Hi, I'm Henry Bear. And I'm Tyler Johnson. And you're listening to The Doctors Art, a podcast that explores meaning in medicine. Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered, what makes medicine meaningful? Can a stronger understanding of this meaning create better doctors? How can we build healthcare institutions that nurture the doctor-patient

connection? What can we learn about the human condition from accompanying our patients in times of

suffering? In seeking answers to these questions, we meet with deep thinkers working across health care,

from doctors and nurses to patients and health care executives, those who have collected a career's worth

of hard-earned wisdom. Probing the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we will hear

stories that are by turns heartbreaking, amusing, inspiring, challenging, and enlightening.

We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do. Join us as we think out loud about what illness and

healing can teach us about some of life's biggest questions.

A quick note to listeners, this episode was recorded in December 2024 after the nomination

of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services had been announced, but prior to his confirmation, some comments by the podcast hosts and our guest will reflect this timing.

Elephants rarely get cancer, ants quarantine when sick, and altruistic pigs have a higher pain tolerance.

In this episode, we discuss insights from the animal world that shed light on human health and wellness, as well as the power of data-driven narratives in effective public health education.

Our guest is Dr. David Agus, founding CEO of the Ellison Medical Institute and

Professor of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Southern California. As a CBS

news contributor and author of three New York Times best-selling books on health, Dr. Agis

emphasizes the need for experts who are willing to explain rather than tell. Having experienced

the politicization of public

health during the pandemic, he highlights the importance of data transparency and the urgency

for more physician leaders. With technological advances making data collection and analysis

ever more accessible, Dr. Aga shares a vision for the future of medicine, where patients bring

their own health data to the

clinic and physicians act as educators guided by the values of their patients. David, thank you so

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