the Dave Matthews Band. His favorite television shows include Lost, 24, Dexter, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He is now an avid reader... of medical textbooks. He frequently points out that he has "the perfect face for radio." And -- as you'll discover -- he likes puns.

Lakshman Swamy is a medical student at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. He is a 2005 graduate of the College of Wooster in Wooster, OH, where he self-designed the Neuroscience major. Before joining medical school, Lakshman worked for two years in the Trapp lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation as a lab technician working with multiple sclerosis.

Lakshman is a young gentleman in the MD/MBA program at Wright State, and accordingly, his favorite character on Scrubs is Dr. Kelso. He has an eclectic taste in music, loves audiobooks -- especially mysteries -- and watches 24, M*A*S*H, and Battlestar Galactica. Yes, two of those shows have run their final season -- he is also constantly behind the times. He has NO idea what he wants to do with his life, but he is sure it will involve turning down the position of Surgeon General for bigger and better things.

Shamie Das is an MD/MBA dual degree student at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University. He graduated from Emory University in 2004 as a dual major in Biology and Sociology. He went on to earn his Masters Degree in Public Health in 2007 from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. As a graduate student, he also performed bench research in Molecular and Cell Biology at the Emory University School of Medicine. In his free time during college, Shamie volunteered as an EMT-Intermediate and went on to become certified as a Paramedic.

Shamie was born in England and soon after moved to the US. In his free time he enjoys photography, traveling and fine cuisine. A few of his life goals are to visit every continent and climb Everest. An avid extremist, Shamie enjoys leaping out of perfectly good airplanes, white water rafting and jumping headfirst into gorges. Recently engaged, he also spends countless hours on the phone with his fiancée. His favorite authors include Hemingway, Frost, and Crichton (and of course Robbins). Television is a thing of the past in his current life, but occasionally he still watches PBS and listens to NPR and (of course) Radio Rounds.