CMAJ Podcasts

In this narrative, Dr. Sarah Stumbar is sad to say goodbye to her patient Ana who, despite trying her best, is unable to achieve the American dream. The is the second part of Ana's story. This first part can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/cmajpodcasts/170278-encDr. Sarah Stumbar is a family physician and assistant professor of family medicine at Florida International University in Miam...

In this podcast, Dr. David McCullagh and Dr. Derek Chu discuss penicillin allergy: its prevalence, how to diagnose it, and how to confirm patient-reported penicillin allergy. Dr. David McCullagh is an infectious disease fellow at McMaster University and Dr. Derek Chu, fifth-year allergy and immunology resident, also at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. They co-authored a peer-reviewed prac...

In this podcast, Dr. Jonathan Fuller has a conversation with Miriam Solomon about different ways of knowing in medicine: precision medicine, evidence-based medicine, and narrative medicine. They discuss how these terms were coined and what they mean in the context of the current medical landscape. Prof. Miriam Solomon is a professor of philosophy at Temple University in Philadelphia. She published...

In this narrative, Zoe Lau, a graduating medical student at Queen’s University School of Medicine, remembers one patient who fell outside of any easy categorization. Her article was the 2018 winner of the Undergraduate Narrative Award for Palliative Medicine, hosted by the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians. It is called "Dear Mrs. P."It was also published in CMAJ. To read th...

In this narrative, Dr. Clive Kearon reflects on his cancer diagnosis, and how life expectancy can change in one instant, sometimes for the better. Dr. Kearon is a thromboembolism consultant, clinician-researcher, and professor of medicine at McMaster University. He wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "Four weddings and...."To read the article: www.cmaj.ca/looku...

In this narrative, Dr. Peter Newman remembers with fondness a person who ignited his love for literature and influenced his choice of career. Dr. Peter Newman is a family physician, teacher, and writer. He has worked extensively overseas, and is with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called &quot...

In this podcast, Dr. Jonathan Fuller, philosophy of medicine postdoctoral fellow and graduating medical student at the University of Toronto, has a chat with Alex Broadbent, professor of philosophy at the University of Johannesburg. They discuss how medicine is defined, how the definition has changed over time, and what the term means in various contexts. For more philosophical discussions related...

In this podcast, Professor Alex Abramovich and Dr. June Lam discuss considerations for transgender patients in primary care. Prof. Alex Abramovich is an Independent Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Dr. June Lam is a fifth-year...

In this narrative, Dr. Susan MacDonald reflects on her involvement in the end-of-life choices of one of her patients. Dr. Susan MacDonald is a palliative care physician and associate professor of medicine and family medicine Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "Leo died the other day."To read the article (sub...

In this podcast, Professor Andrew Hogan examines the history of the social and medical models of disability and mental illness. The social model characterizes disability as the product of an unaccommodating and oppressive society. In contrast, the medical model supposes that a disability is an individual and medical diagnosis. Prof. Hogan is assistant professor in the Department of History at Crei...

In this first "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton answers questions about CaRMS, the Canadian Resident Matching Service. In this episode, she is joined by Dr. Moneeza Walji. They answer these questions:What are some strategies for choosing and ranking programs? Should I have a back-up program in my ranking? What should I do about conflicting interviews? What are interv...

In this podcast, Professor Catherine Carstairs tells listeners about one of the first sex education efforts in our country called the Health League of Canada. In light of Ontario Premier Doug Ford's controversial move to go back to using a sex education curriculum that was created in 1998, it is helpful to examine historical efforts, and past failures, to educate the public about sex and sexu...

In her narrative, Dr. Krishna Acharya reflects on importance of taking the time to learn what families worry about. Dr. Acharya is a neonatologist and assistant professor of pediatrics in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is called "The other side."This audio version of the article is read by Hiba Kukaswad...

Dre Guylène Thériault nous explique les recommandations clé des nouvelles lignes directrices sur le dépistage du cancer du sein chez les femmes âgées de 40 à 74 ans qui ne sont pas à risque accru. Dans cette conversation, elle est interviewé par Dr Roland Grad. Dr Roland Grad est médecin de famille et professeur agrégé de médecine de famille à l’Université McGill à Montréal. Dre Guylène Thériault...

In this podcast, Dr. Ainsley Moore discusses the latest evidence on screening for breast cancer in women aged 40–74 years who are not at increased risk for breast cancer. The guideline is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Dr. Ainsley Moore is a family physician and Associate Clinical Professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She is vice chair of the Canadian Task...

In this podcast, we hear from two experts who are calling on the Canadian minister of health to recall high-strength opioid formulations from the Canadian market. They explain why it might be time to consider using Vanessa's Law, which empowers the minister of health to recall a drug when he or she “believes that a therapeutic product presents a serious or imminent risk of injury to health.”P...

In this narrative, Dr. Martina Kelly reflects on the role of “touch” in medicine, a word that seems inappropriately intimate but also a routine part of clinical practice. Dr. Kelly is a family doctor, working in the Dept of Family Medicine of the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine in Calgary, Alberta. Her Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association...

In this podcast, Dr. Peter Gill, general pediatrician and researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, discusses the latest clinical information about acute flaccid myelitis: how it is spread, symptoms, how to diagnose, how to manage, and more. He co-authored a peer-reviewed practice article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is titled "Five things to know a...

In this narrative, Dr. Jonathan Gray remembers a former patient who has been labeled a pedophile. This true story reminds us that it’s often easy to condemn but far more difficult to understand. Dr. Gray is a forensic psychiatrist at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario. His Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is called &q...

Canada has long been the only high-income country with a universal health insurance system that excludes universal coverage of prescription drugs. In this podcast, Steve Morgan and Michael Wolfson, two prominent health policy and economics researchers, propose a detailed funding model for national pharmacare that would result in savings. Steve Morgan is a professor of health policy in the School o...

In this podcast, Dr. Tina Hu and Dr. Adam Pyle describe in detail how to treat opioid use disorder with buprenorphine-naloxone (Suboxone). They cover which patients are good candidates, how it compares to methadone, how it should be administered, what needs to happen in terms of follow-up. They discuss all of this in the context of the latest evidence. Dr. Tina Hu is a family medicine resident phy...

In this podcast, we hear from Dr. Ronald Epstein, family physician, palliative care physician, author, musician, researcher. He is also an expert on integrating mindfulness in medicine. He is the subject of a Humanities Profile article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The article is written by Dr. Miriam Shuchman, who is both psychiatrist and journalist. Full humanities artic...

Major prizes, such as the Gairdner or the Nobel, are one of the indicators of how well we’re doing in health and biomedical research in Canada. In this podcast, Dr. David Naylor analyzes why there has been a decline in the number of Canadians winning major health research prizes. Dr. David Naylor is professor of medicine and former president of the University of Toronto. He has a longstanding inte...

Two conversations about partnering with patients to improve health research. This podcast offers practical tips and lessons learned along the way. First, researcher Joanna Henderson and youth-partner Jacqueline Relihan chat about their project that seeks to improve youth access to mental health and addiction services. Jacqueline shares how youth like her helped shape the research study from the ve...

In this narrative, Dr. Shaurya Taran, recounts the time he did an observership in northern India where he was born. The Kullu Valley, as he says, is a place where mysticism runs as deep as the tree’s roots and where the sacred deodars were protectors of the people. Dr. Taran is a third-year internal medicine resident at the University of Toronto. His Humanities Encounters article is published in t...