
- Sigall Bell
- Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
- Posted: 06/05/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Patients who suffer medical errors get a range of responses from doctors and other parts of the medical establishment. Dr. Sigall Bell has researched this topic - finding out why a good response is often so difficult - and suggests ways to improve outcomes, system-wide.

- Mark Pochapin
- Director, Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health
- Posted: 06/05/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
- 1 comment
There's always hope, says Dr. Mark Pochapin, even in dire situations. To underline his point, he finishes his presentation by bringing a special guest to the stage.

- Robert Martensen
- Lecturer, Harvard Medical School
- Posted: 06/05/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Dr. Martensen explores the end-of-life experience, which he also covers in his excellent book A Life Worth Living: A Doctor's Reflections on Illness in a High-Tech Era.

- Dan Ford
- Patient advocate
- Posted: 06/05/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Dan became interested in patient advocacy after his wife suffered a severe injury due to a medical error. He is an active volunteer with a number of patient safety, patient/family-centered care, and quality committees regionally, nationally and internationally.

- Daniel and Ken Trush
- Founders, Daniel's Music Foundation
- Posted: 06/05/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Daniel and his father Ken founded Daniel's Music Foundation (see danielsmusic.org) to provide free music classes to people with disabilities.
Daniel describes the foundation's genesis this way: "When I was 12 years old, one of my five brain aneurysms burst in my head while I was playing basketball. I was in a coma for 30 days and hospitalized for 341 days, but who's counting? Although I still face challenges, music has always played an important role in my life. It helped me in my recovery and still brings me happiness. I want to share this gift with you."

- John La Puma
- Author, ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine
- Posted: 04/06/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Food as medicine. Eating right can be delicious and can give such strong health benefits as to reduce the need for, or even replace, expensive medicine. Dr. John La Puma, known online and on-air as ChefMD, describes some simple steps to enjoy better health with better food.
See also:
• Twitter: @johnlapuma
• Website: drjohnlapuma.com
• ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine, by John La Puma

- Olie Westheimer
- Founder, Brooklyn Parkinson Group
- Posted: 03/15/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
- 2 comments
People with Parkinson's disease have a lot in common with dancers, explains Olie Westheimer: they are constantly learning how to move. With this in mind, Olie co-founded "Dance for PD," a series of dance classes for people with Parkinson's and their caregivers - taught by professional dancers in Brooklyn's Mark Morris Dance Group. This story shows the difference that one person can make, in creating a community - and the difference a community can make in the world.
See also: Brooklyn Parkinson Group

- Cathy Salit and Sharon Krumm
- President, Performance of a Lifetime; and Director of Nursing, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center
- Posted: 02/23/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Oncology nurses have one of the toughest jobs in the world: treating cancer patients day after day and maintaining focus and professionalism despite the taxing emotional terrain. Here Cathy Salit and Sharon Krumm describe a unique project that has helped improve the working environment for nurses at Johns Hopkins.
See also:

- Javette Orgain
- Family physician and Chairperson, Illinois State Board of Health
- Posted: 02/04/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Practicing medicine on the south side of Chicago, Dr. Javette Orgain describes her work at a community health center there. The challenges and issues in the patient experience, she says, would be better addressed with improved "health literacy."

- Jim Withers
- Founder, Operation Safety Net
- Posted: 01/20/10 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Bringing healthcare directly to the homeless, as Dr. Jim Withers describes in this Gel Health talk, is difficult but rewarding. As a founder of the global street medicine movement, and the subject of the documentary "One Bridge to the Next," Dr. Withers has accomplished a great deal - both in his home city of Pittsburgh with Operation Safety Net and throughout the world in dozens of cities now maintaining street medicine practices.
See also:
• Operation Safety Net, Dr. Withers' project in Pittsburgh
• streetmedicine.org, the initiative supporting street medicine practices globally
• One Bridge to the Next, the documentary about Dr. Withers' work.

- Bill Brownstein
- Founder, Kids RX
- Posted: 12/23/09 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
- 2 comments
A pharmacy can offer friendly and personal service - and thrive. Bill Brownstein, founder of Kids RX, describes the approach he takes in his New York-based pharmacy and the outcomes that he and his customers have enjoyed as a result.

- Michael Christensen
- Co-founder, Big Apple Circus; founder, Clown Care
- Posted: 11/22/09 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
Visiting children and their families in the hospital, Clown Care founder Michael Christensen has learned to focus on "what's going right" in the room. Speaking at the first Gel Health conference, Christensen describes how his clown rounds got started, and finishes with an on-stage performance as Dr. Stubs.
See also: Big Apple Circus's Clown Care

- Bridget Duffy
- Former chief experience officer, Cleveland Clinic
- Posted: 11/17/09 | Recorded at Gel Health '09
- 8 comments
After breaking her leg, Bridget Duffy got a close look at the patient experience - by being a patient herself. At the first Gel Health conference, Bridget discusses what she learned - and what has inspired her, throughout her career, to advocate for improved patient experience.
See also: Video of Bridget Duffy at Gel 2008

