Medical Humanities Podcast

Accessibility isn’t a new coat of paint: Chris Higgins on his film ACCESS

How do we make something really and truly accessible? Chris Higgins talks about what led to his 2019 short film Access, and the fact that accessibility isn’t about making a different product for those with disabilities; it’s about making the product with all people in mind.
To find out more about the film:
https://accessmovie.org/

Where race, disparity, and pandemic collide: COVID-19 USA

Dr. Oni Blackstock joins us to speak about social justice, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights and the way the COVID-19 crisis has unequally affected marginalized communities. Dr. Blackstock is Assistant Commissioner for the NYC Health Department's Bureau of HIV.
Link to the blog post: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/07/03/where-race-disparity-and-pandemic-collide-covid-19-usa

Human bodies of WWII, beyond the battlefield

In this podcast, we discuss the June Special issue, "Beyond the Battlefield" and the impact of medical crisis and treatment on non-combatant bodies - still so relevant in today’s COVID-19 crises. Medical Humanities Editor, Brandy Schillace, speaks to Dr Hannah Simpson, a postdoctoral scholar at St Anne's College, University of Oxford, specialising in modern and contemporary theatre and performance, and Dr Megan Girdwood, who is an Early Career Fellow in English at the University of Edinburgh, working on modernist literature and dance.
Please visit the Medical Humanities blog to read the June 2020 issue: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2019/07/05/june-2019-special-issue-psychosomatics/

Disability visibility and the Covid-19 crisis

Medical Humanities Editor Brandy Schillace speaks to Alice Wong, a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant based in San Francisco. She is the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project® and speaks about increasing disability access in the face of coronavirus pandemic.
Read the blog post and the transcript of this podcast: https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2020/04/30/disability-visibility-and-the-covid-19-crisis.
The Disability Visibility Project link: https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/

Coronavirus - bodies, environments and the spread of disease

How do diseases like coronavirus get their start? How does pollution affect the microbiome? Dr. Annamaria Carusi, who was as an academic in medical humanities for several years and is now a private consultant doing social studies of science for policy formation, addresses the way humans and environments interact. In this conversation with Medical Humanities Editor-in-Chief Brandy Schillace, she also discusses our need to take a wider view of disease vectors.

Every woman and girl counts

In this podcast Mr Matt Jackson, director of the UK, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) talks about current health inequalities that still face girls and women on a global scale. He revists the vision and programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) set out in 1994 in Cairo, Egypt and ongoing efforts by his organisation to complete the ICPD unfinished business. He explains how the UNFPA uses arts and humanities to reach out to international audience in its attempt to raise awareness of women's rights and implement change.
This interview was recorded in June 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Conference_on_Population_and_Development

Health, Humanity and Dr. Frankenstein

Audrey Shafer, MD, directs Medicine & the Muse at Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics. She joins Brandy to talk about the use of Frankenstein to trouble the boundaries between science, medicine, and what it means to be human.

Stories of guilt and redemption: the cinema of Atom Egoyan

In this podcast Dr Khalid Ali talks to acclaimed Canadian director Atom Egoyan at the 41st edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) where Egoyan's latest film 'Guest of honour' screened. Egoyan reflects on prominent themes in his films such as isolation, estrangement and alienation of human beings, and how communication or lack of communication can result in long-term trauma and suffering. Story-telling and narrative are key elements in Egoyna's films through which his characters can absolve their guilt and achieve redemption particularly at end of life situations.

2040: A personal prescription for Global Health

In this podcast, award-winning Australian film maker, Damon Gameau talks about his new film '2040' which explores what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we embraced solutions that are currently available to improve the planet focusing on climate, economics, technology, civil society, agriculture, and sustainability. Damon also talks about his first documentary 'That Sugar Film' where he followed a strict low-fat, high sugar diet and the negative effects that diet had on his health. Damon uses his films as tools for education and raising awareness around universal health challenges.
2040 was released in the UK on 8 November.

Using arts to campaign against gender-based violence

Nahid Toubia is a Sudanese surgeon and women's health rights activist, specialising in research into female genital mutilation (FGM). In this podcast, she talks about her career as a woman surgeon in Khartoum, Sudan in the 1970's. Ms Toubia describes how she got involved in championing the fight against harmful practices such as FGM, domestic and gender-based violence at the UN and several other international platforms. She also elaborates on her role as a pioneer in utilising art, film and theatre as tools for education, health campaigns and women empowerment.