Today Thought's (Neal Bernard, MD)

Neal Bernard, MD: The Cancer Project

Neal Barnard is the founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Dr. Barnard is also president of The Cancer Project, a nonprofit organization advancing cancer prevention and survival through nutrition education and research.

Neal Barnard, M.D., is a clinical researcher, author, and health advocate. He has been the principal investigator or coinvestigator on several clinical trials investigating the effects of diet on health. He was a coinvestigator on a study, conducted in conjunction with Georgetown University, of the effect of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes, and was the principal investigator of a study on dietary interventions in diabetes, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted under the auspices of the George Washington University School of Medicine, in association with the University of Toronto. Dr. Barnard was also the principal investigator of a study assessing the effects of dietary interventions on premenstrual and menstrual symptoms and of a study on weight loss in postmenopausal women.

He is the author of dozens of publications in scientific and medical journals as well as numerous nutrition books for lay readers and is frequently called on by news programs to discuss issues related to nutrition, research issues, and other controversial areas in modern medicine.

He is a frequent lecturer at scientific and lay conferences and has made presentations for the American Public Health Association, the World Bank, the National Library of Medicine, the Franklin Institute, the American Medical Writers Association, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and many state dietetic associations.

Stay tuned for conversation with Neal when he and I discuss a visionary's perspective in providing integrative health care.

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Proposal questions for Neal:
1. Neal, please tell us something of your academic background and at what point you decided to go into medical school.

2. What kinds of ideals did you have as a pre-med and medical student regarding the kind of impact you wanted to make in health care?

3. Can medical professionals today have a practice and do research, while providing public health information (speaking and writing articles), which are a lot of roles, or are doctors too busy, therefore require a select group of ambitious practitioners like yourself to make sure all physicians can integrate into their protocol what trustworthy colleagues as researchers like you discover during your work in the field?

4. Neal, you not only act as advocate for your own colleagues but for public health through interest and work as clinical researcher and author.   What experiences and insights encouraged this focus in your medical career?

5. Is it fair to say that you have an interest in diseases that are impacting, preventable, incurable, and manageable through public health information? Why? What are the diseases you feel need most attention now? Why?

6. There is a lot of interest these days in what dentists do to screen for oral cancer, which can also contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. What do you feel about this trend?

7. What of other therapeutic contributions made by allied health practitioners, such as optometrists? Nurse Practitioners? Physician Assistants?

8. How do you feel about the pharmaceutics industry and general commercial economics impacting the consumer's choice, especially those having a direct impact on their health and well being? What about certain diets, which are touted as the answer to everyone's needs (Atkins')?

9. Please share some of your findings regarding diabetes prevention and management through diet? Is heredity still an important factor in diabetes or are there newly discovered factors more statistically relevant, like health risk and socially learned behavior through eating habits and life style?

10. And cancer? What about prostrate cancer and breast cancer, more specifically?

11. Sometimes one's economic stability affects the ability to eat more healthfully because higher quality food can be expensive. What do you think of this reality and is this changing (school of thought and actuality)?

12. Vaccinations are a hot topic right now, from lessening the impact of a flu epidemic to preventing cervical cancer. What are thoughts on health authorities endorsing vaccinations for prevention?

13. With new discovery regarding original standards in medical care comes controversy, when certain practices are considered acceptable and cost effective. How often do your discoveries suggest the need for investment at the expense of health care cost, yet suggest an immediate health benefit today and cost reduction in the future?

14. Are third party insurances eager to make changes with the scenario described in question (13)?

15. Do you have a needful comments and opinions on the FDA affecting what drugs we research and get approved for investigational studies? What about the role FDA plays in helping us define what organic food means? Any ideas on food processing and the FDA's role on making sure that meat processing is safe for the public, in other words, is the FDA adequately staffed?

16. Followers of Holistic Approach and New World Spirituality have converged into a powerful interest group. In general, what are your feelings and observation in this movement and the impact they make?  Is what they promote all good?

17. Are you a spiritual person, and if so, do you feel your higher purpose role is facilitated through your profession?

18. What would you advise a medical student today about the state of health care today? Is socialized medicine an option, which offers inherent benefits to how the public views health care as a right or privilege?

20. Neal, please share with the audience a bit of wisdom, some measure that was useful in helping you find your path and stay on your path benefiting the world?

(Click here) Neal Barnard MD Health Advocate!               Click here to download MP3