Medical Humanities Podcast

How do diseases like coronavirus get their start? How does pollution affect the microbiome? Dr. Annamaria Carusi, who was as an academic in medical humanities for several years and is now a private consultant doing social studies of science for policy formation, addresses the way humans and environments interact. In this conversation with Medical Humanities Editor-in-Chief Brandy Schillace, she also discusses our need to take a wider view of disease vectors.

In this podcast Mr Matt Jackson, director of the UK, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) talks about current health inequalities that still face girls and women on a global scale. He revists the vision and programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) set out in 1994 in Cairo, Egypt and ongoing efforts by his organisation to complete the ICPD unfinished business. He explains how the UNFPA uses arts and humanities to reach out to international audience in its attempt to raise awareness of women's rights and implement change. This interview was recorded in June 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Conference_on_Population_and_Development

Audrey Shafer, MD, directs Medicine & the Muse at Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. She joins Brandy to talk about the use of Frankenstein to trouble the boundaries between science, medicine, and what it means to be human.

In this podcast Dr Khalid Ali talks to acclaimed Canadian director Atom Egoyan at the 41st edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) where Egoyan's latest film 'Guest of honour' screened. Egoyan reflects on prominent themes in his films such as isolation, estrangement and alienation of human beings, and how communication or lack of communication can result in long-term trauma and suffering. Story-telling and narrative are key elements in Egoyna's films through which his characters can absolve their guilt and achieve redemption particularly at end of life situations.

In this podcast, award-winning Australian film maker, Damon Gameau talks about his new film '2040' which explores what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we embraced solutions that are currently available to improve the planet focusing on climate, economics, technology, civil society, agriculture, and sustainability. Damon also talks about his first documentary 'That Sugar Film' where he followed a strict low-fat, high sugar diet and the negative effects that diet had on his health. Damon uses his films as tools for education and raising awareness around universal health challenges. 2040 was released in the UK on 8 November.

Nahid Toubia is a Sudanese surgeon and women's health rights activist, specialising in research into female genital mutilation (FGM). In this podcast, she talks about her career as a woman surgeon in Khartoum, Sudan in the 1970's. Ms Toubia describes how she got involved in championing the fight against harmful practices such as FGM, domestic and gender-based violence at the UN and several other international platforms. She also elaborates on her role as a pioneer in utilising art, film and theatre as tools for education, health campaigns and women empowerment.

Ciara Breathnach (@CiaraBreath) is a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Limerick, Ireland. She is a current Irish research Council Laureate holder and her research focuses on Irish social history of medicine and health. In this conversation with Brandy Schillace, she also talks about the upcoming Association of Medical Humanities meeting MAKING SPACE, which will take place in Limerick in June 2020. The conference website is https://www.amh2020ireland.com/. Email address: The email is amh2020Ireland@gmail.com

In this podcast, Clinical Psychiatrist and poet Owen Lewis (Columbia) and Sue Spencer, Associate Editor at Medical Humanities, discuss both the power and “disruption” of poetry in and out of healthcare curriculum.

In this podcast, film maker Hana Makki revisits her memories of making the documentary film ‘As one: The Autism Project’ working with ten children with Autism and their families. The film project was supported by Sheikha Shamsa bint Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the daughter of the crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in an effort to raise awareness about ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder’ in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over the course of ten weeks, these children made a musical show working alongside a specialist team of musicians, and performance artists, with the guidance of an Applied Behaviour Analysis therapist. The children come from various nationalities including the United Arab Emirates, Philippines, U.S.A, Palestine, UK, Ghana, India, and Ethiopia. Hana captured the journey of these children while rehearsing, till the night of the musical show, and also shares with the audience what happened to them afterward. Read the accompanying blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/09/13/film-review-x-y

In this podcast, Tom and his son Frankie discuss how their experience of making short films together supported their relationship as a father and son. Tom talks about the films ‘Bokx’, ‘Beyond’, and ‘Aston Gorilla’, and reflects on how watching the films after many years can say a lot about his two boys, George and Frankie; how different they have become and yet how similar they have remained! ‘Aston Gorilla’ was a direct response to a phase in George’s life when he was suffering from nightmares and Tom’s insecurity about his role as a father. ‘Bokx’ and ‘Beyond’ were responses to Frankie’s world of imagination; at times he seemed to completely disappear into his fantasies, perhaps as a reaction to the fact that he was born blind with glaucoma. Whilst his sight was restored, he was not able to participate in the world as other children do. These films were a way of trying to feel what life was like within Frankie’s imagination, and the cruelty of having vivid fantasy replaced with mundane normality. Frankie p

In this podcast, Dr El Beih, Egypt’s country director of Drosos Foundation talks about her journey from a hospital doctor to becoming a pioneer in the use of art and creativity in healing. She was behind the making of the Egyptian film ‘Asmaa’ which highlighted the stigma and discrimination faced by women living with HIV in Egypt (https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2011/11/03/khalid-ali-film-review-asmaa-directed-by-amr-salama-star-rating/). The film was inspired by the real life story of a woman living with HIV that Dr El Beih met as a patient while working as the UNAIDS Country Director in Egypt. Dr El Beih continued to support the human rights of socially-disadvantaged children and people with physical disability in national raising-awareness campaigns using short films with eminent Egyptian film makers. She explains her vision in engaging with several charitable organisations such as ‘Banati (My daughters) Foundation’ to support homeless girls (https://en-gb.facebook.com/Banati.Foundation/) With an

In this podcast Valeria Golino talks about end of life issues; assisted suicide, the common practice of some Italian people withholding the true diagnosis of terminal illness from their affected relatives, and doctor-patient relationships in these emotionally challenging circumstances. Such themes were explored in her award-winning films as a director ‘Miele’ (2013), and ‘Euphoria’ (2018). Ms Golino neither demonizes nor endorses controversial practices around death; she invites the viewer to reflect on such ethical and moral dilemmas. In ‘Miele’ she provokes the audience to think about the motivations driving some people to request assisted-suicide, namely depression. In ‘Euphoria’ she tells the story of two brothers coming to appreciate each other’s life style and decisions at a time when one of them is dying of terminal illness. An important factor that inspires Ms Golino to make films is her desire to tell real human stories that the audience can empathise with. A relationship of understanding, trust

On today’s podcast, Professor Roberta Bivins, Centre for the History of Medicine University of Warwick, speaks to unfounded fears of immigrants underpinning rhetoric surrounding the inception of the NHS.

Freelance author and historian Julian Simpson, author of Migrant Architects of the NHS, joins Editor-in-Chief of Medical Humanities Brandy Schillace (@bschillace) to discuss the role and responsibility of historians. How do we create a space for history that addresses itself to contemporary concerns including #immigration? This is about who gets to write #history, who gets to make decisions about funding, who recruits, who decides who can speak to #policy concerns.

Join us for a preview of the new June special issue on Biopolitics, Psychosomatics and “participating bodies" and read it on the MH website: https://mh.bmj.com/. June's issue is specially dedicated to the many ways of looking at psychosomatics. In this conversation with Brandy Schillace, guest editor Dr. Monica Greco explains why a different outlook on our bodies is much needed. Listen to the full conversation and keep an ear out for the buzz word that brings together nature and politics.

Medical Humanities editor-in-chief, Brandy Schillace, speaks to Dr Sara Wasson about her work on chronic pain and gothic transplantation. For more information read: https://mh.bmj.com/content/44/2/106.

Increasingly in the US, elements of religion have crept into medical and political discourse. The Bible has been invoked repeatedly, for instance, in discussion of women’s right to abortion, same sex marriage, adoption, coverage rights, and the list goes on. In today’s MH podcast, Brandy Schillace interviews John Fugelsang, host of Tell Me Everything on SiriusXM, as well as an American actor, tv personality, comedian, and twitter-burr beneath the saddle of the far right. Together they discuss this often taboo subject, navigating the way “religion” as a political identity has become a tool for denying healthcare, and how to make allies among and between believers of many faiths, agnostics, and atheists to provide better care for all.

Medical Humanities editor-in-chief Brandy Schillace interviews Medical Humanities board member Daniel LaForest on his understanding of medical humanities and storytelling.

Medical Humanities Film Correspondent Khalid Ali interviews Dr Nabil Elkot, a doctor who uses art in his psychotherapeutic practice. This interview comes from Medfest, the medical film festival.

Medical Humanities Editor-in-Chief Brandy Schillace interviews doctor and author Gavin Francis about housing and medical outcomes, his work as a travel writer, and the influence of his medical practice on his writing.