Dr. Toby Campbell

Extraordinary Conversations

Health EN ↓ 7 episodes

Hi, I’m Dr. Toby Campbell—a palliative care physician and communication researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past twenty years, I’ve studied how doctors and patients navigate tough conversations, especially when facing life-changing decisions. But nothing could have prepared me for one of the most unique and profound discussions in medicine: the request for organ donation. What makes this conversation so extraordinary? It’s the only time in healthcare where the decision doesn’t directly help the patient but instead gives someone else a second chance at life. These difficu...

Author

Dr. Toby Campbell

Episodes

Extraordinary Conversations Bonus Episode - Letters 20.01.2026 13:47

This powerful bonus episode contains "moments of silence" illuminating the powerful impact of this work and the lives it forever changes. Find out more at: https://www.extraordinaryconversationspodcast.com/

Extraordinary Conversations Ep 6 - Kidney and Liver Recipients 09.12.2025 48:40

Featured in this episode: Breanne Wychterley, Brian Web and Tonita, John Jartz, Rod and Patti Meier, Matt Troha, Dr. Aji Djamali, Dr. Jacfranz Guiteau Summary What does it mean to receive the ultimate gift, one that comes not wrapped in paper, but in sacrifice? In this profound final episode, we meet the recipients: people whose lives were saved by kidney and liver transplants, and the extraordina...

Extraordinary Conversations Ep 5 - Heart and Lung Recipients 26.11.2025 52:11

Featured in this episode: Dan Lavergne, Dan Milburn, Katie House, Matt Troha, Dr. Erin Lowery, Dr. Ravi Dhingra Summary: For Katie, it started with jumping jacks. For Matt, a routine physical. For Dan Milburn, a bloody cough in the bathroom. In an instant, their lives changed forever—their hearts and lungs were failing, and the only way to survive was a transplant. In this deeply moving episode, w...

Extraordinary Conversations Ep 4 - Transplant Surgeons 13.11.2025 39:51

In this gripping episode, we follow the chaotic, emotional journey of organ transplantation inside the operating rooms and the quiet, anxious moments that define the race for a second chance. You’ll hear from the transplant surgeons who rise in the middle of the night, carrying the weight of two lives: the donor they’ll never meet, and the recipient whose future is in their hands. They share the i...

Extraordinary Conversations: Organ Procurement Team 28.05.2025 50:34

This powerful episode takes a deep dive into the unseen, emotionally charged world of organ transplant recovery where urgency and reverence collide. Host Toby shadows a surgical team on a 2 AM mission to Marshfield to retrieve organs from a donor, revealing the complex logistics, split-second decisions, and profound humanity behind the process. Every step of organ recovery is a race against time....

Extraordinary Conversations: Donor Families 01.05.2025

Featured in this episode: Claire and Melissa Crichlow, Nikki Cassie and Matthew Wolfgram, Dr. Joshua Mezrich, Sam Taylor

Extraordinary Conversations: Donation Request Specialists 30.04.2025 40:22

Featured in this episode: Samantha Taylor, Rachel Bledsoe , Dr. Nikole Neidlinger, Dr. Joshua Mezrich, Claire and Melissa Crichlow