Medicine

Medicine

episodes

Interviews with doctors and scholars of medicine about their new books.

Colin Elliott, "Pox Romana: The Plague That Shook the Roman World" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 19, 2024

Pox Romana

Colin Elliott
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the middle of the second century AD, Rome was at its prosperous and powerful apex. The emperor Marcus Aurelius reigned over a vast territory that s…

Travis Rieder, "Catastrophe Ethics: How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices" (Dutton, 2024)

March 13, 2024

Catastrophe Ethics

Travis Rieder
Hosted by Claire Clark

In a world of often confusing and terrifying global problems, how should we make choices in our everyday lives? Does anything on the individual level …

Jennifer Evans, "Men's Sexual Health in Early Modern England" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Men's Sexual Health in Early Modern England

Jennifer Evans
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

How did men cope with sexual health issues in early modern England? In Men's Sexual Health in Early Modern England (Amsterdam University Press, 2023),…

Kristine M. McCusker, "Just Enough to Put Him Away Decent: Death Care, Life Extension, and the Making of a Healthier South, 1900-1955" (U Illinois Press, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Just Enough to Put Him Away Decent

Kristine M. McCusker
Hosted by Julie Rugg

Kristine M. McCusker's book Just Enough to Put Him Away Decent: Death Care, Life Extension, and the Making of a Healthier South, 1900-1955 (U Illinois…

Judith Pearson, "Crusade to Heal America: The Remarkable Life of Mary Lasker" (Mayo Clinic Press, 2023)

February 27, 2024

Crusade to Heal America

Judith Pearson
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Mary Woodard Lasker had a singular goal: saving lives by increasing medical research. Together with her husband, advertising genius Albert, they creat…

Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, "Experiments in Skin: Race and Beauty in the Shadows of Vietnam" (Duke UP, 2021)

February 26, 2024

Experiments in Skin

Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu
Hosted by Yadong Li

Through a creative focus on skin, in Experiments in Skin: Race and Beauty in the Shadows of Vietnam (Duke UP, 2021), Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu examines the …

Daniel Skinner et al., "The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

February 21, 2024

The City and the Hospital

Daniel Skinner, Jonathan R. Wynn and Berkeley Franz
Hosted by Michael Johnston

An enduring paradox of urban public health is that many communities around hospitals are economically distressed and, counterintuitively, medically un…

Alison M. Downham Moore, "The French Invention of Menopause and the Medicalisation of Women's Ageing" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 14, 2024

The French Invention of Menopause and the Medicalisation of Women's Ageing

Alison M. Downham Moore
Hosted by Jana Byars

In The French Invention of Menopause and the Medicalisation of Women's Ageing (Oxford University Press, 2022), Alison Downham Moore discusses her cont…

Brian H. Williams, "The Bodies Keep Coming: Dispatches from a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence, and How We Heal" (Broadleaf Books, 2023)

February 10, 2024

The Bodies Keep Coming

Brian H. Williams
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Trauma surgeon and professor Dr. Brian H. Williams has seen it all: gunshot wounds, stabbings, and traumatic brain injuries. In The Bodies Keep Coming…

Buddhist Medicine in Contemporary Times (with Pierce Salguero)

February 9, 2024

Buddhist Medicine in Contemporary Times

Pierce Salguero
Hosted by Pierce Salguero

Dr Pierce Salguero is interviewed by James Bae on the Buddhist Medicine & Yoga Podcast. In this extensive and in-depth conversation, we talk about dif…

Where is Home?: A Discussion with Zed Zha

February 8, 2024

Where is Home?

Zed Zha

When Zed Zha came to the United States for her education, she faced barriers to medical school admission and financial aid, and to establishing a sens…

Sandro Galea, "Within Reason: A Liberal Public Health for an Illiberal Time" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

January 28, 2024

Within Reason

Sandro Galea
Hosted by Victoria Lupascu

A provocative chronicle of how US public health has strayed from its liberal roots. The Covid-19 response was a crucible of politics and public heal…

Elinor Cleghorn, "Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World" (Dutton, 2022)

January 28, 2024

Unwell Women

Elinor Cleghorn
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. Over centuries, women’s bodies have been demonised and demeaned until we feared them, felt a…

Alka Vaid Menon, "Refashioning Race: How Global Cosmetic Surgery Crafts New Beauty Standards" (U California Press, 2023)

January 28, 2024

Refashioning Race

Alka Vaid Menon
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Cosmetic surgery was once associated with a one-size-fits-all approach, modifying patients to conform to a single standard of beauty. As this surgery …

Camillo Leonardi, "Speculum Lapidum: A Renaissance Treatise on the Healing Properties of Gemstones" (Penn State UP, 2023)

January 23, 2024

Speculum Lapidum

Camillo Leonardi
Hosted by Jana Byars

First published in Venice in 1502, Camillo Leonardi’s Speculum Lapidum is an encyclopedic summary of all classical and medieval sources of lithotherap…

Patricio Simonetto, "A Body of One's Own: A Trans History of Argentina" (U Texas Press, 2024)

January 15, 2024

A Body of One's Own

Patricio Simonetto
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

As a trans history of Argentina, a country that banned medically assisted gender affirmation practices and punished trans lives, A Body of One’s Own: …

Sunita Puri, "That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour" (Penguin, 2020)

January 14, 2024

That Good Night

Sunita Puri

Sunita Puri is a writer, a palliative medicine physician, and an associate professor at the UMass Chan Medical School. In her memoir, That Good Night:…

Jennifer Thomson, "The Wild and the Toxic: American Environmentalism and the Politics of Health" (UNC Press, 2019)

January 10, 2024

The Wild and the Toxic

Jennifer Thomson
Hosted by Brian Hamilton

The first wealth is health, according to Emerson. Among health’s riches is its political potential. Few know this better than environmentalists. In he…

Chinmay Tumbe, "The Age Of Pandemics (1817-1920): How They Shaped India and the World" (Harper Collins, 2020)

January 3, 2024

Age Of Pandemics (1817-1920)

Chinmay Tumbe

On this episode of the Economic and Business History channel I spoke with Dr. Chinmay Tumbe, Assistant Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute …

Lenny A. Ureña Valerio, "Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920" (Ohio UP, 2019)

January 2, 2024

Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities

Lenny A. Ureña Valerio
Hosted by Steven Seegel

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University P…