Medical Humanities podcast: Recent Episodes
BMJ Group
Medical Humanities is a leading international journal that reflects the whole field of medical humanities. Medical Humanities aims to encourage a high academic standard for this evolving and developing subject and to enhance professional and public discussion. It features original articles relevant to the delivery of healthcare, the formulation of public health policy, the experience of being ill and of caring for those who are ill, as well as case conferences, educational case studies, book, film, and art reviews, editorials, correspondence, news and notes. To ensure international relevance Medical Humanities has Editorial Board members from all around the world. http://mh.bmj.com/ * The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice and it is not intended to function as a substitute for a healthcare practitioner’s judgement, patient care or treatment. The views expressed by contributors are those of the speakers. BMJ does not endorse any views or recommendations discussed or expressed on this podcast. Listeners should also be aware that professionals in the field may have different opinions. By listening to this podcast, listeners agree not to use its content as the basis for their own medical treatment or for the medical treatment of others.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, calls to confront racism, systemic bias, and inequity in global health have become increasingly urgent. But what does meaningful change look like in practice?
In this episode, Dr Sarah Ahmed and Dr Sabina Dosani are joined by the co-founders of the Black and Brown in Bioethics (BBB) network: PhD scholar Matimba Swana, postdoctoral researcher and artist Kumeri Bandara, and academic clinical fellow Dr Harleen Kaur Johal. Together, they discuss their Medical Humanities Topic Collection (https://mh.bmj.com/pages/topic-collection-black-and-brown-in-bioethics) and how decolonising knowledge can help transform healthcare by rebalancing power, challenging whose voices are recognised as authoritative, and creating more equitable futures.
Drawing on papers exploring Black feminist citation practices, clinical trials, and the lived experience of sickle cell pain, they reflect on mentorship, collaboration, and widening participation. Evidence suggests that reshaping medical narratives and diversifying authorship contribute directly to the development of more equitable and inclusive healthcare models.
The participants:
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Matimba Swana, PhD student at the University of Bristol researching swarm robotics, cancer nanomedicine, bioethics, and digital health inequalities;
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Kumeri Bandara, Postdoctoral researcher at the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, and an artist focusing on health disparities, migration, and the arts
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Dr Harleen Kaur Johal, Anesthetics resident doctor, postdoctoral researcher, and NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow at the University of Bristol, specialising in critical care and healthcare disparities
The hosts:
- Dr. Sabina Dosani, Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist;
- Dr. Sarah Ahmed, Paediatrician and Medical Humanities scholar.
Love the podcast? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation with us on social media.
The Medical Humanities Podcast is produced by Letícia Amorim, and is edited by Letícia Amorim and Nick Currey.
Traditional methods of research and clinical practice are facing a radical shift as scholars push for deeper inclusivity and new ways of thinking.
In this episode, Dr. Sarah Ahmed and Dr. Sabina Dosani talk with Dr. Louise Creechan and Professor Femi Oyebode about the future of the Medical Humanities. They explore the boundaries of inclusivity, questioning who truly gets to speak for lived experiences of suffering and ill health without being instrumentalised by institutions.
The participants:
- Dr. Louise Creechan is a Wellcome early career fellow at Durham University, co-lead of the Measurement Lab in Durham's Discovery Research Platform, and a scholar at the forefront of critical neurodiversity studies.
- Professor Oluwafemi (Femi) Oyebode is a retired psychiatrist, scholar, and author whose research intersects psychopathology with literary humanities, utilising classical art and text to reflect on the modern human condition.
The hosts:
- Dr. Sabina Dosani, Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist;
- Dr. Sarah Ahmed, Paediatrician and Medical Humanities scholar.
This is the last of a four-part series about the Medical Humanities. Please check the previous episodes.
Stay connected! Love the podcast? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation with us on social media.
The Medical Humanities Podcast is produced by Letícia Amorim, and is edited by Letícia Amorim and Nick Currey.
What happens when a comic book illustrator and a fine artist challenge the way medicine is practiced? In this episode, Dr. Sarah Ahmed and Dr. Sabina Dosani talk with Dr. Monica Lalanda and Dr. Tamarin Norwood about why "politeness" might be a problem for research. They explore the overlap between the arts and medical science – exploring how graphic medicine and fine art are tools to break through silos. They discuss how crossing lines and being "transgressive" can bring the focus back to the person behind the patient.
The participants:
- Dr. Monica Lalanda is a physician, Graphic Medicine artist and bioethics researcher who coordinates the Spanish Society of Graphic Medicine.
- Dr. Tamarin Norwood is a Leverhulme Research Fellow. She is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Durham Institute for Medical Humanities and was an Associate Editor at the Medical Humanities journal from 2025 to 2026.
The hosts:
- Dr Sabina Dosani, Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist;
- Dr Sarah Ahmed, Paediatrician and Medical Humanities scholar.
Stay connected! Love the podcast? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation with us on social media. The Medical Humanities Podcast is produced by Letícia Amorim, and is edited by Letícia Amorim and Nick Currey.
In the second part of our four-part series about the fundamentals of the field, Professor Stuart Murray and Professor Neil Vickers discuss the origins and institutional state of the Medical Humanities. The conversation explores the field's roots as a strategic effort in the 1960s to maintain human values within a technological medical landscape. Murray and Vickers offer differing perspectives on the discipline, debating everything from the institutional realities of research funding to how scholars in the Global South are using the field to critique traditional medical models. Their discussion highlights the core tensions and contradictions that define the Medical Humanities today.
The participants:Stuart Murray, Professor at the University of Leeds and Director of the Leeds Centre for Medical Humanities - https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/102/stuart-murray;
Neil Vickers, Professor at King's College London and Co-director of the Centre for the Humanities and Health - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/professor-neil-vickers.
The hosts:
Dr Sabina Dosani, Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist;
Dr Sarah Ahmed, Paediatrician and Medical Humanities scholar.
Stay connected! Love the podcast? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation with us on social media. The Medical Humanities Podcast is produced by Letícia Amorim, and is edited by Letícia Amorim and Nick Currey.
"Medicine, like people, is messy."In the first episode of a new series from the Medical Humanities podcast, we tackle a question often asked by both sceptics and practitioners: What is the point of the Medical Humanities?
Jointly hosted by Dr. Sarah Ahmed (Paediatrician and Medical Humanities scholar) and Dr. Sabina Dosani (Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist), this conversation features a deep-dive with two leading voices in the field:
- Dr. Wing May Kong, Honorary Senior Lecture in Endocrinology and Ethics from Imperial College London, and Chair of Trustees of the Institute of Medical Ethics. https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/w.kong
- Dr. Grace Halden, Reader in Contemporary Literature and Medical Humanities, and co-director of the Centre for Medical and Health Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. https://www.drgracehalden.com/
They explore why healthcare is about far more than just data and objectivity. From the unconventional use of sculpture to teach medical students the power of touch, to the "liberating" impact of bringing lived experience and creative non-fiction into the NICU, they also discuss how the humanities create a vital, legitimising space for the stories that don't fit into a clinical record.Stay connected! Visit our blog for more insights and subscribe to the podcast for the latest episodes. Love the podcast? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation with us on social media.
The Medical Humanities Podcast is produced by Letícia Amorim, and is edited by Letícia Amorim and Nick Currey.
Join Dr. Sabina Dosani and Dr. Sarah Ahmed as they interview world-class artists, scholars, and clinicians about health, illness and systems of care.
The design studio of Simon Dogger focusses upon stimulating equity, connection and innovation. He is able to look further than what you can see and not only because he is blind. In cooperation with Dutch schools and universities his studio is working on design education for Visual Impaired People (VIPs). VIPs are resourceful and good inclusive thinkers, but this power is rarely acknowledged. That’s a pity since the design field and societies are in desperate need of different perspectives. This podcast is about the first steps toward a non-visual design school. It deals with the image of VIPs in society, the importance of touch and the benefit for design schools.
In a world where design seems reserved for those who can see, a new perspective is emerging. This podcast delves into the groundbreaking journey of blind and partially sighted designers challenging the visual dominance in the design industry. Through personal stories, innovative methods, and transformative workshops, it reveals how creativity thrives beyond sight. Experience how touch, sound, and emotion redefine design processes, making them more inclusive and human-centered. Join us as we explore a future where design is not just seen but felt, where limitations become strengths, and where diversity reshapes what creativity truly means.
Please read the related blog post and transcript: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2024/12/16/4015/
Visit Simon's website at www.SimonDogger.nl or send him an email at info@SimonDogger.nl. Instagram @Simon_Dogger.
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204. Thank you for listening!
The 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India, is recognised as the world’s worst industrial disaster.
The Wellcome-funded LivingBodiesObjects project has been working with the Bhopal Medical Appeal (referred to as BMA), a charity funding free healthcare for disaster survivors and water-affected communities. In this podcast episode, LivingBodiesObjects team members Clare Barker and Lynn Wray, and the Bhopal Medical Appeal’s Jared Stoughton introduce their collaborative work to produce new digital resources emerging from the stories of survivors and activists in water-affected areas of Bhopal.
To learn more about the Union Carbide disasters and the work of the Bhopal Medical Appeal, please visit www.bhopal.org. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.
Please read the related blog post and transcript: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2024/07/11/livingbodiesobjects-and-the-tragedy-at-bhopal
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204. Thank you for listening!
Teun Toebes, humanitarian activist, in conversation with Khalid Ali. In this podcast, Teun talks about his book 'The Housemates' (The Housemates by Teun Toebes, Laura Vroomen | Waterstones) and documentary film 'Human Forever' (Human Forever The Film (human-forever.com) describing his quest to understand better the experience of older people living with dementia in care in the Netherlands and globally.
Read the related blog post, including a transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2024/05/30/humanising-care-for-older-people-living-with-dementia-teun-toebes-in-conversation-with-khalid-ali
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Introducing their forthcoming special issue of Medical Humanities, Drs. Whitney Wood, Heather Love, Jerika Sanderson, and Karen Weingarten discuss the political significance of “making” our “modern maternity” with Editor-in-Chief Brandy Schillace.
Whitney Wood is Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Heather A. Love is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada).
Jerika Sanderson is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Waterloo. Her research investigates 21 st-century biotechnologies across the media, literature, and popular culture.
Karen Weingarten is Professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York and the author of “Pregnancy Test” and “Abortion in the American Imagination: Before Life and Choice 1880-1940”.
The issue is due in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, please read the related blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2024/05/08/making-modern-maternity/
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
In this podcast, our Editor-in-chief Brandy Schillace sits down with Matimba Swana and Kumeri Bandara of Black and Brown in Bioethics to discuss how they started, why it is important to build community when challenging disparities in academia, and how Medical Humanities and Black and Brown in Bioethics are joining forces to transform the academic publishing landscape to cater to more diverse voices, knowledge, and audiences.
Read more: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2024/03/28/research-forum-black-and-brown-in-bioethics
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
In this podcast, Brandy Schillace (EIC) and Cristina Hanganu-Bresch (Blog and Associate Editor) talk to Matt Finch and Matthew Molineux about how scenario planning can help inform decisions about healthcare and the role of narrative in building scenarios that teach and humanize the health professions.
Read more: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2024/03/08/scenario-planning-healthcare-and-the-humanities
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Making connections through poetry, disability, and medical humanities. Brandy Schillace, Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief, interviews Kimberly Campanello, Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Leeds University, UK.
Read the related blog including the transcription of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2023/10/26/on-poetry-disability-and-the-power-of-medical-humanities
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Stuart Murray, Professor of Contemporary Literatures and Film, University of Leeds; Wellcome funded LivingBodiesObjects project David Tabron, Blueberry Academy speak to Brandy Schillace about LivingBodiesObjects, the Blueberry Academy, and how Virtual Reality can support those with learning differences.
Read the blog with the transcript of this episode: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2023/07/28/podcast-with-stuart-murray-and-david-tabron
And more on the LBO website https://livingbodiesobjects.org/, and the Blueberry Academy website https://www.blueberryacademy.co.uk/.
In this podcast, Dr Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent, interviews Noura Kevorkian, a Syrian/ Lebanese documentary film-maker.
Noura Kevorkian discusses the personal and professional journey of her award-winning documentary 'Batata', its impact on the film's protagonists, and how the film advocates for the rights of refugees around the world.
Read the blog post and the transcription of the podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2023/06/20/podcast-with-noura-kevorkian-on-the-documentary-film-batata
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Medical Humanities, editor-in-chief Brandy Schillace speaks to Emily Silverman, MD, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF)creator of The Nocturnist podcast, and Luna Dolezal, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Medical Humanities based in the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health. They both published a 10-part podcast series called 'Shame in Medicine: The Lost Forest'.Blog link with the transcription of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2023/03/02/shame-in-medicine-the-lost-forestRelated links: https://shameandmedicine.org/ https://thenocturnists.com/ https://www.thenocturnists-shame.org/Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Editor's in Chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, interviews Amelia DeFalco, University of Leeds and Steve Byrne Director/Chief exec of the Interplay Theatre about the Interplay Theatre's work with disabled students and the role of immersive experience for the LivingBodiedObjects project.Related blog including the transcription of the podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2023/01/12/immersive-and-interactive-accessibility-theatre-and-livingbodiesobjectsSubscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Dr Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent, interviews British documentary filmmaker, Edward Lovelace. They discuss his film ‘’Name me Lawand’’, a rapturous portrait of a deaf Kurdish boy’s emotional journey towards discovering how to express himself. A love letter to the power of communication and community. Edward describes how he bonded with Lawand and how together they created a poignant film amplifying the voices of the Deaf community and their fight for passing the BSL act in 2022. Related blog with the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/12/15/lawand-from-voiceless-to-a-voice-representing-the-deaf-community-and-british-sign-language-bslOther related links:https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/10/27/listen-without-prejudice/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/04/08/the-reading-room-deaf-gain/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2018/08/09/deafhearing-family-life-in-the-silent-child-an-unsympathetic-portrayal/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/01/05/hearing-happiness-jaipreet-virdi-on-deafness-accessibility-and-her-latest-book/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/01/21/book-review-hearing-happiness-deafness-cures-in-history/Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
The moving story of an English professor studying neurology in order to understand and come to terms with her father's death from Alzheimer's. Brandy Schillace (Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief) interviews Cindy Weinstein, Vice Provost and Professor of English at California Institute of Technology.
Related blog including the transcription of the podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/11/08/cindy-weinstein/
Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Join us for a fascinating discussion about the ethics of care, and most especially the way structural racism and impediments to access heightened existing inequalities during both outbreak and lockdown. Brandy Schillace speaks to epidemiologist Professor John Wright, Bradford Institute for Health Research and Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research. A blog post containing the transcript of this podcast is available here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/09/15/infectious-disease-epidemics-and-inequality Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
In this month's podcast, Brandy Schillace talks to Dr Sally Waite and Dr Olivia Turner, of Newcastle University. They discuss "corporeal pedagogy", a form of learning and teaching that suspends conventional modes of Western education, particularly within a university setting, to facilitate embodied and haptic learning and production of knowledge. A blog post containing the transcript of this podcast is available here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/08/18/body-talk-corporeal-pedagogies-with-dr-sally-waite-and-dr-olivia-turner. Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
LivingBodiesObjects is a 3-year project funded by the Wellcome Trust designed to test and extend the boundaries of Medical Humanities research. Today we talk to Stuart Murray and Amelia DeFalco, University of Leeds, about the value of de-centering structures and opening diversity. Link to the blog post with more information about the project, and transcription of the podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/07/21/posthumanism-and-the-livingbodiesobject-project Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Editor-in-chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, interviews Narin Hassan and Jessica Howell about their innovative and interdisciplinary approach to health humanities. Narin Hassan is Associate Professor and Director of Global Media and Cultures (MS-GMC) in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech. Jessica Howell is Professor of English and Associate Director of the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M University. Read the blog with the transcription of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/07/07/global-health-humanities-a-june-special-issue The special issue is available: https://mh.bmj.com/content/48/2 Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Clio Barnard is multi-award winning British Film writer, director and producer. In this conversation with Medical Humanities' film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali, she revisits her 'Bradford Film Trilogy'; 'The Arbor' (2010), 'The Selfish Giant' (2013), and 'Ali & Ava' (2021). The uniqueness and diversity of Bradford community portrayed as a love story between two unlikely characters made 'Ali and Ava' a film celebrating love, friendship, forgiveness, and hope. Read more about Clio Barnard's work - including a transcript of the podcast on our blog: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/06/23/bradford-tales-authentically-and-poetically-portrayed-in-film-by-clio-barnard. Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
LivingBodiesObjects is a 3-year project funded by the Wellcome Trust designed to test and extend the boundaries of Medical Humanities research. Editor-in-chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, interviews Stuart Murray, Professor of Contemporary Literatures and Film and Director of the Centre of Medical Humanities at the University of Leeds, in the UK. Read the blog with the transcription of this podcast here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/03/17/livingbodiesobjects-with-stuart-murray. Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
We are excited to present Riva Lehrer, artist and author, and her book GOLEM GIRL, about disability, embodiment, joy, and becoming herself. Read the blog with the transcription of this podcast here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2023/03/04/podcast-with-riva-lehrer-author-of-golem-girl-a-memoir. Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
J. Rick Castañeda is a writer, director and producer (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1479268/?ref_=tt_ov_dr). His works have been around the world to festivals in London, Canada, Japan, and Romania, as well as festivals in the US such as SXSW. He made over 30 short films, earning recognition from YouTube, Crackle, and Funny or Die. Rick uses humour to explore stress, anxiety and disenfranchisement in the office space. In this podcast, Rick reflects on his childhood and time spent as an office worker, and how these experiences inspired his creative writing and film career. He stresses the importance of portraying human beings from different backgrounds in his films to encourage a dialogue between cultures. Related links: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2022/01/21/loneliness-friendship-and-love-in-the-office-space https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2019/07/30/christina-lee-mindlessness-book-review/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/12/14/film-review-dear-zindagi/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/07/13/film-review-notes-on-blindness/
Brandy interviews Donna McCormack about the December Special Issue, Transplant and its Imaginaries. Donna McCormack, Chancellor'S Fellow and Senior Lecturer (with co-editor Magrit Shildrick) proposes new understandings of the limits and possible extensions of organ and tissue transplantation. The Special Issue of Medical Humanities is available here: https://mh.bmj.com/content/47/4 Read the related blog post (with the transcription of this podcast) here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/12/09/december-special-issue-podcast-transplantation-and-its-imaginaries Subscribe to the Medical Humanities Podcast in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a 5-star rating on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you for listening!
Join us on this episode of the Medical Humanities Podcast as Brandy Schillace speaks with Eric Garcia, author of WE’RE NOT BROKEN: Changing the Autism Conversation (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, August 3, 2021). Eric Garcia is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. Read the related blog post (with the transcription of the whole podcast) here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/11/05/eric-garcia/
In this podcast, Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri (Swedish film makers) reflect on their documentary film 'The most beautiful boy in the world' (2021) and their professional relationship with the film's protagonist, Björn Andrésen. Björn came to international fame at the age of 15 when Italian director Luchino Visconti cast him as Tadzio, the young boy in his film 'Death in Venice' (1971). Kristina and Kristian comment on the long-term impact of childhood trauma on the mental well-being of Swedish artists such as Björn Andrésen and Astrid Lindgren. They comment on the need for clear rules of engagement and professional boundaries between artists and executive managers to avoid physical and psychological exploitation of those artists. Related blog post with transcript: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/10/14/reflections-on-childhood-trauma-creativity-and-mental-well-being/ Other related links: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2019/08/20/healing-by-art-almodovar-champions-arts-for-health-and-well-being/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2018/02/13/two-sides-coin/ https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/10/23/a-woman-on-the-verge-of-suicide/ https://mh.bmj.com/content/45/3/235 https://mh.bmj.com/content/43/1/30 https://mh.bmj.com/content/34/2/110 https://mh.bmj.com/content/43/2/86
This podcast features Clare Barker, Associate Professor in English Literature, University of Leeds, and guest editor of our Medical Humanities June Special Issue for 2021: Global Genetic Fictions. Read more on the Medical Humanities website: https://mh.bmj.com/content/47/2 Read the transcript of this podcast in the Medical Humanities blog (https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/09/02/clare-barker-global-genetic-fictions).
An outlook at how disabled lives have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, by the current vaccine roll-out. Alice Wong, a disabled activist, and Alyssa Burgart, an anesthesiologist and ethicist at Stanford University, tell Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief, Brandy Schillace, how disabled lives have been overlooked in this crisis, as the very systems and designs of medicine cater to the able-bodied. Read the transcript on the Medical Humanities blog (https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/08/12/medicines-disability-blind-spot-privilege-access-and-the-continued-vaccine-roll-out). You can subscribe to the Medical Humanities podcast on any of the main platforms to get the latest episodes. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving us a review or a comment on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204). Thank you.
Medical Humanities' Editor-in-Chief, Brandy Schillace, talks to Dr. Eleanor Janega, a medieval historian, about comparisons between COVID-19 and the Black Death. Read the blog post, which includes the transcript of the podcast, here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/07/15/going-medieval-historical-comparisons-of-plague-and-pandemic/
Editor-in-Chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, speaks to Brian Sims, an openly gay LGBTQ activist, Pennsylvania State Representative, and civil rights attorney about the power of representation, and what minority groups offer to better governance. Read the related blog with this podcast's transcript: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/06/10/celebrating-pride-month-with-brian-sims
Sarah Gavron talks to our film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali, about her passion for telling stories about marginalised women from diverse backgrounds in her films. Read the blog post, which includes the transcript of the podcast, here: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/05/27/the-female-gaze-in-film-as-seen-by-sarah-gavron
David Perry is a freelance journalist covering politics, history, education, and disability rights with bylines at CNN, NYT, Atlantic, Guardian and many more. He and his food-scientist wife live in the Twin Cities with their children, one of whom has Down syndrome, and Perry also plays in an Irish rock band. Today on the podcast, David talks about access and education under COVID-19. What does it mean to really provide free and fair education to all? Read the related blog post, which includes the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/05/12/generation-covid-education-access-and-the-long-shadow-of-pandemic-trauma
Editor-in-Chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, speaks to Arabella Proffer, an artist whose work combines the history of medicine with biomorphic abstraction about life, art, and cancer. Read the related blog post, which includes the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/04/21/life-art-cancer-living-to-the-fullest
In this podcast, Editor-in-Chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, speaks to Natalie Kerres, designer of SCALED and a recent graduate of Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. SCALED is wearable technology designed for sports, medicine, and disability. Read the transcript of this podcast in the Medical Humanities blog: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/04/07/designing-for-the-body-scaled-wearable-technology
Rita Colwell is one of the top scientists in America: the groundbreaking microbiologist who discovered how cholera survives between epidemics and the former head of the National Science Foundation. She joins us for International Women’s Day, discussing the trials and successes of being a woman in science and her new book A Lab of One’s Own. Read the related blog post with the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/03/08/the-fight-against-sexism-in-science-international-womens-day-featuring-scientist-rita-colwell Subscribe to the Medical Humanities in all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify.
In this podcast, Brandy Schillace, Medical Humanities Editor-in-Chief, interviews Dr. Oni Blackstock, physician and Director of Health Justice Dr. Blackstock speaks about the influence of her mother, the fight against health inequality, and her own struggles as a Black woman physician for social justice. Read the related blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/02/24/the-power-of-equity-interview-with-oni-blackstock/
Dr. Josh Mugele, a disaster and emergency medicine physician, speaks about health disparity during crises like the current COVID pandemic. Read the blog post containing the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/02/04/what-becomes-of-us-health-disparity-in-pandemic/
Jaipreet Virdi’s latest book, Hearing Happiness raises pivotal questions about deafness in American society and the endless quest for a cure. Read the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2021/01/05/hearing-happiness-jaipreet-virdi-on-deafness-accessibility-and-her-latest-book/
Therese Feiler, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, describes the interdisciplinary Medical Humanities special issue, bringing together cardiac surgeons, cultural historians and theologians on matters of the heart (https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/12/10/podcast-heart-in-medicine-history-and-culture). Please read: - the editorial: https://mh.bmj.com/content/46/4/350 - the full issue: https://mh.bmj.com/content/46/4 Please subscribe to the Medical Humanities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify to get episodes automatically downloaded to your mobile device and computer. Also, please consider leaving us a review or a comment on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204
What would it mean if, instead of being “add-ons,” accessibility tools like captions and transcripts were built into a project from the ground up? What if instead of thinking about accessibility as “mere” additions only, we realized their incredible creative power? Read the related blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/11/19/accessibility-creation-community-an-interview-with-cheryl-green/
In today’s podcast, Dr. Henry Ng, MD MPH, Cleveland Clinic, speaks with Editor-in-Chief of Medical Humanities, Brandy Schillace, about issues of LGBTQ+ and health accessibility. Already a difficult prospect, access to care for this population has become increasingly precarious during the COVID epidemic. Read the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/10/27/accessing-the-future-ways-forward-for-lgbtq-health-access/ Please subscribe to the Medical Humanities podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify to get episodes automatically downloaded to your mobile device and computer. Also, please consider leaving us a review or a comment on the Medical Humanities Podcast iTunes page - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/medical-humanities-podcast/id961667204
Sarah Hendren’s book, What Can A Body Do? How We Meet the Built World, looks at design and disability at all scales: prosthetics, furniture, architecture, urban planning, and more, to examine critically the definition of the good life. Read the related blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/09/25/the-dignity-of-help-sara-hendrens-what-a-body-can-do/
How do we make something really and truly accessible? Chris Higgins talks about what led to his 2019 short film Access, and the fact that accessibility isn’t about making a different product for those with disabilities; it’s about making the product with all people in mind. To find out more about the film: https://accessmovie.org/
Dr. Oni Blackstock joins us to speak about social justice, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights and the way the COVID-19 crisis has unequally affected marginalized communities. Dr. Blackstock is Assistant Commissioner for the NYC Health Department's Bureau of HIV. Link to the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/07/03/where-race-disparity-and-pandemic-collide-covid-19-usa
In this podcast, we discuss the June Special issue, "Beyond the Battlefield" and the impact of medical crisis and treatment on non-combatant bodies - still so relevant in today’s COVID-19 crises. Medical Humanities Editor, Brandy Schillace, speaks to Dr Hannah Simpson, a postdoctoral scholar at St Anne's College, University of Oxford, specialising in modern and contemporary theatre and performance, and Dr Megan Girdwood, who is an Early Career Fellow in English at the University of Edinburgh, working on modernist literature and dance. Please visit the Medical Humanities blog to read the June 2020 issue: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2019/07/05/june-2019-special-issue-psychosomatics/
Medical Humanities Editor Brandy Schillace speaks to Alice Wong, a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant based in San Francisco. She is the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project® and speaks about increasing disability access in the face of coronavirus pandemic. Read the blog post and the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/04/30/disability-visibility-and-the-covid-19-crisis. The Disability Visibility Project link: https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/
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 participated in making the films when he was ‘seven’, and was oblivious to their sub-plot, darker themes. Tom talks about his fascination by the way in which films can create a community of collaboration and an intensity of endeavour. He wanted his sons to share his fascination, to witness the hard work undertaken by a film team and to gain different invigorating perspectives. Frankie now makes short films independently whilst George runs a film club at school. Tom believes that they both look back at the experience with pride and pleasure.
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 extensive experience of more than 25 years in managing development projects in Health, Gender and Education in the Middle East, in North and East Africa and the United States, Dr El Beih led several joint health and social projects supporting the sectors of entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and creativity for youth and women.
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 and love must exist between her and the actors and actresses in her films to tell a believable story.
Previous film festival podcasts: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2015/09/15/khalid-ali-film-review-me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl/
https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/01/04/khalid-ali-taxi-ride-to-eternity-review-of-dry-hot-summers/
https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/03/31/khalid-ali-lets-talk-about-death-a-review-of-last-cab-to-darwin-australia-2015/
https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/11/07/film-review-doctor-strange/
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.
What is the future of "prescribing art"? Brandy Schillace interviews Victoria Hume, Director of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance, about the role of culture, arts, and health. Related Medical Humanities papers mentioned in this podcast: Inclusion, access and social justice: the rhizomic evolution of a field across a continent - https://mh.bmj.com/content/44/4/218 Biomedicine and the humanities: growing pains - https://mh.bmj.com/content/44/4/230 Reflections on a field across time and space: the emergent medical and health humanities in South Africa - https://mh.bmj.com/content/44/4/263
The 400-year-old Shakespearean speech is the start of a conversation about the immigrants' situation in the US and the UK today, as well as the health effects on children suffering separation from parents and other traumas relating to a refugee situation. Kathleen Bachynski and Brit Trogen, both from the New York University Langone, discuss 'The Immigrants' Case', a speech attributed to William Shakespeare, in order to reflect on its relevance to current debates and particularly on the role of healthcare. Join the conversation at MH, by visiting the blog blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/ and journal site, mh.bmj.com/pages/, or by following us on Twitter (@MedHums_BMJ) and Facebook (@Medical.Humanities).
Dr Omneya Okasha is a dentist who had a passion for film since early childhood. Bonding with characters on screen took her on a journey of self-discovery, personal growth, and wonder. After a career in Dentistry, she is now a full-time film maker. In this conversation with Medical Humanities film correspondent, Khalid Ali, she comments on 'story-telling, attention to detail, collaboration and empathy' as key elements in making a good doctor and artist. In her films, she challenges society attitudes towards gender discrimination and physical disfigurement.
Medical Humanities editor-in-chief Brandy Schillace interviews Dr Eugene Gu about the responsibilities of medical practitioners in light of ICE and the immigration crisis in the US. Stay in touch with the Medical Humanities journal through the website (https://mh.bmj.com), the blog (https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities), Twitter (@MedHums_BMJ) and Facebook. This interview was recorded on the 7th June 2018.
What kinds of projects in medical humanities are happening in the Global South? Today we speak to two of the guest editors for a South African Special Issue (Carla Tsampiras and Nolwazi Mkhwanazi), publishing in December 2018, on the cultural context and issues of MH and social justice.
Mina Elnaggar, an Egyptian doctor and film-maker, outlines the first Arab forum for medicine in film, Egypt Medfest, in conversation with Medical Humanities Film Correspondent Khalid Ali. Read the Medical Humanities' blog for more on film and media in medicine: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/.
In this podcast, Associate Editor Angela Woods interviews Brandy Schillace, Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Humanities journal, at the one-year anniversary of her editorship. Brandy talks about the changes in the journal and what we can expect in the next year; she also takes a moment to celebrate the current and upcoming issues, authors, and contributors. We hope you will join the conversation at MH, by visiting the blog https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/ and journal site, https://mh.bmj.com/pages/, or by following us on Twitter (@MedHums_BMJ) and Facebook (@Medical.Humanities).
Three film industry women talk mental health and violence. ‘Mamsous- Deranged’ is a short film about mental health and well-being through the story of three people, who share their experiences with clinical depression and panic attacks. It was directed by Shatha Masoud, an Emarati filmmaker who started her own advertising and video production business. Mamsous won the best ‘Muhr Emarati short film award’ in Dubai International Film Festival in 2016. Amal Alharbi who features in 'Mamsous' is a Saudi author whose first book about mental health based on her own experience will be released in 2018. ‘Animal- Haywan’ is a short Emarati film about a seven-year-old child who grows up in a home of contradictions – a father, who is a “sociopath and narcissist”, a weak, but ambitious mother and a flamboyant cook? It was directed by Nayla Al Khaja, the CEO of Nayla Al Khaja Films and the founder of The Scene Club, Dubai’s first licensed film club. ANIMAL won Best Short Fiction (Italian Movie Award 2017). She won the Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 at the Gulf Business Awards. More information on The Medical HUmanities blog: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2017/01/02/film-review-dubai-international-film-festival/. http://mh.bmj.com/
Dr Khalid Ali, Medical Humanities film and media correspondent, interviews Dr Amy Hardie at the Sudan Independent Film Festival where she held a training workshop for film students. Dr Amy Hardie is a documentary film-maker with several international awards. Her documentary feature The Edge of Dreaming, was the first Scottish feature documentary to be selected for competition at IDFA in 2009 and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize, Kiev International Film Festival. She graduated from the National Film and Television School in 1990 with the BP Expo prize for best student documentary (Kafi’s Story). Her latest film 'Seven songs for a long life' explores music and creativity in a hospice setting. Amy and Khalid reflect on storytelling, and film as therapy. Please visit the Medical Humanities website (mh.bmj.com/) and blog (blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/).
Family relationships, traumas from childhood echo in love life, dementia and geriatrics. In this broad interview, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Robert Abrams (Weill Cornell University, New York, USA) tells the Screening Room editor of Medical Humanities Khalid Ali about his contributions to the journal. Robert Abrams was interviewed at the Cairo Medfest, the First Arab Forum for Medicine in Film, in January 2017. Please visit the Medical Humanities website (http://mh.bmj.com/) and blog (http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/). More information on the books and films mentioned in this interview below: The violet hour - book review: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/06/10/the-reading-room-the-violet-hour-great-writers-at-the-end/; Never let me go - essay: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26578716; Manequin - film review: http://dev.blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/12/07/film-review-mannequin/; Crying with laughter - film review: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/08/11/film-review-crying-with-laughter/; Studio - film review: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/05/31/the-screening-room-old-age-loneliness-and-cinema/?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Medical_Humanities__TrendMD-0; Dry, hot summer - film review: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/01/04/khalid-ali-taxi-ride-to-eternity-review-of-dry-hot-summers/?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Medical_Humanities__TrendMD-0.
In this podcast, the Screening Room editor of Medical Humanities Khalid Ali explores the role of film in shining a light on mental illlness, dysfnctional families and the rise of religious fanaticism with Egyptian director Ahmed Magdy.
Recently introduced to acting, Ahmed talks about his portrayal of three challenging characters: a young man imprisoned in his mother's house in 'Gate of Departure, Kareem Hanafi, 2015', an extremist who converts from Islam to Christianity in 'The preacher, Magdy Ahmed Ali, 2016', and a man troubled with persistent auditory hallucinations and a legacy of inherited mental illness in 'Ali, the goat and Ibrahim, Sherif Elbendary, 2016'.
Ahmed Magdy studied Law in Ain Shams University, but pursued his passion for film by taking part in the Independent cinema scene in Egypt since 2008. Ahmed produced and directed a couple of independent films, and directed his own short "A cake filled with cream".
To read more about Medical Humanities, please visit the journal's website (http://mh.bmj.com/) and blog (blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities).
More details on the films mentioned in this podcast: • Gate of departure http://m.imdb.com/title/tt4796556/ • The preacher http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/preacher-955026 • Ali, the goat and Ibrahim http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/ali-the-goat-and-ibrahim-review-1201948436/.
‘Scarred hearts’ is a thought-provoking semi-autobiographical film based on the period Max Belceher (Romanian author) spent in a sanatorium in 1934 recovering from Pott’s disease (Tuberculosis of the spine). In this podcast Khalid Ali explores with Radu Jude (the film director) the physical and mental hardships experienced by patients with TB, as well as the sense of community and companionship that can develop during their confinement. On the 24th March 1882 Dr Robert Koch discovered the TB bacillus. Nowadays this date is hailed as the ‘World TB day’ to increase public awareness that TB still remains an epidemic claiming lives from developing countries.
Read more about this interview on the Medical Humanities blog: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2017/03/21/romanticizing-tubercolosis/.
In this podcast, Khalid Ali meets Khaled Abol Naga, one of the most popular faces in Egypt and with strong links to the UK.
He prefers to be introduced as an “actor”, but is also a well-known filmmaker, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and a political activist.
During his latest visit to London, Khaled Abol Naga spoke with the Screening Room Editor of Medical Humanities about his long and diverse career and how his characters taught him about the human condition, mental illness or age.
They speak about Khaled’s involvement with the refugee crisis on the Charles Dickens’ musical Oliver adaptation to Arabic; his latest participation on the TV series ‘Tyrant’; and a therapy for students, which brought Egypt’s taboos to the cinema screen.
In this podcast, Tom Kinninmont, co-writer of the British film 'The Carer', tells Khalid Ali, Medical Humanities Screening Room Editor, the details of the picture which brings Parkinson's disease, ageing, care for old people, intergenerational problems, stardom egos and Shakespeare quotes all together to the big screen.
In this conversation recorded during the Edinburgh film festival, where the film was screened in June, the Scottish writer with a long career in theatre and TV. also talks about his famous work with Peter O'Toole and other legendary British names.
The Carer is released on the 5th August 2016 in London and will be showing in more cinemas in the Autumn.
Read the film review at the Medical Humanities blog here: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/08/03/film-review-the-carer.
In this podcast, Khalid Ali speaks to Melissa Kent, Hollywood film editor, about her debut as a director with "Bernie and Rebecca", at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which explores "a lifetime of emotions in 15 minutes".
The short film had its UK premiere during the Scottish festival, in June, and will be available on the Internet in January 2017. It has also been selected to three upcoming festivals: MADRID INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (July 2–9) - nominated for Best Director of a Short Film and Nominated for Best Original Screenplay of a Short Film; GO WEST FEST (July 17–19) Oakhurst, California; ACTION ON FILM FESTIVAL (AOF) Early acceptance. Monrovia, California (September 2–10).
Melissa Kent also tells the Medical Humanities' Screening Room Editor the stories behind other films she edited, such as "The Virgin Suicides" and "The Age of Adaline", which throws a different perspective into the concept of fighting ageing. Her next feature film is "American Pastoral", based on the 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Philip Roth, Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut. "American Pastoral" is released in October 2016. Watch the trailer at www.bernieandrebecca.com, and to learn more about Melissa Kent’s editing career visit www.melissakent.com.
The 70th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival was held from the 15th to the 26th of June 2016, in Scotland.
The three Sudanese sisters The Nightingales (or 'Al-balabil'), who have been singing for 45 years, are doing their first world tour.
On their stop for a concert in London, at the end of May, they spoke with Khalid Ali, the Medical Humanities' Screening Room Editor, about their memories as children in Sudan and the power of their music in supporting people with illnesses. A conversation with a lot of music involved.
In this podcast, the director Anu Menon talks to the Medical Humanities' Screening Room Editor Khalid Ali about her latest film 'Waiting'. The film explores the relationship between doctor and patients' relatives as well as the bonds established through coma. This is the second of two Medical Humanities' podcasts about the Indian film 'Waiting', which was part of the London Asian film Festival (LAFF), Tongues on Fire, in March 2016. It will be released internationally on the 26th of April, in India and Singapore.
In this podcast, Dr James Ruzicka talks about the connection between the story of the film 'Waiting', which he co-wrote, and the real life of a doctor. ‘Waiting’ is directed by Anu Menon and explores the bond established between two people whilst their spouses lie in coma in an hospital. This is the first of two Medical Humanities' podcasts about the Indian film, which will be the closing night gala of the London Asian film Festival (LAFF), Tongues on Fire, on Sunday, 13th March 2016. It will be released internationally on the 26th of April, in India and Singapore.
In this podcast, Khalid Ali talks to Simon Field, producer of "Cemetery of Splendour", a film about a lonesome middle-age housewife who tends a soldier with sleeping sickness and falls into a hallucination.
The film is the starting point of a conversation about the work of the director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which legacy is being showcased in the UK:
Film retrospective, Tate Modern, 6-8 April; 'Cemetry of Splendour' film, BFI Southbank, April 2016; Visual installation 'Primitive' - The Tanks, New Tate Modern, June 2016.
The 93 year-old retired doctor Sharif Hatata, Egyptian political activist born in the UK, tells MH Screening Room editor Khalid Ali about his novels, "resistance", junior doctors strike, "poor health care" in Egypt and his film passion. This interview was recorded in Cairo, during The Panorama of the European Film, in November 2015. See the full program of the festival at http://panoramaeurofilm.com/
The president of The Panorama of the European Film, Marianne Khoury, explores the new possibilities opened by the last edition of the festival in Cairo, including the new technologies allowing cinema for those with visual impairment. The film-maker introduced the event in Egypt more than a decade ago, presenting alternative cinema to the country. In this podcast, Marianne Khoury tells Khalid Ali about the other films in this festival, including her own 'Shadows-Zelal', which explores the dark reality of Egypt’s mental asylums. See the full program of The Panorama of the European Film at http://panoramaeurofilm.com/
How is positive psychology being used as a coercive strategy in UK government workfare programmes? What effect does this have on the people who receive unemployment benefits, and how have psychologists responded?
In this podcast, Lynne Friedli (Hubbub) and Robert Stearn (Birkbeck) discuss their research with BMJ Medical Humanities Associate Editor Angela Woods.
“Positive affect as coercive strategy: conditionality, activation and the role of psychology in UK government workfare programmes” appears in “Critical Medical Humanities,” the first special issue of Medical Humanities mh.bmj.com.
Khalid Ali, screening room editor at Medical Humanities, talks to Mohamed Khan, screen writer and actor, and one of the leading directors of of neo-realist cinema in 80s Egypt.
They discuss his range of films and the parallels with, and lessons for, practicing medicine.
Khalid Ali, Screening Room editor, reports from the Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference in Exeter.
Here he speaks to Laura Habbe, a PhD student at Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses around the figure of the mad scientist, often taking the shape of a doctor, in popular fiction of the last two decades of the nineteenth century. She is interested in the question of how the mad scientist became firmly established as a stereotype in our culture and how this relates to questions of science communication and the public understanding of science.
Khalid Ali, Screening Room editor, reports from the Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference in Exeter.
Here he talks with Sarah Jones, a final year PhD student affiliated with the Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter. Her thesis, which looks at free love and sex radicalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is funded by Great Western Research and supervised by Professor Kate Fisher.
She co-organised the new annual Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference, and is also co-editor of the Postgraduate Journal of Medical Humanities (the first edition of which will be released this Autumn) alongside Jess Monaghan.
Khalid Ali, Screening Room editor, reports from the Postgraduate Medical Humanities Conference in Exeter.
Here he speaks to James Fallon, a specialist registrar in General Adult Psychiatry working in Brighton, about medical education and medical humanities, in particular how the two can be used together to improve training.
In this first podcast from the journal Medical Humanities, editor Deborah Bowman introduces members of her new editorial team: editor of The Screening Room, Khalid Ali, and editor of The Reading Room, Georgia Belam. Together they discusses the vision for the journal.
It is an exciting time for Medical Humanities, and the creation of The Reading Room and The Screening Room represent the first stage in a process of developing and refreshing the journal, its blog and social media.
You can read some of the contributions we have already received for The Screening Room on the Medical Humanities blog: http://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/. Watch out for more posts in the coming months. The first copy of the journal to feature The Reading Room and The Screening Room will be the December 2014 issue.
The sections in the journal will be more editorially-led and include commissioned essays from scholars, writers and producers. You'll be able to read long-form and thematic reviews, as well as analyses and empirical research. If you would like to contribute do get in touch: http://goo.gl/Q3YJ5I
For now, tune in and enjoy the podcast. Future podcasts will include a discussion of the visual arts in healthcare settings and a programme broadcast from the Association of Medical Humanities conference - The Art of Compassion: http://goo.gl/ifJ5my.
We hope you'll want to subscribe to the podcasts so as not to miss any of them. We would also love to hear from you if you've got an idea for a subject you'd like us to cover in a future podcast. Email mheditor@bmj.com.