Building the Noise Podcast

A woman credited Elana Silber with saving her life but they had never met. After hearing Elana’s reminder on a podcast, she booked an overdue mammogram that led to an early-stage breast cancer diagnosis. In this episode of Building the Noise, Matt Toresco talks with Elana about the power of patient advocacy, understanding your family history, and finding support when cancer turns life upside down. ABOUT THE GUEST Elana Silber is the CEO of Sharsheret, the Jewish breast and ovarian cancer commu

She knew something was wrong. She kept seeking answers. At 39, Megan-Claire Chase found a mass herself and was diagnosed with stage 2A invasive lobular breast cancer. On this episode of Building the Noise, Megan-Claire joins Matt Toresco for an honest conversation about fighting to be heard and navigating a life after cancer treatment that looked nothing like she expected. A patient advocate and director of health impact and strategic partnerships at SHARE Cancer Support, Megan-Claire shares h

You can eat well, exercise, and do everything right and still get breast cancer. So how do you understand your risk and speak up when your concerns aren’t being heard? Clare Dougherty, CEO of the Brem Foundation to Defeat Breast Cancer, joins Matt Toresco on Building the Noise to discuss breast cancer risk, early detection, and patient self-advocacy. Clare shares why negative genetic testing wasn’t the whole picture in her own risk assessment. She also explores confusing screening guidance, th

She needed answers. Instead, she was told to wait until she got worse. For about two years, Tiffany Westrich-Robertson lived as a “mystery patient,” experiencing worsening symptoms without a clear diagnosis. At one point, she was sleeping about 16 hours a day. Before she even knew what was wrong, she made a promise: she would dedicate her life to helping others avoid the same experience. In this episode of Building the Noise, Tiffany joins Matt Toresco to share how that promise led her to fou...

Years after a DUI crash that killed two people, Martin Lockett received a message from a victim’s daughter that he never expected. She had seen the work he was doing and thanked him for keeping a promise he made at sentencing. On Building the Noise, Martin joins Matt Toresco to talk about the crash, the lives of the people who died, and his path through addiction recovery and incarceration. He shares how he became a substance abuse counselor and why he now brings mental health and substance use

What if health insurers deny care because they know most patients will never appeal? In this episode of Building the Noise, Matt Toresco speaks with Marcus J. Hopkins, founder and executive director of the Appalachian Learning Initiative, about the forces preventing Americans from accessing the care they need. Marcus explains how insurance denials, complicated appeal processes, limited health literacy, poverty, geography, and incomplete data can leave patients behind. He also examines the con...