In the Same Vein

About In the Same Vein

"In the Same Vein" is a podcast about how medicine, the humanities, and ethics are all intertwined. Through interviews with scholars working on vital and innovative topics in the health humanities and in bioethics, this podcast explores how the study of the humanities influences medical practice, and how, in turn, medicine influences the study of the humanities. Each episode will be co-hosted by a University of Rochester student and professor. As a pair, they'll be asking questions of scholars and writers who the students themselves have chosen to meet with and interview for their co-hosted episode. In this podcast, we aim to show how disciplines within the humanities and within medicine - which are often discussed separately - in fact share many of the same goals. In reality, the humanities, medicine, and ethics all run in the same vein.

Publisher

In the Same Vein

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Sept 2024

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

17 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   S3 Ep2: On Transplant Ethics with Arthur Caplan, PhD

   With co-host Alan Finkelstein at the helm, we talk to Arthur Caplan about transplant ethics, particularly the ethics around xenotransplantation (using animal material in transplants) and exogenic chimeric humanized organs (grown organs that are part human genetic material, and part animal genetic material). Throughout this conversation, we cover the diverse terrain of transplant ethics, talking about human-animal relationships, payment in transplants, the problem of publicity with certain types of transplants, the dead donor rule, defining death,

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   S3 Ep1: On Race and Cosmetic Surgery with Alka Menon, PhD

   Welcome to Season 3 of "In the Same Vein"! In this episode, Raquel Arias-Camison - a recent graduate of the University of Rochester's School of Medicine and Dentistry and current plastic surgery resident - serves as co-host. Alka Menon's recent book Refashioning Race: How Global Cosmetic Surgery Crafts New Beauty Standards serves as the focus for this episode, and we talk about race and cosmetic surgery in the United States and Malaysia, sociological methods, plastic surgery advertising, the ebb and flow of beauty ideals, and the entanglement of medicine and society.

3. 

   15 Sept 2026

   "In the Same Vein" Season 3 Teaser

   The third season of "In the Same Vein" launches soon! New episodes will be coming every two weeks from October to December 2026. Topics of these episodes include race and cosmetic surgery and transplant ethics.

4. 

   15 Dec 2025

   S2 Ep6: On Smell, Death, and Funerary Rituals with Helen Frisby, PhD

   With co-host Diana Herrmann - family medicine physician and Health Humanities and Bieothics master's student - we speak to historian Helen Frisby, primarily about her chapter "Smelling Death" in the book Religion, Death and the Senses (2024). In this episode, we explore the smellscapes of Victorian funeral rituals, discussing olfactory experiences as diverse as funerary cakes, bee hives and beeswax candles, decaying corpses, and rosemary sprigs. We talk about how smell can be a fleeting memento mori, as it is tied incredibly strongly to memory and nostalgia. We also discuss what we might learn about ourselves and about how we deal with death by looking at (and smelling with) the past.

5. 

   1 Dec 2025

   S2 Ep5: On AI Therapy Chatbots in Pediatrics with Bryanna Moore, PhD

   This discussion - co-hosted by undergraduate Bioethics and Psychology double major Nanki Nagpaul - dives into the ethical quandaries of AI pediatric therapy chatbots. We do this with Dr. Bryanna Moore (https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/people/112364498-bryanna-s-moore), focusing most on her recent article (co-authored with Jonathan Herington and Şerife Tekin), "The Integration of Artificial Intelligence-Powered Psychotherapy Chatbots in Pediatric Care: Scaffold or Substitute?" (https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(25)00049-6/fulltext) We also discuss Dr. Moore's Psychology Today column, "A Therapist in Every Pocket: Why Access Isn't Everything." (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-unexamined-digital-life/202506/a-therapist-in-every-pocket-why-access-isnt-everything) Using these pieces as starting points, we talk with Dr. Moore about the potential risks and rewards of this type of technology, the unique needs of children, and what we don't know about the role of AI in mental health care for both adults and children.

6. 

   17 Nov 2025

   S2 Ep4: On A Theory of Bioethics with David DeGrazia, PhD

   We go philosophical in this episode, co-hosted by Ashley Labodda, a Philosophy PhD student at the University of Rochester. We have a discussion that is largely focused on David DeGrazia’s 2021 book A Theory of Bioethics, co-authored with Joseph Millum, PhD. We speak about what new elements and approaches this book brings to the field of bioethics, as well as how many of these ideas apply to philosophy and to ethics beyond bioethics.

7. 

   3 Nov 2025

   S2 Ep3: On Narrative and Emergency Medicine with Jay Baruch, MD

   This episode - co-hosted with medical student Priya Mandava - features physician and author Jay Baruch (https://www.jaybaruch.com/). We take his 2022 book Tornado of Life: A Doctor's Journey through Constraints and Creativity in the ER as our starting point to then discuss narrative and emergency medicine, the role of the humanities in medical education, chaos narratives and patient stories, and the role of compassion in medicine.

8. 

   15 Oct 2025

   S2 Ep2: On Med-Psych Units with Marsha Wittink, MD, MBE

   In this episode, medical student and historian of medicine Michael Healey, PhD serves as co-host as we interview Marsha Wittink, MD, MBE, academic chief of the Medicine in Psychiatry Division and medical director of the Medicine in Psychiatry Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center. We discuss the collaborative and interdisciplinary work that occurs on medicine in psychiatry (med-psych) units, as well as how and why the health humanities and bioethics are intrinsic to that work. We also discuss the biopsychosocial model of medicine, paying attention to patient perspectives, and designing healthcare spaces for patient care. Articles that we read for this interview: Marsha Wittink et al., “Undervalued Potential of Medical Psychiatry Units to Improve Care for People with Severe Mental Illness,” Psychiatr Serv 74, no. 9 (September 2023): 991-993. Frances K. Barg et al., “A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Loneliness and Depression in Older Adults,” J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 61, no. 6 (November 2006): S329-339. Marsha Wittink, Paul Duberstein, and Jeffrey M. Lyness, “Late-Life Depression in the Primary Care Setting: Toward a Patient-Centered Future,” in Late-Life Mood Disorders, edited by H. Lavretsky, M. Sajatovic, and C. F. Reynolds III (Oxford University Press, 2012), 500-515. Paul R. Duberstein and Marsha N Wittink, “Person-Centered Suicide Prevention,” in Psychology and Geriatrics: Integrated Care for an Aging Population, edited by Benjamin A. Bensadon (Academic Press, 2015), 153-181. Marsha Wittink et al., “Patient Priorities and the Doorknob Phenomenon in Primary Care: Can Technology Improve Disclosure of Patient Stressors?” Patient Educ Couns 101, no. 2 (February 2018): 214-220. Marsha Wittink et al., “Psychosomatic Medicine in the USA – A Systemic Biopsychosocial Approach in Practice,” in Psychosomatic Medicine, An International Guide, edited by Kurt Fritzsche and Michael Wirsching, 3rd edition (Springer, 2020).

9. 

   1 Oct 2025

   S2 Ep1: On Surgical Stereotypes with Agnes Arnold-Forster, PhD

   Welcome to Season 2 of "In the Same Vein"! In this episode, Jan Gao - a recent graduate from the MS in Health Humanities and Bioethics at the University of Rochester - serves as co-host. We talk to the historian Agnes Arnold-Forster about her recent book Cold, Hard Steel: The Myth of the Modern Surgeon (University of Manchester Press, 2023). In addition to many other topics, we discuss persistent myths about and stereotypes of the modern surgeon, how historical work can influence health practice and policy, and how those who don't "fit" the stereotype can benefit from learning about surgical myths in culture and practice.

10. 

    15 Sept 2025

    "In the Same Vein" Season 2 Teaser

    The second season of "In the Same Vein" launches soon, with six episodes being published from October to December 2025.

11. 

    16 Dec 2024

    6: On AI in Medicine with Erika Ramsdale, MD

    Philosopher Jonathan Herington and PhD student Adam DeDobbelaere explore AI in medicine with physician, data scientist, and ethicist Erika Ramsdale, MD, highlighting the potentials and pitfalls of AI's growing presence in healthcare.

12. 

    2 Dec 2024

    5: On Resource Allocation with Jonathan Herington, PhD

    Jonathan Herington, PhD, delves into the ethics of ventilator allocation during the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the tradeoffs between saving lives and saving life years.

13. 

    15 Nov 2024

    4: On Beauty Ideals with Julie Starr, PhD

    In this episode, we speak with Julie Starr (https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/our-faculty/directory/faculty-detail/julie-starr) about her book Modified Bodies, Material Selves: Beauty Ideals in Post-Reform Shanghai (https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295751757/modified-bodies-material-selves/) (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2023). Our student co-host for this episode, second-year medical student Piper Schneider, is interested in pursuing plastic surgery and wanted to know more about how and why women think about beauty and body modification – and the techniques used to study those ways of thinking. We discuss the concept of tizhi, anthropological methods and the “data problem” in that field, and how cultural beauty ideals influence health, wellness, and medicine.

14. 

    1 Nov 2024

    3: On Medieval Lapidary Medicine with Nichola Harris, PhD

    In this episode of “In the Same Vein,” we chat to historian of medieval medicine Nichola Harris about her subfield: lapidary medicine, or, the use of stones and minerals for medicinal purposes. Harris talks us through how objects like coral, pearls, diamonds, amber, loadstones, and eaglestones were utilized in the medieval period (and ancient and early modern periods) as cures and for general health and wellness. Our questions for Nichola Harris are inspired by two of her recent pieces of writing: “Loadstones are a Girl’s Best Friend: Lapidary Cures, Midwives, and Manuals of Popular Healing in Medieval and Early Modern England” from the book The Sacred and the Secular in Medieval Healing: Sites, Objects, and Texts (https://www.routledge.com/The-Sacred-and-the-Secular-in-Medieval-Healing-Sites-Objects-and-Texts/Bowers-Keyser/p/book/9781472449627?srsltid=AfmBOoo63PojMrmR1ph1vquelA62mBH2-deui1S5mfR0XPKEWp2Bwhjl) and “The Protection of Innocents: Red Coral as a Lapidary Cure for the ‘Children’s Disease’ and Conditions Related to Childbirth in Medieval and Early Modern England” from Death and Disease in the Medieval and Early Modern World (https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781914049095/death-and-disease-in-the-medieval-and-early-modern-world/). MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE: Rudolph Bell, How to Do It: Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo3622985.html) (1999) Hildred S. Geertz (https://anthropology.princeton.edu/people/emeritus-faculty/hildred-geertz) Patrick Wallis (https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/People/Faculty-and-teachers/Wallis/Professor-Patrick-Wallis) Erin Connolly (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/people/econnelly/)

15. 

    15 Oct 2024

    2: On Emotions and Surgery with Michael Brown, PhD

    In this episode, second-year medical student Spencer Mehdizadeh chose to speak to the historian of medicine Michael Brown, PhD (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/arts-and-social-sciences/people/michael-brown2) about his 2022 book Emotions and Surgery in Britain, 1793-1912 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/emotions-and-surgery-in-britain-17931912/3B6A6E4B0A0149510A8BB41B1E93A5CE). We discuss anesthesia, pain, emotions, surgery, history, and the experiences of both patients and surgeons in the nineteenth century and today. Other Scholarly Work Mentioned Joanna Bourke, The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-story-of-pain-9780199689422?cc=us&lang=en&) (2014) Rob Boddice, Knowing Pain: A History of Sensation, Emotion, and Experience (https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Knowing+Pain%3A+A+History+of+Sensation%2C+Emotion%2C+and+Experience-p-9781509550548)(2023) Martin Pernick, A Calculus of Suffering: Pain, Professionalism, and Anesthesia in Nineteenth-Century America (https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Calculus_of_Suffering/UgCMQgAACAAJ?hl=en) (1985) Stephanie J. Snow, Blessed Days of Anaesthesia: How Anaesthetics Changed the World (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/blessed-days-of-anaesthesia-9780192805898?cc=us&lang=en&) (2008) James Kennaway, “Celts Under the Knife: Surgical Fortitude, Racial Theory and the British Army” (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2020.1734147) (2020) Rob Boddice, Humane Professions: The Defence of Experimental Medicine, 1876-1914 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/humane-professions/humane-professions/DA46072FFC48131D645682053802C683) (2021) M. Anne Crowther and Marguerite W. Dupree, Medical Lives in the Age of Surgical Revolution (https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/british-history-after-1450/medical-lives-age-surgical-revolution?format=HB&isbn=9780521835480) (2007)

16. 

    1 Oct 2024

    1: On Medical Error with Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD

    Welcome to the first episode of our new podcast “In the Same Vein”! In this premiere, our student co-host is the second-year medical student Isabella Cantor, whose personal experiences as a reader and as a healthcare provider led her to want to chat with the remarkable Danielle Ofri (https://danielleofri.com/), MD, PhD. In this episode, we primarily talk about Dr. Ofri’s 2020 book When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error (https://danielleofri.com/books/when-we-do-harm/). But in addition to discussing the complexities of medical error and how to process it, we also chat about emotions in medicine, the role of art and medicine in taking care of yourself as a doctor, and medical education. Enjoy listening and please do subscribe so that you don’t miss any of the other episodes in Season 1! UPCOMING EVENTS WITH DR. OFRI’S BELLEVUE LITERARY REVIEW October 17, 2024 (online) - BLR Fall Reading: Body Politic (https://www.tickettailor.com/events/bellevueliteraryreview/1401245) November 16, 2024 (in person, NYC) – Body Politic: An Evening of Live Storytelling

17. 

    16 Sept 2024

    "In the Same Vein" Trailer

    Welcome to In the Same Vein! Full episodes coming soon!

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