Thanks for sticking around again remember you can always donate whenever you want
Click the link. Do what you can. I, we all really appreciate it and they really appreciate it as as you're probably
beginning to see listening to these interviews.
Our next one is a very interesting, very special one because Dr. Ken Jeong
interviews Dr Rishi Desai
Rishi you might recognize him
He's been around the block as my dad used to say so, uh, here's Ken and Rishi. Enjoy.
Hi, this is Ken Jeong and I am talking to Dr. Rishi Desai of osmosis and
We are here talking to benefit project cure where which is providing
PPEs and other equipment to hospitals all over the country in need during this
Coronavirus pandemic or COVID-19 and
Rishi, it's it's an honor for me to talk to you. You are you're my hero for
bringing truth to power and
and you are
reminding us all as a society regardless of etiology, you cannot gaslight a virus. This is a global problem
This is not just a national problem. This is not just one political problem
This is a global problem where we all have to work together.
Thank you so much. The first thing I'll say is that
I think when I first found out I had the opportunity to talk to you
I was thrilled and and the reason for that is that I think in my life
I always aim high and sometimes I set a low and I aimed to be a comedian
I really genuinely wanted that I didn't get that and so I settled for MD instead
And so I'm talking to someone who's both, which I think it's pretty awesome. So
Wait, wait that blows my mind. So that's true. You you actually
You did want to be a comedian earlier on in your life?
Yeah, I mean it's one of those things. I've always wanted to try to get the courage to go and do stand-up
I've never done it but it's one of those things where I take notes at my bedstand and
kind of jot down things that I thought were funny during the day and I'll I'll pitch things to my three-year-old son and
He'll laugh, I think just confused. But um, but no I I
definitely do think that what you do is is amazing and I think it's a huge honor to talk to you
Well, I respectfully disagree Rishi. I do I
Think you look at me
I think America can look at me and anyone in medicine if they look at me do my comedy they're like
Oh, I could be that bad. I could do that, too. So, so thank you
Thank you. Nonetheless, but
What
In all seriousness, what you are doing is so important and please, you know,
describe what you do, what you do for osmosis. I actually subscribe to your YouTube channel and and
and your background and and your
And and your medical background because you have a you've got a lot of credits that aren't on IMDB like mine
So you got some legit credits. So tell me.
As a chief medical officer, What I do day-to-day is a lot of content. with COVID-19
all-hands-on-deck on making good education for COVID-19 is what we're doing
And and thank you for all you do and your videos are are
amazing and they're I mean and they're way over my head. Now some can argue
it doesn't take much either literally or figuratively. I mean like today, I was watching a video about you know talking about angio
angiotensin receptor blockers and how that may or may not be beneficial in patients with ARDS
And you know what? That's not what I talk about on the masked singer
I'm really I'm really trying to figure out the unicorn's Tori Spelling
So it's a little bit different what I do now, but what you are doing I find,
you are not only informing the public how you would see on news outlets. But you you are informing other physicians.
My wife's a physician and coincidentally we were talking about like ACE inhibitors and and its relation to
acute respiratory distress syndrome, so and
She had to repeat it 10 times because it took me a while
So it was a great afternoon, but something that you covered in two minutes to other physicians.
But what inspired you to do that in reaching out to physicians only as opposed to
talking to the public? and and what are what are kind of the the benefits of that?
So one of the things I realized is that there are almost two different arenas
where we're fighting COVID-19. One is in the community and we talked about flattening the curves and the main message there is
pretty simple. It's stay at home, you know stay at home as much as you can
don't go out unless you absolutely need to and if you need to go out wear a mask and be careful, so
So basically be a celebrity I get it. I stay at home. I don't like to get out. Yeah
Yeah, so but no
Yeah, everyone now is living like a celebrity nationwide. So you get it, its not so great ain't it, so
(laughs)
But you know, I think at the forefront right now and what everyone is talking about
whether it's criticism of
Of call to action. In terms of your forecast for a vaccine, what is your projection of that of that?
The fact is I don't think vaccine is going to get here in any timeframe that's gonna be meaningful for us right now
so it's likely gonna be 2021 I think and that means that we have to figure out what to do between
April of 2020 and whenever that happens and a lot of the strategies that we're talking about in doing now are
around figuring out how to know we're talking about at the front kind of flattening the curve but also
The other half that we haven't talked about is strategies around raising the line. How do you raise the line around
healthcare capacity? right so you'll have this curve but you got to raise that bar up and there are things we can do today
yeah, I don't think, that's the first I've ever heard of the term raising the line and and in what you've described just yes and I
And I do think right now what we both live in we both live in California,
you know and as of right now as we're doing this, there's talk in the media, you know
just not to be complacent. The curve appears to be flattening
but not to be complacent. You know, being able to provide this equipment is
raising the line and I believe that we all need to think that way. Just be unselfish
think of think of other people. Think of, you know,
when it like when we're in California it's not about just protecting ourselves to protect ourselves
We protect ourselves so we don't infect somebody else. We don't infect a loved one
We don't infect someone, you know in society, you know in terms of you know, raising the line
I believe that what project cure is all about
If you asked any healthcare provider what they want, they want two things right now, right?
They want to feel protected and they want rest. A lot of them are fatigued.
So if you think about those in turn,
if one healthcare provider gets sick with COVID-19, just one, that person has lunch
they have dinner. Like you they may have a partner in medicine as well.
All those people get exposed, many of those people get quarantined. If our chain breaks at the healthcare system,
We all break. This is why it's so important to have their backs.
We have to have health care providers backs right now.
And that's what you know things like getting N95 masks is all about, as I see it.
You know when I when I first saw you on TV, I was like man,
he is just telling it like it is. And I just give you so much props for your fearlessness
your
your passion and
at its best medicine is also an art form and and you have
made this your art and and in terms of you telling me that you know, you wanted to be a comedian growing up
You're so much better what you are
You're you're a true artist, you're a true visionary and you're inspiring and you're you're you're inspiring, you know,
old farts like me, you know, so it's really it really is just it's just an honor to talk to you and
I look forward to talking to you in the future
I look forward to you know
having a drink with you person to person where I can pick your brain a little bit more and
it real, I just want to thank everyone at Medscape. I wanna, I want to thank everyone at Project Cure.
Please please donate to the number that you see below us and and most of all
You are truly one of my heroes and a role model for me. It is, uh,
I've been waiting
I'm just so excited to have talked with you and and thank you for continuing to
Inspire and more importantly continuing to to educate all of us. Thank you so much. Thanks a lot Ken
I can't follow up with anything more than just donate to project cure. It's been such an honor Medscape. Thank you. Thank you, brother
Thank you, man
You can join osmosis to raise the line and flatten the curve by simply going to osmosis.org/covid19
Thanks a lot. Take care