Welcome to The Dr. Brian’s Health Show, a weekly podcast where Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler uses his decades of experience in medicine and ability as an expert researcher to provide a light-hearted approach and share health trends popular on TikTok. In this episode, Dr. Brian welcomes Lung Transplant Specialist, Dr. David Weill to the show to discuss how Dr. David is helping patients, patient’s families, and transplant teams navigate their transplantation journey to reach optimal outcomes.

What is emphysema and what causes it? Is vaping safe? What can we all do to keep our lungs as healthy as possible? Find out in today’s episode!

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Key Takeaways01:16 – Dr. Brian introduces today’s guest, Dr. David Weill, who join the show to share his expertise as a transplant pulmonologist and the top reasons people need a lung transplant

07:08 – What is emphysema and what causes it?

09:26 – A fun fact about our lungs

10:28 – The dangers of vaping and the risk of lung re-transplants

17:55 – Tips for keeping your lungs as healthy as possible

21:04 – Dr. David’s book, Exhale

25:44 – Empathy, caring and separating emotion from outcome

28:58 – The decision to transition out of clinical practice

32:00 – Finding common ground among differing personalities

36:24 – Where listeners can connect with Dr. David and find his book

37:39 – Dr. Brian thanks Dr. David for joining the show to share his expertise

Tweetable Quotes

“One in five patients who are listed for a lung transplant will die on the waiting list. So, there’s a real shortage not only in lung, but in the other organs as well.” (04:37) (Dr. David)

“A smoking related lung disease, emphysema is a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Some people may have heard of COPD. That’s essentially the same thing.” (07:43) (Dr. David)

“There’s a vast array of chemicals in a vape and what goes into the lung. But even more than that, it’s thermal energy. So, in other words, it produces very high heat in the lung, and the lung is quite sensitive to very high temperatures. The damage can not only come from the chemicals that are contained in the vape oil, but also from the heat that’s generated. It’s much hotter than cigarette smoke.” (10:52) (Dr. David)

“As marijuana increasingly becomes more mainstream in our society, we’re seeing more and more research that it’s not quite the benign drug that we thought it was maybe early on, mainly because there wasn’t much research on it when it was illegal.” (18:19) (Dr. David)

“It was very difficult for me to separate how much I cared from accepting an outcome that was not good. And, I don’t think I ever really learned how to do that well over the course of my career.” (25:25) (Dr. David)

“What I try to do now is coach the teams through everything and try to figure out a way to get on the same page. That’s probably the number one value that I can bring to programs now.” (31:46) (Dr. David)

Resources Mentioned

Dr. David’s Website

Dr. David’s Book

Dr. David’s Instagram

Dr. David’s Twitter

Dr. David’s Facebook

Dr. David’s LinkedIn

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Please remember, Dr. Brian is a doctor, but he is not your doctor. He is here to provide general information, not medical advice, so you should always check with your doctor before relying on any information.

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