Medicine

Medicine

episodes

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

Greg Wrenn, "Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis" (Regalo Press, 2024)

March 27, 2024

Mothership

Greg Wrenn
Hosted by Claire Clark

A dazzling, evidence-based account of one man’s quest to heal from complex PTSD by turning to endangered coral reefs and psychedelic plants after trad…

Neil Gong, "Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

March 27, 2024

Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics

Neil Gong
Hosted by Michael Johnston

Sociologist Neil M. Gong explains why mental health treatment in Los Angeles rarely succeeds, for the rich, the poor, and everyone in between. In…

Reducing Barriers to Language Assistance in Hospital

March 25, 2024

Reducing Barriers to Language Assistance in Hospital

Erin Mulpur

Brynn Quick speaks with Erin Mulpur about how hospitals can better support patients from linguistic minority backgrounds. The conversation addresses t…

Maggie Hennefeld, "Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema" (Columbia UP, 2024)

March 25, 2024

Death by Laughter

Maggie Hennefeld
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate—or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries wou…

Beth Linker, "Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 21, 2024

Slouch

Beth Linker
Hosted by Mark Klobas

In 1995, a scandal erupted when the New York Times revealed that the Smithsonian possessed a century's worth of nude "posture" photos of college stude…

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 …

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…

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),…

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…

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 …

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…

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…