Author: Mitch Belkin

I am a radiology resident at University of Maryland Medical Center. Outside of medicine, I am excited about Brazilian Jiujitsu, meditation, and podcasts on financial independence.

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19. Rick Johnson, MD: Fructose, Metabolic Syndrome, and Bipolar Disorder

Rick Johnson

In this conversation, Mitch Belkin and Daniel Belkin speak with Rick Johnson, MD, about how his views on fructose metabolism have evolved over the past decade. If you haven’t checked out the first episode with Dr. Johnson (episode 9), check that out for more background.

In this episode, Dr. Rick Johnson talks about endogenous fructose metabolism, the thrifty gene hypothesis, fat as a source of metabolic water, dehydration and how it stimulates fat production, as well as the relationship between uric acid and bipolar disorder. He also talks about how alcohol-induced liver disease is actually mediated by fructose. Finally, he argues that fructose metabolism is a significant contributor to Alzheimer’s disease. 

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Who is Rick Johnson?

Dr. Johnson is a Professor of Nephrology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is one of the world’s leading experts on fructose. His research focuses on the role of fructose and uric acid in obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and kidney disease. He is the author of over 700 academic papers as well as three books for a general audience: The Fat Switch, The Sugar Fix, and most recently Nature Wants Us To Be Fat.

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18. Nikhil Krishnan: Healthtech Startups, Dank Memes, and Zero to One in Healthcare

Nikhil Krishnan

In this conversation, Mitch Belkin and Daniel Belkin speak with Nikhil Krishnan about his healthcare newsletter (OutofPocket), why he’s optimistic about healthcare startups, and what he’s learned from investing in health tech companies. He talks about his preferred business models and gives advice to healthcare entrepreneurs on the zero-to-one phase of startups. We also discuss direct-to-physician and direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals, digital therapeutics, unbundling of the hospital, and touch on medical education. 

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Who is Nikhil Krishnan?

Nikhil Krishnan is a prolific blogger and masterful meme-maker who writes about healthcare. He’s the author of a free newsletter (outofpocket.health) on which he tries to make healthcare and changes in the industry accessible. Previously, he worked at TrialSpark, building a new way to run clinical trials faster and cheaper, and CB Insights creating data driven research trends in healthcare. He is the author of a children’s book and a Medical Bankruptcy Game.

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17. Robert Montgomery, MD: Immunology, Pig Organs, and the Future of Transplantation

Robert Montgomery

In this episode, Mitch Belkin and Daniel Belkin speak with Robert Montgomery, MD, DPhil, about his background, family history of cardiomyopathy, as well as his work in immunology and transplantation. We discuss the 3 types of organ rejection, how to manage and prevent rejection, porcine endogenous viruses, as well as Dr. Montgomery’s work on xenotransplantation. This podcast was recorded on February 4th, 2022. 

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Who is Robert Montgomery?

Dr. Robert Montgomery is a Professor of Surgery and the chair of the Department of Surgery at NYU Langone as well as the director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. He received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and completed his surgical residency, multi-organ transplant fellowship, and post-doctoral fellowship in Human Genetics at Johns Hopkins. He also received a Doctorate of Philosophy in molecular immunology from the University of Oxford. He’s been the recipient of many awards including the Johns Hopkins Clinician Scientist Award, the Champion of Hope Award from the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, and the Terasaki Medical Innovation Award from the National Kidney Registry.

Dr. Montgomery developed the first laparoscopic kidney procurement technique for transplants as well as the first “domino paired donation” — which is when two or more donors and recipients are paired in a kidney swap. He helped develop a protocol combining kidney and bone marrow transplants to prevent rejection of donor organs in immune-incompatible patients which has eliminated the need for immunosuppressive therapy in some patients. In September 2021, Dr. Montgomery performed the first xenotransplantation of a nonhuman kidney to a deceased human donor.

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16. Ben White, MD: Radiology, Medical Education, and Blogging

Ben White

In this episode, Mitch Belkin and Daniel Belkin speak with Ben White about his background and reasons for selecting radiology. We discuss ways to improve radiology residency training and medical school education. We briefly touch on physician shortages, Dr. White’s blogging at BenWhite.com, and his nano-fiction project (Nanoism). 

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Who is Ben White?

Dr. Ben White is a practicing neuroradiologist and an Associate Program Director at Baylor University Medical Center. Dr. White obtained his Medical Degree from University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio before completing a radiology residency and neuroradiology fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He’s a prominent blogger at BenWhite.com, the editor of a nano-fiction website, and the author of three books, including a free book on student loans.  

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15. Michael Levin, PhD: Limb Regeneration, Bioelectricity, and Why Neurons Aren’t Special

Michael Levin

In this exciting episode, Mitch Belkin and Daniel Belkin speak with Professor Michael Levin about bioelectricity, the electrical potentials that cells use to communicate with one another. Professor Levin argues that bioelectricity is the software of cellular communication and is the medium through which we can control top-down modular programs for cancer prevention, limb regeneration, and birth defect repair. This interview covers how he co-created Xenobots; how somatic cells function like neurons; how his work incorporates insights from Karl Friston on collective intelligence and the free energy principle; and his dream of building an anatomic compiler, a theoretical biological-design program that would allow users to produce any anatomic configuration of any organism using bioelectricity. 

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Who is Michael Levin?

Professor Michael Levin is a biologist at Tufts University, where he investigates informational storage and processing in biological systems. He received a dual Bachelor’s in computer science and biology at Tufts. He then received his PhD in Genetics from Harvard where he characterized the molecular-genetic mechanisms of embryologic left-right asymmetry. Nature lists this discovery on its 100 milestones of developmental biology of the century. Currently, he is the director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. He is the co-editor in chief of the journal Bioelectricity, the founding associate editor of Collective Intelligence, and he sits on the editorial advisory board of Laterality. He has published more than 350 papers. His lab is currently interested in understanding how somatic cells form bioelectrical networks to store memories, developing the next-generation of AI tools to understand top-down control of pattern regulation, and using these insights to enable new possibilities in regenerative medicine and engineering.

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