CMAJ Podcasts

In this interview, Dr. Dorian Deshauer chats about the history of suicide risk assessment for insurance companies. In the past, the process included a group of physicians but over time physicians got replaced by a more cost-effective process called automated underwriting. He also explains how the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) influenced risk assessment. Dr. Dori...

In this interview, Dr. Sara Ilnitsky talks about the latest evidence around how smoking marijuana affects fertility. She discusses the pharmacology and physiology behind it, how edibles are different, how the effect is different in men versus women and more. Dr. Ilnitsky is a reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow at Western University in London, Ontario. She will be starting her practi...

In this narrative, Dr. Sumedha Arya reflects back on a time while she was in medical school when her body felt foreign. Dr. Arya is an internal medicine resident at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "Ego and id."To read the article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.181581-----------------------------------...

In this interview, Dr. James Downar and Dr. Jennifer Hancock take listeners through some of the ethical considerations of having a patient who requests medical assistance in dying (MAiD) or withdrawal of life-sustaining measures (WLSM) and who is also requesting to have his or her organs donated. Dr. James Downar is head of the division of palliative care at the University of Ottawa and is a criti...

In this interview from our archives, Dr. John Hoey has a fascinating discussion with Dr. James Orbinski. The interview was first published in February of the year 2000. At the time, Dr. John Hoey was editor-in-chief of CMAJ and Dr. James Orbinski was international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF). Dr. Orbinski had just accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in recogn...

In this narrative, the Dr. Ellen Feld reflects back on a patient she encountered many years ago. Dr. Feld delivered what she thought was good news about her diagnosis, but the patient felt otherwise. Dr. Feld is a general internist, professor, and medical director of the physician assistant program at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article publis...

In this narrative, Dr. Debra Hamer reflects back on brain surgery she had many years ago, before she became a physician and a mother. She tries to find closure and get to a place of gratitude. Dr. Hamer is an assistant professor and psychiatrist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "A letter to my neurosurgeon."To...

In this narrative, Dr. Calvin Santiago, who was a medical student at Queen’s University at the time, describes an encounter with a patient who was at peace with stopping his treatment. The essay won the 2017 Undergraduate Narrative Award for Palliative Medicine. Dr. Santiago is now a first-year neurology resident at the University of Toronto. He wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in C...

In this interview, Dr. Joy Albuquerque and Dr. Sarah Tulk talk about physician suicide, the only cause of death more common in physicians than the general public. They discuss factors that can lead to suicide and suicidal ideation (such as regulatory complaints, mental illness, culture in medicine), and they talk about what can be done to prevent this occupational health hazard. They also discuss...

In this interview, Dr. Davinder Singh and Dr. Marcia Anderson discuss the problem of racism in the justice system which is in in part responsible for the over-representation of Indigenous people among the those incarcerated in Canada. As a result, Indigenous people lose far more years of life to incarceration than to premature death from many common causes. Dr. Marcia Anderson is Cree-Anishinaabe,...

In this podcast, Dr. Jonathan Fuller and Dr. Jeremy Simon discuss disease as a concept. Are diseases part of the natural world, like electrons and photons, or created by humans and their perceptions and interests, like constellations or countries? Dr. Fuller is a philosophy of medicine postdoctoral fellow and graduating medical student at the University of Toronto. Dr. Simon is an emergency physic...

In this next "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton talks with both Dr. Deepu Gawda and actor Alan Alda. In the first segment, Dr. Horton and guest Dr. Deepu Gawda, internist and associate professor of medicine at Columbia University, answer a listener question from a physician who is under so much work pressure that s/he is viewing patients only as units of time. This pe...

In this interview, Dr. Nathan Stall and Dr. Rachel Savage discuss loneliness in older adults. They talk about how to assess for loneliness, the detrimental effects it can have on health, and what to do about it. Dr. Nathan Stall is a geriatrician at Sinai Health System and a research fellow at Women's College Research Institute. He is completing a PhD in clinical epidemiology & health car...

In this interview, Dr. Gregg Nelson and Dr. Alon Altman explain Enhanced Recovery After Surgery or ERAS, an evidence-based care pathway created to improve patient outcomes after surgery. ERAS reconsiders or eliminates long standing surgical practices such as prolonged fasting, mechanical bowel preparation, nasogastric tubes, delayed feeding after surgery, and long hospital stays. Dr. Gregg Nelson...

In this fictional narrative, Dr. Carolyne Montgomery explores what happens when, as a doctor, your patients are also your friends...and your friends are patients, but not yours. Dr. Montgomery is a recently retired Pediatric Anesthesiologist and a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ c...

In this narrative, Dr. Judy Dercksen, a family physician in rural British Columbia, shares what it’s like to manage chronic pain in a busy rural office setting, in the face of an opioid crisis. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "Pain warrior."To read the article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.180957-----------------------------------Music: Friday Mo...

In this interview, Dr. Varun Kapila explains why transient ischemic attacks or nondisabling stroke due to internal carotid artery stenosis require urgent diagnosis and intervention. Dr. Varun Kapila is division head of vascular surgery at William Osler Health System in Brampton, Ontario. He is also co-director for the hospital’s endovascular therapeutics program. He co-authored a review article pu...

In this podcast, Dr. Jonathan Fuller and Dr. Maya Goldenberg discuss why vaccine hesitancy still persists, despite overwhelming evidence in support of vaccine safety and effectiveness. Dr. Fuller is a philosophy of medicine postdoctoral fellow and graduating medical student at the University of Toronto. Dr. Goldenberg is a professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph. For more philosophical...

In this podcast, Dr. Derek Chu and Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman discuss the difference between true vaccine allergy and other normal or abnormal reactions to vaccines. They also discuss whether or not people with egg or latex allergy can be safely vaccinated. Dr. Derek Chu is a fifth-year allergy and clinical immunology resident at McMaster University and Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman is an allergist and clini...

In this narrative, Dr. Iris Gorfinkel still thinks about a patient she treated 25 years ago whose quiet defiance was a cry to be helped on his own terms. Dr. Gorfinkel is a general practitioner, and a principal investigator and founder of Prime-Health Clinical Research in Toronto, Ont. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "The quietly defiant patient."To rea...

In this next "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton chats with Dr. Allan Peterkin about creative arts and playfulness as related to medicine and as tools to help balance out a stressful life. Dr. Horton and Dr. Peterkin talk about:- music, writing, theatre, improv groups, cooking and many other forms of artistic expression- the time Dr. Peterkin was on The Tonight Show wi...

In this podcast, Dr. Ryan McLarty and Dr. Darcie Kiddoo discuss how to care for boys’ foreskin when they are babies and how to ensure boys are taught proper foreskin care as they grow older. They also discuss what the foreskin should look like, what abnormalities look like, how to recognize and treat infections, and when surgeries, including circumcision, are warranted. Dr. Ryan McLarty is a fourt...

In this narrative, Dr. Ariel Lefkowitz shares the story of Betty, a patient whose faith helped her be at peace with her fate in life. Dr. Lefkowitz is a general internist at Sinai Health System and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. He wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "Major Betty."To read the article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.181033---...

In this narrative, Dr. Pauline Pariser has many emotions about retirement after 35 years in practice. Dr. Pariser worked as a family physician in Toronto and is currently still an associate professor at the University of Toronto. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "Reflections on retirement: Is that the way to say goodbye?"To read the article: www.cmaj.ca/...

In this podcast, Dr. Jeff Kwong and Dr. Daniel Dalcin discuss high-dose influenza vaccines, which contain more antigen than standard-dose vaccines. Dr. Jeff Kwong is a scientist at ICES and at Public Health Ontario, and a family physician at Toronto Western Family Health Team. He conducts research on the epidemiology of influenza. Dr. Daniel Dalcin is a family medicine resident at Dalhousie Univer...