Dr. M's Women and Children First Podcast

Today, I’m joined by Dr. Maeve O’Connor, a board-certified allergist and immunologist practicing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. O’Connor’s training reflects both rigor and range. She completed dual undergraduate degrees at the University of South Carolina Honors College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish before earning her medical degree at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She then completed her internship and residency at the University of Texas and its affiliated hospitals in Houston, where she served as Chief Medical Resident. Her subspecialty training in Allergy and Immunology was completed at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver consistently ranked the number one respiratory hospital in the United States where she developed deep expertise in asthma, allergic disease, and immune dysregulation. She further expanded her clinical lens through fellowship training in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona from 2013 to 2015. Clinically, Dr. O’Connor works at the intersection of pediatrics, immunology, and real family life where eczema isn’t just a rash, food reactions aren’t just labels, and immune symptoms rarely fit neatly into algorithmic boxes. Her work emphasizes careful diagnosis, evidence-based treatment, and avoiding both over-medicalization and missed pathology. In a time when allergy medicine is often reduced to test results and avoidance lists, Dr. O’Connor brings a grounded, thoughtful approach helping families and clinicians distinguish what’s truly allergic, what’s inflammatory, what’s developmental, and what’s simply noise. Today, we’ll explore how allergic disease actually presents in children, why mislabeling is so common, how early immune signals shape long-term health, and how pediatricians and specialists can collaborate more effectively without fear-based medicine. This is a conversation about immune literacy, clinical nuance, and doing better for children in a world where their immune systems are under increasing pressure. I’m excited to welcome Dr. Maeve O’Connor. Dr. M

I think that this is an important time to pause and relook at Polyvagal Theory before continuing with Beyond Behaviors. Polyvagal Theory: Current Status, Clinical Applications, and Future Directions (Porges, S. 2025) "Social behavior and the capacity to manage challenge are dependent on the neural regulation of physiological state." S. Porges   When I dove into Stephen Porges’s 2025 review of the Polyvagal Theory (PVT), I felt like I’d stepped into a crossroads where neurobiology, clinical practice, trauma science, and human experience collide. This paper isn’t merely a summary of three decades of work (all of which I have read); it’s a spirited defense of a paradigm that’s been both celebrated (by me) and contested (by others). What follows is an honest appraisal of what the article teaches us, where it sparks real insight, and where it may fall short, especially through the lens of evidence-based medicine and developmental neurophysiology. (I also went deeper into his 2022 paper in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience for the biophysiology of the ANS) At its heart, the article argues that the autonomic nervous system (ANS), through a set of hierarchically organized circuits centered on the vagus nerve, is not just a background player in stress and homeostasis, but a core regulator of social engagement, physiological flexibility, and behavior. Dr. Porges situates his theory as an alternative and expansion to classical views that treat sympathetic (fight/flight) and parasympathetic (rest/digest) branches as functional opposites. Instead, he proposes a three-component hierarchy: the ventral vagal complex (VVC) supporting social engagement, a mobilization circuit mediated by the sympathetic nervous system or fight or flight state, and a dorsal vagal circuit that facilitates shutdown or immobilization under extreme threat..... Enjoy, Dr. M

This week I sit down with Dr. Stephen Porges, a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, psychometrics, space medicine, and substance abuse. In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders. ​ He is the author of multiple books on his Polyvagal Theory: including the Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation, as well as Polyvagal Safety: Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation. His newest book cowritten with his son is called Our Polyvagal World, How Safety and Trauma Change Us. Dr. Porges is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™ (SSP), which is used by therapists to improve social engagement, language processing, and state regulation, as well as to reduce hearing sensitivities. This is such a fascinating conversation. He brings the worlds of psychiatry and anthropological physiology into union for us to understand the why of trauma reactions and the future unwinding that is now possible. This is a must listen to conversation if you know anyone with trauma history. Please enjoy my conversation with Professor Porges, Dr. M

Review of Chapter 2 of Beyond Behaviors by Mona Delahooke, PhD  "Social behavior and the capacity to manage challenge are dependent on the neural regulation of physiological state." S. Porges  Top Down or Bottom Up? "Before We Respond to Behavior, We Need to Understand Its Origin." With a deceptively simple observation, Dr. Delahooke reshapes the entire field of behavioral intervention: children’s actions come from two very different places in the brain. Some behaviors are top-down, intentional, planned, thoughtful. But many, especially the ones adults find most perplexing, arise bottom-up from stress responses generated by the body’s autonomic nervous system. We often think of this state in terms of fight or flight, however, it is not that simplistic. It is truly any significant response to the outside environment that leads to a neuroceptive reaction that is not governed by the neocortex, top down. If we don’t distinguish the source, our interventions are guesswork at best and often counterproductive at worst. She illustrates this through a case, a child whose impulsive, disruptive behaviors were treated as failures of will or desire. School teachers and teams repeatedly urged him to “use his words,” as though language were a faucet he simply refused to turn on. What no one stopped to ask was the foundational question: Was his nervous system regulated enough to access language at all? Was he gated at the level of the amygdala blocking the ability to use his mind consciously and even have the opportunity to respond to a meaningful request? Is he capable of the ask, not in terms of willingness, but in terms of physiological access to the skill itself? ..... and more Enjoy, Dr. M

Today on Dr. M’s Women and Children First, we’re joined by Dr. Sam Yanuck, a clinician-educator who has spent more than three decades translating immunology from the bench to the bedside. Dr. Yanuck has been in private practice since 1992 and is the creator of Cogence Immunology, one of the most widely respected functional immunology training programs in the world. Through Cogence, he has trained over 9,900 clinicians internationally to think mechanistically about immune signaling, chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, and the complex, often nonlinear patterns that define chronic disease. What sets Dr. Yanuck apart is his insistence on precision. His work focuses on understanding the immune system as a dynamic network—one shaped by timing, context, feedback loops, and individual biology—rather than a collection of isolated lab values or diagnoses. In his clinical model, chronic illness is not random; it reflects an identifiable matrix of immune, metabolic, environmental, and regulatory factors that can be mapped, understood, and addressed. In today’s conversation, we’ll explore how modern immunology reshapes clinical thinking around autoimmunity, chronic inflammatory disease, and long-term health—especially in complex patients where standard frameworks fall short. This is a deep dive. If you care about mechanism, signal over noise, and treating patients with both scientific rigor and biological humility, this episode is for you. Today, we’re stepping outside the sterile lab and into the wild world of evolutionary biology — where our immune system didn’t emerge in a vacuum, but in dirt, in danger, and in the delicate dance between microbe and mammal. Join me and Dr. Sam Yanuck -the clinician, the teacher, and one of the best translators of complex immunology into something both clinically useful and biologically beautiful. Dr. M

Review of Chapter 1 of Beyond Behaviors by Mona Delahooke, PhD  "When we see a behavior that is problematic or confusing, the first question we should ask isn't "How do we get rid of it?" but rather "What is this telling us about the child?" (MD 2019)  The opening chapter sets the stage for a quiet revolution in how we understand children who struggle. Dr. Mona Delahooke invites us to take a step back from the culturally and medically ingrained belief that children’s outward actions are reliable windows into their inner intentions - or what they really mean and want based on their actions. Instead, she asks, nay implores, us to adopt a more biologically accurate, compassionate, and clinically effective lens from which to view each child as they present themselves. Their behavior is communication from a developing nervous system striving for regulation and often stuck somewhere else, either frozen or in flight..... Dr. M

Food in Infancy What do we know? "Humans are the only mammals who feed our young special complementary foods before weaning and we are the only primates that wean our young before they can forage independently. There appears to be a sensitive period in the first several months of life when infants readily accept a wide variety of tastes and this period overlaps with a critical window for oral tolerance. As a result, infants should be exposed to a wide variety of flavors while mother is pregnant, while mother is nursing and beginning at an early age. There also appears to be a sensitive period between 4 and 9 months when infants are most receptive to different food textures. There remains debate about when it is best to begin introducing solid foods into an infant's diet however, the available evidence suggests that provided the water and food supply are free of contamination, and the infant is provided adequate nutrition, there are no clear contraindications to feeding infants complementary foods at any age. There is emerging evidence that introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet by 4 months may increase their willingness to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables later in life, decrease their risk of having feeding problems later in life, and decrease their risk of developing food allergies, and the early introduction of solid foods into an infant's diet does not appear to increase their risk of obesity later in childhood." (Borowitz S. 2021) Food Introductions — What’s the best way to approach it? As infants begin the shift from exclusive milk feeding to solid foods, a range of opinions inevitably emerge on how to navigate that transition. It’s tempting to get lost in modern guidelines, but an anthropological lens is often more revealing. Long before the age of purées in jars and puffed snacks in canisters, human infants ate what their parents ate. It was delivered in whole-food form and mechanically softened by chewing, cooking, or crushing. These early first foods carried important evolutionary advantages...Plus a piece on Hell Yeh or No by Derek Sivers Enjoy, Dr. M

This weeks Guest is Dr. Jeremy Goldberg. He styles himself as a compassion cultivating day making change agent/empathy collecting not quitting word wizard/chief burrito appreciator aspiring to inspire/struggle overcoming ranter in charge/ferocious idealist/never giver upper/a love bombing kindness pirate. What he really does, in my mind, is write and teach the world to project love and kindness where it is not layered enough. On his website he writes: My mission is to make kindness cool, empathy popular, and compassion commonplace. As part of that purpose, I write articles, send emails, host retreats and workshops, give TEDx talks, coach clients, host a podcast, write books, and make spoken word poetry videos. My name is Jeremy, I founded Long Distance Love Bombs, and I am fucking stoked to meet you. Send me an email and let's get going: LongDistanceLoveBombs at gmail dot com. We breakdown words, relationship, connection and being happy in a world of silly tribal divisiveness! In this conversation we discuss his experience as a new father and the initiation of fatherhood. "I have been wiped out and annihilated by parenting and the initiation of fatherhood. Hands down, brutally, face dragged along the hot coals of the initiation...." There are so many real, honest, open truths dropped along the winding road of this discussion. If you are young and ready to understand the world of fatherhood, this is a conversation for you! Dr. M

THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS Every year, as the leaves turn and the air gets that crisp bite, I’m pulled back to 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts where a group of English Pilgrims, religious refugees who had crossed an ocean to breathe free, and their Wampanoag neighbors sat down together for three days of feasting. No treaties, no agendas, just gratitude for a successful harvest and the simple miracle that two very different peoples could share a meal in peace. Food and friendship. That was the entire point. At least, that is what history tells us. Fast-forward two centuries and Abraham Lincoln, in the middle of the bloodiest war this country has ever known, paused on October 3, 1863 to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving. His words still ring true: “The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.... Dr. M

The Evolutionary Tug-of-War - Inflammation’s Double-Edged Sword "Environmental factors, particularly infections, have fundamentally shaped human evolution by selecting for protective inflammatory response mechanisms that enhance survival. This evolutionary pressure has created a core biological paradox: inflammation is indispensable for host defense, yet its dysregulation significantly heightens disease and mortality risk. This fundamental tension raises three fundamental questions about human aging and immunity: (1) How have selective pressures driven the evolution of mechanisms to balance inflammation's protective benefits against its harmful consequences? (2) Why does substantial variability in healthspan persist despite historically stable rates of aging? (3) Does evolutionary prioritization of reproductive fitness inherently limit longevity?" (Manoharan et. al. 2025) Let’s talk about the fire inside us. Inflammation is our body’s 911 system: lightning-fast, life-saving when a bug invades or a thorn rips skin. But leave that alarm blaring 24/7 and the fire torches the house. Evolution faced this paradox: crank the immune dial high enough to survive infection and childbirth, yet install brakes so we don’t self-destruct by 40. Manoharan’s team just mapped those brakes in 17,500 humans and called it immune resilience (IR) or the ability to fight hard, clean up fast, and stay cool afterward... and linguistic aging associations... Dr. M

Today’s conversation takes us upstream—to the source—of one of the most pressing and emotionally charged topics in modern pediatrics: the rise in autism spectrum disorders. Autism rates have continued to climb in 2025, but what if much of what we call “the epidemic” isn’t simply genetics or better diagnosis, but a reflection of deeper biological, environmental, and developmental changes affecting the human organism before birth? To explore this critical question, I’m joined by three extraordinary clinicians who have dedicated their lives to understanding the roots of children’s health and disease. Dr. Sandy Newmark, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF, has spent the past two decades at the intersection of conventional and integrative medicine—focusing specifically on children with autism and ADHD. His approach blends deep compassion with scientific rigor, examining how nutrition, toxins, inflammation, and the microbiome shape the developing brain. Dr. Elisa Song, Stanford-, NYU-, and UCSF-trained integrative pediatrician and author of Healthy Kids, Happy Kids, is one of the leading global voices in pediatric functional medicine. As founder and Chief Medical Officer of Healthy Kids Happy Kids and Tiny Health, she’s pioneering microbiome-centered strategies to reverse chronic disease in children and reshape how we think about wellness from the inside out. Dr. Leslie Stone, family physician, obstetrician, and co-founder of GrowBabyHealth.com, brings a lifetime of experience delivering and caring for over 5,000 babies. Her groundbreaking work in the science of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease—the DOHaD model—shows how what happens before and during pregnancy programs a child’s long-term health, resilience, and risk for conditions like autism. Together, we’ll discuss the emerging evidence that the autism epidemic is not a mystery of genetics alone, but a story written in inflammation, metabolic disruption, environmental exposures, and the developmental stressors of modern life. We’ll explore how integrative and functional medicine are reframing prevention—not just treatment—and what it will take to truly turn the tide for the next generation. This is a conversation about hope, science, and the possibility of rewriting the future—one mother, one child, and one generation at a time.

Back to Sleep and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is defined as “the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history.” During my time at the University of Virginia, I trained under neonatologist Dr. John Kattwinkel, a champion for newborn health and one of the leading figures in shaping national safe sleep policies. In the early 1990s, he chaired the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on Infant Sleep Position and SIDS, which laid the foundation for the landmark Back to Sleep campaign. At that time, SIDS claimed roughly 14 infants per 10,000 live births in 1988. Following the campaign’s launch in 1994, the rate plummeted by over 60%, reaching about 5 deaths per 10,000 live births by 2006. Despite this dramatic improvement, recent data suggest that the decline has plateaued..... Dr. M

Today on Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast, we welcome Dr. Wayne Koontz, a founding partner at Salisbury Pediatric Associates in Salisbury North Carolina, where he has spent over 5 decades caring for generations of families with compassion, wisdom, and a deep commitment to community health. Dr. Koontz earned his Undergraduate degree and his Doctor of Medicine from Wake Forest University, where his early love of science and service began to take shape. He went on to complete his pediatric residency at Dallas Children’s Medical Center, part of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where he received outstanding training in both academic and clinical pediatrics. As one of the founding physicians at Salisbury Pediatrics, Dr. Koontz helped to build a model of child-centered, family-oriented care that has served the Rowan County. His commitment to children’s well-being extends beyond the clinic, reflecting a lifelong dedication to preventive medicine, developmental health, and the nurturing of strong physician–family relationships. It’s an honor to have Dr. Koontz with us today to share his clinical insights as they relate to infection and vaccination from a longevity based pediatric career. Dr. Koontz has a unique perspective to share as his 50 plus years of experience cover the prevaccine infectious disease based practice of pediatric medicine all the way to the current vaccine centric and reduced infectious disease burden reality. That is a timeline worthy of exploration. So lets explore. Dr. M

Speaking Truth in Love: The Weight of Avoidance in Pediatric Metabolic Health After completing the second round of our Asthma and Obesity Metabolic Pilot Program at Salisbury Pediatrics, I left the clinic reflecting deeply on what I witnessed. It crystallized a truth that is uncomfortable but undeniable: the greatest health threats to our children today are not infectious or accidental, they are metabolic. Diseases once reserved for adulthood: insulin resistance, fatty liver, hypertension, early vascular aging are now appearing in children who should be free to run, play, and thrive. In modern society, conversations about weight and metabolic dysfunction have become relatively taboo. This is not to say that children of normal or low weight are immune; they, too, can be at risk. However, the excess-weight group carries the highest statistical burden. Too often, clinicians hesitate to speak truth to families for fear of offending, shaming, or overstepping. In doing so, we risk silence becoming complicity and allowing preventable disease to take root in the very children we are charged to protect. Much of this epidemic is not born of individual failure but of systemic neglect. Government-funded, poor-quality school meals, cheap processed foods, and relentless marketing of sugar and refined carbohydrates have built an environment where metabolic injury is almost inevitable. When a child’s daily fuel is engineered for shelf life instead of cell life, the outcome is not accidental, it is predictable. Our pilot program lab results are a painful window into that truth.... and a literature review on eczema and anaphylaxis. Enjoy Dr. M

Review Part III - after the Attia Podcast After completing the interview with Dr. William Parker and now listening to Peter Attia's analysis, let us look again at this question. I repeat that the initial question has not changed for me. The first and most fundamental question to ask is this: What is the true value of acetaminophen in health compared with the potential risk if the associated findings are indeed correct? My response to this question has been altered by the analysis so far. I love this from Dr. Attia: "Some people might be wondering, why did you just take so long to explain all this to us? Why don’t you just give us the answer? I just want the sound bite, man Peter’s reply, “If you just want sound bites, you’re never going to learn.” Honestly, if you just want sound bites, this isn’t the podcast for you. But if you actually want to be able to learn to think for yourself, then that’s what we’re here to do. And that’s the reason we killed ourselves over the past week to put together the most thorough gathering of all the data we could find and the most intense night-weekend analysis possible. " I agree! I believe that the science and data are key. So here goes - round three!..... Dr. M

Welcome to Dr. M’s Women & Children First Podcast, where we engage with pioneering voices at the intersection of science, healthcare, and the well-being of families. Today on Dr. M’s Women and Children First, we welcome Dr. Elizabeth Mumper, a physician, educator, and thought leader whose career has profoundly influenced the practice of integrative pediatrics. Dr. Mumper earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Bridgewater College, graduating magna cum laude, before attending the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, where she received her medical degree. She completed her pediatric residency at the University of Virginia and served as Chief Resident in Pediatrics. She remained at UVA as an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics from 1997 to 2005, mentoring future physicians and advancing holistic, evidence-based approaches to child health. Following her time in academia, Dr. Mumper founded The Rimland Center for Integrative Medicine in Lynchburg, Virginia, a clinic dedicated to children with autism spectrum disorders, PANS/PANDAS, allergies, and complex chronic illnesses. Her practice integrates the best of conventional pediatrics with biomedical and functional medicine principles, always guided by compassion and curiosity. She has been a leading educator with the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs (MAPS) and a frequent international lecturer, teaching clinicians how to recognize and treat the root causes of immune dysregulation, inflammation, and neurodevelopmental challenges. Dr. Mumper is also the author of the new book Kids and COVID, an insightful exploration of how the pandemic impacted children, physically, emotionally, and developmentally, and what lessons medicine must learn moving forward. In our conversation, we discuss her book in depth, as well as the broader implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for pediatric care, resilience, and future public health policy. Finally, we dive into the complex topic of vaccines, considering what we’ve learned from the pandemic years and expanding the conversation begun with Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Joel Warsh. Dr. Mumper’s lifelong dedication to children, her fearless pursuit of truth, and her balanced, science-driven voice make her one of the most respected figures in functional medicine. Please join me in welcoming my friend and colleague,  Dr. Elizabeth Mumper. Dr. M

Flu season is around the corner and we should take a look at the virus for preparation purposes. Influenza Every few years, I revisit this virus in my writing, not only to keep it on your radar in preparation, but also because of the significant illness and death it continues to cause. It’s never wise to dismiss its potential impact. Influenza reliably returns each year, difficult to escape even with strict isolation. The flu is different from the common cold in many ways as the flu has: 1) Rapid onset with high spiking fevers 2) Muscle and headaches 3) Little to not sneezing and sore throat 4) Rapid and robust cough onset Influenza season is beginning in the United States this fall. Who gets sick? In short, people of all ages. Seasonal influenza has a reproductive rate of just over one, meaning that each infected person typically spreads the virus to one or two others through coughing or sneezing in close proximity. The virus also survives on surfaces for up to 24 hours, creating another common route of transmission, especially in children. Young kids frequently touch surfaces and each other, then touch their faces, providing the perfect pathway for infection. Because of this, schools remain a major hub for flu transmission across the country. Preventing the virus from taking root in your body is the key to avoiding a bad outcome. Things that I think of as critical to avoiding or preventing this infection: 1) Keeping your vitamin D level greater than 50 ng/ml is an important way to prevent influenza infections. Get tested and supplement accordingly. As always the sun is your natural route to normal D levels 2) Get adequate sleep based on your age to keep your immune system in great shape. Sleep is very important for immune health...... and more on asthma driving mental health issues. Dr. M

Welcome to Dr. M’s Women & Children First Podcast, where we engage with pioneering voices at the intersection of science, healthcare, and the well-being of families. Today, I’m honored to introduce Dr. William Parker, PhD. Dr. Parker is perhaps best known for discovering the function of the human appendix, but his contributions to science extend far beyond that single discovery. He studied biology and chemistry as an undergraduate before earning his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1992. Since the 1980s, he has conducted innovative research, publishing more than 150 peer-reviewed articles that span immune function, microbiome science, and human health. Dr. Parker was the first to compare immune systems in wild animals with those of their laboratory counterparts, and among the first to conclude that changes in the human “biota”, the symbiotic organisms living within us, brought on by modern society can contribute to depression and anxiety. After nearly three decades at Duke University, where he served as associate professor and research leader, he founded WPLab, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to understanding and educating about the causes of chronic inflammatory diseases in high-income societies. Currently a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Parker collaborates widely with colleagues from Duke University, University of Montreal, Czech Academy of Sciences, University of Groningen, University of Colorado Boulder, and scientists across the pharmaceutical industry. In recent years, he has turned his attention to a provocative and urgent question: the potential links between early acetaminophen exposure and autism spectrum outcomes. His current work combines mechanistic and epidemiologic approaches to explore how acetaminophen’s effects on human physiology at critical stages of development might influence neurodevelopment. In our conversation, we’ll explore: The evidence and hypotheses behind acetaminophen’s potential role in autism risk What families and clinicians should know: what’s plausible, what remains speculative, and where research is heading next I’m thrilled to share this episode with Dr. Parker, whose intellectual curiosity, scientific rigor, and courage to ask difficult questions embody the spirit of this show. Dr. M

For parents of special needs children, I honor you today. I witness your strength every day in clinic. You rise to meet challenges that many cannot begin to imagine, truly. You navigate medical appointments, therapy sessions, school meetings, and the unpredictable rhythms that come with raising a child with special needs. Often without pause, without adequate rest, and without the recognition you deserve. For those single parents carrying this day to day reality, a double level of gratitude for you. I want to pause for a moment and say what is too rarely said: you are extraordinary. Truly extraordinary. Your love is not passive, it is an active force. It shows up at 2 AM when a child can’t sleep, in the quiet patience during a meltdown, in the persistence to advocate for services in a dysfunctional system requiring resilience summoned when the system says “no” but you know your child needs a “yes.”.... and a discussion of nutritional dark matter. Enjoy, Dr. M

Welcome back to Dr. M’s Women & Children First, where we explore the front lines of children’s health and what matters most for our families. Today I’m honored to bring you Dr. Paul A. Offit, the Director of the Vaccine Education Center and Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He also holds the Maurice R. Hilleman Professorship of Vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Offit is a globally recognized expert in virology and immunology. He has served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. He’s co-editor of the seminal vaccine textbook Vaccines, and for decades has been one of the clearest scientific voices defending evidence, transparency, and children’s health. This week, we’ll dig into COVID, vaccine policy, and what’s ahead for children in light of the latest shifts. Among current headlines: Healthy children and pregnant women are no longer being uniformly recommended for COVID vaccines by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a decision that’s stirring debate among pediatricians and public health experts like Dr. Offit. He’s sharply voiced concerns about removing key vaccine recommendations without new data, and about the broader implications of loosening vaccine guidance for the public good. In this conversation, we’ll cover: What the science says now about bivalent COVID vaccines in kids How recent policy changes affect vaccine access, trust, and safety What parents need to know—what’s changed, what’s stable, and what remains uncertain This is my third time talking with Dr. Offit, and as always, I expect you’ll leave with clarity, evidence, and questions worth sharing. I hope you enjoy this conversation. Let’s dive in. Dr. M