In this episode,  author,  speaker, campaigner and former palliative care doctor,  Kathryn Mannix, joins us to discuss a range of topics related to dying. We talk about the importance of a wider public conversation about dying, misconception,  the importance of good communication and more. 

Dr  Alain Vuylsteke,  consultant in intensive care and cardiothoracic anaesthesia,  Clinical Director of the Division of Surgery, Transplantation and Anaesthesia and the Director of the ECMO service at Royal Papworth Hospital  joins us for an episode on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.  We discuss the ECMO service at Papworth, the evidence base, decision-making with regards to initiation and discontinuation, ECMO in the COVID-19 pandemic, cost and more.   Resources: CESAR Trial:...

In this episode we speak with Dr Peter Hodkinson, the UK’s first ever consultant in Aviation and Space Medicine and the head of the division of Aerospace Medicine at King’s College. Topics include astronaut selection, adaptation to space flight and travel, managing medical conditions in space and more! An overview of space medicine: https://academic.oup.com/bja/article/119/suppl_1/i143/4638468

In this episode, Dr Ritu Raman joins us to discuss how engineered skeletal muscle is being applied to both robotics and medicine.  We discuss everything from the influences early in Ritu's life and education which drove an interest in engineering, to optogenetics and gene modification. Some themes throughout the conversation are the interesting challenges posed by: inducing repair in muscle, and the complexity of fine motor control. Ritu is the d’Arbeloff Career Development Assistant...

Professor Paul Glasziou discusses  a range of topics relating to evidence-based medicine, from  reducing research waste to publication bias;  translation of scientific findings; weighing up a body of evidence; incentivising high quality research and more.  Follow us on twitter @PagerPodcast

Sharon Peacock,  professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge, and  director of the COVID-19  Genomics UK  consortium (COG-UK), discusses all things relating to the UK's sequencing efforts, from the logistics of establishing sequencing networks, to the benefits of sequencing and applications of data collected,. 

In this conversation, Dr Paola Bonfanti joins us to discuss recent work done by her group to reconstitute the human thymus outside of the human body, using cultured cells and a scaffold. We also discuss how the thymus develops, educates T cells, and how single-cell sequencing and spatial information are changing our understanding of the organ. Paola trained as a doctor in Milan, before training as a stem cell scientist at institutes in California and Switzerland. She now leads a research...

In this episode,  Emily Jackson ,  professor of law at the London School of Economics, joins us to discuss a range of issues relating to medical law.  We talk about regulation  of the pharmaceutical industry, clinical negligence, assisted reproduction and more. 

Sam Gershman joins us for a discussion on both AI, and questions in Philosophy of Science.  In the podcast we talk about: 1) Whether observation and interpretation can be 'theory neutral'. 2) How auxiliary hypotheses can 'buffer' our beliefs. 3) A Bayesian framework for evaluating our auxiliary hypotheses. 3) The aspects of human cognition that AI currently lacks. 4) Advancing AI, and the AI alignment problem. Sam is a Professor within the Psychology department at Harvard, where his lab...

Brain organoids are a new experimental model which will have broad implications for understanding and treating diseases of the brain. But as their sophistication continues to increase, could this ultimately lead to the develop of consciousness in vitro? Dr Insoo Hyun joins us in this episode to discuss bioethics and brain organoids. In the episode we cover: 1) What brain organoids are, and the history of their development. 2) How new scientific paradigms force are forcing philosophers to...

In this episode, Drs Aideen Daly and Julia Fuchs join us to discuss the clinical trials for a new 'artificial pancreas' system. This system is designed to manage a type 1 diabetics blood sugar, by integrating a continuous glucose monitor, an app, as well as an insulin pump. We discuss: 1) Some of the history of type 1 diabetics, and why diabetics need to inject insulin to regulate their blood glucose. 2) Insights gained on from the trials about the system's efficacy 3) The difference between...

In this episode, Dr Neel Aluru joins us to discuss how toxicants in the ocean affect human health.

Dr Zoë Fritz  joins us for a discussion of the importance of advance care planning,  conversations with patients surrounding  resuscitation wishes  and her work  in developing the ReSPECT (Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment)...

In this episode Dr Arabella Simpkin, a paediatrician and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School,  joins us to discuss medicine’s relationship with uncertainty and how it can be embraced to improve the lives of patients and clinicians...

Dr Alasdair Munro joins us for a deep dive into all things relating to COVID-19 and children, from the role of children in transmission to ethical dilemmas over school closures, science communication in the pandemic and more. 

In this episode, Dr Stephan Kissler joins us to discuss how genetic tools, such as CRISPR, are deepening our understanding of type 1 diabetes pathophysiology.

Professor Neena Modi discusses the vital importance of promoting and protecting child and maternal health; its role in a post-COVID recovery and challenges associated with utilising and measuring the value of preventative health interventions. We also...

In this episode, Dr Emma Rawlins joins us to discuss how our understanding of lung development has changed, and how this might allow us to regenerate lung damage therapeutically.

Dr Margaret McCartney, a practising GP in Glasgow, discusses communication of science, particularly during the pandemic, the nature of 'expertise',  investigating the efficacy and potential harms of non-drug interventions, the nuances of screening and...

Professor Paul Fletcher joins us for an episode which dives into the intricacies of psychosis. We discuss common misconceptions surrounding psychosis, its diversity, our understanding of what causes it and more. Paul is both a psychiatrist and a...

Professor Linda Bauld joins us for deep dive into the challenges and opportunities of public health. We discuss her longstanding  work relating to  tobacco control; assessing complex public health interventions; vested and political interests in public...

In this week's episode, Ceren Ozek joins us to discuss how Growth Differentiation Factor 11, GDF11, affects the ageing process in the brain.

Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor-in-Chief of the British Medical Journal, joins for a fascinating discussion of the world of medical publishing and what can be done to improve future medical research. We cover conflict of interests, open data, investigative...

In this episode, we discuss the effects of coffee on human health with Dr Rob van Dam.