Read. Talk. Grow.

Mayo Clinic Women's Health
  • 4.8 (41)
  • MEDICINE

A podcast where we talk about books — especially fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction — that deal with important health topics. In each episode, host Dr. Denise Millstine invites an author and a medical expert into conversation on subjects like miscarriage, cancer, relationships, mental health and more. In the same way that books can transport us to a different time, place, or culture, Read.Talk.Grow. demonstrates that books can also give a new appreciation for health experiences.

  1. 85. Restorative Writing as a Healing Tool with Dr. Carolyn Roy Bornstein

    13H AGO

    85. Restorative Writing as a Healing Tool with Dr. Carolyn Roy Bornstein

    Burnout is real - and writing can help. In this episode, Dr. Denise Millstine talks with Dr. Carolyn Roy‑Bornstein, “A Prescription for Burnout” and Sandra Marinella, “The Story You Need to Tell” about how restorative writing helps clinicians process stress, grief, and emotional exhaustion. A powerful conversation on healing, meaning‑making, and reclaiming your story. This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens.  We talked with: Dr. Carolyn Roy-Bornstein is a board-certified pediatrician, author, and nationally recognized voice in narrative medicine and physician well-being. She is the writer- in-residence at a family medicine residency program, where she leads clinicians and reflective and restorative writing. Dr. Roy-Bornstein is the author of several books, including “Crash” and her newest, “A Prescription for Burnout.” Her work has also appeared in “The New York Times,”“The Washington Post,”“JAMA,” and other major publications.  Dr. Carolyn Roy-Bornstein Author Website Brain Injury Association of America Sandy Marinella is an award-winning author, writing teacher, and speaker who is best known for her book “The Story You Need to Tell” which is a widely acclaimed guide to using personal storytelling and expressive writing for healing and resilience. With decades of experience teaching writers and leading workshops for patients, veterans, and health care communities, in addition to high school students, Sandy is the founder of The Story You Need to Tell Project, which explores the transformative power of narrative in times of illness, loss, and change. Sandy Marinella Author Website Read. Talk. Grow. Podcast Episode 32: Writing to Heal Purchase A Prescription for Burnout  From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    44 min
  2. 84. Understanding Epilepsy Through Story: A Conversation with Katherine Center

    MAY 6

    84. Understanding Epilepsy Through Story: A Conversation with Katherine Center

    This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens.  We talked with: Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. She writes deep, nuanced, laugh-and-cry rom-coms that brim with hope and healing.  Her books have made countless best-of lists, including Amazon’s Top 100 Books of the Year, Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of the Year, the Indie Next Great Reads List, Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, Library Reads Hall of Fame, People Best New Books, and more. Her spring 2026 book is The Shippers - and today we’ll be talking about Hello Stranger. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband and their fluffy-but-fierce dog. Katherine Center Author Website Katherine Noe, M.D., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Neurology and the Chair of the Division of Epilepsy at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.  Dr. Noe completed fellowship training in clinical neurophysiology and epilepsy at the Mayo Clinic and now her clinical practice involves medical and surgical care of adults with epilepsy with specific interests in improving quality and safety in the care of persons with epilepsy and women’s health. Purchase WHAT YOU WISH FOR: From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    46 min
  3. 83. The Condition No One Talks About: A Conversation with Maya Van Wagenen

    APR 29

    83. The Condition No One Talks About: A Conversation with Maya Van Wagenen

    Chronically Dolores — Interstitial Cystitis, Invisible Illness & the Power of Storytelling Dr. Denise Millstine is joined by NYT bestselling author Maya Van Wagenen and Mayo Clinic urologist Dr. Aqsa Khan for a conversation about interstitial cystitis — a chronic bladder condition that's widely misunderstood and often dismissed. Maya shares the personal experience behind her award-winning YA novel Chronically Dolores, while Dr. Khan breaks down the medical realities of IC, from diagnosis challenges to treatment options. Together, they explore what it means to live with an invisible illness, the emotional toll of feeling unseen, and why representation in fiction matters for patients of all ages. This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens. We talked with: Maya Van Wagenen lives in the Atlanta area with her fiancée and their pets. When she’s not writing, she enjoys quilting, knitting, costume design, reading, and binge-watching detective procedural dramas. At fifteen, Maya became a New York Times bestselling author after Penguin Dutton published her eighth-grade journal, Popular. The book went on to win the American Library Association’s YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction, making her the youngest author and first memoirist to receive this honor. Maya’s second book and first novel, Chronically Dolores, won the American Library Association's Schneider Family Book Award for disability representation in young adult literature. Maya Van Wagenen Author Website Dr. Aqsa Khan is an Assistant Professor of Urology and Consultant in Surgical Urology at Mayo Clinic Arizona, where she specializes in women’s urologic health. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Khan is deeply committed to medical education and physician wellbeing. She serves as the Urology Residency Associate Program Director and the Director of Student Wellbeing at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Her clinical and educational work focuses on benign lower urinary tract conditions in both men and women such as urinary incontinence, prolapse, neurogenic bladder, and complex reconstruction. Urology Care Foundation Purchase Chronically Dolores: From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    49 min
  4. 82. A Conversation with Kathleen Glasgow on Writing the Pain We Hide

    APR 22

    82. A Conversation with Kathleen Glasgow on Writing the Pain We Hide

    This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens.  We talked with: Kathleen Glasgow is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, The Glass Girl, You'd Be Home Now, and How to Make Friends With the Dark.  Her latest novel, The Glass Girl, is a New York Times bestseller and was named Target's Young Adult Book of the Year. Kathleen Glasgow Author Website Read. Talk. Grow. Podcast Episode 73 Dr. Eric Noble is a board-certified psychiatrist who trained at UCLA. He’s also board-certified in Addiction Medicine. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Brown University, and his Doctorate of Medicine from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He is a staff physician at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.     Purchase GIRL IN PIECES: From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    52 min
  5. 81. A Family's Deadly Medical Mystery: Conversation with Lawrence Ingrassia

    APR 15

    81. A Family's Deadly Medical Mystery: Conversation with Lawrence Ingrassia

    This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens.  We talked with: Lawrence Ingrassia is a former award-winning editor at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. The coverage he directed won five Pulitzer Prizes in addition to other prestigious awards. A Fatal Inheritance, his second book, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction, and was named a best nonfiction book of the year by Amazon, NPR and Kirkus. Dr. Aadel Chaudhuri is a Professor of Radiation Oncology and an Associate Professor of Immunology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is a physician-scientist at the forefront of translational cancer genomics and has been recognized as a Distinguished Clinician Researcher. Purchase A FATAL INHERITANCE: From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    52 min
  6. 80. Explore Prosopagnosia Through Fiction: A Conversation with Katherine Center

    APR 8

    80. Explore Prosopagnosia Through Fiction: A Conversation with Katherine Center

    This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens.  We talked with: Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. She writes deep, nuanced, laugh-and-cry rom-coms that brim with hope and healing.  Her books have made countless best-of lists, including Amazon’s Top 100 Books of the Year, Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of the Year, the Indie Next Great Reads List, Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, Library Reads Hall of Fame, People Best New Books, and more. Her spring 2026 book is The Shippers - and today we’ll be talking about Hello Stranger. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband and their fluffy-but-fierce dog. Dr. Keith Josephs is a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience as well as the Ani Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease Research at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is an internationally recognized leading experts in neurodegenerative diseases with research focusing on clinicopathological and neuroimaging aspects of the frontotemporal dementias and atypical Alzheimer’s disease with over 750 scientific peer-reviewed manuscripts, including the 2024 Prosopagnosia: face blindness and its association with neurological disorders published in the journal Brain Communications. Purchase HELLO STRANGER: From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    44 min
  7. 79. Medically Unexplained Symptoms with Catherine Newman

    APR 1

    79. Medically Unexplained Symptoms with Catherine Newman

    This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens.  We Talked With: Catherine Newman has written a gazillion pieces (columns, articles, canned-bean recipes) for magazines and newspapers, in addition to two memoirs, two kids’ life skills books and a middle grade novel. We All Want Impossible Things was her first adult novel and was featured on “Read. Talk. Grow.” for an episode about being a friend to a friend who is dying. Her second novel, Sandwich, was released in 2024 to great acclaim. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. Listen to previous “Read. Talk. Grow.” Podcasts, Episode 14 and Episode 37, featuring Catherine. Catherine Newman Author Website Read. Talk. Grow. Podcast Episode 14  Read. Talk. Grow. Podcast Episode 37 Rebecca N. Thompson, MD, is a family medicine and public health physician in Portland, Oregon, where she specializes in women's and children's health. She's also the author of Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love, a decade long collaborative project about the joys, the challenges, and the everything in between of parenthood and family life, which was featured on episode 67 of “Read. Talk. Grow.” Rebecca N. Thompson Author Website Read. Talk. Grow. Podcast Episode 67 Purchase WRECK: From Bookshop.org From Amazon From Barnes & Noble Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    48 min
  8. BEST OF: Making a habit of happiness with Courtney Walsh

    12/24/2025 ·  BONUS

    BEST OF: Making a habit of happiness with Courtney Walsh

    What makes you happy? Many people would answer with the basics: family, friends, good food, and (of course!) a good book. But what brings deep joy and purpose to your life? What little habits and practices could make a big difference in your mood and outlook? In this episode, author Courtney Walsh, author of “The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley,” and Mayo Clinic Medical Director of Joy and neuropsychologist Anni Shandera-Ochsner, Ph.D., L.P., encourage us to think deeper about what makes us feel alive and gives us meaning.  This episode was made possible by the generous support of Ken Stevens. We talked with: Courtney Walsh is the Carol award-winning author of several low spice, small town romance novels. She’s committed to creating stories that bring joy and always promises a happy ending. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, was a New York Times and USA Today e-book best-seller and a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. In addition, she has written two craft books and several full-length musicals. Courtney lives with her husband and three children in Illinois, where she co-owns a performing arts studio and youth theatre with her business partner and best friend—her husband.Anni Shandera-Ochsner, Ph.D., L.P., is an assistant professor of psychology at Mayo Clinic and a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist at Mayo Clinic Health System in Wisconsin. She is also the medical director of Joy for Mayo Clinic and directs the Midwest region's Mayo Clinic HABIT Healthy Action to Benefit Independence in Thinking®, which is a behavioral intervention program for people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).  Purchase “The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley.” From Barnes & Noble. From Amazon. From Bookshop.org.    Got feedback? If you've got ideas or book suggestions, email us at readtalkgrow@mayo.edu. We invite you to complete the following survey as part of a research study at Mayo Clinic. Your responses are anonymous. Your participation in this survey as well as its completion are voluntary.Connect with others talking about the podcast in the Read. Talk. Grow. group on Mayo Clinic Connect, an online community moderated by Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic Connect is free, trusted, moderated, welcoming, safe and easy-to-use. The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not designed to replace the physician’s medical assessment and judgment. Information presented is not intended as medical advice. Please contact a healthcare professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed.

    42 min
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4.8
out of 5
41 Ratings

About

A podcast where we talk about books — especially fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction — that deal with important health topics. In each episode, host Dr. Denise Millstine invites an author and a medical expert into conversation on subjects like miscarriage, cancer, relationships, mental health and more. In the same way that books can transport us to a different time, place, or culture, Read.Talk.Grow. demonstrates that books can also give a new appreciation for health experiences.

Information

  • Creator
    Mayo Clinic Women's Health
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Read Talk Grow
  • Show Website
    Read. Talk. Grow.

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