Maimonides kicks off Super Sunday with focus on men’s health

By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

It was a serious subject that Dr. Frank Tamarkin addressed with a touch of humor in the Super Sunday edition of the Maimonides Society Brunch and Learn on January 26: “Men’s Health.”

For the first Brunch and Learn presentation of 2025, Tamarkin, chief of urology for St. Luke’s University Health Network, recruited three panelists who work in medical specialties closely linked to men’s health: urology and cardiology. They were Dr. William Markson of St. Luke’s Cardiology Associates, Dr. Jeffrey Gevirtz of St. Luke’s Center for Urology, and Dr. Zach Goldsmith of St. Luke’s Center for Urology and St. Luke’s Specialty Pavilion. Goldsmith is the current president of the Maimonides Society, and Tamarkin, Markson, and Gevirtz are past presidents.

Tamarkin opened his talk to the audience of more than 50 with the overriding question of the session: “How do we live a longer, happier life?” The answer is not entirely within the medical realm. Two key contributors are social connections and curiosity. “These are worth fostering with your patients,” he told his listeners, most of them healthcare professionals.

More obviously relating to the practice of medicine, Markson talked about the problem of plaque building up in the blood vessels, which can become a problem as men get older. Diet, exercise, and genetics are all involved. Family history can alert a provider to a patient’s potential vulnerability to certain conditions. “Mostly you can’t get away from who your parents are,” he said.

He emphasized the importance of medical providers giving proper medical examinations to find potential problems. Check the pulse in the feet, groin, and neck. Also, do the time-honored standard abdomen exam. “You have to get up on your toes and press in a little bit,” he said. “There’s still a role for this in the world.”

Food intake also figures into the prevention of age-related health problems. With a knock on the overcomplicated nature of so many trendy diets, Markson quoted the key dictum of Michael Pollan’s book “Food Rules”: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

He recommended a plaque test that has become widely available only recently: the CT Coronary Calcium Score. The low-radiation imaging procedure measures the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries. The score represents the calcified plaque found—lowest is 0, while over 300 means significant