Posted by Elena del Valle on February 21, 2024
Radioactive poster and director
Photo: First Run Features
A new documentary, uplifting, inspiring and distressing, about the 1979 Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania nuclear power accident and the events that followed was released in theaters December 2023. It is due to become available on DVD and via Apple TV and Amazon streaming next month. Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island, from Three Mile Productions, shines a light on the “never-before-told” stories of four homemakers who take their community’s case against the plant operator to the Supreme Court as well as the story of a young woman journalist.
The 77-minute documentary consists of archival video and modern day interviews with some of the women who lived in the area at the time and others. The film features activist and actor Jane Fonda, whose film, The China Syndrome (a fictional account of a nuclear meltdown), opened 12 days before the real disaster in Pennsylvania. It also breaks the story of a “radical new health study” seeking to uncover the truth of the meltdown. According to promotional materials, for more than forty years, the nuclear industry “has done everything in their power to cover up their criminal actions” and insisted that “No one was harmed and nothing significant happened.”
According to the film in April 1979 a government commission studied the accident and concluded that although it was the fault of the nuclear operator no humans had been harmed. In the film Mary Olson, founder, Gender Radiation Impact Project, says “Radiation is ten times more harmful to young females than to Reference Man and 50 percent more harmful to comparable females.”
Heidi Hutner, the director, via a publicist, declined to be interviewed or to answer questions about the documentary. According to promotional materials for the documentary it won: Audience Award – Best Documentary at the Dances With Films Festival, New York City; Best Director and Best Documentary at the Full Frame International Film Festival, New York City; and Best lnvestigative Documentary at the Uranium International Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro.
Hutner is also the writer and producer of the film. According to promotional materials, she is professor of Environmental Humanities and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University, and a “scholar of nuclear and environmental history, literature, film, and ecofeminism;” and she is the winner of Sierra Club Long Island’s 2015 Environmentalist of the Year Award.
Posted by Elena del Valle on February 7, 2024
The Well-Lived Life
Photo: Simon and Schuster
India born Gladys McGarey, M.D., now 103, grew up to become a medical doctor in the United States. According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal and her biography although she retired from her medical practice when she was 86 she continues to be a practicing doctor. Her biography indicates she lives in Arizona where she runs a life-coaching business. Last year she penned The Well-Lived Life A 102-year-old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age (Atria, $27.99), a book about her life in which she shared some of the lessons she believes she has learned that may apply to readers.
According to the same Journal article she has been interviewed 200 times since May 2023. Someone managing her Instagram account appears to be active. A publicist, who responded via email, declined a podcast interview saying “her calendar is currently full for the time being” although no specific date was requested. The same publicist failed to respond to a recent request for the author to answer questions via email.
The 239-page hardcover book published last year is divided into six sections, one for each of the lessons. According to her book she believes readers should: have a purpose (she calls it juice) in life; keep moving through their lives; believe in the power of love; remember the importance of connectedness; learn from life experiences; and keep a positive attitude.
According to the website of The Foundation for Living Medicine (formerly, The Gladys Taylor McGarey Medical Foundation) the author sees patients one day per week and “She helps patients through difficult times with ‘life coaching,’ dream interpretation, and her own form of ‘Living Medicine.’”
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on January 10, 2024
Photo: Cassandraquave.com
In The Plant Hunter A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines (Viking, $27) Cassandra Quave, Ph.D., associate professor of dermatology and human health, Emory University, shares her life’s journey in pursuit of plants and their curative properties. Quave describes her growing years in Florida, including a childhood peppered with surgeries, her pursuit of an education meant to lead her to medical school and her charge of heart following an internship in the Amazon.
The 371-page hardcover book published in 2021 is divided into three main parts: Nature, Infection and Medicine. In its pages the scientist describes her marriage to an Italian man and the birth of three children, alongside studying for a postgraduate degree, her search for a steady income stream that resulted in grants and took her to Emory University where she also became herbarium curator.
Two attempts to reach Quave by email via her website and the publisher over weeks failed. She responded initially to a more recent message and has yet to reply for an interview request.
According to her biography she leads anti-infective drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, food, and health; is the co-founder of PhytoTek LLC, “a drug-discovery company dedicated to developing solutions from botanicals for the treatment of recalcitrant antibiotic-resistant infections.” Her website lists, among other current and past funding sources, the National Institute of Health, National Eczema Association, United States Agency for International Development and The Coca Cola Company.
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 18, 2023
Jennifer Chesak, author, The Psilocybin Handbook for Women
Photo: Jennifer Chesak
A podcast interview with Jennifer Chesak, author, The Psilocybin Handbook for Women, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses her book and psilocybin mushrooms with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
According to her bio Jennifer is an award-winning freelance science and medical journalist, editor, and fact-checker, and her work has appeared in several national publications, including The Washington Post. She earned her master of science in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill, and she teaches in the journalism and publishing programs at Belmont University.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. It is also possible to listen by looking for “Podcast” then select “HMPR Jennifer Chesak” and download the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the December 2023 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 4, 2023
Fred Cohen, M.D., headache specialist, Mount Sinai Medical System
Photo: Fred Cohen
A podcast interview with Fred Cohen, M.D., headache specialist, Mount Sinai Medical System, New York City, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, he discusses sleep and migraines with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
An assistant professor of Medicine and Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, he is trained in Internal Medicine and Headache Medicine. A life-long headache sufferer, his research interests include treatments for chronic migraine and evaluating the epidemiology, burden, and impact of migraine. He is assistant editor of Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain and Current Pain and Headache Reports.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. It is possible to listen by looking for “Podcast” then select “HMPR Fred Cohen, MD” and download the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the December 2023 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on November 13, 2023
Lara Pizzorno, lead author, Healthy Bones Healthy You
Photo: Lara Pizzorno
A podcast interview with Lara Pizzorno, lead author, Healthy Bones Healthy You, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses periodontal disease and osteoporosis with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Lara is also the lead author of a prior book on bone health, Your Bones; is the bone health expert on The AlgaeCal Community, a FaceBook group of 30,000 members, and is two thirds of the way through a Masters in Science in Clinical Nutrition at Maryland University of Integrative Health.
A member of the American Medical Writers Association for more than 25 years, Lara is senior medical editor for Salugenecists, Inc., and Integrative Medicine Advisors, LLC. She was editor of Longevity Medicine Review, which is no longer being published but remains available on line. A member of ResearchGate, she regularly writes review articles for physicians on issues related to healthy aging. Her latest papers are available on PubMed in Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. It is possible to listen by looking for “Podcast” selecting “HMPR Lara Pizzorno” and downloading the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the November 2023 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 30, 2023
Fred Cohen, M.D., headache specialist, Mount Sinai Medical System
Photo: Fred Cohen, M.D.
A podcast interview with Fred Cohen, M.D., headache specialist, Mount Sinai Medical System, New York City, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, he discusses migraines with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
An assistant professor of Medicine and Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, he is trained in Internal Medicine and Headache Medicine. A life-long headache sufferer, his research interests include treatments for chronic migraine and evaluating the epidemiology, burden, and impact of migraine. He is assistant editor of Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain and Current Pain and Headache Reports.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. It is also possible to listen by looking for “Podcast” then select “HMPR Fred Cohen, MD” and download the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the October 2023 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on October 16, 2023
Stephen M. Kohn, author, Rules for Whistleblowers
Photo: Leslie Rose
A podcast interview with Stephen M. Kohn, author, Rules for Whistleblowers A Handbook for Doing What’s Right, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, he discusses the New Whistleblowing: Protect Yourself for Doing What is Right with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Stephen, an attorney specializing in whistleblower cases, co-founded the National Whistleblower Center in Washington, D.C., and is a founding partner of the law firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP. According to his bio Stephen secured the largest tax whistleblower reward for Bradley Birkenfeld, who exposed the Union Bank of Switzerland’s (UBS) tax evasion; successfully represented Howard Wilkinson, the whistleblower in the “largest money-laundering scandal in history involving Danske Bank;” and was instrumental in creating provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Dodd-Frank Act, Internal Revenue Service Qui Tam whistleblower program, and United States Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. He is the author of seven books. He is also a professor of whistleblower law at Northeastern University School of Law.
To listen to the interview, scroll down and click on the play button below. It is possible to listen by looking for “Podcast” selecting “HMPR Stephen Kohn” and downloading the MP3 file to your audio player. You can also find it on the RSS feed. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the October 2023 section of the podcast archive.
