CMAJ Podcasts

Dr. Andreas Laupacis, editor-in-chief of CMAJ, speaks with two people on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic: Mike Nolan and Dr. Jerome Leis. Dr. Jerome Leis is medical director, Infection Prevention and Control at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and Mike Nolan is chief paramedic and director of emergency services for Renfrew County in Renfrew, Ontario. They discuss:- the latest...

In this podcast, Dr. Andreas Laupacis, editor-in-chief for CMAJ discusses the clinical practice guideline for homeless and vulnerably housed people and people with lived homelessness experience. He discusses with Dawnmarie Harriott, who shares her story of homelessness and how she got involved with the guideline group. He also chats with Dr. Kevin Pottie and Dr. Gary Bloch, who are two of the auth...

In this "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton chats with Dr. Maryam Hamidi about how nutrition, sleep, and hydration interplay to influence short-term alertness and performance as physicians. Dr. Hamidi is Associate Director of Scholarship and Health Promotion at the Stanford Medicine WellMD| WellPhD Center and researcher in the Department of Psychiatry Behavioral Scienc...

Dr. Jonathan Zipursky and Dr. Nathan Stall discuss cannabis edibles, and what's important for users and health care providers to keep in mind. Dr. Zipursky is an internist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and is working on a PhD in clinical epidemiology and health care research at the University of Toronto. Dr. Stall is a geriatrician at Sinai Health Sy...

Ms. Jaclyn Parks and Dr. Tim Takaro discuss the results of the research article they co-authored on the link between childhood asthma, lung health and usage of common cleaning products in the home. They unpack the results and explain the associations. Ms. Jaclyn Parks is a graduate student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she resear...

Dr. James Downar and Dr. Jennifer Gibson discuss the results and insights from a research study on cases of medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Ontario between 2016 and 2018. The study allows us to understand who’s getting MAiD, how and under what circumstances. Dr. Jennifer Gibson is Sunlife Financial chair in bioethics and the director of the joint centre for bioethics at the University of Tor...

Dr. Karline Treurnicht Naylor and Dr. Elia Abi-Jaoude chat about the rise in social media and smartphone usage in adolescents and the mounting evidence that this may be linked to the increasing rates of mental distress. They also give practical and realistic tips for parents, teachers, and teenagers for managing smartphone and social media use. Dr. Abi-Jaoude is a psychiatrist, researcher, and cli...

Dr. Jenna Gale and Dr. Paul Claman discuss elective egg freezing for age-related fertility decline, including cost, process, rates of success and more. Dr. Claman is a professor emeritus, University of Ottawa and is currently Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Gale is a gynecologist and specialist in reproductive endocri...

In this "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton chats with Dr. Jason Brooks about optimizing mental and cognitive performance. Dr. Jason Brooks has a PhD in population health with a focus on kinesiology and human performance. He is a mental performance coach who works with high performers in diverse fields, including elite athletes, tactical law enforcement officers, music...

Dr. Kirsten Patrick, deputy editor for CMAJ, interviews three infectious disease specialists who work within the University Health Network in Toronto – Dr. Alon Vaisman, Dr. Susy Hota and Dr. Isaac Bogoch. They discuss:- what’s currently known about the coronavirus- the state of the outbreak both in China and globally- what health care practitioners can do to protect patients and themselves from i...

Rachel Cooper talks about the emotional journey of her mother receiving Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) and her experience of the days leading up to her mother’s death. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ about the same topic. You can read her article on our website: “Complicated gratitude: a letter to my mother’s physician” https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.19...

In this interview, Dr. Derek Crinion and Dr. Adrian Baranchuk discuss atrial fibrillation in the "older" athlete. They define what is meant by older when it comes to the heart and they discuss why and how too little or too much exercise can increase risk of atrial fibrillation. Dr. Derek Crinion is an electrophysiology fellow at Kingston Health Sciences Center in Kingston, Ontario. Dr. A...

In this "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton chats with Dr. Victoria Sweet about rediscovering how to practice slow medicine. Dr. Victoria Sweet is an associate clinical professor of internal medicine at the University of California in San Francisco, a general internist and the author of two bestselling books, God’s Hotel and Slow Medicine. She has a PhD in the history...

In this "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton chats with Dr. Lucy Kalanithi about joy, purpose, and meaning in work as a physician. Dr. Lucy Kalanithi is an internist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is the widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir When Breath Becomes Air...

In this interview, Dr. Clare Atzema and Dr. Noah Ivers discuss the research they published on prescribing of oral anticoagulants in the emergency department and subsequent long-term use by older adults with atrial fibrillation. They also discuss the broader issue of difficulties in communication between family physicians and emergency physicians when treating the same patient. Dr. Ivers is a famil...

Tracy Wasylak and Dr. Braden Manns discuss the activities of Alberta Health Service’s Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs). These multistakeholder networks have improved and optimized Alberta's health system. Ms. Wasylak and Dr. Manns share how these networks function, what the ingredients to success are, and they also share lessons learned. Dr. Braden Manns is a professor in health economics,...

In this interview, Prof. Emilia Nielsen discusses the problem of the usual breast cancer narrative. She says that the happy stories of breast cancer survivors are so common that any other types of narrative almost require an apology. Emilia Nielsen is an assistant professor of arts, medicine and healing at York University’s Health & Society Program, Department of Social Science. She is the aut...

Dr. Matthew Stanbrook and Dr. Andreas Laupacis discuss the case of a 17-year old who contracted bronchiolitis obliterans, or popcorn lung, from vaping of e-cigarettes. This novel pattern of pulmonary disease associated with vaping appears distinct from the type of alveolar injury predominantly reported in the recent outbreak of cases of vaping associated pulmonary illness in the United States. The...

Dre Guylène Thériault et Dr Roland Grad expliquent les recommandations clé des nouvelles lignes directrices sur dépistage de la dysfonction thyroïdienne chez les adultes sans symptômes. Dre Guylène Thériault est médecin de famille et co-responsable des soins primaires pour « Choisir avec soin Canada ». Dre Thériault enseigne aussi la médecine fondée sur les données probantes et la prise de décisio...

In this interview, Dr. Richard Birtwhistle discusses the recommendations in the clinical practice guideline on screening asymptomatic adults for thyroid dysfunction. The guideline comes from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and is published in CMAJ.Dr. Birtwhistle is a family physician, clinical epidemiologist, and emeritus professor of family medicine and public health sciences a...

In this interview, Leah Smith unpacks a research article that looked at cancer incidence trends by age in Canada from 1971 to 2015. Previous reports show cancer trends with all ages combined but this data analysis digs deeper into trends by age group and cancer type. Leah Smith is an epidemiologist and senior manager of surveillance at the Canadian Cancer Society. The research article she co-autho...

In this interview, Dr. Michael Sklar and Dr. Laveena Munshi discuss high-flow nasal oxygen therapy, a new and unique oxygen delivery method with rapid uptake into many fields of acute care medicine. Dr. Sklar is an anesthesiologist and adult critical care medicine fellow at the University of Toronto. Dr. Munshi is an adult critical care physician at Sinai Health System at the University of Toronto...

In this "Med Life with Dr. Horton" podcast, Dr. Jillian Horton chats with Dr. Christine Sinsky about joy, purpose, and meaning in work as a physician. Dr. Horton and Dr. Sinsky discuss the following:- how to find efficiencies and rethink daily tasks to make more time for what is most valuable and most enjoyable- psychological hurdles to implementing change- studies about joy in practice...

In this narrative, Dr. Brett Schrewe describes how a family tragedy put the doctor side of him at odds with the son side. Dr. Schrewe is a pediatrician in Vancouver and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. He wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "The Line."To read the article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.190570Podcast trans...

In this narrative, Dr. Carrie Bernard realises that, despite many obstacles including stigma, disclosing her mental illness was ultimately the best decision for her. Dr. Bernard is a family doctor in Brampton, Ontario, assistant clinical professor at McMaster University, and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. She wrote a Humanities Encounters article published in CMAJ called "D...