Medical Media Mixer: The Perfect Cocktail

medicalmediamixer
  • 5.0 (10)
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Medical Media Mixer is a fun and educational podcast where two full-time medical professionals dive into the world of pop culture—TV, movies, music, and books—with a medical twist. Each episode breaks down the science (and nonsense) behind popular media, served up with a themed cocktail for good measure. Whether you’re a healthcare worker, a pop culture junkie, or just love a good drink with your deep dives, Medical Media Mixer is your prescription for smart laughs and spirited conversation.

  1. Oct 5

    Ep 92 The Ebola: Outbreak (1995), Real-Life Ebola Virus Disease, and a Five-Spirit Pitcher Pour

    This week, we're pouring "The Ebola" — a five-spirit pitcher pour that's not for the faint of heart — and revisiting Wolfgang Petersen's 1995 thriller Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, as our jumping-off point for a real deep dive into Ebola virus disease. We trace the virus from its 1976 discovery near the Ebola River through the devastating 2013–2016 West Africa outbreak, and walk through how it actually spreads, what it does to the body, how it's diagnosed, and the treatments and vaccine that have genuinely changed the odds of survival in the last decade. We also round up a few other Ebola-adjacent films and documentaries worth knowing about — including one we went looking for and simply couldn't find streaming in the U.S. Sources & further reading Outbreak (1995) — Wikipedia Outbreak (1995) — IMDb Orphans of Ebola — TMDB E-bola (2015) — IMDb Movies About Ebola & Disease History — Borgen Project Duke Global Health — Ebola Film Series The Ebola cocktail recipe — Cocktail Builder About Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers Medical & scientific references Malvy D, McElroy AK, de Clerck H, Günther S, van Griensven J. "Ebola Virus Disease." The Lancet, 2019. Moso MA, Lim CK, Williams E, et al. "Prevention and Post-Exposure Management of Occupational Exposure to Ebola Virus." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2024. Letafati A, Salahi Ardekani O, Karami H, Soleimani M. "Ebola Virus Disease: A Narrative Review." Microbial Pathogenesis, 2023. Umar SK, Diggle MA. "The Ebola Virus — Going Beyond the Bleeding Edge." Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2025. Meakin S, Nsio J, Camacho A, et al. "Effectiveness of rVSV-ZEBOV Vaccination During the 2018–20 Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Retrospective Test-Negative Study." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2024. Feldmann H, Sprecher A, Geisbert TW. "Ebola." The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020. Kuehn R, Ryan H, Okwaraeke KC, et al. "Vaccines for Preventing Ebola Virus Disease." The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2024. Choi MJ, Cossaboom CM, Whitesell AN, et al. "Use of Ebola Vaccine: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, United States, 2020." MMWR Recommendations and Reports, 2021. Mukadi-Bamuleka D, Bulabula-Penge J, De Weggheleire A, et al. "Field Performance of Three Ebola Rapid Diagnostic Tests Used During the 2018–20 Outbreak in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2022. Wonderly B, Jones S, Gatton ML, et al. "Comparative Performance of Four Rapid Ebola Antigen-Detection Lateral Flow Immunoassays During the 2014–2016 Ebola Epidemic in West Africa." PLoS One, 2018. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Clinical Guidance for Ebola Disease." 2026. El Ayoubi LW, Mahmoud O, Zakhour J, Kanj SS. "Recent Advances in the Treatment of Ebola Disease: A Brief Overview." PLoS Pathogens, 2024. Rojek A, Fieggen J, Apiyo P, et al. "Ebola Disease: Bridging Scientific Discoveries and Clinical Application." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2025. Bahadir Z, Narayan P, Wolters R, et al. "Monoclonal Antibodies for Pediatric Viral Disease Prevention and Treatment." Pediatrics, 2025. Kallay R, Doshi RH, Muhoza P, et al. "Use of Ebola Vaccines — Worldwide, 2021–2023." MMWR, 2024. Muyembe JJ, Pan H, Peto R, et al. "Ebola Outbreak Response in the DRC with rVSV-ZEBOV-GP Ring Vaccination." The New England Journal of Medicine, 2024.   Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  2. Sep 28

    Ep 91 The Celery Stalker: Obsession, Surveillance, and the 13-Year Nightmare Behind Stalking Samantha

    This week, Tara and Nicole dig into the psychology of stalking — starting with the Hulu docuseries Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror, which follows a woman held captive in a soundproof box by the man who pursued her for more than a decadebefore she found a way to escape and had to decide whether to pursue lesser charges or fight for full justice against her captor. They trace the same fixation across pop culture — Netflix's Baby Reindeer, the 2007 documentary Crazy Love, Netflix's You, and the 2025 film Obsession — before pulling back to the clinical picture: what stalking actually looks like, how often it happens, and why it's so often minimized. On the medical side, they break down the CDC's data on stalking as a public health issue, including how common covert surveillance tactics like tracking and monitoring really are, and the mental health toll on survivors — PTSD, hopelessness, anxiety. They also revisit the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, whose case helped create the first U.S. anti-stalking laws, and close with the real story behind Baby Reindeer as told by creator Richard Gadd. Cocktail this week: The Celery Stalker. hulu Sources & further reading: Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror (Hulu) Stalking Samantha (Disney+) Baby Reindeer — Wikipedia Crazy Love (2007 film) — Wikipedia Obsession (2025 film) — Wikipedia The True Story Behind Baby Reindeer — People Stalking — Office for Victims of Crime Stalking — CDC Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Stalking — Psychology Today Eva LaRue on Surviving Stalking Rebecca Schaeffer — Wikipedia Rebecca Schaeffer's Murder — All That's Interesting Celery Stalker cocktail inspiration — Epicurious Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  3. Sep 21

    Ep 90 The Arceneaux Ascent: Childhood Cancer Survivor, PA, and Astronaut Hayley Arceneaux on Wild Ride, Osteosarcoma, and Reaching the Stars

    September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and this week on Medical Media Mixer, Tara and Nicole are raising a glass — and raising awareness — with a deep dive into one of the most extraordinary stories in modern medicine. Anchored to physician assistant, astronaut, and osteosarcoma survivor Hayley Arceneaux's memoir Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships, this episode covers Hayley's diagnosis at age 10, the year of chemotherapy and bone-replacement surgery that followed, and the life-changing decision she made from her hospital bed at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: to come back someday and take care of kids like her. She kept that promise, became a PA at St. Jude, and then — in January 2021 — got a call that would take her further than she ever imagined. This week, Tara and Nicole unpack the data behind childhood cancer, break down osteosarcoma from a clinical perspective, and explore what it means to survive, to thrive, and to orbit the Earth at 357 miles up with a metal rod in your leg. And yes — there's a cocktail.   Sources & Further Reading THE BOOK Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships — Hayley Arceneaux (Convergent Books, 2022) Wild Ride Adapted for Young Readers (2023) Astronaut Hayley's Brave Adventure — Picture Book (2025)   THE DOCUMENTARY Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space — Netflix (2021)   HAYLEY ARCENEAUX hayleyarceneaux.com @hayleyarc on Instagram AAPA: Reaching New Heights — From Cancer Survivor to the First PA in Space (2021) St. Jude: Women Who Inspire — Hayley Arceneaux   CHILDHOOD CANCER STATISTICS Cancer Statistics, 2025. Siegel RL et al. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2025;75(1):10-45. Global Burden of Cancer in Children and Adolescents, 1990–2023. GBD 2023 Childhood Cancer Collaborators. The Lancet. 2026;407(10536):1360-1373. Trends in Childhood and Adolescent Cancer Incidence, 2001–2022. Shiels MS et al. Cancer Discovery. 2026;16(4):686-696.   SURVIVORSHIP & LATE EFFECTS Clinical Care for People Who Survive Childhood Cancer: A Review. Bhatia S et al. JAMA. 2023;330(12):1175-1186. Cardiovascular Toxicity in Patients Treated for Childhood Cancer. Ryan TD et al. Circulation. 2025;151(15):e926-e943. Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2025. Wagle NS et al. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2025;75(4):308-340.   OSTEOSARCOMA Osteosarcoma Survivor Story — Hayley Arceneaux (Osteosarcoma Institute) NCCN Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Guidelines   SUPPORT & RESOURCES St. Jude Children's Research Hospital — stjude.org American Childhood Cancer Organization — acco.org Children's Oncology Group — childrensoncologygroup.org   Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  4. Sep 15

    The Refill #6: Rabies

    We're revisiting Episode 12 with fresh, urgent context: On Sept. 10, 2026, the CDC issued a Health Alert Network advisory warning of a nationwide increase in rabies exposures and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) administration errors. Rabies vaccine use is up an estimated 33% year-over-year and rabies immunoglobulin use is up 76%, with at least eight state health departments reporting mistakes in how PEP is being given — including wrong injection sites and missed or unnecessary immunoglobulin doses. We also cover a real-world example of exactly this kind of mass-exposure event: In late August, North Carolina health officials confirmed rabies in four baby goats from Farm Adventures, a mobile petting zoo that visited 10 public events across six counties, including a back-to-school bash and an assisted living facility, before the exposure was caught. Rabies is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms appear but fully preventable with timely, correctly administered PEP — which is why we're topping off this episode with what's changed. Sources: CDC HAN Advisory: Nationwide Increase in Reported Human Rabies Exposures NCDHHS: Rabies Confirmed at Mobile Petting Zoo NCDHHS: Additional Exposure Details, Mobile Petting Zoo Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  5. Sep 14

    Ep 89 The Innocent Bystander: The Kitty Genovese Murder, The Witness, and the Real Psychology of Why We Freeze

    Show Notes In 1964, a New York Times headline claimed 38 witnesses watched Kitty Genovese be stabbed to death in Kew Gardens, Queens, and did nothing — a story so shocking it launched decades of research into what psychologists now call the bystander effect. This week, Tara and Nicole dig into how much of that famous account was actually true. The 2015 documentary The Witness, directed by James Solomon and narrated by Kitty's brother Bill Genovese, dismantles the "38 witnesses" myth: there weren't 38 eyewitnesses, there were two attacks rather than three, at least one call to police was made during the assault, and a neighbor, Sophie Farrar, rushed to hold Kitty as she was dying. From there, the episode traces the real science Darley and Latané built off the (exaggerated) case — diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, and why groups notice and react to emergencies more slowly than individuals do — plus how the effect shows up in later cases like the death of Wang Yue in China and ABC's What Would You Do? Along the way: Good Samaritan laws, what altruism research says actually predicts who helps, and why a story doesn't have to be fully accurate to change an entire field of psychology. Sources & further reading: The Witness (2015 documentary) — Wikipedia Bystander effect — Wikipedia Death of Wang Yue — Wikipedia Good Samaritan law — Wikipedia Altruism — Wikipedia What Would You Do? (2008 TV program) — Wikipedia The Kitty Genovese Case — All That's Interesting The Witness Exposes the Myths of Kitty Genovese's Murder — NPR Original cocktail inspiration: Innocent Bystander Moscato Mojito — Two Loves Studio Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  6. Sep 7

    Ep 88 The Tiny Fighter: What ER Got Right (and Wrong) About the NICU

    This week, we're leaving the ER and heading upstairs — to the NICU. We're joined by Tara’s sister Kristin, doctorally prepared neonatal nurse practitioner, to break down ER Season 10, Episode 12 and Grey's Anatomy's NICU storylines, then get into the real clinical science behind what those shows depict. We cover congenital heart disease and coarctation of the aorta, extreme prematurity, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and therapeutic hypothermia, and what it actually looks like when a family decides to let go. The cocktail is The Tiny Fighter — gin, lemon, simple syrup, and bitters. Small but mighty, just like the patients. Sources ER S10E12 "NICU" — Apple TV Grey's Anatomy NICU — Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki Congenital Heart Disease — CDC Critical CHD Newborn Screening — CDC Coarctation of the Aorta — American Heart Association Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy — PMC Review 2024 Premature Birth — March of Dimes CHD Epidemiology 1990–2021 — Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine HIE Outcomes — BONBID Dataset, Harvard/Boston Children's NICU Ethics and Withdrawal of Care — Asian Bioethics Review Current Practice Management Guidelines in Neonates and Infants with Isolated Coarctation of the Aorta — Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  7. Aug 31

    Ep 87 Hypnagogic Highball: Sleep Paralysis, Night Terrors & the Science Behind Inception and The Nightmare

    This week we're diving into the unsettling world of parasomnias — sleep paralysis, night terrors, sleepwalking, sexsomnia, sleep eating, and sleep talking — using Inception and the 2015 documentary The Nightmare as our jumping-off point. We break down what's actually happening in the brain during these episodes, why sleep paralysis so often comes paired with terrifying hallucinations (hello, incubus and succubus folklore), and how conditions like exploding head syndrome, hypnic jerks, and nightmare disorder differ from garden-variety bad dreams. Pour yourself a Hypnagogic Highball and settle in — just maybe don't listen to this one right before bed. Sources: Inception (Wikipedia) The Nightmare (2015 film) (Wikipedia) Sleep Paralysis (Wikipedia) Night Terror (Wikipedia) Exploding Head Syndrome (Wikipedia) Hypnic Jerk (Wikipedia) Nightmare Disorder (Wikipedia) Incubus (Wikipedia) Succubus (Wikipedia) Movies About Sleep-Wake Disorders (TherapyRoute) Related video Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

  8. Aug 24

    Ep 86 The English Rose: Toxic Beauty, Then and Now

    This week on Medical Media Mixer, we sit down with Paula Crichton De Alba, director of the 2024 short horror film The English Rose, to explore one of history’s most disturbing intersections: the toxic beauty rituals of Victorian women. From arsenic complexion wafers sold in the Sears & Roebuck catalogue, to lead face paint that cracked if you smiled, to mercury eyelash treatments recommended in Harper’s Bazaar, to belladonna eye drops that caused blindness — Victorian women were literally dying for beauty. PA-C Tara Prisco breaks down the clinical toxicology of arsenic, lead, and mercury poisoning: epidemiology, symptoms, testing, and treatment. Dr. Nicole Peniston brings the psychological lens, exploring the harm loops, impossible beauty standards, and the question that anchors the whole episode: has anything really changed? Cocktail recipes drop every weekend on our socials. New episodes every Monday.   ▶  Film & Filmmaker The English Rose (2024) — IMDb The English Rose — Seed & Spark (Director’s notes & background) https://www.paulacrichton.com/ Paula linktree   ▶  Historical & Cultural Sources Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder — Molly Brown House Museum Victorian-era Cosmetics — Wikipedia Dangerous Beauty: Hazardous Chemicals and Poisons in Historic Cosmetics — Science Museum Group The Poisonous Beauty Advice Columns of Victorian England — Atlas Obscura Skincare Trends of the Past: Toxic and Sometimes Fatal — Curology   ▶  Books Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present — Alison Matthews David (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015) Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper & Arsenic in the Nineteenth-Century Home — Lucinda Hawksley (Thames & Hudson) How to Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life — Ruth Goodman (2014)   ▶  Clinical & Medical Sources Lead Poisoning — Lanphear B et al. NEJM 2024 Metal Chelators and Neurotoxicity — Bjørklund G et al. Archives of Toxicology 2017 The Toxicology of Mercury — Clarkson TW et al. NEJM 2003 Mercury Overexposure: Systematic Review — Shi Y et al. Frontiers in Public Health 2026 Arsenic Exposure, Toxicity, Diagnosis, and Management — Baker BA et al. JOEM 2018 Acute and Chronic Arsenic Toxicity — Ratnaike RN. Postgraduate Medical Journal 2003 Metals in Cosmetics: Implications for Human Health — Borowska S et al. Journal of Applied Toxicology 2015 Mercury in 549 Skin-Lightening Products — Hamann CR et al. JAAD 2014 Mercury Exposures From Skin-Lightening Products: Systematic Review — Bastiansz A et al. EHP 2022 Toxic Metals in Cosmetics — Bocca B et al. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 2014   Episodes every Monday  ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review! 🍸 Recipes drop on socials  Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first box ClassPass: 2 weeks free 15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof 💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee  Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

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10 Ratings

About

Medical Media Mixer is a fun and educational podcast where two full-time medical professionals dive into the world of pop culture—TV, movies, music, and books—with a medical twist. Each episode breaks down the science (and nonsense) behind popular media, served up with a themed cocktail for good measure. Whether you’re a healthcare worker, a pop culture junkie, or just love a good drink with your deep dives, Medical Media Mixer is your prescription for smart laughs and spirited conversation.

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