Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast is exploring all the ways we can create the healthiest generations of children ever. 

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

Chief Executive Officer Wizdom Powell, PhD, MPH, CMHC, joins the podcast to discuss how Unified Youth is reshaping mental well-being for young people through creativity. Drawing on her experience working with veterans and military families, Dr. Powell shares how the same principles of healing in community — what she calls “speaking to the wounds” — can help today’s youth remember who they are and reimagine who they can become. It’s a conversation about radical healing, belonging and the transformative power of art and purpose in building a healthier future for all.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Featuring:
Wizdom Powell, PhD, MPH, CMHC, Chief Executive Officer, Unified Youth

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

Nemours Children’s Health is proud to be the official Children’s Hospital of the Philadelphia Phillies. For the third year in a row, the Phillies welcomed our podcast team to share powerful stories from Childhood Cancer Awareness Night on September 13, 2025.

In our first segment, we talk with Douglas J. Harrison, MD, MS, Division Chief of Hematology/Oncology/Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Inaugural Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation Presidential Endowed Chair, Nemours Children’s Health, who reflects on his unlikely journey from college theater major to nationally recognized pediatric oncologist and researcher.

In our second segment, we meet 11-year-old pediatric cancer patient Vishaal and his sister, Sahasra, who share how life shifts for a family after a cancer diagnosis. We’re also joined by Vishaal’s clinician, Nicholas Manini, MD, Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist, Nemours Children's Health, who offers insights into Vishaal’s care and prognosis.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Douglas J. Harrison, MD, MS, Division Chief of Hematology/Oncology/Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Inaugural Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation Presidential Endowed Chair, Nemours Children’s Health
Nicholas Manini, MD, Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist, Nemours Children's Health
Vishaal A., pediatric cancer patient
Sahsra A., sister of a pediatric cancer patient

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

Achieving health equity is a complex and ongoing endeavor that involves addressing various social, economic, and systemic factors that contribute to disparities in health outcomes among different populations. 

If it sounds like challenging work, it is. But that hasn't stopped The California Endowment's Dr. Tony Iton from making it his life's work. We sat down with Dr. Iton to discuss his insights on the root causes of health disparities, the status of health equity efforts today in the U.S., and the $1 billion effort he leads with health equity in mind. 

Carol Vassar, producer

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

In 2022, a $25 million donation from the Ginsburg Family Foundation established the Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity at Nemours Children’s Health. One major initiative of the Institute is the Ginsburg Health Equity Scholars Program. The scholars program seeks to prepare rising members of the healthcare, public health, and scientific workforce to conduct research into children’s health equity and deploy evidence-based programs and resources into underserved communities. Nancy Molello, Executive Director for the Ginsburg Institute, joined us to share details of the Ginsburg Health Equity Scholars Program alongside one of its inaugural scholars Brianna Karim.

Apply to be a Ginsburg Scholar. The deadline is March 15, 2024.

Guests:
Nancy Molello, MSB, Executive Director, Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity at Nemours Children’s Health
Brianna Karim, Health Equity Program Coordinator and Ginsburg Scholar, Nemours Children’s Health

Producer/Host: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

In 2022 a $25 million donation from the Ginsburg Family Foundation established the Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity at Nemours Children’s Health. The Institute represents a first-of-its-kind initiative to advance health equity for children in medically underserved areas by partnering with communities and codifying evidenced-based approaches that are effective, scalable and transferable. This week's guests Nancy Molello and Marc McMurrin highlight the work they have accomplished in this area as well as the Institute’s future.

Learn more about the Ginsburg Institute.

Guests:
Nancy Molello, MSB, Executive Director, Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity at Nemours Children’s Health
Marc McMurrin, President & CEO, Ginsburg Family Foundation

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

From the time a pediatrician or parent suspects a child could be affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) until an actual diagnosis takes over two years! On today’s episode, we learn about two strategies that are currently in use to reduce that time to just weeks — or even days.

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

In part two of our series, we dig deeper into conversations with our Black physician leaders, guided by our Black, African and Caribbean Associate Resource Group. Joining the table in today’s episode is Latonya Quann, Clinical Operations Supervisor for Nemours Children’s Health, Orlando, and Jane deHeers, Director of Operations, Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Services, Nemours Children’s Health in Delaware. Latonya asks our physicians what helped them get to where they are today and to share any advice they can give to the next generation of Black leaders. Jane concludes our five-question discussion with what our physicians envision for the future of Black leaders.

Answers revolving around these questions of Black leadership growth and sustainability include the magnification of imposter syndrome in the Black community, leaning on champions in your corner, the importance of sharing experiences across race and hierarchy, and the power of perseverance. 

Dr. Robyn Miller shares her take on the importance of DEI: “I want people to be able to show up as their authentic selves and be accepted for their authentic selves and be able to learn as their authentic selves because that's who goes in the room with patients, and patients need to see those authentic selves.” 

To hear a more detailed account of our physicians’ experiences, be sure to tune in and listen! 

• Kara Odom-Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS, Executive Vice President, Chief Population Health Officer, Nemours Children's Health
• Alfred Atanda, MD, pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Surgical Director, Nemours Children's Center for Sports Medicine
• Lonna Gordon, MD, PharmD, Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine, Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida
• Cedric Von Pritchett, MD, pediatric otolaryngologist, Co-Director of Nemours Children's Ear, Hearing and Communication Center
• Robyn R. Miller, MD, Interim Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine and Pediatric Gynecology, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware

Featured members of the Nemours Children's Health Black, African, and Caribbean Heritage ARG:

• TeNeasha Billingsley, MSN, CPNP-AC
• Taynika Jones, BS
• Jane deHeer, PT, DPT, MBA, CLT
• Latonya Quann

Host/Producer, Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

February is Black History Month and, to celebrate, the Well Beyond Medicine podcast welcomed colleagues from the Nemours Children's Health Black, African and Caribbean Heritage Associate Resource Group (ARG). They posed questions about diversity, equity, and inclusion to Black physician leaders across the Nemours Children's enterprise, including:

• Kara Odom-Walker, MD, MPH, MSHS, Executive Vice President, Chief Population Health Officer, Nemours Children's Health
• Alfred Atanda, MD, pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Surgical Director, Nemours Children's Center for Sports Medicine
• Lonna Gordon, MD, PharmD, Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine, Nemours Children's Hospital, Florida
• Cedric Von Pritchett, MD, pediatric otolaryngologist, Co-Director of Nemours Children's Ear, Hearing and Communication Center
• Robyn R. Miller, MD, Interim Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine and Pediatric Gynecology, Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware

Featured members of the Nemours Children's Health Black, African, and Caribbean Heritage ARG:

• Danielle Davis-Evans, BSN, RN
• TeNeasha Billingsley, MSN, CPNP-AC
• Taynika Jones, BS
• Jane deHeer, PT, DPT, MBA, CLT
• Latonya Quann

Host/Producer, Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common and severe form of muscular dystrophy. According to Nemours KidsHealth.org, it affects boys more often than girls. According to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, heart and respiratory muscle problems emerge in the teen years and can lead to serious complications. In terms of the heart, the issue at hand is cardiomyopathy.

Dr. Takeshi Tsuda is a pediatric cardiologist at Nemours Children’s Health who studies cardiomyopathy in boys with Duchenne. He joins this episode to talk about the unique qualities of cardiomyopathy in young teenagers with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which have not previously been well characterized.

Guest:
Takeshi Tsuda, MD, Pediatric Cardiology
Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware Valley

Host/Producer: Carol Vassar

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management. 

Subscribe, review or let your voice be heard at NemoursWellBeyond.org.