UB Medicine Podcast
Listen to the podcast where transformation meets innovation in health care. Broadcasting from the heart of downtown Buffalo, NY, this exciting series dives deep into the evolving landscape of health and wellness in Western New York.
Episode 13 – Building a Lifesaving Community: CPR/AED Training, Equity & Empowerment Across WNY
Out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrest remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States. More than 350,000 Americans experience cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year, yet survival remains near 10 percent, despite strong evidence that immediate CPR can double or even triple a person’s chance of survival.
Western New York reflects these national trends, with significant disparities in CPR access and training across communities. But through sustained, community‑driven outreach, the region is emerging as a model for improving cardiac emergency readiness, particularly in historically underserved neighborhoods where the need is greatest.
In this episode, host Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, speaks with Leslie J. Bisson, MD, and Karen Bisson, BSN, a dedicated CPR/AED outreach program coordinator at UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, about their leadership in advancing community CPR readiness across Western New York. The conversation explores how grassroots education, lived experience, and public engagement can strengthen the fabric of community health—and why CPR literacy is one of the most powerful, achievable public health interventions today.
The discussion also reflects on how nationally visible events, such as the 2023 cardiac emergency involving Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, have renewed urgency and momentum around CPR education in Western New York and beyond.
Check Out Past Episodes
Missed an episode? Tune in to powerful past discussions to discover how Western New York is becoming a hub for health transformation.
Each episode of UB Medicine features candid, insightful conversations with the region’s most respected doctors, medical pioneers and wellness advocates who are redefining what it means to be healthy in today’s world.
Covering a range of themes, episodes of the UB Medicine podcast bring you stories that inspire, inform and empower. Whether you’re a health care professional or someone just looking to live better, this podcast offers real talk, expert opinions, a few surprises, and a local lens on the national health conversation.
Visionary leader Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, hosts the UB Medicine podcast. She is an internationally recognized neurologist, accomplished researcher and health science administrator. Brashear was appointed vice president for health sciences at the University at Buffalo and dean of the Jacobs School in December 2021.
She also leads the strategic integration of interprofessional education and practice, health sciences collaborative research, and clinical programs across the university’s health science schools — the Jacobs school, dental medicine, nursing, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, public health and health professions — as well as programs among our hospital and clinical affiliates.
Brashear is an internationally renowned researcher in movement disorders and an expert in ATP1A3-related diseases, a spectrum of rare neurologic disorders. Additionally, she is a powerful advocate for promoting diverse leaders in medicine and a lifelong champion of advancing women’s leadership in medicine.
She is committed to educating the next generation of medical doctors and research scientists, exploring areas of clinically impactful and cutting-edge discovery science, conducting impactful research, and cultivating relationships through community involvement.