The Doctor's Art Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson

Terminal lucidity is a mysterious yet well-documented phenomenon in which someone at the end of life—including those who have suffered strokes or other brain injuries, or those afflicted by dementia—suddenly returns with mental clarity and is able to recognize loved ones and engage in meaningful and emotionally rich conversations. It challenges our fundamental understanding and assumptions about the nature of consciousness, brain function in the context of severe illness, and personhood.&nbsp...

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) plays a crucial role in health care. As the organization that oversees medical education and thus the pipeline of future medical professionals in the United States, its critical duties include administering the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), managing the residency application service, drafting guidelines for faculty members and departments at medical schools and academic hospitals, disseminating data on medical education and workforc...

In spring of 2020, Cornelia Griggs, MD was finishing her nearly decade-long training to become a pediatric surgeon in New York City, when COVID-19 struck and life fell apart. The hospital was flooded with mysteriously sick patients for whom no known treatments existed, basic supplies disappeared from shelves, and each day at work took on an existential burden as she wondered if this would be the day she caught the deadly disease herself. Dr. Griggs describes these dramatic stories from t...

To many health economists, the growing aging population is the greatest public health challenge facing America. The current fragmented and costly healthcare system is simply incapable of dealing with the complex medical and socioeconomic needs of this population, especially in an equitable way.Our guest on this episode, Linda Fried, MD, MPH, has dedicated her life to rethinking how we can create better health futures for older adults. Her pioneering research has expanded our notions of aging ...

The history of cardiac surgery is filled with tales of intrepid surgeons with larger-than-life personalities who pushed the limits of the human body and the bounds of what were then considered acceptable medical practices. The result? Heart transplants, pacemakers, artificial heart valves, heart-lung machines, and other once-unthinkable and experimental procedures that have now saved millions of lives. Our guest in this episode, Gerald Imber, MD, charts these remarkable developments in h...

Rotavirus, a highly contagious virus that causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, used to kill more than half a million children annually. But the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine has slashed that number dramatically, saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year. Joining us in this episode is Paul Offit, MD, a co-inventor of one of the two most widely used rotavirus vaccines worldwide. Dr. Offit is a professor of pediatrics and vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania and direc...