The Reaching Higher Podcast

Former U.S. national team gymnast, actress, and singer-songwriter Jenn Greenhut joins Aaron for an honest, funny, and deeply moving conversation about turning life's hardest moments into purpose. Diagnosed with stage IV triple-negative breast cancer just months after a third failed round of IVF, Jenn was given a 12% chance of surviving five years. Then her oncologist told her something that changed everything: had she gotten pregnant, it likely would have killed her. Jenn shares how that moment helped her see cancer as a gift, how she and her husband Larry wrote Everyone Needs a Larry from both the patient and caregiver perspectives, and why she founded Love, Zero Negative and the Zero Negative Foundation to support patients and fund cancer research. Plus, the wild story of landing a scene alongside her sister in Nancy Meyers' What Women Want, her live storytelling nights, and her new definition of a good life.Show LinksLove, Zero Negative: https://lovezeronegative.comThe Zero Negative Foundation: https://zeronegativefoundation.orgEveryone Needs a Larry (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Needs-Larry-Twist-Cancer/dp/B09YDZSPBTJenn's Thriver List on WeGotThis.org: https://wegotthis.org/blogs/thriver-list/jenn-greenhutJenn's TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6to49cuSJFE

On this episode of the Reaching Higher Podcast, host Aaron Strout talks with Dr. Monica Gandhi, UCSF infectious disease physician, medical director of San Francisco's Ward 86 HIV clinic, and author of Endemic: A Post-Pandemic Playbook. Dr. Gandhi explains how lessons from the HIV epidemic shaped her public voice during the pandemic and why harm reduction, meeting people where they are, should guide public health messaging. She shares how Ward 86 pioneered long-acting injectable HIV therapy for unhoused patients, helping change national DHHS guidelines in 2024. The conversation covers integrating mental health into HIV care, protecting early career NIH scientists, low-cost urine adherence tests for global HIV care, the real-world impact of PEPFAR and USAID cuts, and the Ebola outbreak in DRC. She closes with her best advice for young doctors and researchers: play the long game, stay data driven, and don't succumb to despair.Show LinksEndemic: A Post-Pandemic Playbook (Mayo Clinic Press): https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/product/endemicDr. Monica Gandhi on X: https://x.com/MonicaGandhi9Dr. Monica Gandhi, UCSF profile: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/monica.gandhiInternational Rescue Committee (IRC): https://www.rescue.orgamfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research: https://www.amfar.org

Vilas Dhar, President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and a member of the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on AI, joins host Aaron Strout to define what responsible AI actually means.A former computer scientist turned human rights lawyer, Dhar now leads a $1.5 billion philanthropy funding AI for public good. He unpacks "system agenticness," the risk of outsourcing moral responsibility to machines and explains why boardrooms need new questions for AI strategy, not just adoption metrics. The conversation covers AI's real-world impact on blood-supply logistics and tax preparation, his global policy work at the UN and World Economic Forum, and why he believes hope, love, and human dignity belong at the center of AI governance. They close with quick-fire picks on favorite shows, mentors, and dream concerts.Show Links:Vilas Dhar bio — Patrick J. McGovern Foundation: https://www.mcgovern.org/about-president-vilas-s-dhar/Patrick J. McGovern Foundation: https://www.mcgovern.orgVilas Dhar — Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilas_DharVilas Dhar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vilasdhar/ How Change Really Works by Julia Dhar (Vilas's wife, mentioned as his most-admired person): https://bigthink.com/people/julia-dhar/Queen's Live Aid performance at Wembley, 1985 (Vilas's dream concert): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_performance_at_Live_Aid

Season 3 of the Reaching Higher Podcast kicks off with Marian Goodell, CEO and Founding Board Member of Burning Man Project. Marian's own journey began in 1995 as a first-time participant drawn in by the desert's radical creativity, and it eventually led her to help formalize the organization alongside co-founder Larry Harvey, guiding its growth into a global movement now spanning 34 countries.Aaron and Marian trace the origin story of the Ten Principles, unpack Decommodification as a "permission engine," and dig into why Radical Self-expression and Leave-No-Trace remain so central to the culture. Marian also shares candid reflections from the new HBO docuseries The Man Will Burn, including leading through the historic 2023 flood, and looks ahead to philanthropy's role in the organization's next decade.They close things out with lighter rounds on books, the most impressive people Marian's met, and the artists she wishes she could've seen live.Show LinksBurning Man Project: https://burningman.orgBurning Man Journal (Marian's writing): https://journal.burningman.orgTickets: https://tickets.burningman.orgDonate: https://donate.burningman.orgMarian Goodell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariangoodell/

Welcome back to a special edition of Reaching Higher. We're between seasons, but I couldn't wait to share this conversation with you. I actually recorded this back in June with the idea that it'd be part of a two-guest episode — that didn't end up coming together, so instead you're getting a shorter episode featuring a genuinely good guy in Evan Cudworth, known to the internet as the world's first party coach. I know how that sounds — and Evan gets it too. But strip away the label and what he's actually doing is treating the loneliness epidemic like a fitness problem: your social muscles atrophy just like any other, and the party is where you train them. We get into his pandemic rock-bottom, his "dopamine detox" method, and years spent partying stone sober.Show linkhttps://partycoach.me

In this season two finale of the Reaching Higher Podcast, host Aaron Strout explores myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), POTS, and long COVID through two powerful conversations.First, patient advocate Shannon Riley shares how a 2012 viral infection led to fourteen years of illness, repeated misdiagnosis, and seven years of near-total isolation—until low-dose tirzepatide, a GLP-1 medication, sparked a partial recovery. Then Dr. David Putrino, PhD—Nash Family Director of Mount Sinai's Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness—explains why infection-associated chronic conditions like long COVID, ME/CFS, and chronic Lyme are more connected than they appear. Putrino breaks down medical dismissiveness, off-label treatments (GLP-1s, low-dose naltrexone, low-dose rapamycin), and emerging clinical trials, including mitochondrial transplant. Together, they offer hope, science, and practical guidance for patients still searching for answers.This episode is essential listening for anyone navigating chronic illness, misdiagnosis, or the search for a knowledgeable doctor.Key show links:Dr. David Putrino — Mount Sinai profile: https://profiles.icahn.mssm.edu/david-f-putrinoCohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness (CoRE): https://icahn.mssm.edu/research/cohenPatient-Led Research Collaborative (Long COVID treatment guide & registry): https://patientresearchcovid19.comILADS — Lyme-literate provider search: https://www.ilads.orgRTHM — virtual care for long COVID, ME/CFS, POTS & MCAS: https://www.rthm.com

When Senator Lindsey Graham died suddenly of an aortic dissection, actor Tyler Ritter recognized the coded phrase "brief illness" immediately. In 2003, his father — beloved actor John Ritter — died from the same misdiagnosed condition. In this special return episode, recorded from Argentina, Tyler explains what an aortic dissection actually is, why doctors so often miss it, and how the John Ritter Foundation is working to save lives.During this special episode, we dig into the updated Ritter Rules, why a quick, painless echocardiogram can mean the difference between life and death, and how to advocate for yourself at the doctor's office. Plus, Tyler shares a joyful World Cup detour from Argentina.Show links:* John Ritter Foundation - https://JohnRitterFoundation.org* Previous Reaching Higher Podcast with Tyler - https://reachinghigherpod.com/honoring-his-dads-legacy-through-acting-and-advocacy-tyler-ritters-journey/

For the better part of 14 years, Jim Weiss was my boss, my mentor, and the person who taught me that communication is leadership. He also wrote the foreword to my book, Wired for Purpose. So this one is personal.Jim is the founder and now chairman of Real Chemistry — the company he started as a one-person consultancy in 2001 and grew into a global health innovation powerhouse. Today he hosts the Get Real podcast, a show built on the same mission that has driven his entire career: making the world a healthier place.We're joined at the top of the episode by Kate Voss, executive producer of Get Real, who breaks down how the team went video-first, turned part of Jim's house into a studio, and grew from zero to 25,000 YouTube subscribers and a million views in roughly a year — and why YouTube is still the wild west compared to the walled gardens of audio-only platforms.From there, Jim and I get into the stuff we've been talking about for two decades: what actually keeps a leader grounded when everything is accelerating, why technology should serve humanity rather than replace it, how to know when to trust the data and when to jump off the edge on creative instinct, and what he'd tell his younger self 25 years after starting the company.We also talk about his wife, Audra. Jim turned profound personal loss into public purpose through the advocacy work he does in her name, and he shares what he wants people to understand about who she was. It's the heart of the episode.Plus: GLP-1s as the health game-changer of our lifetime, music as medicine, the three Real Chemistry moments Jim is proudest of across 25 years, the real risk behind the 2021 W2O Group → Real Chemistry rebrand, and a lightning round covering Bravo, Boston accents, biggest regrets, and the one concert he'd travel back in time to see.Show Links:Get Real Podcast with Jim Weiss — https://www.youtube.com/@GetRealwithJimWeissJim Weiss on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimgweissAaron & Jim's 2019 DC interview — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jim-weiss-ceo-founder-w2o-group-understanding-the-7/id1209181618?i=1000385560900Wired for Purpose (foreword by Jim Weiss) — https://www.getwiredforpurpose.comThe Dempsey Center (Audra Weiss's advocacy work) — https://dempseycenter.org/Music as medicine project — https://relix.com/news/detail/mickey-hart-renee-fleming-jim-weiss-and-fnih-establish-music-as-medicine-neuroscience-research-initiative-and-issue-call-for-grant-nominations/

What happens when a single text message becomes a movement? In this episode of the Reaching Higher Podcast, Aaron Strout sits down with Shawn VanDiver, Navy veteran and founder of AfghanEvac, the coalition that has helped resettle more than 195,000 Afghan allies. Shawn traces the story from an August 2021 message from his friend Lucky to building what federal leaders call the gold standard for public-private partnership.Along the way, he shares hard-won lessons on holding 250+ organizations together through clarity over charisma, managing egos, earning trust between government and grassroots, and choosing optimism deliberately because “pessimism has never once resettled a single family.” He introduces unforgettable people—Judy, Tamim, Florence, Syed, Sweda—and reminds us that “showing up is the love language of advocacy.”Show Links:Support the mission: https://afghanevac.org/donateWeekly updates: updates.afghanevac.orgVisa Pathways tool (VPRIC): pathways.afghanevac.orgBattle Buddies program: afghanevac.org/battlebuddiesFollow @AfghanEvac everywhere