Healthcare Unfiltered

Maen Abdelrahim, MD, PhD, Section Chief of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center—home to the nation’s highest-volume liver transplant program—joins the show to discuss the expanding field of transplant oncology, including which patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver, biliary cancers, and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma may benefit from liver transplantation. He explores the history of liver transplantation and the ...

Paolo Tarantino, MD, PhD, medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, joins Chadi for a deep dive into the rapidly evolving world of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)—sometimes dubbed “super-chemotherapies.” He traces the fascinating origins of the ADC concept, including a centuries-old scientific insight that foreshadowed their development, and explains the biology behind how these targeted therapies deliver potent cytotoxics directly to cancer cells across tumor types. Dr. Tarantino a...

Award-winning stem cell transplant pioneer, Dr. Richard Burt, discusses his book “Kill Switch: The History of How Viruses Shaped Humanity and Led to COVID-19,” guiding listeners through the deep, often surprising role viruses like smallpox, polio, HIV, and COVID-19 have played in shaping human civilization and global health responses. With factual clarity and a historian’s eye, Dr. Burt explains the development of scientific understanding and vaccines without political agenda, offering histor...

In this cross-collaboration episode, Drs. Sam Armstrong and Karine Tawagi—hosts of the “Two Onc Docs” podcast—join the show to share their personal journeys into oncology and the inspiration behind launching a podcast for the oncology community. The conversation then expands into a candid, practical discussion of oncology career paths, offering fellows and early-career physicians real-world guidance on choosing a first job, negotiating contracts and compensation, evaluating mentorship, and ba...

Returning guest Megan Melody, MD—lymphoma and CAR-T hematologist at Tampa General Hospital and the University of South Florida—joins the show for a practical, data-driven discussion on the evolving role of measurable residual disease (MRD) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in lymphoma. The conversation explores which lymphoma subtypes benefit most from MRD assessment, the available commercial assays and their sensitivity and specificity, how MRD and PET imaging should be used together (or not...

Chadi sits down with Gregory Vidal, MD, PhD, medical oncologist at the West Cancer Center, for a comprehensive, state-of-the-field discussion on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Dr. Vidal walks listeners through how TNBC emerged as a diagnosis of exclusion, who is most commonly affected, current treatment paradigms and sequencing in early-stage and metastatic disease, and key considerations around surgery, recurrence risk, and unresolved questions. The conversation also explores modern d...