NYC Health + Hospitals Launches New Episode of The Remedy Podcast

NYC Health + Hospitals Launches New Episode of the Remedy, a Podcast From the Largest Safety Net Health Care System in the United States

Season 2 Episode 3: Treating Violence covers the critical work the public health system's Hospital Violence Interruption Programs (HVIP) do to prevent violence, save lives, and heal communities

The health care system's role as a public hospital system and a major safety net health care system for New York City offers a singular voice that no other health care podcast can

The Remedy is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other platforms

Apr 08, 2025

NYC Health + Hospitals today launched a new episode of its podcast, The Remedy, featuring leaders and health care providers from the nation's largest municipal health care system. Season 2 Episode 3: Treating Violence covers the critical work the public health system's Hospital Violence Interruption programs (HVIP) do to prevent violence, save lives, and heal communities. Host Dr. Michael Shen speaks with James Dobbins, Executive Director of Guns Down Life Up, Dr. Robert Gore, Attending ER Physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings and Founder of Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI), and Yahsef Johnson, KAVI Kings Hospital Program Coordinator, to discuss the work their programs do to break cycles of violence and create lasting positive change in the lives of impacted young people and their communities. Season 2 of the The Remedy will include seven episodes, focusing on frontline workers that often provide care outside the walls of public hospitals and health centers, with a new episode released every two weeks. Season 2 Episode 3: Treating Violence is available now at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other podcast platforms.

"This episode opened my eyes to the fact that the cycle of violence can be treated very much like a preventable disease, and to the critical role our hospital violence interruption programs have in that healing," said The Remedy Host Michael Shen. "I am thankful to our guests for sharing their perspective and for their work breaking cycles of violence time and time again to make lasting peace and positive change in their communities."

"At GDLU we're helping young people put the guns down and have the support they need to lift themselves and their communities back up," said Executive Director of Guns Down Life Up (GDLU) James Dobbins. "I've seen our work change the lives of hundreds of young people and years later how that change continues to impact their families. That's healing, and a lasting solution to gun violence."

"At NYC Health + Hospitals we treat violence as a disease because we know that people who are have been hurt by violence are more likely to hurt others," said Dr. Robert Gore, Attending ER Physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings and Founder of Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI). "Our systemwide approach to treating violence considers our patients' overall wellbeing, and continues well after their physical injuries have healed, because a patient's trauma may take years to heal and impacts everyone around them. That means we look at patients' social determinants of health and support systems to work with their families, friends, school, and their community to ensure they become healthier and at their best. The dedicated and collective network of city wide community organizations, our own hospital violence intervention programs and hospital staff have done an incredible job of growing and strengthening our hospital system to address and treat violent trauma as a concerted community healing effort. This is only the beginning of the great work that is being done."

"The future of our Brooklyn and New York City youth will not be written by bullets, but by the brave actions of our collective community," said Yahsef Johnson, KAVI Kings Hospital Program Coordinator. "Our hospital violence interruption programs continue to support at-risk youth by preventing retaliation and creating alternative pathways to safety and success. Our strength lies not only in how we respond to gun violence, but how we move forward from it working together."

NYC Health + Hospitals' role as a public hospital system and the major safety net health care system for New York City offers a singular voice that no other health care podcast can. It shows how the public health care system provides care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay; offers exciting ways to support patients, including dance and music therapy and support navigating benefits; and responds to the challenges that face New York City, including homelessness, gun violence, and the asylum seeker crisis. The host and guests are all health care system employees with a special perspective on the work they do for patients.

Previous episodes of The Remedy cover the following topics:

Season 2

• Season 2 Episode 1: Community Health Workers covers these workers' vital role in bridging the gap between medical care and social needs like housing, food, and transportation. With over 250 community health workers, NYC Health + Hospitals has built one of the largest programs in the nation. Host Dr. Michael Shen sits down with Natasha McIntosh-Whyte, a Community Health Worker Supervisor, and Nkrumah Powell, a Community Health Worker, to discuss how they help patients navigate a complex system.

• Season 2 Episode 2: How NYC Care Helps Uninsured New Yorkers covers how the program provides health care to low-income and uninsured New Yorkers-regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. Host Dr. Michael Shen speaks with Dr. Jonathan Jiménez, Executive Director of NYC Care, and Maritza Terrones, Health Care Director at La Jornada to discuss how NYC Care started, the importance of outreach through trusted community groups like La Jornada, and the program's incredible outcomes after five years, including improvements for New Yorkers with diabetes and hypertension.

Season 1

• Season 1 Episode 1: The Power of Primary Care features three primary care doctors on how working with their patients informs their roles in leadership at NYC Health + Hospitals. The episode features Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and Chief Executive Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals and a primary care physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur; Dr. Andrew Wallach, Ambulatory Care Chief Medical Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals and Chief of Ambulatory Care at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue; and Dr. Michelle Soto, then-Chief of Ambulatory Care at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health.

• Season 1 Episode 2: Food is Medicine recognizes that plant-based eating is powerful medicine - it can lower high blood pressure and bring type 2 diabetes into remission - and considers how hospitals can help their patients pursue a plant-based diet. The episode features Dr. Michelle McMacken, Executive Director of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, and the health care system's Executive Chef Phil DeMaiolo.

• Season 1 Episode 3: Ready for the Next Pandemic considers how New York City's public hospital system has consistently answered the challenge of Ebola, COVID-19, and Mpox all while staying ahead of the latest health crisis. The episode features Dr. Syra Madad, then the Senior Director of System-Wide Special Pathogens Program and now the system's Chief Biopreparedness Officer, and Dr. Richard James Salway, then-Senior Director of Emergency Management.

• Season 1 Episode 4: Women's Health considers how New York City's public hospital system is expanding access to women's health care in a time when many women across the country are facing restricted access to care. The episode features Dr. Marisa Nadas, Reproductive Health Clinical Lead, and Dr. Wendy Wilcox, Chief Women's Health Officer. Together, they discuss how NYC Health + Hospitals is expanding telehealth and in-person reproductive health services for everyone who needs them.

• Season 1 Episode 5: Caring for the Newest New Yorkers covers how the staff at NYC Health + Hospitals are rising to the challenge of caring for the over 175,000 asylum seekers who have come to our city since spring 2022. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Ted Long, Senior Vice President of Ambulatory Care and Population Health, and Dr. Natalie Davis, Associate Medical Director of Ambulatory Women's Health Services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, to discuss NYC Health + Hospitals' humanitarian centers, providing access to healthcare for asylum seekers, helping migrants deal with trauma they've experienced on their journeys, and much more.

• Season 1 Episode 6: Caring for Homeless Patients covers how NYC Health + Hospitals serves its over 70,000 patients who are experiencing homelessness. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Amanda Johnson, Assistant Vice President of Ambulatory Care and Population Health at NYC Health + Hospitals, and Leora Jontef, Assistant Vice President of Housing and Real Estate at NYC Health + Hospitals, to delve into New York City's housing crisis, explain how safety net clinics and mobile vans are providing care to patients experiencing homelessness, and why New York City's public health care system now has a path connecting hundreds of patients to their own homes.

• Season 1 Episode 7: Helping Healers Heal covershow NYC Health + Hospitals supports the mental health of its more than 40,000 health care workers. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Eric Wei, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, and Jeremy Segall, the System Chief Wellness Officer, to delve into how the pressures of a healthcare job can often lead to stress, burnout, and depression, addressing the stigma around mental health, the system's Helping Healers Heal program, using the arts to de-stress, and more.

About the Host

Michael S. Shen, MD is a primary care doctor at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull and the Medical Director of Woodhull Hospital's Adult Primary Care and Geriatrics clinics. Dr. Shen was previously a Health Affairs Podcast Fellow where he created a 3-episode series about safety net hospitals. He is also an artist who works in watercolor, acrylic, mixed media, and digital media. His illustrative work has been published by National Geographic Books, the American Medical Association's Journal of Ethics, and the Annals of Internal Medicine. Find him on Twitter @MikeShenMD.

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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city's five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system's trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan-all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.