Podcast Episodes
2026 Season 2
#58 Rare Disease = Real Community: Turning Social Media Connections Into Research Partnerships That Drive Precision Medicine Solutions
EPISODE DESCRIPTION: In this episode Kasey Walsh explains how simple social media connections grew into formal research collaborations, a nonprofit, and a patient‑owned data platform, all motivated by her determination to help her daughter Robbie,...
#57 INEQUITY KILLS: Access Without Equal Care Drives Preventable Cancer Deaths
Rome experienced a career high talking with Dr. Otis W. Brawley, a globally recognized Medical Oncologist and Epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, about his work to reduce healthcare disparities. Dr Bawley is a former Chief...
#56 Guardians of the Genome: p53 and the Impact of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome
Journalist Larry Ingrassia speaks candidly with Rome about the years his family spent facing unexplained, early‑onset cancer diagnoses before anyone knew Li‑Fraumeni syndrome existed. He recounts the shock of watching relatives fall ill, the delays...
#55 Precision Medicine Saves Dollars & Makes Sense: How Population Health Screening Can Save Lives for Less
This episode allows us to take a glimpse at how cancer risk screening and pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing at scale, as a standard patient experience supported by workflow tools and system champions, can catch cancer sooner and make treatments safer,...
#54 If a Doctor Can Be Denied Genetic Testing, It Can Happen to Anyone!
In this gripping episode of Genetics for Healthcare, we sit down with Dr. Alexea Gaffney-Adams, an infectious disease specialist and internist who found herself on the wrong side of the medical system she serves. Despite knowing and sharing her...
#53 No Versus Know – How to Speak Up When You Don’t Understand Your Doctor
When doctors speak quickly or use medical terms, patients often leave appointments feeling unsure about what just happened, and that confusion can cost you your life. In this episode Dr. Beatrice Preti explains why it’s crucial to build the...
#52 Don’t Let Your Doctor’s Genetics Blind Spot Kill You – ATM Gene Variants and Cancer Prevention
In this eye-opening episode, we sit down with Krista Brown, an oncology nurse navigator whose personal journey dramatically exposes the critical knowledge gaps in modern healthcare regarding genetic variants and cancer risk. Despite her...
#51 Genetics, Sleep and Your Brain – Precision Medicine Advancing Early Detection in Neurology
Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders don’t appear overnight—they develop silently in the brain for years. In this episode, we explore how genetics, sleep, and lifestyle combine to shape your brain health, and why precision...
#50 TEN Family Cancer Deaths to Zero: The Transformative Impact of Genetic Testing
Diane Hardesty shares her powerful story of losing ten family members to cancer before discovering the life-changing benefits of genetic testing. After learning that she carries Lynch Syndrome—an inherited condition that increases the risk of...
#49 Power to the Patient! How to Talk to Doctors and Advocate for Precision Medicine
In this episode Rome Madison interviews Dr. Marleah Dean Kruzel about her journey as a BRCA2 variant carrier and being a cancer previvor. This has informed her work teaching patient-centered communication to healthcare providers to expand patient...
#48 The Silent Battle: Surviving Life After Conquering Cancer
In this poignant episode, Rome sits down with Mariana Arnaut, the CEO of The After Cancer, to discuss the often-overlooked challenges faced by individuals after cancer treatment. While conquering cancer is a monumental victory, many survivors find...
#47 Trust Your Gut – CDH1 Gene and Preventing Cancer
When Stacey Martin received her mother's stage four uterine cancer diagnosis, she never imagined it would lead to discovering her own genetic time bomb. After her mother tested positive for a CDH1 germline mutation during treatment at Mayo Clinic,...
#46 Powering Precision Medicine in Primary Care: How Endeavor Health is Lowering Downstream Cost of Cancer Care and Chronic Rare Disease
Endeavor Health is proving that precision medicine isn’t just for academic centers or rare-disease clinics. it can be In this episode, Rome talks with Justin Brueck, Vice President of Innovation and Research at Endeavor Health, about how their...
#45 Country Miles to a Clinical Trial – Bridging the Gap to Precision Medicine in Rural America
JJ Singleton was a 27-year-old athlete from the small Appalachian town in North Carolina, when he was diagnosed with aggressive colorectal cancer. His story highlights the alarming rise of early-onset colorectal cancer, a disease now the leading...
#44 You Bet Your Ass! Don’t Gamble on Colorectal Cancer – Win With Screening and Biomarkers
Marianne Pearson, VP of Patient Care and Lindsey Glaspell, Clinal Nurse Navigator at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, join Rome for a blunt, funny — but deadly serious — briefing on colorectal cancer prevention. Marianne breaks down how knowing your...
#43 A Spark of Courage: How Genetic Testing Can Empower You to Prevent Cancer
She thought she was just another woman with lumps and dismissive doctors until a simple saliva test rewrote her future. Veronica Tucker’s story rips through complacency: from being told “(the cancer) is on your father’s side, don’t worry”; the...
#42 Live Boldly! How Amy Cohen’s NYC Marathon Finish Redefined the Limits of Sickle Cell Disease
We are honored to speak with Amy Cohen, who made history as the first person with sickle cell disease to run and finish the New York City Marathon. She opens up about her diagnosis, and the pivotal moment in high school when the reality of...
#41 Precision Medicine in Heart Failure: How Genetic Testing Can Prevent Sudden Death
In this episode research geneticist and author Susan Liebman joins us to tell the personal and scientific story behind her memoir The Dressmaker’s Mirror: Sudden Death, Genetics, and a Jewish Family’s Secret. Susan unpacks generations of silence...
Episode 40 – UNBREAKABLE: Precision Medicine and the Strength of the Sickle Cell Community
In this powerful episode Rome interviews Wumi Bakare and Christelle Salomon, two amazing women who are sickle cell warriors and hosts of the Through the Genes podcast. September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month. Wumi and Christelle share their...
Episode 39 – Next-Gen Cancer Care: An Expert Look at Physician Adoption and Patient Access to Life-Saving Biomarker Testing
Rome sits down with Stephane Budel, Founding Partner at Decibio, a premier strategy consulting firm dedicated to advancing precision medicine. This conversation aims to demystify the complex world of NGS testing, providing patients, caregivers,...
Episode 38 – Positive Genes = Personal Power! How Genetic Testing Drives Confident Healthcare Decisions
This week we sit down with Sara Kavanaugh, the voice behind The Positive Gene Podcast, who shares her deeply personal story as a cancer pre-vivor. Discovering not one, but two gene variants (CHK2 and MSH6 associated with Lynch Syndrome) that...
Episode 37 – More Than a Test: Rome Madison’s Personal Mission to Ensure Patient Access to Precision Medicine
In this special New Year's episode, host Rome Madison steps into the interviewee chair, sharing the driving force behid his two-decade career in precision medicine with DNA Today Podcast host Kira Deneen. Rome recounts his unexpected entry into the...