Society is increasingly providing, to individuals with Down Syndrome, resources tailored to enrich their lives. As this happens, we all learn lessons about accomplishment, ability, compassion, and what makes every human valuable. Researchers, meanwhile, are finding new ways not only to help Down Syndrome patients achieve their dreams, but are also discovering special skills — such as non-verbal communication and unique kinds of emotional awareness — which the condition seems to engender. We speak with a leading advocate, a neuroscientist, and a mother and her daughter with Down Syndrome, about the insights of this sometimes beautiful, sometimes challenging, medical condition.

The Wisdom of Down Syndrome - The Best Medicine with Erik Campano

What does Alzheimer's teach us about radically caring for each other -- and embracing the transitory nature of mental clarity? We speak with people who have experienced Alzheimer's disease from a number of different perspectives: Dr. Stephen Ginsberg is a neuroscientist at the forefront of the biology and treatment of Alzheimer's; Jed Levine has decades of experience as Executive Vice President of the New York City chapter of the Alzheimer's Association; Max Lugavere and Richard Isaacson, MD, are working, respectively, on a documentary film, called Bread Head, and prevention clinic for young people, to help them reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's later in life; and Scott Russell is an individual with Alzheimer's, who speaks publicly about the experience of the disease from within, and also makes and sells stuffed animals to fund Alzheimer's research.

Love in the Name of Alzheimer's Part II - The Best Medicine with Erik Campano

We could completely eradicate malaria worldwide, say experts like Drs. Johanna Daily and Myles Akabas of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. If so, why haven’t we? Malaria kills about half a million children die each year; that’s the equivalent of five to seven jumbo jets of children crashing per day. What might new treatments look like? How do we improve health care in malaria-infested regions? And what will it take to move business and political leaders to fund the final eradication of the disease? In this three-part series, we try to unpuzzle the science and logistics of ending malaria.

The Malaria Mystery Part I - The Best Medicine with Erik Campano

The Malaria Mystery Part I - Billboard

We delve deeply into the science behind malaria treatments, and explore what resources are needed to eradicate the disease worldwide.

The Malaria Mystery Part II - Billboard

The Malaria Mystery Part II Final - The Best Medicine with Erik Campano

In this, final, part of the program, we discuss the experience of treating malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, and what the international community can do to end malaria.

The Malaria Mystery Part III Billboard

The Malaria Mystery Part III Final - The Best Medicine with Erik Campano

T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, which primarily affects children, has seen survival rates go from 0% to 85% since 1965. That’s because of advances in chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation. Among children who don’t respond well to standard chemotherapy, however, less than a quarter survive. Now, researchers at NYU have found a new way of reversing the growth of the cancerous white blood cells in T-ALL. It involves stopping the action of a receptor protein on the cells’ surface, and it promises to revolutionize treatment not only of T-ALL, but perhaps of many cancers, by changing the microenvironment around tumorous cells.

Billboard - How To Shrink A Leukemia Tumor

How To Shrink A Leukemia Tumor - Final

Umeå Theatre Company Sveriges Radio Interview - actor Jakob Säfsten

An interview with Marie Dornheim, Umeå University Master of Cognitive Science '19, about the technology she is developing with Liza Kaltsouni '19 to use virtual reality to help rehabilitate patients with stroke-induced aphasia

Aphasia interview with Marie Dornheim '19

The Best Medicine is a radio show and podcast that uses story-telling to shed light on medicine through a new prism. The show considers medical conditions not only as biological science, but as a shared human experience, a source of compassion, and a well of hope.

The Best Medicine is a production of WKCR 89.9 FM and WKCR HD-1, Columbia University in the City of New York.

The Best Medicine with Erik Campano

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