Live Healthy WV

Are you struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder or depression and medication just isn’t working? Then transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS therapy, may be for you. We talk with neurologist Dr. Umer Najib of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute about how this noninvasive, in-office treatment for OCD and depression is helping many patients find relief.

Get ready Elkins, Randolph County, and surrounding area. The Elkins Corridor Medical Center is coming soon and bringing WVU Medicine healthcare even closer to home, all under one roof. We talk to United Hospital Center president and CEO Dr. David Hess about building this new hospital without beds that has everything from primary care to urgent care, cardiac care to cancer care, labs, imaging, and everything in between. 

One in 100 babies born in West Virginia are born with some form of congenital heart disease. How do you treat tiny hearts with big problems?From the Harmony Valve to Preemie PDA Closure, we talk about some truly amazing treatments for these heart conditions with pediatric cardiologist Dr. Alex Verhoeven of the WVU Medicine Children’s Heart Center. Most of these pioneering procedures are minimally invasive and only available at a small group of hospitals, including WVU Medicine Children’s.

An estimated 35 million Americans see a chiropractor each year, but how much do you know or think you know about chiropractic medicine?We unravel some of the mystery behind chiropractic care and do a little chiropractic myth busting with Dr. Nicholas Marchesani, a chiropractor at the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management. Spoiler alert – chiropractors do much more than just crack your back.

Do you suffer from acid reflux or a hiatal hernia? Are you at risk for esophageal or lung cancer?We talk about how thoracic surgery can treat thoracic conditions from reflux to cancer and hernias to lung nodules.  Thoracic surgeon Dr. Jason Lamb of the WVU Heart & Vascular Institute talks about the latest treatments – most of them minimally invasive – for the most common thoracic diseases.

Endoscopy is used for so much more than colonoscopies, and it just keeps getting better. Advanced endoscopy is an alternative to surgery used for diagnoses, removal of blockages and precancerous cells, and much more – all minimally invasively. And now with AI, we’ve reached a whole new level of early detection and better outcomes.We talk with Dr. Shyam Thakkar, director of Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy at WVU Medicine, about all these exciting advances.

Called “the most contagious virus known to man” by some, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 but seems to be making an unwelcome comeback in 2024.  And now the first case of measles has been reported in West Virginia in 15 years. We talk with WVU Health System Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Stevens about how to protect yourself and your family from getting this serious disease.

An estimated six-to-nine million people in the U.S. have scoliosis, a backbone deformity where the spine has a side-to-side curve.  But early diagnosis and newer treatment options are leading to better outcomes in breaking the curve of scoliosis.We talk with Dr. John Lubicky, chief of pediatric orthopaedic surgery at WVU Medicine Children’s, about how to tell if your child has scoliosis and the cutting-edge procedures to treat it.

You take your child to see a pediatrician, so if you’re 65 or older, why wouldn’t you see a geriatrician for your healthcare needs? If you’re an older adult or looking after a parent or loved one in this age group, you’re probably concerned about the increased risk for falls, memory problems, and multiple health issues.These are all conditions a geriatrician can diagnose and treat.  We talk with WVU Medicine geriatrics chief Dr. Osvaldo Navia about how a geriatrician can help you age gracefully and healthfully.

Kidney disease is among the leading causes of death for West Virginians. It’s known as the silent disease because there are usually no symptoms early on, so most don’t even know they have kidney disease.We talk with transplant surgeon Dr. Rajeev Sharma about how to prevent kidney disease and how the WVU Medicine Transplant Alliance is making kidney transplants more accessible, helping more patients get off dialysis.

A recent global study indicates cancer rates have surged 80 percent in three decades among adults under 50. What’s causing this alarming increase in middle-aged cancer diagnoses, and what can be done to reverse this trend?We answer those questions and talk about real things you can do right now to prevent cancer with Dr. Nour Daboul, a hematologist and oncologist at the WVU Cancer Institute.

Ozempic, Wegovy, Monjouro, Zepbound – chances are you probably know someone who’s using one of these injectable weight-loss drugs. A recent large-scale study sponsored by the makers of Wegovy found the drug not only helped with weight loss, but also cut the risk of heart attack, cardiac-related death, and stroke.During this American Heart Month, we’re asking, “Are these drugs good for your heart?” We talk with Dr. George Sokos, interim chair of the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute Department of Cardiology, to find out the answer to that question and more.