For the Medical Record

About For the Medical Record

For the Medical Record is a podcast from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, hosted by Postdoctoral Fellow Mia Levenson and Research Associate Richard Del Rio. In these episodes, we talk to people affiliated with the Center to discuss their research within the history of medicine and the medical humanities. We ask them why their work matters, and how history and the humanities can help us to better understand debates and practices within medicine and care today. - - - - - Logo: We would like to thank Karen Klinedinst (Art Director, Graphic Arts) and Courtney Weber (Graphic Designer), based in the Johns Hopkins Department of Art as Applied to Medicine, for creating this logo for our podcast. The background image is a drawing by Max Brödel (1870-1941), the first director of the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine. It shows the interior of an ear, making it a perfect image to illustrate our auditory output. Music: From Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/sensho/coffee-break (https://uppbeat.io/t/sensho/coffee-break) License code: QHALB6CTD8DSD3FP Production: Audio and overall production by Christy Slobogin

Publisher

For the Medical Record

Category

health & fitness · history · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Oct 2022

Latest episode

27 Jan 2026

Latest episodes

39 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Jan 2026

   S2 Ep11: Paul William Child (Bonus Episode) - on Jonathan Swift and humoral bodies

   This is a bonus episode of For the Medical Record! Mia is flying solo to talk with Paul William Child (https://www.shsu.edu/academics/colleges/humanities-social-sciences/english/people), Professor of English at Sam Houston State University and alum of Johns Hopkins Univeristy's Online Master's Program in the History of Medicine. Child joins the pod to chat about his new book, The Dean Disordered: Jonathan Swift and Humoral Medicine (https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10133/), which grew out of his thesis project as well as a longstanding interest in Swift and his work. They discuss Swift's writings, how Swift understood his humoral body, and how the master's program helped shape his approach. Enjoy! Works Referenced: David M. Turner, Disability in Eighteenth-Century England: Imagining Physical Impairment (https://www.routledge.com/Disability-in-Eighteenth-Century-England-Imagining-Physical-Impairment/Turner/p/book/9781138107588) (Routledge, 2012) Tobin Siebers, Disability Theory (https://press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disability-Theory2) (University of Michigan Press, 2008) --- For the Medical Record (https://hopkinsmedicalhumanities.org/cmhsm-publications/for-the-medical-record/)is a podcast from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, hosted by Research Associate Richard Del Rio (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/people/richard-del-rio-phd/) and Postdoctoral Fellow Mia Levenson (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/people/mia-levenson-phd/). New episodes are released biweekly. In these episodes, we talk to people affiliated with the Center to discuss their research within the history of medicine and the medical humanities. We ask them why their work matters, and how history and the humanities can help us to better understand debates and practices within medicine and care today.

2. 

   10 Nov 2025

   S2 Ep10: Benjamin Breen (Colloquium Mini Episode) - on the James siblings and the quantification age

   This week, on For the Medical Record, Richard and Mia chat with Benjamin Breen (https://history.ucsc.edu/people/?directoryprofilecruzid=bebreen), Associate Professor of History at University of California, Santa Cruz. Breen talks about the paper he presented as part of the Johns Hopkins Program in the History of Science, Medicine & Technology's colloquium series (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/events/current-colloquia-poster/), "The James Siblings in the Age of Quantification." They discuss the James family and their philosophies about the relationship between modern technology and the body as well as how Breen might be looking at this project as a pre-history of artificial intelligence. Enjoy! For more of Breen's work, check out his books, The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade (https://www.pennpress.org/9780812224986/the-age-of-intoxication/) (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019) and Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science (https://benjaminpbreen.com/books/tripping/) (Grand Central Publishing, 2024). --- For the Medical Record (https://hopkinsmedicalhumanities.org/cmhsm-publications/for-the-medical-record/)is a podcast from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, hosted by Research Associate Richard Del Rio (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/people/richard-del-rio-phd/) and Postdoctoral Fellow Mia Levenson (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/people/mia-levenson-phd/). New episodes are released biweekly. In these episodes, we talk to people affiliated with the Center to discuss their research within the history of medicine and the medical humanities. We ask them why their work matters, and how history and the humanities can help us to better understand debates and practices within medicine and care today.

3. 

   27 Oct 2025

   S2 Ep9: Dominique Tobbell - history of nursing education

   Welcome back to For the Medical Record! This week, Richard and Mia sit down with Dominique Tobbell, Centennial Distinguished Professor of Nursing and director of the Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing History of Inquiry at the University of Virginia. Professor Tobbell recently spoke at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing about her recently published book, Dr. Nurse: Science, Politics, and the Transformation of American Nursing (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo182734791.html). We talk about the history of nursing education and how the debate about whether nurses with doctoral degrees can call themselves "doctors." Related Resources: The Beyond Florence (https://nursingclio.org/Series/series/beyond-florence/) series in Nursing Clio. Hafeeza Anchrum, “Through the Eyes of Black Nurses: The Impact of the Nurse Training Act of 1964 (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11731403/).” Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice (2025) 26(1): 56-64. Reynaldo Capucao, Jr., “Filipino Nurses and the US Navy at Hampton Roads, Virginia: The Importance of Place (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31537727/),” Nursing History Review 28 (2020): 158-169 Christine Peralta, “Nursing the Nation: The Intellectual Labour of Early Migrant Nurses in the US, 1935-1965 (https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781487531744-017/html?srsltid=AfmBOopKnjBeRfhKr9K8svpmZOj2UB2fJmSbbcZ6DP_UmYkJmilMIWkI),” in Margaret Walton-Roberts (ed.), Global Migration, Gender, and Health Professional Credentials: Transnational Value Transfers and Losses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022), 289-305. Andre Rosario, “The Sentosa Nurses: Historical Context for Policies to Protect Internationally-Educated Nurses from Human Trafficking (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39474700/).” Politics, Politics, & Nursing Practice (2025) 26(1): 47-55 Laurel Sanders, “Federal Field Nurses and Indigenous Births (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38991758/).” Medical Humanities (2024) 50: 235-245. Barbra Mann Wall, William Cessato, and Victoria Tucker, “The ‘Right Kinds of Nurses’: Centering LPNs in the Nursing Labor Force (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39512198/).” Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice (2025) 26(1): 24-39. And if you're interested in Prof. Tobbell's newest project, check out: Dominique Tobbell, “The Role of Communities in Nurse-Led Clinics, 1965-2000: Lessons from History (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39474708/).” Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice (2025) 26(1): 6-15. --- For the Medical Record (https://hopkinsmedicalhumanities.org/cmhsm-publications/for-the-medical-record/)is a podcast from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, hosted by Research Associate Richard Del Rio (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/people/richard-del-rio-phd/) and Postdoctoral Fellow Mia Levenson (https://hopkinshistoryofmedicine.org/people/mia-levenson-phd/). New episodes are released biweekly. In these episodes, we talk to people affiliated with the Center to discuss their research within the history of medicine and the medical humanities. We ask them why their work matters, and how history and the humanities can help us to better understand debates and practices within medicine and care today.

Who has been a guest on For the Medical Record

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Bryan Doerries
• Michael Seminara
• Mary Fissell

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

54

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact For the Medical Record

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.