Enjoy a highly informative and inspirational conversation with a renowned stem-cell expert and award-winning author, Dr. Joy Kong of the Uplyft Longevity Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Joy discusses her riveting memoir called Tiger of Beijing and her breakthrough stem cell and peptide skin care product called CharaOmni. She discusses a bit of her background, sharing her experiences with trying to leave China and study in the USA, and the incredible logistics and personal hardships she had to endure and overcome to pursue her career in medicine in America. Then you will learn about the wide-ranging benefits of stem cell therapy, including details about the scientific effects and various treatment options available. You will also learn about some cutting-edge practices that Dr. Joy uses at her clinic, such as ketamine therapy, peptide treatments, and nitric oxide treatments. The future of medicine is upon us, and it is functional, progressive, integrative, and holistic. Forward-thinking leaders like Dr. Joy Kong are leading a revolution! It’s time to transcend the diagnosis-medication-surgery model of today’s Western medicine and learn how stem cell therapy and other innovations can help maximize the benefits of your healthy lifestyle practices. 

Dr. Joy Kong is a UCLA-trained, triple board-certified physician, anti-aging and stem cell specialist, educator, and CEO. As the founder of Uplyft Longevity Center in Chatsworth, CA, she focuses her efforts on the prevention of aging, as well as chronic diseases that no one else has been able to heal. She believes that complete healing can only come from looking at the whole person—mind, body, and soul. Learn more at UplyftCenter.com and CharaOmni.com

TIMESTAMPS:

Dr. Kong is a free-thinking physician who has much to say about stem cell therapy. [01:24]

Through many difficult attempts, she was determined and finally made it to America. [06:19]
If you’re doing something you’re excited about, everything’s going to be fine. [12:20]

Medicine should be more than diagnosing and prescribing. [15:05]

Not much about nutrition was taught in medical school. [18:27]

From practicing psychiatry, Joy went into longevity medicine. [21:41]

It is difficult to be open to more information. [29:59]

What is a stem cell? What are the treatments? [32:05]

Do healthy people have the same number of stem cells as unhealthy people the same age? [38:57]

Because you are older, your inflammation markers are elevated. There are things you can do to slow down the aging train. [39:36]

Do healthy lifestyle practices have any magical effect on stem cells? Is therapy always using others’ stem cells? No. [43:19]

Has the stem cell industry movement grown fast? {52:17]

Stem cell transplantation is the same as tissue transplant. [55:15]

Can any medical doctor do this?  What are the guidelines? [58:34]

The implanted cells know exactly what to do. [01:01:59]

Joy developed skin care products. So many products on the market today are toxic. [01:03:56]

What is ketamine therapy? [01:08:28]

LINKS:

• Brad Kearns.com
• Brad’s Shopping page
• The Primal Prescription
• American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
• YouTube: Are All MSC’s Created Equal?Dr. Joy Kong
• UplyftLongevityCenter.com
• Chara Omni
• Tiger of Beijing book

LISTEN: 

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B.Rad Podcast

Brad (00:01:24):
Hey listeners, welcome to a wonderful show with Dr. Joy Kong, longevity and stem cell expert, skincare expert, award-winning author. And this conversation flows into all kinds of different directions. We start out talking about her incredible memoir, titled the Tiger of Beijing, where she talks about this amazing journey of resilience and persistence and setback and more resilience, where she was a young student in China, dreaming of coming over to the United States to further her education. And of course, eventually pursuing a career in medicine here. The writing was incredible. It was deeply revealing, soul-bearing ,and very vulnerable, open, honest, authentic, just as I found the real live Joy to be. So, Hey, an in-person podcast finally, after a long string of zoom, thanks to the quarantine, it was great to connect in person and actually experience her uplift longevity center outside Los Angeles, California in my old hood of the San Fernando Valley.

Brad (00:02:33):
So, so we get right into it with a bit of discussion about the book. Of course, that’s enough for a whole show, but I encourage you to go listen or read that wonderful memoir. And then we get into her journey that led her to longevity medicine. It’s kind of a dumping ground for physicians that are forward thinking free thinking and second guessing. And she was, uh, a little bit into her career as a psychiatrist and feeling frustrated about the, the linear and narrow model of prescribing medication and not really addressing the big picture and the integrative aspects of disease that are generally not addressed in the Western medicine model. And it’s cool because she references her background in China and her early experiences to Eastern medicine. So here is another thought leader and trend setter blending the east and west, and now turning her focus to cutting edge therapies.

Brad (00:03:31):
You’re gonna hear a bit about stem cells. You’re gonna hear a bit about ketamine. She deals in peptides and nitric oxide treatments. And so this is space age stuff, but this is where medicine is headed people, that integrative approach, where we start to address the cause rather than just treat the symptoms. I think you’re gonna have, uh, a great education and enlightenment. Maybe they’ll get you more interested in checking out the world of stem cells. I am going to, uh, submit to a treatment and see what it’s all about. and get a renewal effect for this aging broken down, beaten up athlete, and I will report back. Can’t wait. She also has an incredible skincare product that seems to be the premium product on the market, uh, by many accounts. And it’s derived from stem cell tissue and other cutting edge ingredients that will actually give you a renewal effect on your skin.

Brad (00:04:29):
I’s very, very premium. I’m also trying that right now. I got some before and after pictures, I can’t wait to bust out, but if you’re gonna go in on the skincare scene, you know, I’ve become a recent enthusiast. I’m going all in now at the very best product. And so you’ll hear about her. CharaOmni. We’ll have links in the show notes to everything. She’s gonna get pretty sciency at times with her dialogue and her conversation about the various types of stem cell therapy, but we try hard to, uh, back up and just give you this general picture. Uh, when you hear that term stem cells, you’ll now know what’s going on with this cutting edge medical treatment and how many applications and incredible stories of healing and turnaround that we are accumulating in this world. And it’s fast becoming a mainstream practice, but right now it’s, uh, the world of innovative leaders like Dr. Joy Kong. Here we go.

Brad (00:05:27):
Dr. Joy Kong the day has finally come. I’m so happy to join you. I’m here at the uplift longevity center, right in the heart of it, in this wonderful studio, all kinds of cool things going on here. Um, you have quite an amazing story. You wrote a book it’s called the Tiger of Beijing. Yes. And it takes us through an incredible journey. I’m gonna say, as a fellow writer, I’m so impressed cuz you bared your soul, you put it all out there. It was a very intense book. There was a lot of hardships, adversity, positive energy resiliency. I’m thinking of you cold calling the people to give Chinese lessons to tourists. But why don’t you give us, um, I know we could talk about the book for three hours or you can order the book and listen to it for 13 Joy is the narrator or read it, all those great things, but uh, kind of tell us how you ended up here.

Brad (00:06:19):
Yeah. So, um, I’ve known that I wanted to come to America since I was probably 15, you know, my parents are teachers professor, so I’ve seen these incredible Chinese students, you know, some of the best they run to America, they were doing so great. So I thought, okay, I wanna seek this new life in America. So when I was 18, unfortunately it was the time of the Tiananmen Square incident. So the government changed their policy on students, how they can leave and when they can leave the country. So I had to make a quick decision and instead of trying to leave for graduate school, I had to leave during college. So, unfortunately, my first visa was denied after trying very hard for 18 months, doing everything that needed to be done. You know, I, I was, you know, I was breaking the rules, you know, sneaking into libraries to get to the book where all the schools are listed, but still it was rejected.

Brad (00:07:16):
So that’s where the book started by visa rejection. Mm-hmm . And from there it’s about this, um, almost like a surge of anger of who are you to say no to me. Like what you don’t know anything about me, why are you denying my dream? So it was that anger that made me go calling of different hotel rooms. And that’s how I landed in a job to Tibet as a tour guide. And there was, you know, this whole adventure. And eventually, I met this young American, I came to the us and that, uh, led to a whole other level of difficulty because of not understanding what, you know, really the nuances of relationship and how a person acts and how that can, uh, can be another trap. So

Brad (00:08:05):
Not understanding the nuances of being with an asshole, and I’m so heartbroken on behalf of the great dream of coming to America and then getting here and your, your troubles are just beginning in a way, just more things stuck in your way, rather than even, you know, the slightest path or the slightest break. Would’ve been so easy for you to just, you know, carry on. But, you continue to persevere.

Brad (00:08:31):
Yeah. So, so it’s, it’s about, um, you know, it came to a point where it’s, of course it’s easy and safe to stay in something that’s probably not good for, for me. And maybe some people would have, but for me, I knew that like the, the essence of me would’ve died and, and that’s not acceptable. So I found a, a way to get out. And so the story it’s, I mean, it’s leaping into the unknown, but, but that’s the life force inside of us. And, you know, I think we all have tiger inside of us. Mm. And it’s about whether or not you wanna awaken it. So I want to maybe through the book awakens the tiger in a lot of people, mm-hmm, hopefully,

Brad (00:09:17):
And I’m sure you’ve seen many examples of people who are stuck. I mean, you’ve been a caretaker physician and you have friends, we have family members, we have people that we know what’s best for them. If all they need to do is extricate themselves from this bad situation. Why do you think it’s so commonplace for us to remain mired in, in negative situations? And then how are you able to find your way out of that or to have that courage when your stakes, frankly, were much more difficult, it was much more difficult for you to extricate from and be on the street with nothing in a new country, versus someone who is hemming and hawing about a, a much, you know, seemingly less, less stressful situation?

Brad (00:10:01):
Um, I think, you know, I, I think it is the determination of do doing whatever it takes, you know, that’s, it is the same termination that got me to America because I thought that I would come to this country and wash dishes and, and, you know, serving in restaurants and whatever it takes, you know, any menial job, I didn’t care, you know, I wanted to survive and make it in this great country. So it’s that same kind of drive is that I’m gonna make it because the life force is gonna carry me through just somehow it’s gonna, is gonna work out. ,

Brad (00:10:35):
You talk in the book about some memories from childhood and you were a live wire back then, and I’m wondering, there’s, you could argue that maybe you were born this way with this, with this tiger inside. And perhaps some of us need to come to it with, um, you know, putting out some courage at the age of 40 or 50 or 60 where you were just this unstoppable force, even from a young age, do you think you were, you were different in that sense?

Brad (00:11:05):
Yeah, probably a little bit. I’ve always been, um, you know, on the unique side, I guess, you know, growing up and, you know, I look things differently and I have very little fear about my environment, about, you know, my adventures. So, so that’s that, you know, there’s, it’s a part of that and just the decision to come to America at that time, when it seemed impossible, because most of my friends said, why are you even trying? Mm-hmm because it’s next impossible. I said, well, you can’t only find out if you try. So, so it’s that kind of just, you know, like I don’t, I don’t care. You said it’s difficult, but I’ve gotta try it. So, um, yeah, I think that that does, you know, take a, a sense of almost like trust, like trust in your destiny. Mm-hmm yeah. I think a lot of people doubt themselves too much.

Brad (00:12:01):
And then the book ends kind of early on when you’re just, you got here and you’re, you’re going into your schooling and that’s years ago. So from that point before the sequel comes out, how has this mentality served you in other areas as you’ve, as you’ve gone through life. And

Brad (00:12:20):
I think seeking adventure happened in medicine as well. Hmm. So the fact that I chose psychiatry, that’s a whole adventure on its own because I thought, you know, what can be more fascinating than the landscape of human psychology and behavior? So, so that was, that was adventure because I didn’t go into medical school thinking I was gonna be a psychiatrist. That was the farthest from my mind, I thought I was gonna be an OB GYN or urologist or internist. I had no idea that I’m gonna end up being a psychiatrist. So that would just like, because I was doing psychiatry, I thought this is so incredible. This is so fascinating. This is great. This is fun because I’m feeling this energy inside of me. So it’s all about the energy when you’re doing something. So I sense that I’m just so motivated. I’m excited to go to work.

Brad (00:13:07):
And that’s when I thought, okay, this is gonna be my field because I, cuz life is about having fun. Right. Enjoying it and be in the moment. So I was like, this is allowing me to, to feel this excitement. So that’s why I went into psychiatry, but that’s not where it stops. Right. So psychiatrists great. But it got repetitive. Mm-hmm because psychiatry has limitations. So does every field in conventional medicine you’re so secluded in this bubble of diagnosis, connecting to medications. So it’s all about giving a person diagnosis. And the purpose of diagnosis is to find the right medication. So this, this is direct, you know, like a feeding ground for medications. And by doing that, you are ignoring all this complexity of the human body, because it’s not just about diagnosing and medication. It’s about what’s causing your diagnosis. Why are you having this cluster of symptoms?

Brad (00:14:08):
Could it be possible that you are suffering from toxicity from, you know, heavy metal organic toxins? Could it be that there’s, you know, microbiome disturbance or mode toxicity, could your hormones be outta whack? Could you be lacking certain vitamins and minerals? None of this was looked at in conventional medicine and that was, was something that was, it made no sense. So I think it’s that the part of me that’s, you know, the fearless part is, is not worrying about the unknown. It’s like, okay. So I was a psychiatrist, I was doing well, you know, very comfortable life, but here I want to make a switch. I wanna go into something that I have nothing know nothing about, but I wanna do this because I know this is the right thing to do. So it’s the same, you know, sense of fearlessness and trust that if I’m doing something I’m excited about, everything’s gonna be fine.

Brad (00:15:05):
. So that’s when I went into this whole functional medicine and to anti-aging medicine aspect and then stem cell therapy. It was just too exciting, too interesting, and has so much science behind it and so much research around it. And that’s when I realized this is just so powerful and I want to do things that are powerful, right? As a healer, as a doctor, that’s why we went into the field so that we can make an impact. So that was, you know, that also takes courage because a lot of doctors don’t touch stem cell therapy because it’s a little bit controversial because, you know, the FDA still hasn’t approved, you know, there’s only one approval for hemo reconstitution, you know, for blood disorders using stem cells, but everything else is off label. There’s no approval and it’s controversial. So, doctors taking on certain risks, but I don’t mind taking on the risk mm-hmm because I know I’m doing the right thing.

Brad (00:16:09):
So, but you know, I try to be very responsible about it and never make any claims. I always give people very detailed background information, including research. I want them to understand, you know, what kind of evidence is out there for their particular condition and what the mechanism of their disease is and whether the stem cell therapy could be a fit. So I always try to be very evidence based, but still, you know, as all doctors doing stem cell therapy, because of the nature that is not FDA approved, we’re taking on risk. And that is a risk I’m willing to take because I’m helping so many people.

Brad (00:16:47):
So back to medical school, you’re exposed to different specialties, rotations, and you hit your psychiatry rotation and were initially excited and captivated. And then I guess, do you feel like you became disillusioned when you realized it was that narrow path of diagnosis for medication, I guess, especially in psychiatry, cuz mostly what you’re doing is managing medication.,It seems,?

Brad (00:17:13):
Yeah, we do some psychotherapy. You know, my residency program was very well rounded, so we did psychotherapy as well, but I loved, you know, I like medication cuz I, I like quick impact, but I, I like doing psychotherapy as well. But the problem was I, that you’re missing so many pieces of the puzzle by just looking at medications. So I’m not helping people in a full sense. I can temporarily solve some problems, but then whatever that’s driving, the condition is gonna keep driving that problem. And um, of course I worked in the psychiatric emergency room for a long time and I see this revolving door I would patient would come in, I’ll give them some medications, get them out of the acute situation. And then a few months down the line, there they are again. So, you know, the system was not functioning well, but also there, the fundamental causes of why they were sick in the first place was not addressed adequately. So yeah, I was not, I was, you know, not very content with what’s going on and also I I’m interested in the whole body. Right. You know, and I’m interested in my own health. Right.

Brad (00:18:27):
Hey, how about that? A doctor interested in your own health in her spare time. Well, you said on one of your podcasts, I don’t know if you were joking or not, but you said you had around 30 minutes of nutrition training at your time at UCLA medical school. And I’m like so ?

Brad (00:18:42):
True. And that apparently it was not just from me, I’ve heard it from other doctors as well. Yeah. So that was my impression. It seemed like 30 minutes, maybe it was an hour, but uh, mm-hmm but that was about it, you know, here’s these vitamins and there’s some nutrients in the food and um, yeah, that’s um, that’s about, yeah. Give you just like quick, quick list and overview and then you’re done.

Brad (00:19:09):
Yeah. It’s a little frustrating. And those of us in the progressive health space have heard the story or, or talk about how, uh, the doctors are only treating the symptoms and, and, uh, unfortunate and all that, but it occurs to me like it’s such an incredibly challenging profession and it’s so important to get care when you are in acute disease situation. And so there’s not a lot of room for, let’s say a psychiatrist or a surgeon. Like my father had a great career cutting stuff out of people there wasn’t room for him to bring in dietary counseling that, uh, would maybe help the patient not support another tumor in, in years, years to come. And so it’s kind of that narrow focus is incredibly necessary when you’re talking about medicine and life and death. And that’s why I think we’re still in that narrow mindset today. Thank goodness for the surgeon that took my appendix out. But you know, I don’t need to talk to him about diet and nutrition cuz he probably doesn’t have that inclination nor why should he, unless it was random. So you’re kind of this random example of going through the traditional medical training, and practice. And then somehow your mind, I guess, that frustration of seeing the same patient over and over, you start to open more doors and think bigger or something.

Brad (00:20:26):
Yeah. And I think maybe partially is because I do care about my own health and I want understand how I can enhance my own health. And then I realize, okay, it is the same for my patients. If all these things could affect my mental state, could affect my mood, could affect how I feel my digestion and all this, and it’s affecting my patients too. So it would be a disservice for me to not offer the same kind of help with my patients. Right. If I know it could affect their mental state, then of course I should mention, you know, Hey, you’re having some low mood. How about, you know, this supplements could be really helpful. How about checking, you know, some nutrients maybe you’re lacking, you know, certain, certain minerals. So all these things, it just, you know, it’s a sense of that. You know, if I have any integrity, I need to offer that to my patients.

Brad (00:21:16):
The FDA’s not gonna be your biggest concern because all you’re talking about is getting out in the sun in the morning or exercising more whatever. So you’re kind of getting into a more holistic relationship just because of who you are in your own interest and health. You’re saying mm-hmm

Brad (00:21:31):
Yeah, yeah,

Brad (00:21:31):
Yeah. Still, that’s a pretty big leap to go from psychiatry practice to longevity medicine is that the proper term? I more

Brad (00:21:39):
Anti-aging yeah. Anti

Brad (00:21:41):
So kind of, kind of take us through that. You, you were practicing as a psychiatrist and then where to go.

Brad (00:21:46):
So what happened was I, you know, went into a more specialized field, which is addiction medicine and addiction, medicine. And I became a medical director of some rehab centers in Malibu. And so talking with people who have addiction issues and you know, trying to help their overall health. And that’s when I really felt it’s important that these people are generally healthy, but why are they addicted to these substances? What could be driving this? Could they have certain nutritional deficiency? Could their hormones be outta balance? Why are they so, you know, why are they sad if they don’t take mm-hmm their, their drug of choice? Why are they having low energy? Like what’s driving this and how can I solve those problems? So they won’t be seeking substances. So that’s when, you know, I saw, okay, there’s all these things I can incorporate. Mm-hmm um, and, and then very quickly that’s when I, you know, realized, okay, I, I can do all these things for myself.

Brad (00:22:47):
So let me go to this American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine and learn everything I can learn. This is really interesting. And once I got on that train and saw this like vast world of integrated medicine, how many things there are to learn? You know, it just like, okay, this is what every doctor should learn before they prescribe any medication. That’s this should be the foundation of every practice. And how can every specialty just start doing everything else without checking, because you are the guardian. Yes. The primary care doctor, you know, needs to know definitely primary care doctor, but even if you’re in a specialty and you could, as a doctor, you know, you, the person could be toxic, you know, could have some kind of, you know, mercury poisoning or, you know, some other, um, you know, other hormonal issues. But if you’re not checking, you don’t think about it and you just decide to, you know, okay, I’m gonna operate you. I’m just gonna, you know, cut, cut this out. And, or I’m just gonna throw this medication at you. Um, you’re really missing a whole big toolbox of how you can help patients fundamentally. So I, I just, I just felt eventually medicine is gonna be functional medicine as a foundation for every discipline. Doctor’s gonna be educated in functional medicine and then they will specialize.

Brad (00:24:09):
Wow. That’s a big hope, a big vision. I love it. Yes. Um, it seems like a possibility due to the extremely high cost of doing it. The old fashioned way mm-hmm , which is to, you know, uh, Dr. Doug McGuff wrote a book for us called the primal prescription. And he cited research that if the current rates of type two diabetes continue at the, at the path they’re on, it’ll bankrupt, the US treasury by the year 2060, because we can care for these patients at, at great expense. For many, many years, we can keep ’em alive for a long time. And obviously this is a highly lifestyle related condition. Mm-hmm that can be righted so quickly. But, um, when those, when those pressures start to bear, we’re gonna have to figure out now I see billboards for Kaiser saying, get outside and be healthy and be vital. So they’re making an effort. It’s nice to put a billboard up. I don’t know how much is behind that, but you can see that the effort’s there from a healthcare provider to be start promoting healthy living.

Brad (00:25:06):
Yeah. There’s so much that Kaiser doctors can learn. there’s a lot more beyond satellite and move your body. There’s, you know, this is an intricate wide web of a relationships that, that the science and research is 20 years ahead of the medical practice. It’s always 20 years ahead. Yeah. So it takes the medical apparatus to catch up to what the science is showing. It takes about 20 years. Yeah. So, so makes sense. Yeah. But one day it’s, it’s gonna be here one day, you know, people are gonna be looking at what we’re doing now saying, wow, look at how backward and barbaric they are. Yeah. You know, like they’re trying to kill the body to kill the

Brad (00:25:46):
Body old examples of the lobotomies and the things they did 50 years ago.

Joy (00:25:49):
Exactly.

Brad (00:25:50):
Yeah. Boy, I hope that day comes quick because, um, we’re, we’re getting worse in many ways. And our lifestyles today with the technology and the, and the process food are in many ways, uh, more stressful and less healthy than our grandparents generation. Yeah.

Joy (00:26:05):
And, and I was actually hoping, you know, with the whole epidemic, that people are actually gonna pay more attention to their health. Mm. And I think people are

Brad (00:26:14):
Because 86% of, uh, COVID mortalities were in the obese category. Is that one reason? That’s one, it could be a good reason. Yeah.

Brad (00:26:21):
Yeah. And I think people are paying more attention. Unfortunately, I can’t believe that they’re encouraging people to get vaccine by what, giving them donuts or fried chicken or, oh, no, I didn’t know that by, uh, you know, bribing them with these horrible food. Oh boy. I mean, this is just, uh, yeah. So there, we have a lot of growth to, to, you know, to do

Brad (00:26:44):
So it sounds like the American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine is where you got some training. Sounds like they’re a cutting edge organization with a lot of educational opportunity.

Joy (00:26:52):
Yeah. Lots of great scientists and fabulous doctors teaching. There’s a gigantic conference every year in Las Vegas. And then, every spring in Florida. So they have two giant conferences per year.

Brad (00:27:07):
Any physician can attend?

Joy (00:27:09):
yes, yes.

Brad (00:27:11):
Any individual or is it just for physicians to learn?

Joy (00:27:13):
I think most of them are healthcare practitioners. Right. But yeah, they’re also individuals who are really interested in anti-aging and longevity, but I think at least half of the doctors who are there either have had their own personal health struggles that’s not adequately helped by traditional medicine or their family members. So a lot of them, you know, were in the bubble until something shook them up. Yeah. Saying, Hey, you know what? You got sick. And, uh, guess what you’ve been seeing, all these doctors and things were not getting better until you looked outside of this big bubble. And then they realized, oh my God, this is a whole world. And this is really powerful. So, so it just, it’s really interesting cuz you know, there doctors from all kinds of fields, Uhhuh

Brad (00:28:00):
Yeah. And you spoke there?

Joy (00:28:02):
I didn’t speak in at the anti-aging medicine conference, but I spoke at some of the stem cell conferences, ozone conference. Yeah.

Brad (00:28:10):
And what’s your topic? Just the, this

Joy (00:28:12):
I’ve had a doing clinic, a few topics. So I give various presentations and one of the first one I gave was a prompted by my search for the best stem cell source. Mm. Because when I came into the stem cell field, I was fresh in the arena. I could choose to do anything I wanted, you know, as wide open I could do bone marrow derived stem cells, fat derived stem cells or birth tissue derived stem cells. So these are the three main categories. So I could do anything I wanted, but the key is what’s the best for the patient? You know, not what’s the best for my convenience. Mm-hmm but what’s the best for the patient? So I went and searched, you know, everywhere for all the articles that are comparing these different sources. So that came to, you know, became the lecture that I actually put on YouTube is called Are All MSC’s Created Equal? mm-hmm .

Brad (00:29:05):
So I talked about all these MSC sources because mechy stem cells, these are kind of the holy grail right now of stem cell therapy. So we’re looking for MSCs in all these sources, but which one actually will give you better result. And that’s what I care about the result. So the effectiveness and safety for patients. So the, you know, the lectures is full of studies studies after studies, you know, from all around the world. So that was my first lecture, giving people a glimpse of what may be the best source mm-hmm . And of course, my conclusion, which is what I’m doing now is that birth tissue derives stem cells mm-hmm are the superior source. And then my, my other presentation is about the antiaging benefits of stem cells. So a lot of people, you know, intuitively they may think this is good for antiaging as a treatment, but, um, what are the evidence who, who has, you know, actually looked into longevity data, you know, the, the, the health span data.

Brad (00:30:00):
Yeah. So I presented those information mm-hmm and then, um, you know, more recently I was trying to share all the research, you know, divided by different organ systems and disease categories, just to give people broad overview, because a lot of doctors don’t know what kind of evidence is out there. Even doctors who are doing stem cell treatment. And I just did a consultation with it’s a patient. He said, oh, I went to see my primary care doctor. And, um, I guess a couple of them he’s, you know, major doctors and both of them said, well, there hasn’t been much evidence. And I hear this all the time. You know, my question is always, have they ever looked? If you don’t look then no, there’s no evidence, but if you look at all,

Brad (00:30:40):
There’s no evidence in my mailbox today.

Joy (00:30:43):
Yeah. Because my question is what disease, you know, evidence on, what disease would you like, because I can go right to my file, pull that up, email it to you. So tell me what you’re looking for, because there are so many conditions that’ve been studied from all around the world. And just tell me from head to toe, what are you looking for?

Brad (00:31:04):
I think we all have to be careful in this area where we have our blinders on, we have these fixed and rigid beliefs that we form and hold onto. And then it becomes very difficult to think critically and be open to new information, especially a highly trained medical professional. But all of us I think are guilty of like falling into a camp and then searching confirmation bias and the search engines and the on the internet, uh, feed us information that, that support that confirmation bias because that’s how we, you know we indulge in that’s more spending more time’s and, um, I’ve had to catch myself, many times in my health journey and also as an athlete being open to new information and seeing if it’s relevant and then, you know, knowing how to evaluate research or look for a trusted source and, and think critically at all times, because a lot of times there’s BS science out there that can convince you of this or this or this. And it looks official because it’s on the internet.

Joy (00:32:04):
True.

Brad (00:32:05):
and that stuff What are the treatments?will get you too. I think, we gotta back up a little bit and, and kind of just give us the basic notion of what is a stem cell. What are the treatments? And then we’ll, then we already know that the fetal derives stem cells are better than the other ones. And you can kind of compare and contrast,

Joy (00:32:24):
Well, there’s a difference. The fetal stem cells are not really legal in the us, but these aren’t birth tissue derived birth tissue. So fetal are from the fetus and, and you know, maybe some countries do that, like Ukraine, but not in this country. So nobody is doing fetal stem

Brad (00:32:37):
Tissue derived stem cells.

Joy (00:32:38):
That’s right. Yeah. So these are, you know, placenta and cord that comes with the baby. The baby’s great doing well. This tissue will usually be toss in the biological waist basket, and we’re now utilizing it to help heal people. Right? Yeah. So what is the stem cell? So, um, if you look at your and me, where we started in life, we started from a single stem cell. So that is a fertilized egg. So from that single stem cell, how did that stem cell know how to divide and migrate and form a 3d structure and gradually, you know, evolve into different organs and then for this? Yeah. That’s pretty incredible. Yeah. So what does the cell know? I mean, we don’t know what the cell know. I mean, there’s still a mystery. I mean, this is a mystery of life, but there’s an intelligence that’s in the cells.

Joy (00:33:30):
Right. They somehow know, and that is the kind of that’s the kind of intelligence is what we’re tapping into in stem cell therapy. So the cells somehow know, so when you have the first stem cell, the first stem cell will start to differentiate and form other stem cells. So they will divide as they divide, they will gain function, but lose potential. So they will lose the Y potential of becoming anything. They can be mm-hmm , but they will gain new function. Mm-hmm so, so it’s no longer stem cell. Well, no, they are still stem cells. Yeah. But eventually they will form the end organ cells. Yeah. And those are not stem cells anymore. Yeah. Those are tissue specific cells. So they’re end organ cells. But before the organ cells, you know, there are stem cells. So each end organ cell came from a stem cell.

Joy (00:34:22):
So the stem cells of course, were in huge number when the baby’s forming. But as the fully formed adult, we still have all kinds of stem cells. So in each of your organs, there are organ specific stem cells. Mm-hmm I say your liver, there are liver stem cells. Mm-hmm that can form new liver cells. Mm-hmm your bone, same thing. They’re bone stem cells that can form new bone cells. So these are the end, like the last, kind of the, the, the, the bottom of the evolution for stem cells, but they’re still stem cells, but they, they can only do one thing, which is to form the organ cells. But before that, there can be, all these, you know, could be a thousand layers of different kinds of stem cells. So all these are stem cells and they all perform certain functions.

Joy (00:35:07):
And in our adult body, we still have a lot of stem cells left. So we have tissue specific stem cells. We have very young immature, primitive blood cells that can form all the white and red blood cells in the body. And then, um, we have these stem cells that are very special because they are not so much, they, it, they don’t perform the function of forming specific cell types. They perform the function of coordinating regeneration. So they’re everywhere in your body, anywhere you have blood vessels, blood supply, you’ve got these Mesenchymal stem cells stem cells. They’re like little, you know, Eckle, that’s holding on the wall of these blood vessels. And not only they’re sensing what’s going on in the blood vessels, they’re also having their, you know, their low feet in the local environment, talking with local stem cells for local tissue specific stem cells.

Joy (00:36:03):
So they’re talking, they’re communicating, and they’re also sensing what’s going on local in the local environment. Is there inflammation going on? Is there, are there senescent cells just, you know, are there cancer cells? And then they can either work on them directly or send signals to blood. So your immune system can respond and come and help you repair and regenerate. So they that’s their function. They’re the coordinator. So these cells are everywhere. And that’s what we are tapping into right now is this, these signaling cells. So even though they’re called Kinal stem cells, but the discoverer of these cells actually wanted to rename the medicinal signaling cells, Uhhuh because that’s what they do. It’s like, it’s like this smart, you know, pharmacy, right? These cells, each one is like a, like a, like a, you know, artificial intelligence, you know, like this intelligence, pharmacy, whatever you need, it’s knows what to produce. Just sends just the right signal to your body to coordinate this repair regeneration.

Brad (00:37:05):
And when we’re born, mm-hmm , you gave me some ratios that were a little disturbing,

Joy (00:37:11):
Uh these incredible cells that called

Brad (00:37:13):
Aging people.

Joy (00:37:14):
Yeah. These, these incredible cells, when we were born, everyone in 10,000 cells is these, you know, these, uh, coordinating cells, right. For

Brad (00:37:22):
Regeneration Mesenchymal stem cells, right. When we’re born

Joy (00:37:24):
Yeah.

Brad (00:37:25):
And, but there’s throughout the body.

Joy (00:37:27):
Yep. Everywhere everyone in 10,000 cells when we were born. And by the time you reach your teenage years, it become became one in a hundred thousand. So that’s tenfold less. And when we reach our forties becomes one in 400,000. When we reach our eighties becomes one in 2 million. So there’s really no way around it. As you age, these cells, they divide, they’re activated. They only have so many generations left. Right. They can only divide so many times about 76 times. They can only divide that many times. And they’re done

Brad (00:37:59):
76 times.

Joy (00:38:00):
Yeah. But also just by living with you guess what your body produces, these reactive oxygen species, right? All these, you know, oxidative stress and you can cause damages inflammation can kill the cells. So there’s attrition rate that damages, you sustain your body and all your organs can also kill off these stem cells. So you just have less and less, you know, they divide and then they may, you know, fight your battles and then they die. And then, you know, all the toxicities. So you just, you know, there’s this straight line decline in the level. So, you know, eventually why do we die? We ran outta things to repair mm-hmm , you know, the cells are old, are not functioning very well. And if you can’t replace it, guess what? Then you’re just not functioning. Well, not functioning. Well, eventually everything fails, then you die. Mm-hmm . So, but if you have enough stem cells, then you can keep this regeneration going.

Brad (00:38:57):
So a 40 year old fit specimen versus a 40 year old person, who’s already lost a lot of their health attributes, are they gonna have a similar number of stem cells or is, is it gonna be accelerated or preserved by, by lifestyle practices in any way?

Joy (00:39:13):
No, I don’t have data on specifically the number comparison, but I do know when people are sick, if affects their stem cells. Mm-hmm, , Their stem cells can be dysfunctional. Mm-hmm a lot of people with autoimmune diseases also have defective stem cells. So, so the stem cells can be affected by the lifestyle and by their illnesses. Mm-hmm so that we know affects their quality and their capabilities.

Brad (00:39:36):
But let’s say the healthiest and fittest of the humans, Justin Gatlin, the Olympic sprinter who made the US team at age 40 as a sprinter. Unheard of. Okay. So let’s say someone at that level is still has a dramatic, uh, reduction in stem cell activity and stem cell number. Yep. relating to, he’s not running anymore. At some point, everybody gets old, even the Olympic sprinter, who’s 40. And so there’s absolutely nothing we can do about aging without intervention, let’s say with this stem cell decline. I shouldn’t say aging,

Joy (00:40:14):
But yeah. I don’t think there’s, yeah. I think there’s just a natural attrition rate and, uh, and there’s a natural escalation of inflammation. So, you know, I, you know, in my presentation about anti-aging benefits of stem cells, I talked about how a healthy, elderly looking vibrant, right. Boxing, you know, running, doing all these looking great he’s inflammation, markers are elevated. It doesn’t matter that he’s not sick. He’s doing great. He’s looking great. Just because he’s older, his inflammation markers are elevated. So there are things are trends that you, you can’t quite stop. Mm-hmm, more inflammation, less themselves.

Brad (00:40:53):
We’re talking like systemic inflammation of various kinds or

Joy (00:40:57):
Yeah. Just inflammation markers. Yeah. There there’s certain things

Brad (00:41:00):
That, and then I guess after a difficult workout or a long hike, the older hir is gonna have a more profound inflammation signaling than a younger person or something.

Joy (00:41:10):
That’s pretty sure

Brad (00:41:11):
Be. Yeah. Okay. Just basically our aging situation. Mm-hmm . So now, um, we have cutting edge medical technology yes to intervene. And how does this happen?

Joy (00:41:21):
Yeah. So there, there are a lot of things you can do. I think, and, you know, there’s more and more, but what I tell people, when I do stem cell therapy, now I tell everybody to take nitric oxide supplement because in nitric oxide level, also straight, straight line decline. And so does

Brad (00:41:45):
I aging, chronological

Joy (00:41:46):
Aging. Yeah. Mm-hmm so that’s, So that’s mitochondria health. I mean, a lot of things do this, right? So there there’s so many things we can do to kind of slow down the aging, you know, train. So, um, what, but there’s something fundamentally different about stem cells because I call them the engine for the body. Because if you have damages, you have inflammation, but if you got enough stem cells, boom, you’re repairing it. All of a sudden you’re fresh and new, but if you don’t have the information to get you to repair, then, then you know, then, then you’re stuck. So these are the engine, this pushes, this pushes for the renewal mm-hmm of this body. So if you have all the other ingredients, but you don’t have enough stem cells, there’s only so far you can get. So I call that it is like putting really clean, fuel into a dirty engine, right?

Joy (00:42:40):
If your stem cells are not functioning well, you don’t have enough of them. You know, you don’t have very many, you know, engines left. You, maybe you’re supposed to have six cylinder and you only have two left. So you put the purest fuel, you know, beautiful fuel. You still are not gonna get very far because you don’t have enough engine power. But by the same token, if you have six cylinder, beautiful engine, you know, pristine, you know, made by the, you know, the top and, you know, factory, but you put dirty fuel. You’re not gonna do very well either. So we need to address both, but there’s something fundamental, fundamentally powerful about stem cells, because it is the engine.

Brad (00:43:19):
Um, do healthy lifestyle practices kind of have any, magical effect on stem cells. I think fasting has been associated with kickstarting, the stem cells or cellular repair, or are these different pathways?

Joy (00:43:35):
Um, I don’t know how much it’s gonna affect the number of stem cells I think,

Brad (00:43:40):
Or how, how well they’re functioning,

Joy (00:43:41):
I think it can be to help the body to rejuvenate. You can kill senescent cells. But, um, I don’t know if you’re able to prevent the reduction in number of stem cells as we age. But, but yes, of course, if you’re healthier, you probably can preserve more stem cells because inflammation does kill cells, kill all cells, including stem cells. So if you have, you know, raging inflammation, you’re not gonna, you know, you you’re gonna destroy more of your cells.

Brad (00:44:12):
So then we’re gonna come in and get treatment. We’re gonna choose between obtaining our own stem cells from, from fat or bone marrow or getting, um, birth tissue stem cells, which is from an outside source, another person mm-hmm . And I know you, you, people have concerns about that, that you countered very nicely in one of your podcasts. So maybe you can mention why it’s the best and counter some of those concerns of someone thinking, wow, I’m gonna get stem cells on some random kid

Joy (00:44:42):
yeah. So one concern is people say, oh my God, you know, they’re gonna be other people’s DNA in my body. I don’t want that. Um, but what they don’t realize that it’s is actually part of the human story. It’s part of human existence, because the research have shown 60% of women have white chromosomes in their body. And they found out that it’s probably not just from giving birth to children or from having male siblings that have died when they were in the womb together. It’s probably because of sexual intercourse. So the, the exchange of DNA, you don’t want other people’s DNA in you, maybe you shouldn’t have sex so, um,

Brad (00:45:22):
Encounters the Dallas philosophy of, they want the, the female to have as many sexual partners as possible. This is 3000 year old advice people. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, because you get the, the more essence, my goodness, the female becomes stronger and more powerful. Yeah.

Joy (00:45:34):
That’s so interesting that that’s Hmm. They weren’t teaching me when I was in China. Everyone

Brad (00:45:39):
Telling me that sense. All that cen.

Joy (00:45:41):
Yeah. Yeah. So, so that’s the first argument, right? People worried about other people’s DNA. And, and the other thing is they, they say, oh, you know, it’s not matched, it’s not identical to your body, so it’s not gonna even stay in your body, just gonna be destroyed. But, um, the thing is that a lot of these cells, when they’re in your body, the type of therapies we do, whether or not you’re getting it from your own body or getting it from somebody else, mm-hmm, these cells, once we isolate them, put back in the body, they would do their work. And most of them would die. So it’s not like they’re gonna stay there forever. And it’s gonna, you know, become part of your body because possibly 95 to 98% of the cells are gonna do their work and die. Mm-hmm , but maybe a few percent and no one could give a exact number. I don’t think anyone knows in the world. So, but, but the, the, the guess is that between two to five, two to 5%, maybe two to 5% will stay. So we have seen that cells can stay in another person’s body, even in another organism, like human cells, you know, surviving and mice, and oh, so it’s, it’s not unheard of, you know, we, we have tissue transplantation, right. We have big valves. So, so other, you know, species,

Brad (00:46:49):
Right. And, and transplanting from, uh, organs, from other human to. My friend, {?} has someone’s heart. And, uh, oh, wow. He’s very grateful for it. And he’s doing fine. Wow. So it’s routine, it’s not a concern really.

Joy (00:47:00):
Right. So it can happen it’s, you know, it, so it, other people’s cells could stay in the body and could be part, become part of you and help you survive and thrive. Mm-hmm so that’s another thing, you know, majority of the cells are not gonna stay. They will do their work and they go away. And the small percent that does stay, can be accepted by the body. So that, that’s another thing. Right? So, so these two things kind of counter some of the concerns that people have about using other people’s cells. Mm. But there’s some benefits of using other people’s cells, especially when you use very, very young cells. Mm. When I say young, this is not just from a zero day old baby, this is younger than the baby, because the burst tissue contains cells that were trapped earlier when the embryo was forming. So these are very primitive cells. If you look at their biological markers, they are in between embryonic stem cell and the baby stem cell. So they are kind of, they’re more primitive. So they’re more power. They have more abilities to differentiate into different cells of cells, of different organs.

Brad (00:48:07):
So they’re largely undifferentiated less as opposed to the geckos that are hanging our liver.

Joy (00:48:13):
Yeah. They’re definitely much. Yeah. They’re, they’re, they’re, they’re much less.

Brad (00:48:16):
And so if you’re going, just to jump to the idea of getting it from your own bone marrow or fat tissue, those are more differentiated, I would guess. Although, why are you choosing bone marrow and fat tissue?

Joy (00:48:28):
Well, they are a little further down the line, you know, comparing to the birth tissue for sure. Yeah. Because when you get cells from the fat bone marrow, um,

Brad (00:48:35):
And they’re old

Joy (00:48:37):
Yes. And they could only differentiate into particular pathways, but when you use the birth tissue, they could differentiate into neurons liver cells. So they have broader range of cells that they can become. So that’s one thing. They also have more generations left, right. They have longer telomeres, so they can work longer. They’re gonna be healthier, Longer, right?

Brad (00:48:56):
Telomeres. We’re probably familiar with that term. Uh, it’s been bantered about, as a kind of identifying how much time you have left or how healthy you are with the, the length of the telomeres on many of your cells. Right? And so the stem cells have a lot of telomeres

Joy (00:49:09):
Too, right? They, they can divide more times without making mistakes without, without making genetic mistakes. So, um, they also can produce more growth factors. They have more neuroprotected properties. They, um, um, they are more anti-inflammatory. So all these have been studied in direct comparison to the adult source. And also they’re safer. I, one reason I don’t wanna use a person’s own is because there’s less capability of these cells to detect cancer and fight off cancer because stem cells, by its nature, it promotes growth. It wants to help everything to grow. So they produce growth factors. When you don’t have the kind of intelligence that are still existing in the younger cells. When you see a tumor cell, you don’t recognize as a tumor cell. So these older stem cells from our own body, you know, sees tumor cell and says, oh, that’s a cell.

Joy (00:50:06):
So here here’s some growth factors. And then you end up promoting the existing tumor growth. Mm-hmm whereas the younger stem cells, you know, I, I showed a research study, direct comparison between birth tissue, derived MSCs versus fat derived MSCs, putting it next to cancer cells, this brain tumor cell and the, the, uh, fat derived MSCs make the cancer grow. And the, the umbilical cord derived MSCs make the cancer go away. So both in the Petri dish and in a live animal body. So that’s how, how dressy different they could be. So for me, I just feel like that’s will be my sense of responsibility, because we all know that cancer can occur anytime, anywhere in anyone’s body. Mm-hmm , But it’s the power of our immune system to recognize it and get rid of it. But if you happen to have a cluster of cancer cells somewhere, and you put back, you put these adult stem cells that may not recognize them as cancer cells and tell them to grow. And then now you have exacerbation of cancer. So that is a risk I don’t wanna take.

Brad (00:51:09):
So why is this even an option? I mean, you’re strongly against it. Would someone else argue that, um, this way has advantages from the birth cells?

Joy (00:51:20):
Because people have gotten good results from the bone marrow and bad drive stem cells.

Brad (00:51:26):
It’s, it’s difference between good and,

Joy (00:51:28):
And, and they’ve been around for much longer than local cord rest stem cells, so, and local cord birth tissues and newest kid down the block, maybe in the last 10, 15 years, maybe, maybe a little longer, but

Brad (00:51:38):
That’s pretty old. So this stuff’s been going on. Oh yeah. Uh, for 10 or 15 years or more with the other, the other sources of symptom,

Joy (00:51:44):
The, the bone marrow drive stem cells, you, the first bone marrow transplant was, I think was in the 1960s. So it’s been around for, you know, at least 60 years. Wow. So, um, and the fat drive stem cells is no longer maybe, you know, 20, 25 years mm-hmm . So, but the birth tissue is the newest people realize, oh my God, look at all these

Brad (00:52:05):
And this incredible cells, 10 to 15 years of implementation. You said, I think when it first arrived.

Joy (00:52:09):
Yeah. At least 10 to 15 years. Yeah. Possible longer. I’m sure the research probably has gone on a little longer, but people have been doing this. Yeah.

Brad (00:52:17):
Um, so I, I suppose it started out really small. And what has the growth of the industry been like, and what’s it like today?

Joy (00:52:25):
You know, I don’t know exactly where it got started. But I definitely know the birth issues drive stem cells. The biggest research center I think, is in China. Mm-hmm yeah. So they do of course, lots of births and, , so they do tremendous amount of research there.

Brad (00:52:44):
And like here in America or in the developed nations of the world, how, how, how large is this movement? How many people are taking part in stem cell treatments?

Joy (00:52:58):
Yeah. You use the right word as a movement. Mm-hmm and as a movement, I don’t think that can be stopped. Mm-hmm as the cat is out of the bag. Now we know that there are these incredibly powerful cells. And I see that every day in my clinic of what it can do for people. So is, is the patient’s results that are driving the movement because I’ve gotten providers who approach me saying, can you teach me how to do stem cells? Because I’ve got patients who ask me may want stem cells. I don’t know how to do it. Mm-hmm please teach me. So it’s the patients who are coming to the doctor saying, Hey, do you do stem cells? I want stem cells. So I see this, I see I’ve only been in the field for six years and I’ve seen this drastic change in the landscape because the word has gotten out.

Joy (00:53:42):
People know it works. It helps. And even the questions people ask were different. Initially people were asking me, Hey, Dr. Kong, can you tell me what stem cells are? Like, what, how does it work? Yeah. And now the question is, oh, okay. I know stem cells are amazing. Can you tell me, I have this condition will stem cells help me? Mm. So that’s, you know, there’s a change in the questions mm-hmm . So I know that this is a movement that cannot be stopped. You know, maybe the pharmaceutical companies don’t like this, and of course they don’t like it, uh, because we’re getting people off medications cuz they’re, they’re recovering, you know, I’ve treated people with all kinds of conditions. And if they’re recovering, of course I we’re cutting the bottom line. So they’re gonna be people who don’t like what we do because we are affecting their economic.

Brad (00:54:26):
Yeah. I guess anything with change, people are resistant, especially the big powers. It’s, it’s hard to grasp that, but clearly there’s many examples of that from the big tobacco industries was just, uh, learning that, um, um, when tobacco started to get shut down and the legislation and all the stuff coming out and how bad it was, um, they quickly scooped up, um, a lot of food brands and started using the same marketing tactics to get people addicted, to processed food. It’s pretty funny. So it

Joy (00:54:58):
Worked pretty well

Brad (00:54:59):
Whether you are really buying in on that conspiracy theory or not, it’s clearly, you know, when there’s a force that’s showing potential for change, it’s gonna be, I guess, an uphill battle in some ways like with FDA approval and the resistance that the movement faces

Joy (00:55:15):
Mm-hmm yeah. Yeah. So they’re definitely roadblocks because a lot of these companies who are producing the stem cells don’t have the resources to, you know, do a big clinical study, which caused, you know, tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. You know, it takes a few billion dollars to bring a drug, you know, to, so they want to make the tissue transplantation a drug. So which means you need tremendous amount of financial backing to get that going. So, um, so that’s, that’s, what’s preventing the field from advancing and, and cuz a lot of doctors are scared saying, oh it’s not FDA approved. I dunno if I should do this and I’m taking on risks, but it’s, it’s a tissue transplantation. It should be part of the purview as doctors, you know, these are cells from the human body, just like blood transfusion. Blood products are not drugs. These are from one human being mm-hmm given to another, under the doctor’s supervision. The doctors thinks that this is important to give you blood transfusion. Right. Yeah. And so I think it’s important to give some cell transplantation. Right.

Brad (00:56:18):
But what’s the difference? I mean, what do you think if you,

Joy (00:56:22):
Well, yeah, if you manipulate the cells like a lot of companies do, which if you add chemicals, oh you add enzymes, you start changing the cell, changing the cells. There could be potential, unknown consequences mm-hmm so, or if you grow the cells to large numbers in their process growth, um, you could cause you know, there are things that could happen. Cells could degrade, um, you know, cells can transform. So you do need certain, um, certain parameters to govern these type of activities. So whether or not they should be classified as drugs that’s, you know, up to everyone’s interpretation, but you definitely need a new layer of supervision. But if you’re just getting the cells the way they were careful mechanical separation, and there’s all this research from all around the world, showing tremendous safety data that there’s, it’s probably one of the safest thing you can do is to transplant these stem cells from one person to another, they should be allowed to be used as tissue transplantation. That’s what I believe. Um, I, you know, but that’s what we’re doing right now. The stem cells I’m using are considered tissue transplantation under FDA’s own guidelines because FDA two categories, if you manipulate the cells then is category is under section 351. If you don’t, if his minimally manipulated is considered tissue transplantation, it’s under the section of 360 1. So that’s how we’re doing these trans transplantations is that these are minimally manipulated cells. They’re considered tissue transplant and not a drug. So that’s, uh, that

Brad (00:58:00):
Sounds promising.

Joy (00:58:02):
Yes. Yeah. Except that there are different limitations and there are different things that, you know, even though these are minimally manipulated products that doctors should be able to use as doctors see fit, um, there’s controversies about whether or not you can, you know, do IB treatments. And so there are a lot of nuances that that scare doctors. Hmm. So, um, it’s unfortunate because I think they should be allowed to be used by physicians as they see right. As the most effective way to help patients.

Brad (00:58:34):
And right now, I mean you happen to be a certified psychiatrist, but who can do this? Does it have to be a medical doctor or what are the guidelines around opening up a stem cell clinic, putting up some cool artwork and, and hanging some IVs.

Joy (00:58:50):
Supposedly you have to be, you know, you know, licensed provider. So either, uh, MD or a do or naturopathic doctor in some states or nurse, nurse practitioner, the medical board. Okay. So there’s each state have their own medical board. Yeah. And they’re the ones that are watching, but FDA is also watching. Yeah. So I think, you know, that that FDA has been criticized for trying to get into the business of managing medical practices. Because that’s not what they’re designed for. Yeah. They’re designed to ensure medication safety. Right. So medication devices, so that’s what their, you know, that’s their parameter of, of, of, you know, a power. But, um, that’s why, you know, there’s, there has always been government overreaching, you know, cases of government overreaching mm-hmm . So, um, you know, the, a lot of doctors are, you know, upset with what the FDA is trying to do because saying that they believe that the medical practice is really, should be governed by the medical board who understands medical practices. Yeah. So it’s not by a drug and device, you know, organization. Yeah. Yeah.

Brad (01:00:05):
So, uh, I’m, I’m coming in for my, my peak performance goals. We did our evaluation I’ll report back after I get my stem cell treatment. But there’s also, I would imagine, uh, a lot of people, most people are coming in with a specific complaint of some kind. And it seems like the areas that you can treat or address are across the board. Mm-hmm with anything from joint pain to, uh, carry on what are we, right? What are we talking about?

Joy (01:00:32):
I would definitely not use the word treat. So, but I help people with different conditions, so I help improve their function. So I just have to be very careful with, with what I say, you know, you know, that’s just the, the nature of how, you know, the, the atmosphere right now, you know, how, you know, medicine is mm-hmm is watched. Um, so, but I do have people with all kinds of chronic conditions that, um, you know, ranging from autoimmune issues to musculoskeletal injuries, to, you know, C O P D you know, lung conditions, liver issues, you know, kidney diseases. You know, erectile dysfunction, autism. So I have people from, you know, a wide range of, of conditions and, and I have seen tremendous benefit in all these areas. So I feel like I’m really making a difference in people’s lives, and that is really driving, you know, what I’m doing here. Um, it’s just, um, you know, it’s the results it’s, it’s, it’s incontrovertible. You know, it’s, it’s when, when somebody has a condition they’ve suffered for two years and they’ve seen, you know, every specialist there is, and they’re losing hope and they come to you and you do one treatment and things are resolved, you know, that this is because of your treatment. Right. So, so, and I see that all the time. It’s wonderful.

Brad (01:01:59):
So this is getting an intravenous stem cell infusion. And I guess the intelligence of the cell is knowing that my, uh, my heel and my plantar fascitis is not working. Right. And so it’s going to address, it’s going to, and same with someone traumatic brain injury is another category where right. The stem cell comes into your bloodstream. Yeah. And essentially it knows what to do with that cellular wisdom.

Joy (01:02:25):
So yeah, I’m basically allowing the cells to do exactly what they were doing in the body, which was, they were all around blood vessels. If they sent something bad somewhere, they’re gonna squeeze themselves into the blood vessels

Brad (01:02:38):
Such as inflammation or right.

Joy (01:02:40):
Or injury. So they’re gonna swim upstream to find the signal mm-hmm and then they’re gonna get outta the blood vessel because the signal is strongest over there. They’re gonna get to local tissue and start to coordinate this repair and regeneration mm-hmm . And that’s what I’m counting on. If I put the cells, instead of letting them sitting outside of the blood vessels and, you know, try to listen to what the signals are, I put them in the blood vessels, so they can do what they were gonna do anyhow, which is to find the signal and then get out and do their work. So I’m doing, I’m letting the cells do exactly what they were designed to do

Brad (01:03:15):
Pretty heavy . So we have our stem cell treatment, and then we have this other amazing contribution to the planet. it’s called CharaOmni. And the title of the product is stem cell regenerative cream . And I become a recent enthusiast in skincare, and I wanna get that skin. And I haven’t put anything on my skin, my whole life. I didn’t pay attention. I’m a guy I don’t care. And now, the results speak for themselves. You just turned 51 mm-hmm and, um, she’s a, she’s a regular user. I can’t wait to get started. We’re gonna do some before and after stuff. But tell me about how you came to develop a skincare.

Joy (01:03:56):
I know it’s so funny that that was the last thing on my mind. You know, when I went into this whole regenerative medicine field, I was like, yes, I can really heal people. I can be a healer that I, you know, I always felt that I was, and, um, I just want people to do well, you know, I didn’t care about the face. I was like, you know, I, you know, like that’s cosmetic, you know, I’m really not that interested, not that inspired, but you know what I wanna look good, so I need a good skincare product. And then, so, and then I, because I know so many products are so toxic because you know, all these artificial ingredients, you know, they’re all come from petroleum and it has a lot of unknown or even undiscovered problems, you know, disrupting your immune system and, and hormone system.

Joy (01:04:37):
So I thought there’s no way I’m gonna put on this most absorbent organ right. On the human body. So I’m not gonna put those on my face. I want an all natural product. I just don’t need toxins on my face. And, um, and just to find a nontoxic product or a old natural product was really difficult. Mm-hmm, , I, you know, I, you know, purchased Korean product, right. Famous, you know, like, you know, it’s supposed to be great. They said is all natural. And then when I actually got to bottle and look at the ingredients, I realized like, what’s this what’s, this what’s this. So all these things are not natural ingredients. I was very disappointed. And then I tried to get natural products. And then, then when I put them in my drawer, you know, they were samples. And then by the time I was ready to use it, months or two later, they had all separated in two different layers, so they were not stable

Brad (01:05:25):
Not good.

Joy (01:05:26):
Yeah. So, so that’s when I thought, okay, you know, do I have to make something myself since I can’t find it? And because I have access to stem cells because I understand peptides and, and, um, you know, and I love all these natural herbal, you know, products that, you know, all these things, you know, it became a playground. I can put all these incredible things in the product, and that’s what I did. I don’t even know how many herbs we have there, the way probably 15, 20, it was so many herbs and all these natural oils and antioxidants and prebiotics, and even the preservative is natural as a natural preservative. Mm-hmm so have nothing synthetic in this, in this product. So, the results really speak for itself. We’ve got, you know, highly experienced estheticians.

Joy (01:06:11):
We’ve seen everything or other doctors who are really into skincare, you know, care other lines. And doctor was just giving me a testimonial. She said, I’m phasing out all my other products in the, in the clinic. I have all these European products, you know, I, I don’t, I don’t, we don’t need them. This is all we need. This is all in one. It has basically, you don’t need a toner. You don’t need a serum. You don’t need a moisturizer. This is just the cream. It, it, it’s got everything because it’s deep penetrating. And, uh, it has all the protection, even, even sun protection, there are ingredients in there that can help protect, you know, against UV light. So it just, it is only one. It makes it very simple.

Brad (01:06:49):
Yeah. So, and including the stem cell derived it’s called the amniotic matrix and other agents that you’re not gonna find probably in any other cream or skin care probably

Joy (01:06:59):
Yeah. I think there, there are probably some stem cell products. Yeah. Out there they’re definitely it’s become popular, but, um, what makes our stand out is that we also have all these peptides and also the mixture of what I put in, in there, you know, including different matrix, um, and, uh, the different cell types, but the cells are not alive. So no one has a stem cell cream that has life cells, but the cells

Brad (01:07:23):
Get the IV for that.

Joy (01:07:24):
Yeah. But the cells will have all these regenerative, you know, these early regenerative, molecules and signals that can promote skin regeneration. And then also, um, no one, I, I, haven’t seen an all natural skincare product. Yeah. And just having our, you know, really magical blend, um, that just somehow produced this beautiful, glowing, youthful skin.

Brad (01:07:45):
Okay. We’re gonna put the link in there to CharaOmni. You can learn more about it, love the information, the education on the website. Love your podcast. We can find those on YouTube. Wow. What an experience to open up the door to amazing healing powers and, and cutting edge medical technology. Dr. Joy Kong.

Joy (01:08:04):
. Thank you. Yeah. So now I have things for the body and things for, for beauty, right. For, you know, VI vibrant health and beautiful appearance. So now we can, uh, and then I also do ketamine therapy to address the mental and spiritual health aspect. Yeah. So then it’s a true, you know, body, mind integration. So that’s what, what I do in the clinic.

Brad (01:08:28):
So before we go, tell me a little about that ketamine therapy. I, I know it’s becoming popular for treating things like depression, anxiety, things of that nature and yeah. Other things.

Joy (01:08:38):
So, um, so ketamine was anesthetic that’s been used for over 60 years. One of the safest anesthetics there is, but at very, very low dosage compared to the anesthetic dose, it actually has psychedelic properties. So people have this incredible experience,

Brad (01:08:54):
Which is the low dose. The,

Joy (01:08:57):
The, the IV ketamine. Yeah. It uses very low dose. Oh, okay. Yeah. Comparing to the anesthesia dose. Oh, okay. So the anesthesia knocks, the

Brad (01:09:04):
Personality knocks people out. Yeah. Yeah. So you’re awake when you’re doing this infusion.

Joy (01:09:09):
You are, you are fully conscious. Yeah. So it’s conscious sedation, but you may have an incredible experience vision. You have altered awareness. So if you open your eyes, you know, things may seem very strange, but what you do is you close up your eyes and go on this journey, this experience, some people say like have a one patient. He was saying that he had this incredible, it’s like the traveling of his consciousness, where he was observing his thoughts, you know, thoughts going, you know, in front of him, he was like, no, I don’t want that one. I don’t want this one. Wow. And he was having, you know, everyone has different experience. Yeah. For me, I was having this incredible visual as it’s like, what I describe as like circ de Soleil times 10, and you are in front center, see, the show is made just for you and your, on a helicopter .

Joy (01:09:59):
And it, so for me, it was an incredible, incredible, and it was so spectacular, so beautiful and so profound and took me to places that I never knew. I, I couldn’t even imagine. I mean, that the profanity is it’s so overwhelming that it changed my spiritual, you know, kind of, you know, basically gave me firsthand evidence that there’s, there’s other things going on. So, um, so everyone has very different experiences. But it gave them perspective gives me clarity. Um, but it, um, it’s FDA approved for treatment resistant depression, but off label use is great for anxiety. Mm-hmm, for PTSD, for addiction, for migraines and chronic pain. So it’s a, it’s a powerful modality,

Brad (01:10:47):
I guess the, the mechanism is you’re gonna come out of it with, like you said, perspective and, and clarity. And so therefore addressing whatever that list, you just threw down.

Joy (01:10:58):
Yeah. And it’s not just by clarity it’s because it changes your, your brain chemistry as well. It promotes brain derived and neurotropic factor. So it promotes neurogenesis. So the reinforces neuroplasticity. And this is one reason for PTSD is so incredibly powerful. It rewires the brain. I, as a psychiatrist who worked at the VA treating, I don’t know how many veterans with PTSD, from all kinds of wars, it’s incredibly difficult to rewire the brain. It’s almost impossible to get them past the trauma, not to have the kind of visceral, you know, you know, horrifying experience or, or just, you know, this sympathetic over, you know, overcharge. But with the ketamine, the response almost can be side stepped. So instead of going directly to the sympathetic overdrive, you are changing the loop, then you don’t have that response and that I’ve seen with ketamine. And it’s just incredible to watch.

Brad (01:12:02):
I think you have some shows about this, where you talk in more detail on your podcast.

Joy (01:12:07):
Um, I haven’t talked enough about it, but you know, some times a,

Brad (01:12:10):
I mention lot of content.

Joy (01:12:11):
Yeah. Yeah. Stem style is my main thing, but ketamine, I think is one of the most powerful things. Wow. Because, um, with stem cell therapy, I’m, you know, I’m not gonna be able to change thought patterns. I’m not gonna change somebody’s PTSD. Right. Right. Because that takes a whole different level of organization that the cells may help the structure of the brain and a particular, um, neuron, maybe damage damages in the brain, but it’s not gonna, you know, change the wiring. And I think that takes a whole different way of, of affecting the brain. And, and that’s what I’ve seen with, with ketamine and possibly some other, um, you know, psychedelic mm-hmm , um, you know, front medicine. Mm-hmm . Yeah.

Brad (01:12:55):
Dr. Joy, Hong bringing it very strong. Thanks for watching everybody check out more her on YouTube. We’ll send you all the links. Try some of this we’ll compare we’ll bunch. Put all our photos on Instagram and compare now six months later. Thanks for joining us.

Joy (01:13:10):
That’ll be so fun. Yeah. To your before and after that was fun. Oh, it’s almost five. Well, we did it really good just before five.

Brad (01:13:25):
Thank you for listening to the show. I love sharing the experience with you and greatly appreciate your support please. Email podcast@bradventures.com with feedback, suggestions, and questions for the Q and A shows. Subscribe to our email list at bradkearns.com for a weekly blast about the published episodes and a wonderful bimonthly newsletter edition with informative articles and practical tips for all aspects of healthy living. You can also download several awesome free eBooks when you subscribe to the email list. And if you could go to the trouble to leave a five or five star review with apple podcasts or wherever else, you listen to the shows that would be super, incredibly awesome. It helps raise the profile of the B.rad podcast and attract new listeners. And did you know that you can share a show with a friend or loved one by just hitting a few buttons in your player and firing off a text message? My awesome podcast player called Overcast allows you to actually record a soundbite excerpt from the episode you’re listening to and fire it off with a quick text message. Thank you so much for spreading the word and remember B.rad. 

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