Jackie made it to her mid-40s without anyone mentioning BRCA testing to her — despite being an Ashkenazi Jew who saw doctors regularly. She partnered with Myriad Genetics, the company that discovered the BRCA gene, to push for wider testing. The test is a simple saliva kit at learnmyrisk.com, and insurance covers it if you have a young, rare, or multiple-cancer family history.
Where this was said
At 29:48 · chapter starts 29:30
Jackie reveals that despite being a regular doctor-goer and an Ashkenazi Jew, no one ever suggested BRCA testing to her until her father's diagnosis. She's partnered with Myriad Genetics — the company that discovered the BRCA gene — to publicize that a simple saliva test at learnmyrisk.com returns a comprehensive genetic and cancer-risk profile. She lays out the three insurance-covered triggers: a family member with rare cancer, young-onset cancer, or multiple cancers. Male breast cancer qualifies as rare, which helped her father get covered. The unofficial fourth criterion Jackie advocates loudly for: being Ashkenazi Jewish, since 1 in 40 Ashkenazi Jews carries the mutation — roughly 10 times the general population rate of 0.2–0.3%. [1] — Jackie Tohn "Insurance covers BRCA genetic testing under three official criteria: a family member with rare cancer, young-onset cancer, or multiple canc…" 26:28
AI nailed Andrew Huberman's vertigo-vs-low-blood-pressure diagnosis because that pattern has been reported millions of times. But every patient's liver is different and data on liver surgeries is scarce worldwide — making solo robot surgery dangerous. The rule is simple: data abundance means AI can help; data scarcity means keep the human in the loop.
Fei-Fei Li's father had liver surgery performed by a da Vinci robot guided by a surgeon. The result: 10 times less blood loss than a typical procedure. This isn't replacement — it's the gold standard of human-machine collaboration, where the human's judgment and the robot's precision combine.
US drug overdose deaths fell from 110,000 to roughly 70,000 — the biggest CDC-recorded single-year drop ever. Men's rates fell 27% in one year, and the steepest decline of all was among 15–24-year-olds, down 37%. The crisis narrative around young men needs to make room for signs of genuine progress.
Kessler thought his grief expertise would protect him. It didn't. When his son David died unexpectedly, he found himself on the floor — and eventually realized that acceptance alone wasn't enough. That unmet need became the sixth stage: finding meaning.
Grief isn't just death — it's any unwanted change. Kessler lectured at Coca-Cola and General Mills not because they had lots of funerals, but because change management is grief management. People who grieve well live well.
Witnessing someone's grief isn't just emotional support — it's an essential act of healing. Kessler argues grief is a severance and connection heals it. But real witnessing has two steps: seeing the pain AND affirming the person's capacity to recover.
Avoiding grief isn't free — it's exhausting. Kessler's beach ball metaphor nails it: pushing a small balloon down is easy, but holding a massive beach ball underwater takes constant, draining energy. Unattended feelings don't disappear; they just consume you.
Most people try to control their environment to avoid triggers. Kessler flips this entirely: triggers aren't problems to manage around — they're a detailed map to your pain and your healing. Every trigger points directly to what needs attention.
Running from pain doesn't leave it behind — it accelerates the chase. Whatever we run from pursues us, and whatever we face transforms us. Both Kessler and Lewis Howes testify to knowing both roads firsthand.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.