Dr. Jonathan Kuo Reveals The Ultimate Biohacking Guide... | DSH #2021

Summary

Digital Social Hour: "Dr. Jonathan Kuo Reveals The Ultimate Biohacking Guide..." (DSH #2021)
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Dr. Jonathan Kuo, Extension Health
Date: June 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly sits down with Dr. Jonathan Kuo, founder of Extension Health in New York and a leader in the field of longevity, biohacking, and regenerative medicine. Their wide-ranging conversation demystifies popular trends like peptides, blood “washing,” cutting-edge brain health treatments, and the integration of AI into advanced medical diagnostics and personalized care. Dr. Kuo also shares his own health journey and critiques the current healthcare system while offering tangible advice for listeners seeking to optimize both physical and mental well-being.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Current State of Healthcare and Preventative Medicine

• Incentive Problems: Dr. Kuo criticizes the current medical system, saying it’s “all jigged to disincentivize just proper care” ([03:05], [48:30]). Primary care doctors are rushed, leading to missed opportunities for preventive advice on diet, sleep, and exercise.
• The only way to survive is “literally you have to see 30 patients a day” ([49:00]).

2. Introduction to Extension Health

• Dr. Kuo introduces Extension Health as a “longevity center” focusing on personalized precision medicine using advanced diagnostics like full-body scans, biomarkers, peptides, and even stem cells ([04:41]).
• “We create a whole plan for you,” says Dr. Kuo, emphasizing custom protocols ([04:41]).

3. Peptides, Blood “Washing,” and Detoxification

• Peptides: Exploding public interest (“number one most searched term in the world on Google” – [05:09]), but Dr. Kuo insists on fundamentals: “You can’t put peptides on a substrate that doesn’t function well” ([05:22]).
• Dangers of do-it-yourself peptide injections. “They need to be treated with respect, as a medication. They should be prescribed by doctors.” ([05:22])
• Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (“blood washing”): Used to remove inflammatory proteins, cytokines, and persistent environmental toxins like PFAS, glyphosate, and microplastics ([07:23]).
  • Notable: Even well-known figures like Troy Aikman and Brian Johnson have used these therapies ([08:08]).
• “Microplastic exposure is impossible to avoid these days…You can decrease your levels and control exposure, but I wouldn’t say it completely goes away” ([08:36]).

4. Food, Toxins, and “Organic” Skepticism

• Dr. Kuo and Sean discuss recent studies showing increased cancer rates near large berry farms ([09:55]).
• Organic labels don’t guarantee purity: “Just because it has ‘organic’ [label], it doesn’t really mean a peel just passed to qualify” ([10:24]).
• Local farmers’ markets are the best-available option right now for most people ([10:43]).

5. Advanced Therapies: Novel Peptides, Supplements, and Regenerative Interventions

• Clotho & Follistatin: Cutting-edge peptides for brain health and muscle growth, discussed as promising though still experimental ([15:05], [17:29]).
  • Clotho: “Quite beneficial for cognitive function, brain health, memory” ([15:11]).
  • Follistatin: “Helps you grow some muscle mass” ([17:29]).
• Gene Therapy Approaches: Mentioned as the future for longer-acting, more effective peptide delivery ([18:06]).
• Supplements: Less is more—Dr. Kuo only uses eight daily, mostly based on his bloodwork: Vitamin D3/K2, magnesium, omega-3s, methylated B vitamins ([32:56]).

6. Cautions on Biohacking Trends

• Dr. Kuo voices strong concerns about the “looksmaxing” movement and the gray market in “research peptides” ([30:14]).
  • FDA is moving to reclassify peptides, which could legitimize safer, prescribed use ([30:52]).

7. Biological Age and “Reverse Aging”

• Biological age tests are “notoriously very inaccurate…take it with a grain of salt” ([18:54]).
• On claims of “reversing aging” (as made by Brian Johnson): “We are not there yet…in the next 10 to 15 years…we could reach that longevity escape velocity” ([20:04]).

8. Artificial Intelligence in Precision Medicine

• AI is Essential: “I don’t think it’s possible to be a good longevity doctor without the extensive use of AI these days… You need to put all this [data] into an AI system that correlates, finds things, and makes sense out of all this data for you” ([22:00]).
• Reduces misdiagnosis and human error ([22:39]).
• “Robotic surgeons are going to be better than human surgeons. I have no doubt about that” ([23:44]).

9. Roots in Taiwan and Medical Heritage

• Dr. Kuo recounts growing up on an eel farm in Taiwan, noting how eels’ regenerative properties piqued his lifelong interest in the body's capacity to heal ([11:34]).

10. Mental Health & Brain Optimization

• Functional Brain Scans & Ultrasound: New imaging methods assess not just structure, but brain function, inflammation, neurotransmitters, and lymphatic drainage ([37:47]).
• Transcranial Focused Ultrasound: Used to rejuvenate the hypothalamus and potentially restore circadian rhythm and help in anti-aging ([39:06]).
• “Reversing your age of your hypothalamus…that’s like true kind of anti-aging” ([40:49]).
• TBIs & Intranasal Exosomes: Promising therapy for brain injuries—non-invasive, crossing the blood-brain barrier ([41:42]).

11. Interventional Approaches to Anxiety & PTSD

• Neuro Reset: A procedure named by Dr. Kuo that blocks the stellate ganglion via a quick shot in the neck, “resetting” the fight-or-flight response ([41:57]).
• Combined protocols: dual sympathetic block + vagus nerve hydrodissection + IV ketamine = “a little mental reboot” ([43:03]).
• Ketamine is “a great substitute for alcohol…less harm [from ketamine] than you do with alcohol” ([44:41]).

12. SSRIs, Alternative Mental Health Treatments, and Regulatory Hopes

• SSRIs for depression/anxiety have disappointing long-term efficacy and side effects ([47:08]).
• Dr. Kuo is a proponent of changing drug policy, especially for psychedelics in mental health ([46:02]).
• Aspirational aim: bringing advanced regenerative and longevity treatments to a broader, more affordable spectrum of patients ([53:11]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“The system is all jigged to disincentivize just proper care… When a primary care doctor is paid 60 bucks for a follow up consult, they’re incentivized to get you out of the office as soon as they can—not talk to you about diet, sleep, and exercise.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([03:05], [48:30])

“You can’t put peptides on a substrate that doesn’t function well… Fundamentals of diet, sleep, exercise, you have to do.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([05:22])

“Blood washing… we really live in a toxic environment. Microplastic exposure is impossible to avoid these days.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([07:23], [08:36])

“The best I can do right now if you live in the US: shop at the local farmer’s market.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([10:43])

“We’re not there yet, but we are making a lot of progress towards [longevity escape velocity].”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([20:04])

“I don’t think it’s possible to be a good longevity doctor without the extensive use of AI these days.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([22:00])

“Anyone is an influencer these days… anyone and everyone is a wellness influencer, a medical expert… there’s a lot of wrong information out there.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([35:31])

“Reversing your age of your hypothalamus… That’s like true kind of anti-aging.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([40:49])

“Ketamine… I’d rather have people be on a little bit of sublingual ketamine in a controlled fashion than go out and have five or six drinks. You definitely have less harm with sublingual ketamine than alcohol.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([44:41])

“America… when you compare the amount of medications that Americans take versus the rest of the world, it’s like night and day, completely different.”
— Dr. Jonathan Kuo ([47:36])

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Important Timestamps

• [03:05] – Critique of primary care doctor incentives
• [04:41] – Personalized care at Extension Health
• [07:23] – Explanation of therapeutic plasma exchange (blood “washing”)
• [10:24] – Skepticism towards the “organic” label
• [15:11] – Emerging peptides: Clotho and Follistatin
• [18:54] – Limitations of biological age testing
• [20:04] – Thoughts on longevity and reverse aging
• [22:00] – How AI is applied to clinical diagnostics and optimization
• [37:47] – Functional brain scans and transcranial focused ultrasound
• [41:57] – “Neuro reset” procedure for anxiety and PTSD
• [44:41] – Ketamine’s role as an alternative to alcohol for mental health
• [46:02] – The case for psychedelic therapies
• [48:30] – Why the U.S. system fails at preventative care
• [53:11] – The goal of democratizing advanced medicine

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Final Thoughts

The episode offers both a cautionary and optimistic perspective on futuristic health technologies. Dr. Kuo urges listeners to do the basics—diet, sleep, movement, stress management—while also welcoming science-backed advances in peptides, AI diagnostics, regenerative medicine, and alternative mental health care. Throughout, he argues for a personalized, data-rich, and hands-on approach, pushing back on both the inertia of the insurance-driven medical system and the reckless side of unregulated DIY biohacking.

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For more info or to connect with Dr. Jonathan Kuo:

• Extension Health: [extensionhealth.com]
• Telehealth: EHRX Health

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Engagement:
If you found this summary helpful or the episode insightful, share with a friend or follow the show for more pioneering conversations in health and human performance!

Transcript

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[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Today the system is all jigged to disincentivize just proper care. When a primary care doctor is paid 60 bucks for a follow up consult, they're incentivized to get you out of the office as soon as they can not talk to you about like diet, sleep and exercise. Like that's just fundamentally doesn't really align. I was in that world, I built a practice in that world and the only way to survive was like literally you have to see 30 patients a day. We test a lot of people, we test almost everyone these days for toxins. Almost everyone comes up positive for pfas, glyphosate, plastics, organic pesticide, all sorts of stuff. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to avoid in this day and age.

[Podcast Host]

Foreign. Guys got Dr. Jonathan Quo here today from Extension Health all the way from New York was here in town for enhanced games which was a blast. Good to see you man.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Good to see you man.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

What an event.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Fun.

[Podcast Host]

So much fun.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

So much fun.

[Podcast Host]

And you're part of the medical staff there?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, I'm a part of the independent medical commission taking a look over the athletes charts, making sure that they're safe. Yeah. And yeah, you also help enhance game, formulate some of their supplements.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, one of them's right here. Longer. These were all over the event. Yeah, There was a couple of different supplements you helped make, right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, it was a longer and the stronger formulation. So nice. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And that's your, that's your bread and butter, right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Well, performance enhancements, human optimization is my bread and butter.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, we'll dive into some of the stuff you offer but for people that don't know what Extension Health is, let's start there. Sure. What's that about?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, Extension Health, we're based in New York City, we're a longevity center. We offer some of the Most advanced diagnostics and therapeutics on the market. But what we really specialize in is in personalized precision medicine. Going really deep into your biology, figuring out plans to really comprehensively evaluate you and get yourself on the right plan. Whether it's Peptides stem cells, supplements, like we create a whole plan for you.

[Podcast Host]

Nice.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And so that's what we do. Deep dive medicine.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it's needed right now. Peptides is the number one most searched term in the world on Google. Wow. Isn't that crazy?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That is crazy.

[Podcast Host]

People are very interested.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I think. Cuz it's almost like a shortcut, right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It is a shortcut but you know, I don't like to see it like that. You know, it's like a biological messenger signal. Like we've been doing peptides for many years now, putting thousands of patients on this. Like I can firsthand tell you how well they work. You know, I do think they need to be treated with respect as like a medication. They should be prescribed by doctors. And I don't like the word shortcut. You know, fundamentals of diet, sleep, exercise, you have to do. You can't put peptides on a substrate that doesn't function well. So yeah, shortcut. But you know, one of the really bright emerging spots of medicine for sure.

[Podcast Host]

Nice. You've been doing it for a while.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

We have, yeah. I've been, been early in this field four or five years now. You know it all started off you know, back back in the days when I, you know, this was still burging field but I've always kind of been curious and interested in the forefront of medicine so kind of really jumped on that quite early on.

[Podcast Host]

And I know you had your health journey, that was part of it too, right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I did, yeah. I had some health issues myself that I couldn't really figure out. And guess what? Like Peptides were the one thing that actually made me feel better. Look better. Yeah. Think better.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. That's the thing of health. Right. Because you could have decent blood work but you could still have some serious health issues.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You can in some of the traditional medical system ways just like they just don't really address some of these problems.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Cuz that's what happened to me man. I had some good blood work, like a couple deficiencies, nothing crazy, but my MRI was whack. Really Dude. I had visceral fat everywhere. I had some, some problems, had arthritis, I got a prono scan.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

So yeah, I had arthritis, had a bunch of issues. I was like damn, this wouldn't show up on Blood.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

No, a lot of that stuff doesn't. So, you know, comprehensive testing and body scans and all that stuff is really necessary. And that kind of, you know, informs our, you know, longevity plans these days.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, let's dive into some of the stuff you guys offer because you offer some very unique things at your. Your spot. Yeah, one of them is the. The blood washing procedures. So Troy Aikman did this one with y'. All, Right.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, though. This is called therapeutic plasma exchange. This is a, you know, a procedure that's actually been around for a little while now. Um, but essentially what it is is it's cleaning and filled. Cleaning out your blood. Right. You can think of it as, you know, removing a lot of the inflammatory proteins and cytokines and so the stuff that you've built up over life that you can't necessarily excrete yourself. And so over time, this, you know, burden is in your system. And the way to kind of remove it is through this procedure called tpe. We really live in a toxic environment these days. So, you know, a lot of the environmental chemicals, the plastics, the glyphosate, the mold that all that stuff accumulates, and this is a way of physically remove that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of notable people using this lately. Gary Braca, Kevin o'. Leary. Yeah, Kevin, I think flew to, like, Dubai or something to do it, but, yeah, you could just do it in New York.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Just do it. You can do it in the U.S.

[Podcast Host]

i think he's got an apartment out there. But they were talking about it for. For microplastics, and I think even. Did Brian Johnson do this? Do you know?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, he did.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. So Brian did it, and I think he measured his microplastics before and after or something, and it completely went away.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I wouldn't say it completely goes away. You know, like, it's. Microplastic exposure is impossible to avoid these days. I mean, you can decrease your levels and control your exposure, but, you know, I wouldn't say that it completely goes away.

[Podcast Host]

Well, he measured it before and after, and I think it was like 90% or something went away. Yeah, some crystal.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It does decrease, you know, but more than microplastics, I think it's a lot of the inflammatory mediators and some of these cytokines and immune complexes that. That can kind of hinder your system over time. You still don't exactly know how dangerous or the effects of microplastics are on your systems. We don't. We do know that it's not great, but I Don't think it's been well quantified yet.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. We just know it's in all of our balls, all of our breasts. Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And everywhere.

[Podcast Host]

And the heart, so.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And the heart.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Crazy.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It's a big problem.

[Podcast Host]

When do you think we'll know what it does? Like, you think we won't ever know, or.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I think, you know, science is going to figure some more things out, but, you know, that's. The toxins are a very complex interplay of systems. Like, we test a lot of people, we test almost everyone these days for toxins. Almost everyone comes up positive for pfas, glyphosates, plastics, organic pesticides, all sorts of stuff. So, you know, unfortunately, it's pretty hard to avoid in this day and age.

[Podcast Host]

There was just a viral video about Driscolls. You know, the berry, the strawberry. Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. It's. Yeah. Kids getting more cancer living around those farms.

[Podcast Host]

Did that shock you or you were just like.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I mean, it's. It's sadly the truth. I mean, I. I think these things are, you know, I think the industry needs to be overhauled and regulated and our food supply really needs to be cleaned up as a fundamental.

[Podcast Host]

It opened my eyes in the sense of. When I see organic, I was very trusting of it. Yeah. But now that's not enough.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I think that's really not.

[Podcast Host]

You know what I mean?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Like, just because it has organic, it doesn't really mean a peel just passed to qualify for organic.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's right.

[Podcast Host]

You know what I mean? That's not enough anymore.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's not enough.

[Podcast Host]

More so for me, I'm like, I don't even know where to go. Because farmers markets are cool, but you don't know the, like, what you're dealing with. I guess there's no label. Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I mean, I live in New York. I love the shop at the local farmer's market. You know, upstate New York, Long Island. Good thing. But I mean, I think that's the best I can do right now. If you live in the us yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Grocery stores are getting more and more.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I don't know the word, but. Yeah. Can't trust the stuff you get at Whole Foods, you know?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. They're putting the meat through, like, chlorine. Is it some. Some crazy process?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Like, the color does not look normal anymore on some of these meats.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Really? Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. It's supposed to be dark red for steak. Why?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Since they tested meat before and they contain microplastics, why the meat? That's crazy. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And they're injecting some of them.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, hormones, microplastics, like crazy times around.

[Podcast Host]

I'm sure you didn't deal with this in Taiwan growing up. They were just eating eels over there, right? On your eel farm?

[Thumbtack Advertiser]

I did.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I grew up on a small eel farm in the middle of Taiwan. You know, spent, spent, spent quite a few years in Taiwan. I still speak fluent Chinese and it's a big part of my heritage.

[Podcast Host]

How many times did you get electrocuted by the eels?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

These are not the shocking eels.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, they weren't.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

But eels regenerate and so I found this past 17 years like figuring out how the body regenerates. So interesting tie into my, my history there.

[Podcast Host]

I didn't know they regenerated. So if you like, cut off a part, it'll grow back.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

If you cut eels, yeah, they can.

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[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah, I did not know that.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's pretty cool.

[Podcast Host]

Fun fact of the day. Eel farm.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Eel farms. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Okay. Another thing you guys offer.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Clotho.

[Podcast Host]

K L O T H O. I've never heard of that one.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Wouldn't necessarily say is the thing we offer. It's like one of these peptides that we've kind of been looking into investigating. We do a lot of FDA clinical trials in our clinic for upcoming therapeutics and you know, peptide delivery mechanisms and you know, novel imaging techniques and things like that. The two kind of peptides I'm really interested in these days are Clotho and Folletin. Clotho being one of these molecules that's been studied quite a bit now as a anti aging kind of longevity protein. Primarily made by the kidneys and mouse models. It does extend lifespan by quite a bit. There are kind of multiple versions of Clotho that you can try and inject these days. Personally I found it actually be quite beneficial for cognitive function, brain health, memory and things like that. So I'm a fan of Clotho. I'm a fan of Clotho. I'm a Fan of Falsatin as well. Folletin is a peptide that releases the brakes on muscle growth. And so, you know, let's be honest,

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[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Visit hims.com as we get older, as we all know, you know, losing muscle or sarcopenia is one of the main kind of things that we need to look out for. So having fallen satin can help you grow some muscle mass and you know, follow satin and it's like newer versions, whether it's like an injectable peptide or versus gene therapy I've seen actually have quite beneficial results. Interesting in growing muscle that's false. Statin Follistatin. Follistatin as a peptide it's actually very hard to use because it has a very short half life all of a sudden. 3, 4, 4. You got to inject that like five times a day.

[Podcast Host]

Damn.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

There newer variants of Follistatin but kind of bound to what we call albumin binders with linkers that make the half life much longer so they can persist for like 18, 19 days in the bloodstream. So you can just do a dose like every two weeks. That makes that a lot more usable. But then there are the newer variants of gene therapy. Either plasmid vector MRNA vectors or AAV vectors identity various effectors that can actually, you know, produce falstatin kind of a little more systemically at a higher doses. So those are things that I think are really interesting in the future. Access to these gene therapy pathways.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. So you're feeling like a new man on these?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I feel good in general. You know, I have my own little.

[Podcast Host]

Have you tested your biological age?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes. I mean, biological age tests these days are notoriously very inaccurate.

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Really?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, they're very, I, I'll tell you clinically, they just don't necessarily make a lot of sense even to this day. Well, I've evaluated, you know, all, all of the ones out there, correlated them with kind of what we're doing in clinic, correlated them with the blood work that we're getting. I do think they're getting better. Some of the epigenetic tests are getting better, but they still are not really there yet. And so when you get a biological age these days, I'm telling you, it's still take it with a grain of salt.

[Podcast Host]

I took two, and you're probably right because they were way different. I took a saliva one and I was 22. And then I took a, Was it a blood one? Yeah, it might have been blood. And I was like 26.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. I mean, aging is such a complex thing that you can't just use one method to really look at, you know, how your overall system is aging. There's multiple different hallmarks of aging. It's just way more complex than a simple, you know, DNA methylation, epigenic test or, you know, stuff like that.

[Podcast Host]

So do you believe we're at the point of reverse aging at the moment, or do you think that's a ways away?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Not yet.

[Podcast Host]

Because Brian Johnson says he's aging, what, 0.35 a year or something?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

No, I, 0.35 is really not possible. I don't think that number is true. Okay. Like, once again, these, like, a pace of aging things are like, in my opinion, still not super accurate. Right. There are some things that I do do think I, I do put some validity to. I like, you know, dude, and pay some of these organ CL systems, like, I, I, I do think they're directionally correct. We are not there yet. Okay. But we're making a lot of progress towards it. I do believe in the next, like, you know, 10 to 15 years. Like, could we actually reach that longevity escape velocity? I. I do. I actually do think so.

[Podcast Host]

You know, because of AI and all the.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Because of AI. Yeah. You know, I do believe in a lot of work and stuff that Pierre diamond talks about. You know, you talk to higher ups at Anthropic and they say there's like a 10. You know, he told me there's a 10, 15% chance that you're going to reach that as longevity escape velocity. Obviously, that's a guess. Like, who knows what the future is going to hold. But, you know, there are tremendous advancements, like, you know, on a monthly basis that we see these days at this forefront of medicine. So what a time to be alive.

[Podcast Host]

Crazy.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, for sure, our generation, out of the 1000,000 generations before us, like, this is the generation where we get to see, you know, some of these possible changes.

[Podcast Host]

It is nuts. I watch videos on YouTube of like, what was it like in this generation to grow up, what your life would be like. Yeah. And it's like, they lived to 30 and it sucked. They had to work all day.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Oh, totally.

[Podcast Host]

So even we got 100 years ago,

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

200 years ago, like, life kind of sucked. Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

What we have right now, some people are still complaining, but that's a whole nother podcast. Yeah. How are you using AI? Are you incorporating it with Extension Health in any way or.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, totally and totally. Very much so. Every day. You know, I don't think it's possible to be a good longevity doctor without the extensive use of AI these days because there are just so many data points that you really need to make sense out of. We collect so much data these days, from full body MRIs, coronary scans, to super deep dive blood work, proteomics, transcriptomics. Like, we're looking genetics, like, we're looking really deep. And to really get the best full picture of your biology, like, you need to put all this into an AI system that correlates, finds things, you know, and kind of makes sense out of all this data for you.

[Podcast Host]

I think it's needed, man, because you need to look at it objectively. I remember when Brecker came on, he said misdiagnosis and human error is like a big issue. And I just. It went over my head, but then I just actually experienced it with someone I know. Huge misdiagnosis was life threatening. And I was like, wow, someone could have died from that.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Totally. I mean, AI can't do everything by itself. I think you still need, like, really good clinicians to oversee the information that it puts out. But yeah, to me it's, it's absolutely necessary and it kind of forms a backbone of what we're doing here at Extension Health. It's you know, having our own in house kind of training systems that self correct that you put guardrails on that you know, are continuously refined through patient data and outcomes to continuously refine a system that you know, puts out outputs that for sure. Yeah. Makes sense.

[Podcast Host]

I love it, dude. Even my dentist is using it now. Yeah, fine cavities. It's crazy. Yeah, like that's the future man.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's the future. It's only been around for you know, a few years and like if you're not on that train, you know you're gonna get left behind.

[Podcast Host]

They're saying even surgeries in the future, all robotics, yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, robotic surgeons are going to be better than human surgeons. I have no doubt about that.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Robotic. Even the diagnostics these days, like you know, a human cannot beat AI.

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[Podcast Host]

You got adapt, because I know there's a lot of people trying to become doctors right now, but you got to embrace this stuff rather than be scared of it. Right.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You can't. You can't be scared.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. And you've done pretty well with embracing it. Wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Listen, I mean, I'm trying our best.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. Two locations and growing, man. I think you're doing fine. Got some big clients, too. Was social media big strategy for you when you were marketing and all that? Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Well, listen, I mean, honestly, not. Not for a very long time. I mean, my practice was really built on word of mouth. More for. For a very long time. Been practicing for 18 years now.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, my first specialty was I trained in anesthesiology and interventional pain management. I built a very, you know, respected and busy pain management office in New York City called Hudson Medical that still exists today. We see hundreds of patients today through that. Yeah, you know, it was through that experience that I was kind of, you know, I saw the pitfalls and the down, you know, the downsides of the traditional medical system. You're not really fixing any issues. You're just slapping band aids and trying to profit on, you know, people getting sick and kind of doing band aid procedures for them without actually trying to fix the root cause. And that's what got me into regenerative medicine. I started working with, like, you know, exosomes and stem cells quite a. Quite a long time ago. Six, seven years ago. Was one of the first to publish on exosomes and injecting them into the spine for chronic pain.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

In the spine.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Spine.

[Podcast Host]

I did an IV when I got mine.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. You know, I mean, in chronic pain, you use a lot of steroids. All right. And because that's the only thing that insurance reimburses. Ah. I guess what, like, you know, I've done like 30 plus thousand of these injections, and I, like, know that they could work, but I know that, you know, you're gonna come back and it's this vicious cycle. It degrades tissue, and you're not really going anywhere with this kind of stuff, regenerative medicine, whole different angle. Right. You're actually trying to fix the issues.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And so we talk a lot on

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

the show about AI, automation, productivity, but honestly, most people are still just talking about it instead of actually using it

[Podcast Host]

in a useful way.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

For me, the biggest difference has been saving time there's so much repetitive stuff when you're running a podcast or business. Organizing leads, moving info between apps, updating workflows, following up with people, and that stuff eats your day alive. That's why I've been using Zapier more. Zapier is how you actually put AI to work across your business instead of just chasing hype. Their AI orchestration platform lets you connect tools like ChatGPT and Claude with the apps your team already uses. You can automate workflows, build AI powered systems, customer chatbots, and way more. And the best part is, you don't need to be technical. It's built for normal people too, not just developers. We've used it to simplify a lot of backend tasks. And honestly, honestly, once you automate the repetitive stuff, you get a ridiculous amount of time and mental energy back. Teams have already automated over 300 million AI tasks using Zapier, which is kind of insane. Join the millions of businesses transforming how they work with Zapier and AI. Get started for free by visiting zapier.com SocialHour that's Z-A P-I-E-R.com SocialHour I've always

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

been looking for, what else can you inject other than steroids? So guess what? You can actually inject things like exomes, peptides, concentrated peptides, like in the spinal space, in the epidural space. And that works. Like, not a lot of doctors are really doing that right now and, you know, gotta find these alternatives. Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

What are the stats on pain? Like, how many people are experiencing chronic pain?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I mean, there's a huge burden of chronic pain in the US Just, you know, I mean, incredible number. Like, I don't quote me on this, like 30% of people have some kind of chronic pain in the us like, you know, I mean, look at the, look at the obesity rates. Like, obesity causes, you know, joint pressure and degeneration. Like, everyone, like, eventually has osteoarthritis of the hips and knees and all these things, like, a lot of these things can be proactively fixed by regenerative medicine. When you inject, you know, either PRP or stem cells into the joints or into the bone of the joints way before, like, significant osteoarthritis develops. It really helps to prevent that. Peptides can help prevent degenerative joint disease. We've seen it over and over again through hundreds and hundreds of cases. And so, you know, it's all about really getting to these things early. All about, like, you know, lowering your Inflammation as much as you can, metabolically healthy, hormonally healthy, mitochondrially healthy as early as you can. And so that kind of forms the premise of what we do. Right. Extension is like, how do we optimize, you know, beyond the work I do with like enhanced game and optimizing humans to the next level, the same techniques apply to almost, you know, everyday humans. Like, it's the basic, same physiological systems, the same cellular health that you need to optimize. And so the strategies are really the same. That makes sense. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

The younger people, my generation, you know about looks maxing, right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

What do you think about that?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I mean, it's, it's a trend. I mean, I, I think it's, it's, you know, I, you know, people are like, you know, buying research peptides on Telegram and injecting them for looks maxing. And I think that part's dangerous, you know. You know, the whole research peptide kind of craze out there is, is, is really concerning right now. Nuts.

[Podcast Host]

Payment processors are trying to shut them down, a lot of them, but they just keep popping up.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah, there's just hundreds and hundreds of websites. I mean, because the demand is just there.

[Podcast Host]

Insane.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Insane. But, you know, FDA is hopefully gonna make those changes in June, July, reclassifying some peptides from category two to one. And I hope that really opens up the market.

[Podcast Host]

What does that mean? To do category two to one?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

They're going to allow compounding of some of these peptides that, you know, they previously put on a do not compound list. Things like BPC157, thyrocin, beta 500, TB500, CJC, ipamorelin, like, those things are really helpful. And once you can actually compound them and doctors can legitimately write prescriptions to a 503, a pharmacy that really kind of like cleans up the field, legitimizes it. Hopefully the gray market will get shut down. Hopefully the research market will get shut down. You know, we have a telehealth platform kind of launched just to kind of service that need, you know, we've put, you know, we have experience with thousands of patients on peptides. We know how to do it. Well, you definitely need to treat it like medicine like you are. You can definitely get into trouble with peptides. We've seen it over and over again. And you know, it's, it's. This is, this is medicine. You're injecting stuff into your body. You just have to be careful.

[Podcast Host]

Dude, I can't believe people are injecting random stuff from China or wherever it's from.

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Without like looking into what's in it.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Totally, totally.

[Podcast Host]

Because they just see someone looking good on the Internet, you know, and you

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

could just readily buy it, you know, online. And it's a fortunate thing that a lot of these peptides are actually really quite safe. Okay. But they're once again some concerns. Growth hormone peptides, like you're messing around with your endocrine system. Like you really need to know what you're doing. Some of these peptides can have, you know, pro blood vessel growth properties. So you really need to know that you don't have something that's ongoing currently any cancerous process. So cancer screening becomes very important. You know, getting routine blood work becomes very important. Getting your body composition scans. All, all something that we do very routinely.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. Let's move on to supplements. So people would probably think you're on way more than you take. You take eight per day right now, right?

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And that's like, really based on like my biology and what I need.

[Podcast Host]

Vitamin D, I'd assume.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, vitamin D, D3, K2. You know, the vast majority of people are actually deficient in vitamin D. You know, the vast majority of people could use a little mag. Some people could use some methylated B vitamins. Most people could use Omega 3s and 6s. Epadha. Those are really the basics.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that's what I take too.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. And those are really the basics. And then beyond that, yes, there are certain vitamins and supplements that you should take, but it really should be based on your biology work.

[Podcast Host]

Right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Like should you take Coq 10, maybe should you take things like, you know, metformin or rapamycin or low dose naltrexone. There's quite a few of these supplements that are being kind of investigated and studied. I do think some of them are, do really have their benefits. You know, I'm a big fan of low dose naltrexone. I'm a big fan of these class of medication called SGLT2S for kind of lowering your blood glucose levels, you know. Rapamycin I do think has its place as well in certain instances. You know, a lot of these formulas I put in. Things like, you know, the longevity, the longer thing here I made for enhanced games just because it's, it's a lot easier.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Vitamin C, B6, folate, B12, magnesium, zinc, copper.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Creatine too.

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Creatine.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Creatine is one of the big ones. I mean that's why they studied. I love having people take you Know as much as you can tolerate, whether that's like, you know, 10 or 15, I think that really makes a big difference for muscle and brain. There's another compound I like a lot, Urolithin A. I do think that there's a good amount of studies on that. You know, gram a day is what you can take for kind of recycling some of the senescent mitochondria.

[Podcast Host]

And so spermidine, too. I saw in there spermidine as well. Yeah. When I first got into supplements, I did it wrong. I just started taking a bunch because I was trying to copy Brian Johnson. So I ordered like 20 off his site and felt horrible. Dude. So then I got my blood work done.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And then I only take what I need. Good. You know, that's how you.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

What are you supposed to do?

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Otherwise you're guessing.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Otherwise you're guessing.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And you're just, you know, expensive pee. And your liver needs to process all this stuff.

[Podcast Host]

Dude, my liver was messed up from that.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Really? Yeah, yeah, I've seen that all the time.

[Podcast Host]

I literally felt it like.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Be careful out there, guys. Yeah. Don't over supplement. Kind of know your biology, know your numbers. Definitely should know your, you know, all your levels.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, all your levels. What else are you seeing on social media that's wrong information in the health space?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I mean, there's just like, anyone is an influencer these days. Anyone and everyone is a wellness influencer, a medical expert. And I can give medical advice. I mean, I see wrong information all the time. People with a lot of followers that give wrong information all the time. And so it's a little scary. It's a little scary. You know, I think, you know, clinical experience still does matter. Like when you're actually seeing patients in and out. There's, like a lot of stuff that, you know, doesn't necessarily just get picked up by AI. You just can't use, you know, Claude or GPT and, like, you know, pretend that you're a medical expert, which is. It is what a lot of people are doing.

[Podcast Host]

It is pretty crazy because, like, you technically can't get financial advice on. On the Internet, but you could give medical advice. Right. No one's. No one's looking for that.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And no one's looking. You can say anything you want on Instagram, you know, it's pretty crazy.

[Podcast Host]

Crazy because that stuff actually affects you physically.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You recommend the wrong supplement. I mean, look what happened to Liver King. He put all these people on some sketchy supplement yeah. And then that messed up their health.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Very dangerous, you know, Very dangerous.

[Podcast Host]

Tens of millions of dollars in sales

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

and anyone can go out and start selling supplements. It's like a very kind of light, loosely regulated field.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that's the thing. I actually agree with Dr. Mike on that. Like, it's way too easy. I could start a supplement tomorrow. Yeah. Sell it on Amazon or.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah. And it's just, you know, it's all marketing. All marketing. So much marketing these days. So much little science. In most of these cases.

[Podcast Host]

I like to let results speak when I push product or anything.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because that way they do your marketing for you.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

It's not sustainable if you're pushing some shit production.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because then no one's going to tell other people to take it.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

That's why you do well, because you provide such a good service. Word of mouth, you said, was your

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

word of mouth is really our.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's how we do things. You know, for the longest time, I kind of wanted to remain anonymous.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Do my thing. But I realized quickly that, you know, if you want to kind of take your career to the next level, you can't really hide behind the scenes. So, you know, it's only very recently that I started doing so many things like this and social media and talking.

[Podcast Host]

That makes sense.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

What else do you have at the facility? Anything else you want to talk about?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, I mean, I think some of the kind of more advanced, you know, treatment modalities, such as, you know, transcranial focused ultrasound is actually really interesting these days. We can do, you know, functional MRI brain scans at Extension Health these days, which is a really deep dive into your brain function rather than just looking at anatomy through MRIs. So when you look at brain function, you can actually look at things like your inflammation levels, your lymphatic drainage, your blood and vascular coupling, your neurotransmitter levels in your brain, and how your kind of what we call, like your. Your default mode networks work. Okay. Your.

[Podcast Host]

Your how.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

How your brain works. And through that information, you can actually craft kind of different plans. Okay. Are you mitochondrially deficient in your brain? Do you have sleep issues because you have lymphatic drain? You have inflammation because you have higher levels of like, myo inositol. So there are, like, things that you can look at through that. And then I think one of the really interesting things these days is you can actually use, you know, structural MRI data. We can actually create these 3D custom masks and then use a technology called focus transcranial ultrasound to actually rejuvenate certain areas of your brain.

[Podcast Host]

All right, wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

So, you know, when it comes to anti aging, a central clock in your body is actually the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a little gland in your brain. It's like 7 or 8 centimeters deep. So you can't really get to it with conventional techniques. But your hypothalamus is kind of like regulates your circadian rhythm, it regulates your, you know, melatonin, you know, regulates your growth hormones. And so if you can actually rejuvenate your hypothalamus, you can actually restore circadian rhythm, you can produce more growth hormones and all these things. And how you do that is you actually target your hypothalamus using trans. Focused transcranial ultrasound. There's like two little probes that you kind of attach on this 3D printed custom mask, you blast the hypothalamus with ultrasound. It opens up an adhesion molecule where you can then give systemic small molecules. Okay, systemic small molecules, whatever that could be. All right, it could be peptides, exosomes, stem cells, cerebralysin. Some of these things you can't do in the U.S. but you know, once you give those small molecules a lot, a much higher percentage of those things actually get into this, certain areas that you've targeted with ultrasound. And so you can actually rejuvenate your hypothalamus, you can target your hippocampus, you can improve your memory learning. But reversing your age or your hypothalamus is, I think, you know, was like true kind of anti aging. And so like seen this on quite a few cases where people actually do feel a lot stronger, do feel a lot better, energetic. And so kind of one of the reasons you take all these like growth hormone stimulating peptides like cjc, ipamorelin or Tesmorellon, you gotta get this from a kind of central biological root.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

So that's pretty cool. You know, that's still a newer, newer technology. You know, obviously use that to target different areas of the brain that you want kind of more increased function. I think that's pretty cool.

[Podcast Host]

I'm all about brain optimization. I mean, that's how I make a living.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah, your brain's got to work.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, super. Well, I actually didn't even know my first brain scan. I had a tbi.

[Thumbtack Advertiser]

Really?

[Podcast Host]

I had no idea.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

And there was parts of my brain not getting the right amount of oxygen, I guess.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Okay.

[Podcast Host]

Crazy yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Crazy. So those are things that you can. You should know about. And there's like, kind of strategies to fix that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, I really love intranasal exosomes for tbi. I think that works well. Hyperbaric oxygen can work.

[Podcast Host]

That's what I did. Yeah. The hyperbaric.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Hyperbaric, you know, I. Through lysin, I think is a great molecule. There's some kind of peptides that I think work well in brain as well.

[Podcast Host]

So I didn't know there was intranasal ones. I might try that because the needles scare me personally.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. It's hard to get things into the brain. Yeah. Intranasal exosomes actually do cross over. They're small enough crossover. We've actually seen. I've seen some great cases. Case results with that.

[Podcast Host]

Nice technology. Yeah. What about anxiety? You see anything work for that?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, yes, yes. For anxiety, actually, I do a procedure. It's called the neuro reset. The neuro reset. It's a procedure where it's a little shot in the neck. Okay. It's a quick shot in the neck. This shot blocks and resets the fight or flight response. So, you know, using local anesthetic, we block something called the stellate ganglion. We block it at two places at C6 and C4. What it does is it temporarily shuts down the nerve pathway that governs your fight or flight response month. It's kind of like hitting a reset button on your computer. A lot of people these days live in a chronic kind of high stress, anxiety kind of state.

[Sean Kelly]

Yep.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, constant. Your mind's constantly going. You can't really sleep well. You have anxiety or you have ptsd. This procedure is really helpful for that. It was kind of developed kind of for, you know, they initially looked at it for. For military vets with PTSD kind of work really well in that setting. Then kind of back in the civilian population, we find it really works well for anxiety and for sleep. So many people have problems with sleep and anxiety. And so this is a very common procedure that we do these days. I've done thousands of these cases. We're kind of known for that.

[Podcast Host]

That's nuts.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

The neuro reset and then added on to that is like. We're experimenting with kind of looking at the vagus nerve as well. Okay. The vagus nerve is kind of really close to that area that we're injecting. So we are kind of doing a lot of these vagus nerve injections as well. We do a hydrodissection of the vagus nerve you put a column of fluid around the vagus nerve to try to make that vagus nerve funct little better. I will do, I will come out and say like, there's not a lot of data on that. We are doing an internal study looking at the effects of a vagus nerve hydrodissection by itself to see what it kind of does. Does that help your hrv? Does that help your kind of parasympathetic system responses? We do think that it does. Like anecdotally it does. We're still waiting for some of the data to come out on that. You know, we do a combination neuro reset. We call it a complete neuro reset where we do a dual sympathetic block, we inject the vagus nerve and afterwards we put you on an IV ketamine. And so that's Ketamine. Yeah, it's an IV ketamine drip in office kind of like, you know, you come out of that experience, it's like an hour and a half, but you just feel different. You feel like, you know, you've had a little mental reboot.

[Podcast Host]

Ketamine I've been looking into for my anxiety.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, ketamine can be helpful for anxiety. Okay. It's, you know, there's IV forms of ketamine. There are, you know, sublingual prescriptions that you can get. You know, as an anesthesiologist, I have a lot of experience with ketamine working over the past 18 years with ketamine. Really. It does need to be done very carefully though. Okay. Ketamine is just like any other substance. It can be very addictive. You know, I think it's a great substitute for alcohol.

[Sean Kelly]

All right.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

As in, like, would I rather have people be on a little bit of sublingual ketamine in a controlled fashion rather than go out and have five or six drinks? You definitely have less harm with sublingual ketamine than you do with alcohol. Okay. From a, both a personal health perspective and a societal perspective, that makes sense. Yeah, that's a controversial topic right there.

[Podcast Host]

Really? I don't think that's. Well, that's a no brainer.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, that's a no brainer to, you know, when you really think about it. But, you know, is it kind of accepted out there as, as, as.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, psychedelics have always been demonized.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think the, you know, academy is not technically a true psychedelic, but I really do find it's very useful in certain cases, like, you know, for social anxiety, for, you know, harm reduction in alcohol consumption, for Some of these like, kind of like deep dives that you can do psychologically, you're going to really go to places in your mind that you, you just can't go to in your kind of default mode, network state. So it can be really powerful experiences.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, See, you'll see. I know. So didn't Trump just sign something with mushrooms? I don't know if that got through,

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

but yeah, he's gonna like accelerate the development of certain psychedelics.

[Podcast Host]

Shout out to Rogan for.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, shout out to Rogan.

[Podcast Host]

Power podcasting, man.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, Getting things done.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I'm a fan of that. I know that that's a controversial thing too, but a lot of research has gone into mushrooms lately.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Totally, totally. Big fan of psilocybin, I think. Variants of dmt, variants of mdma. Quite a few kind of companies working on that that, you know, I think they really do have their therapeutic role. Yeah, I think drug policy really needs to change. It's just.

[Podcast Host]

Well, I'm a fan because, like, everyone thinks of health just physically, but there's a whole nother side to health, which is the mental side.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Right, Absolutely.

[Podcast Host]

So you need to focus on that too.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Absolutely. Yeah. So, you know, that's why, you know, my, my kind of second practice was an interventional mental health business after I did interventional pain management, because when you deal with chronic pain, you're also, you just realize, you know, you got to treat their kind of depression, anxiety, PTSD for them to actually do well with their chronic pain. So those two things kind of go hand in hand. I have a practice that kind of combines both of those modalities. You know, traditional SSRIs, they're not the greatest class of medication. Right. Are there other things?

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, these neuroresets that we talked about, IV Ketamine, transcranial magnet. So that kind of forms a backbone of our kind of interventional mental health practice.

[Podcast Host]

That's great.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

There's a lot of people on SSRIs.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I mean, and long term, it's tough. Just, you know, the, the, you know, the, the studies are not that great. They're not that efficacious for very long term reasons. Really. Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

What are they saying?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It's just the efficacy rates are not that great.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, it goes down.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

And you're just, you know, on a chronic, like lifelong medication, it, you know, can have a lot of side effects too, you know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. There's some crazy stats on the average number of medications I think elderly people are on.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Geico Advertiser]

Wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You Know, America just, you know, when you compare the amount of medications that Americans take versus the rest of the world, it's like night and day. Completely different. Yeah. Night and day.

[Podcast Host]

Did you see any of that in Taiwan growing up?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

No, No, I think, you know, you know, Taiwanese people actually have a really, you know, the Taiwanese healthcare system is one of the best in the world.

[Sean Kelly]

Really?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Public health systems in the world.

[Podcast Host]

How does it work over there? Is it.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It's all public health care?

[Podcast Host]

Oh, it's all efficient.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It's cheap.

[Podcast Host]

Cheap, really?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

How did they pull that off? I don't think that would work here with the public. Doesn't work here.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. I mean, there's so many things you can say about this system here that don't work. The timing system is like one of the bright models in, in the world, I would say.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting. Yeah.

[Sean Kelly]

Look into that.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

My parents actually go back to Taiwan for their health.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah?

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I feel like here you have to take it into your own hands. You can't rely on.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Your insurance and your dog. You're like your typical doctors, no fats. I know you're a doctor, but I feel like you have this. True.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It's true. I mean the system is all jigged to disincentivize, you know, just proper care. When a primary care doctor is, you know, paid 60 bucks for a follow up consult, like, you know, they're incentivized to get you out of the office as soon as they can not talk to you about like diet, sleep and exercise and what you can opt. Like that's just fundamentally just doesn't really align.

[Podcast Host]

You know, I've seen their calendars. It's crazy.

[Sean Kelly]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

They're just back to back all day.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Of course. I mean, I was, I, you know.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. You don't.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I was in that world. I built a practice in that world. And the only way to survive was like, literally you have to see 30 patients a day.

[Podcast Host]

Damn.

[Thumbtack Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Just to get by.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's crazy. We were doing 30 procedures a day, every single day. Yeah.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

That's two an hour.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yep. Interventional pain. Holy crap. I had four ORs. I just bounced from OR to order. Oh my gosh.

[Podcast Host]

So you were stressed out of your mind doing a not.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, but that's the kind of what you had to do, you know, you just had to do that.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

4.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It was very, very stressful. Yeah. That's how I racked up, you know, 40, 50,000 procedures under my hand, under my belt.

[Geico Advertiser]

Damn.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You did that Man, I did. I really did. I really was great. I had a very busy pain practice.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah, that's no joke because I've done 2,000 podcasts, and I know how hard that many. How long was each procedure?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Oh, just minutes. I'll set up. You know, it's like, you know, I go in, I know exactly what I'm doing. You know. You're a proceduralist.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You know, obviously, I do see the patients. I have a whole team seeing these patients. I know what I'm doing. But, you know, a spinal procedure or joint procedure is a procedure, and once you get really good and fast at it, in and out, you're just good at it.

[Podcast Host]

It's crazy because now you're probably spending hours with your patients.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Now I do the exact opposite. Yeah, it's been hours and hours.

[Podcast Host]

Which is more fulfilling, I bet for you?

[Geico Advertiser]

It is.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

It is.

[Tremphya Advertiser]

Is.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Because I really like, you know, I'm a nerd. I really like going deep and, like, really trying to understand and, you know, the fundamentals, like, I just want my patients to get really better. And, you know, that's always been my North Star and guiding light.

[Podcast Host]

So, yeah, I can't wait to stop by, man.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, please come by New York.

[Podcast Host]

And if people are watching this, you got a website, too.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, we're Extension Health. Our telehealth is EHRX Health. That's where we kind of want to make this personalized precision medicine available to most.

[Podcast Host]

You know.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, we have memberships that. Yes, they are quite pricey because that's just kind of the way things are right now. But, you know, my goal is to obviously make this affordable to more people and get more people to education and kind of healthcare with this kind of new kind of thinking. Okay. Because Peptides Regenerative medicine, longevity care is, I think, really the future of medicine. Yeah, we see it. We see it. You know, we see it. We track our results. We see patients getting a lot better. Yeah, this is.

[Tremphya Advertiser]

This is.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

This is where medicine is moving.

[Podcast Host]

I'm excited.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Now it's not covered by insurance. It's very expensive. That will change over time.

[Podcast Host]

Hopes. I hope so. That'd be great.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Because it's. It's crazy. I actually pay a lot for insurance. And you look at what it covers.

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And you're like, wait, why am I even paying for this? You know what I mean?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Unfortunately, it's like, you know, I see insurance is almost like, you know, if you total your car, like, that's where insurance kicks in. But, you know, it doesn't like, like, you know, change your oil, rotate your tires like that. You're gonna have to figure out how to do yourself.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, you got to take health in your own hands.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, that's.

[Podcast Host]

That's where we're at right now. At least. Hopefully it changes. Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Optimistic for the future. You know, I think, you know, the regulations are kind of moving in the right direction with, with.

[Podcast Host]

You a fan of Maha Maha and rfk?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, I am. You know, they're, they're kind of pro peptides, pro regenerative medicine. No, there's a lot of talks going on, you know, just involved in a whole bunch of talks here at the Enhanced games with some of the people.

[Podcast Host]

So ban glyphosate if you're watching this rfka.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yes, please. Yes.

[Podcast Host]

That stuff is everywhere now.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

You gotta fix the food supply. You gotta fix the incentives in this whole kind of healthcare system.

[Podcast Host]

At least he banned food dyes. That was a good move.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That was a good move. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

That's a start.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

A start. I think we're getting there.

[Podcast Host]

Gotta be slow and steady.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

That's optimistic.

[Podcast Host]

They can't do. Yeah, they can't do everything at once because I think it would overwhelm people.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You know, you gotta ban stuff here and wait a couple months.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

People are so used to eating what they do.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

I think pharma system too, it's just like, you know, the incentives are misaligned and it's just way too difficult to get new things approved. And does it really need to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to get a drug approved? Like, there's got to be a better way. You know, there's got to be an easier way.

[Podcast Host]

Shout out to Mark Cuban. He's trying to lower the cost. I know, right?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Totally.

[Podcast Host]

Cost plus.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Yeah. Use them all the time. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, you use them?

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

We use them. Yeah, absolutely.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

So even as expensive as, you know, you know. Yes. I see a lot of, you know, people that could afford these kind of therapies, but, you know, at my core, it's all still about like the four if, you know, developers delivering cost effective care. At my core, that's, that's, that's me. Okay. Like, you know, more care, better care to the masses. Like that's eventually what I want to do. Yes. You got to start somewhere. You know, what I'm doing right now is.

[Dr. Horton Advertiser]

Was.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Is what I kind of have to do.

[Geico Advertiser]

Right.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

But, you know, the eventual goal is how can I help more people?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think every industry starts that way. Right? Yeah. There's a few players that are early. They got to set the prices. They got to still make a little bit of profit.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

It is what it is, right? Yeah.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Gotta. Gotta run. Run a business, you know? Yeah. Cool.

[Podcast Host]

Well, anything else, man? I know.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

No. I mean, yeah, Follow me online at Dr. Quo at Extension Health, EHRX Health. I want know. Always trying to get out information, kind of educate people. I like doing that. And open any questions and.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, awesome.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Check out Buy some time.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, stop by. I'll stop by. I'll post on my Instagram. Stay tuned for that. And I'll see you in New York, man.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Great.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Good to meet you.

[Sean Kelly]

Good to meet you.

[Podcast Host]

See you guys.

[Dr. Jonathan Quo]

Thank you.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

If you learned anything from this episode

[Podcast Host]

or got any value at all, please share this episode with a friend. It helps us grow the channel, helps us grow the podcast, and it means a lot to us. Thank you so much.