Jake Sossamon

History of Neurology

Health EN ↓ 3 episodes

Hosted by Jake Sossamon, a neurology resident at Stanford University, The History of Neurology Podcast explores the human drama and discoveries behind the syndromes and eponyms we use in clinical practice every day. By tracing the evolution of the specialty from wartime breakthroughs to landmark laboratory insights, the show bridges the gap between the archives of the past and the challenges of the modern ward. Each episode concludes with "Consulting the Masters," an AI-assisted segment that brings neurological pioneers into the 21st century to weigh in on current breakthroughs. For inquiries,...

Author

Jake Sossamon

Episodes

The 28 Lines that Changed Neurology: On Babinki's Reflex 05.05.2026 18:12

In this episode, we travel to late 19th-century Paris to meet a Polish-French neurologist who stood at the center of a medical revolution: a favorite student of the "Napoleon of the Salpêtrière" who was nearly cast out of medicine. He was a master of physical diagnosis and gave us the clinical reflex that differentiated a malady of the mind from a malady of the brain with the scratch of a key. We’...

James Parkinson the Paleontologist 02.04.2026 22:18

Before he was a household name in neurology, James Parkinson was a man of dangerous secrets and ancient stones. In this episode, we travel to 19th-century London to meet a surgeon who lived a triple life: a political radical nearly executed for a plot against the King, a world-renowned pioneer of paleontology, and a community doctor who identified a "shaking palsy" by simply watching his neighbors...

The 'L' is Not Silent: The Secret History of Guillain-Barré 10.02.2026 18:19

"We’ve been saying it wrong for a century." In this episode, we deconstruct the wartime discovery and the linguistic mystery of Guillain-Barré-Strohl Syndrome. From the trenches of the Somme to the lecture halls of the Salpêtrière, we explore how a name became a brand and who was left behind in the process. Primary Sources & Further Reading: The Original 1916 Paper: Guillain G, Barré JA, Stroh...