Medicine

Medicine

episodes

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

Katie Batza, "AIDS in the Heartland: How Unlikely Coalitions Created a Blueprint for LGBTQ Politics" (UNC Press, 2025)

May 2, 2026

AIDS in the Heartland

Katie Batza
Hosted by Donna Anderson

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Katie Batza on their recently published book, AIDS in the Heartland: How Unlikely Coalitions Created a B…

Empathy Takes Action: An Autistic Therapist on the Radical Work of Connection

April 30, 2026

Empathy Takes Action

Aimee Cliff

Mainstream psychology has long accepted that some people (like those with autism) are naturally more logical and unemotional, while others (like so-ca…

William R. Brody, "Uncommon Sense: Rethinking Ordinary Problems in Extraordinary Ways" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

April 28, 2026

Uncommon Sense

William R. Brody
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Today I’m speaking with William R. Brody about his book, Uncommon Sense: Rethinking Ordinary Problems in Extraordinary Ways (Johns Hopkins University …

Masud Husain, "Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain" (Canongate, 2025)

April 22, 2026

Our Brains, Our Selves

Masud Husain
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

What makes us who we are?Through the stories of seven of his patients, acclaimed Oxford University neurologist Masud Husain shows us how our brains cr…

David Blumenthal and James A. Morone, "Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science" (Yale UP, 2026)

April 21, 2026

Whiplash

David Blumenthal and James A. Morone
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For nearly a century, every Democratic president—and many Republicans—entered office promising to restructure America’s health care system. Barack Oba…

Jim Downs, "Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine" (Harvard UP, 2023)

April 21, 2026

Maladies of Empire

Jim Downs
Hosted by Laura Stark

Jim Downs’ most recent book is Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine. Professor Downs is the Gilder Lehrman-Natio…

Matthew P. Romaniello, "Europe's Laboratory: Climate and Health in Eighteenth-Century Russia" (Cornell UP, 2025)

April 11, 2026

Europe's Laboratory

Matthew P. Romaniello
Hosted by Erika Monahan

Europe's Laboratory: Climate and Health in Eighteenth-Century Russia (Cornell UP, 2025) is a history of eighteenth-century naturalists and physicians …

Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds., "Religion, Spirituality and Public Health" (British Academy, 2025)

April 9, 2026

Religion, Spirituality and Public Health

Karen O'Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe eds.
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Religion, Spirituality and Public Health: Competing and Complementary Epistemes (British Academy, 2025) focuses on exploring the role of different 'wa…

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, "The Surgeon's Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War" (UNC Press, 2025)

April 4, 2026

The Surgeon's Battle

Lindsay Rae Smith Privette
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between May 1 and May 22, 1863, Union soldiers marched nearly 200 miles through the hot, humid countryside to assault and capture the fortified city o…

Isabelle Held, "Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies" (Duke UP, 2026)

April 3, 2026

Atomic Bombshells

Isabelle Held
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Bullet bras, bazookas, bombshells, bikinis. In Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies (Duke UP, 2026), Dr. Isabelle Held challenges the…

Katherine Harvey, "The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living" (Reaktion, 2026)

April 1, 2026

The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living

Katherine Harvey
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

We often think of medieval medicine as strange, unhygienic and unscientific, but The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living (Reaktion, 2026) by Dr. Katherin…

Steffan Blayney, "Health and Efficiency: Fatigue, the Science of Work, and the Making of the Working-Class Body" (Activist Studies of Science, 2022)

March 23, 2026

Health and Efficiency

Steffan Blayney
Hosted by Thomas Discenna

Our guest today is Steffan Blayney, the author of Health & Efficiency: Fatigue, the Science of Work, and the Making of the Working-Class Body. In Heal…

John Oakes, "The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without" (Avid Reader, 2024)

March 15, 2026

The Fast

John Oakes
Hosted by Saman Nasser

With fasting at an all-time high in popularity, here is an enlightening exploration into the history, science, and philosophy behind the practice—esse…

Susannah B. Mintz, "Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story" (Reaktion, 2026)

March 15, 2026

Hypochondria

Susannah B. Mintz
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story (Reaktion, 2026) proposes a bold reimagining of a frequently dismissed condition. Dr. Susannah B. Mintz reframe…

Helen Redmond, "Liquid Handcuffs: Policing and Punishment in Methadone Clinics and the Future of Opioid Addiction Treatment" (North Atlantic Books, 2026)

March 3, 2026

Liquid Handcuffs

Helen Redmond, LCSW
Hosted by Emily Dufton

A hard-hitting exposé of how methadone clinics fail people in recovery—and an urgent, unapologetic case for their abolition. Methadone is a life-sav…

Alan J. McComas, "Consciousness: The Road to Reductionism" (American Scientist, 2025)

February 27, 2026

Consciousness

Alan J. McComas
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

Neuroscientific evidence increasingly shows that consciousness is a remarkable but explainable function of a machinelike brain. Alan J. McComas' discu…

Kola Tytler: Sneakerhead, Entrepreneur, and Medical Doctor

February 25, 2026

Sneakerhead, Entrepreneur, and Medical Doctor

Kola Tytler
Hosted by Richard Lucas

In this conversation we hear about Kola’s journey as self-taught coder, business school, learning by doing, and how he is self-funding one person AI c…

Hanna Pickard, "What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?: A Philosophy of Addiction" (Princeton UP, 2026)

February 24, 2026

What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?

Hanna Pickard
Hosted by Emily Dufton

Dr. Hanna Pickard has written a revolutionary new paradigm for understanding addiction. Why do people with addiction use drugs self-destructively? W…

Ashely Alker, "99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them" (St. Martin's Press, 2026)

February 23, 2026

99 Ways to Die

Ashely Alker
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In 99 Ways to Die: And How To Avoid Them (St. Martins Press, 2026) emergency medicine doctor Ashley Alker presents an illuminating, hilarious, and pra…

Anne Mendelson, "Spoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood" (Columbia UP, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Spoiled

Anne Mendelson

Why is cows' milk, which few nonwhite people can digest, promoted as a science-backed dietary necessity in countries where the majority of the populat…