Although we’re living in an age of hyperbole where headlines and politicians are apt to cast everything in terms of absolute disaster or unprecedented achievement, it might be surprising but no exaggeration to claim that there are institutions and scientists in Baton Rouge that are world leaders in healthcare.

Dr. John Kirwan is Executive Director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. “Pennington” as it is mostly referred to locally, is a 30-year-old facility in Baton Rouge that is arguably the most prestigious research institute in the world focused on chronic diseases diabetes and obesity. Recently Pennington has become home to a bariatric treatment center that is expected to attract the most severely obese patients from around the world.

Dr. Kirwan came to Pennington in 2017 from the famed Cleveland Clinic, where he was working on a cure for type II diabetes. When he came here he brought a couple of dozen researchers with him, along with their millions in federal research dollars, making John Kirwan his own Baton Rouge mini economic development engine.

Dr. Barbara Griffith is Chief Executive Officer of Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge. The hospital is one of the largest birthing centers in the world, delivering more than 8-thousand babies a year, as well as providing a host of other healthcare services to women and babies.

Dr Griffith started out as an emergency medicine doctor with 20 years clinical experience. She had only been in the position of CEO of Woman’s Hospital when she was met the emergency nobody saw coming: the global coronavirus pandemic.

Healthcare has been a hot topic for years, decades, probably forever, but at no time in recent memory has it become more important than in this era of COVID-19, as we as a state, nation and planet try to navigate a pandemic that has upended every aspect of our lives and society, and especially our healthcare system. It’s extraordinary how work being done in Baton Rouge is so central to the path of healthcare worldwide.

You can see photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website. And check out more lunchtime conversation about the changing world Baton Rouge healthcare.

Although we&rsquo;re living in an age of hyperbole where headlines and politicians are apt to cast everything in terms of absolute disaster or unprecedented achievement, it might be surprising but no exaggeration to claim that there are institutions and scientists in Baton Rouge that are world leaders in healthcare.
Dr. John Kirwan is Executive Director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pbrc.edu/">Pennington Biomedical Research Center.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;Pennington&rdquo; as it is mostly referred to locally, is a 30-year-old facility in Baton Rouge that is arguably the most prestigious research institute in the world focused on chronic diseases diabetes and obesity. Recently Pennington has become home to a bariatric treatment center that is expected to attract the most severely obese patients from around the world.
Dr. Kirwan came to Pennington in 2017 from the famed Cleveland Clinic, where he was working on a cure for type II diabetes. When he came here he brought a couple of dozen researchers with him, along with their millions in federal research dollars, making John Kirwan his own Baton Rouge mini economic development engine.
Dr. Barbara Griffith is Chief Executive Officer of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.womans.org/">Woman&rsquo;s Hospital</a>&nbsp;in Baton Rouge. The hospital is one of the largest birthing centers in the world, delivering more than 8-thousand babies a year, as well as providing a host of other healthcare services to women and babies.
Dr Griffith started out as an emergency medicine doctor with 20 years clinical experience. She had only been in the position of CEO of Woman&rsquo;s Hospital when she was met the emergency nobody saw coming: the global coronavirus pandemic.
Healthcare has been a hot topic for years, decades, probably forever, but at no time in recent memory has it become more important than in this era of COVID-19, as we as a state, nation and planet try to navigate a pandemic that has upended every aspect of our lives and society, and especially our healthcare system. It&rsquo;s extraordinary how work being done in Baton Rouge is so central to the path of healthcare worldwide.
You can see photos from this show by <a href="https://www.lafleurphoto.com/">Jill Lafleur</a> at <a href="https://itsbatonrouge.la/2021/01/06/healthcare-heavyweights/">our website</a>. And <a href="https://itsbatonrouge.la/2019/07/11/the-ever-changing-healthcare-local-landscape-out-to-lunch-its-baton-rouge/">check out more lunchtime conversation about the changing world Baton Rouge healthcare</a>.

OUT TO LUNCH finds Baton Rouge Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

OUT TO LUNCH finds Amy Irvin conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's on the Boulevard. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

OUT TO LUNCH finds Amy Irvin conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's on the Boulevard. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.