The US military’s Operation “Epic Fury” highlighted the devastating cost of using artificial intelligence for rapid military planning. Thomas Adamkiewicz, associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Zulfiqar Bhutta, Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, to discuss why international humanitarian law is lagging dangerously behind technology, and why we urgently need a new era of legal frameworks to govern AI use in war. Direc...
Jun 22, 2026•48 min•Ep. 84
The heated debate on prostate cancer screening boils down to one question: should men be routinely screened? Two recent position statements from the UK’s national screening committee published in the BMJ show that screening decisions are steeped in complexity. The benefits of screening may be easier to grasp, but the harms of overdiagnosis and overtreatment are given less attention. Can we close the divide between the public and academic discourse? Guest: Sian Taylor-Phillips is professor of pop...
Jun 12, 2026•37 min•Ep. 83
New estimates of Global Patterns in Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Mortality have been published - and while there has been a huge improvement, those gains are in danger - and we’re seeing worrying trends. Kate Strong, a Scientist at the World Health Organization and Lucia Hug, a specialist in statistics and monitoring for UNICEF, join us to explain the data - and why they are worried about our ability to measure this in the future. Helen Sharman is the first British Astronaut to make it to spa...
Jun 06, 2026•41 min•Ep. 82
Does healthcare have a moral emergency? In this episode of the Medicine and Science podcast, Kamran Abbasi sits down with healthcare leaders Maureen Bisognano, president emerita of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Bob Klaber, director of strategy at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, to discuss why they're calling the lack of humanity in medicine an emergency. We ask why this dangerous imbalance between the rational (efficiency, data, and metrics) and the relational (human connec...
May 29, 2026•36 min•Ep. 81
It has been a tumultuous time in UK health politics. UK Health Minister ,Wes Streeting, has freshly resigned. What does this mean for his newly introduced NHS Modernization Bill as it heads through Parliament? Together with Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy and Research at the Health Foundation, we unpack the bill's sweeping centralization of power, the abolition of NHS England, and the contentious role for US tech firm Palantir in the new NHS. And, we explore a major milestone for women's heal...
May 22, 2026•37 min•Ep. 80
Twitter was launched 20 years ago, followed quickly by the iPhone and Instagram. Today, nearly 60% of the world’s population uses social media. Medical experts are sounding the alarm on the potential for these platforms to cause systemic harm. This past year has seen large events in the legal and public health battle against tech giants, with millions of dollars awarded in damages to child victims. Why has pinning down these companies proven difficult? And, what are the parallels between the soc...
May 15, 2026•49 min•Ep. 79
The BMA has released their long awaited review of the Cass report. The original report looked at the provision of NHS gender identity services for children and young people, and involved a review of the science underpinning those services. It also set out a plan to improve care for gender diverse young people. We talk with David Strain of the BMA’s board of science to discuss their findings, and hear why they were critical of the Secretary of State, Wes Streeting's response to Cass’s review. And...
May 08, 2026•40 min•Ep. 78
The new trade deal struck between the UK and US came into force in April. The deal will double the amount that the NHS spends on new medicines, by the end of 2036 (from 0.6 - 0.6% of GDP). increase the threshold that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) sets for drug approvals - which will allow more to be approved, but will also allow companies to charge more for their pharmaceuticals, include a change to the rebate the NHS receives, to ensure that the extra drug spend o...
May 01, 2026•43 min•Ep. 77
A blockbuster MS drug undergoes FDA re-evaluation. We explore the story of Ocrelizumab, a treatment for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, following a patient petition that highlighted internal disagreements among agency reviewers regarding its efficacy. We look to Sweden, where new research involving sibling pairs separated by adoption investigates how early-life environments shape long-term health and social outcomes. Finally, we revisit the dominant medical narrative on Alzheimer’s disea...
Apr 24, 2026•39 min•Ep. 76
Covid 19 was the last Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Our guests in this podcast think that the Trump Administration should be declared the next one. Joining Kamran Abbasi are, Fatima Hassan, human rights lawyer and Director of the Health Justice Initiative in South Africa, and Matthew Herder, Director of the Health Justice Institute at Dalhousie University in Canada explain why they think that the actions and consequences of the Whitehouse meet the bar for WHO to delca...
Apr 17, 2026•51 min•Ep. 75
Coming up in this week’s episode: The 15th Strike: As the latest six-day walkout by resident doctors in England concludes, the BMJ's news team examines the state of the ongoing dispute over pay and training places. Iain Beardsell, consultant in emergency medicine in Southampton explain why he thinks reintroducing compassion could be the key to tackling the systemic issues facing emergency departments And finally, The BMA announces major changes to how it represents doctors in private practice - ...
Apr 13, 2026•39 min
The BMJ published a negative result this week. A new trial focuses on a peer support intervention for improving breastfeeding rates in the UK, but finds no major improvement. We hear from the lead author who tells us what went wrong, and the insights that can still be drawn from apparent ‘failures’. Next we turn our eyes to shisha smoking in the UK. With shisha or “hookah” cafes on the rise, we explore the smoking habit in more detail. What are the effects on health? And why are UK laws poor at ...
Apr 03, 2026•34 min•Ep. 74
The UK Covid Inquiry released Module Three of its findings this month. It lays out in startling detail the lived experiences of NHS staff and patients who bore through the pandemic. In the report’s words: ‘healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, but only just’. The BMJ speaks to Kevin Fong, anaesthetist lead for major incidence planning at UCL hospitals, to break down Module Three’s most important takeaways. And, invasive surgical cosmetic procedures are on the rise in the UK, with regulatio...
Mar 27, 2026•44 min•Ep. 73
The Gulf states are not large producers of pharmaceuticals or healthcare products - but the oil they supply, and the transport infrastructure they have built, are key components in a worldwide logistical network that underpin all of the pharmaceutical and other medical consumables we use. From critical NHS shortages like Bone Cement for orthopedic surgery, to persistent IV fluid supply crises plaguing Australian hospitals, we discuss how the conflict in Iran will affect fragile healthcare logist...
Mar 20, 2026•34 min•Ep. 72
The lure of health influencers and AI chat bots is strong. More and more people are placing trust in them to answer their health problems, misplaced trust - as we know these AIs can misinform. At the same time, people are struggling to access the NHS, and when they do doctors have little time or the right tools to unpick complicated science, and challenge misunderstandings. So in this roundtable, we’re asking, are we in danger of the NHS making the problem of misinformation worse, and what can w...
Mar 13, 2026•48 min•Ep. 71
In this episode, Dr Katie Bramall, Chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, joins the podcast to discuss her concerns surrounding the new GP contract imposed by the UK government. GP contract overhaul: What's included and how has it been received? Helen Salisbury: Another imposed GP contract
Mar 12, 2026•28 min•Ep. 70
As public health officials warn about rising emissions from urban wood burning, a BMJ investigation finds that just under a third of UK councils in high use areas have faced pressure from the stove industry to tone down or withdraw campaigns. Almost a third of UK children live in poverty. Leading expert Michael Marmot weighs in on the UK’s "steepest rise" in child poverty among OECD countries and why local government "Marmot Cities" like Coventry and Manchester are taking the lead where national...
Mar 06, 2026•35 min•Ep. 69
In this episode, we investigate the alarming resurgence of measles across North America and the UK. While cases are falling across much of Europe and Asia, North America is seeing explosive outbreaks fueled by vaccine hesitancy and political shifts. We break down the 2026 crisis: Why London is the epicenter and how the UK lost its "Measles Elimination Status". An in-depth look at outbreaks in Ontario, Alberta, Texas, and Mexico. How returning travelers—not migrants—are actually driving the sprea...
Feb 27, 2026•42 min•Ep. 68
In this week’s episode, we challenge long-held medical narratives, starting with how the healthcare system manages life after a cancer diagnosis. While medical advancements mean more people are surviving cancer than ever before, many patients report a "cliff-edge" experience where coordinated care effectively vanishes once primary treatment ends. We are joined by Dr. Rosalind Adam, an Academic GP at the University of Aberdeen, who argues that it is time to stop viewing cancer as a discrete, one-...
Feb 20, 2026•28 min•Ep. 67
The House of Lord's amendments to England and Wales assisted dying bill might be causing a constitutional crisis. Lords have tabled 1,277 amendments—which is a record for any equivalent bill in history - and over half of those came from just seven peers. This has led to accusations of "delaying tactics" or "filibustering" to run down the clock deliberately and run this bill off the road. Although some of these amendments have been described as unworkable, repetitious and unnecessary; others refl...
Feb 14, 2026•47 min•Ep. 66
Deborah Cohen's new book "How the internet hijacked our health" explores the profound impact of the internet on our wellbeing. In this conversation with BMJ Editor, Kamran Abbasi, they discuss the ways in which online information can both empower and mislead, the role of big tech in shaping our wellbeing and the complex and disturbing ways wellness influencers are becoming more trusted than the NHS. With insights drawn from extensive research and a deep understanding of the digital landscape, De...
Feb 06, 2026•40 min•Ep. 65
We’re 18 months into the Labour government, and their changes to the NHS are beginning to be felt. In the 10 year plan that they launched last year, they announced three planned shifts for the health service. Firstly, they pledge to move care from hospitals to the community, an increased focus on prevention rather than sickness, and shift from analogue to digital with an improved NHS app where patients can access records, seek advice and control some aspects of their care. However, accessing pri...
Jan 31, 2026•38 min•Ep. 64
This interview is available in video form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yNO47EfuEM @RichardJMurphy , political economist and tax campaigner, joins Kamran Abbasi, Editor in Chief of The BMJ. In the UK an ongoing dispute between resident doctors and the Labour Government saw doctors go on strike in mid-December. With Winter pressure piling on and cost-of-living on the rise, do doctors have a credible case of pay rises? And more broadly, how can the economic situation of the NHS be improve...
Jan 23, 2026•36 min•Ep. 63
The class of GLP-1 agonist drugs including Ozempic gained a wide reputation for weight loss in 2025. However, it's well established that weight regain is a common result after people stop their doses. We report on new research which aims to quantify what is happening in the here-and-now for patients who stop using these and similar drugs. Weight regain after cessation of medication for weight management: systematic review and meta-analysis Also, The BMJ reports on news from Gaza. The Israeli gov...
Jan 12, 2026•32 min•Ep. 62
This episode is available in video form on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cGrD47eZSk American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Kamran Abbasi to discuss climate disaster, the need for political imagination, and science fiction's vision for health. Kim Stanley Robinson is the acclaimed author of a trilogy of novels, exploring the terraforming and settlement of Mars. His most recent novel, 'Ministry for the Future', was published in 2020. 'Ministry for the Future' sets out a vision for...
Jan 09, 2026•43 min•Ep. 61
It’s time for 2025’s festive fun! Practicing medicine can be a very visceral experience - and the English language can’t always adequately capture the sights, sounds, smells. So Matt Morgan, intensivist and BMJ columnist, is creating medical neologisms, and joins us to share a few. Madhvi Joshi, a GP in London, has written about longevity science, and we hear how the “biohacking” of internet influencers like Bryan Johnson is making its way into the consultation. Navjoyt Ladher and Tim Feeny take...
Dec 29, 2025•54 min•Ep. 60
In this episode, we hear how Generative AI is making it into the consultation room - but not through NHS endorsed routes - surveys suggest that ⅔ of doctors are using AI, for backoffice tasks - but also increasingly for information and diagnosis. David Navarro, a research fellow in generative AI at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Charlotte Blease, associate professor at the Participatory eHealth and Health Data Research Group at Uppsala University , and Marcus Lewis, GP in London,...
Dec 16, 2025•38 min•Ep. 59
There is an enormous amount of research on treatment for ADHD - pharmaceutical and otherwise. But not all of those trials, or meta-analyses, are of high quality; and not many compare the whole literature. Now a new umbrella review - a review of reviews - tries to give a broad overview of the whole evidence base. Corentin Gosling, associate professor at the Université Paris Nanterre, joins us to set out the benefits and harms of ADHD therapies. Also, the BMJ’s been investigating the employment of...
Dec 05, 2025•41 min•Ep. 57
"Damning” and “unforgivable failures” is how some papers headlines reacted to criticism of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in the second of 10 reports from the UK Covid Inquiry. Under pressure, in 2001 Boris Johnson announced a covid inquiry led by a former judge, Baroness Hallett. Each report is examining a different area of the pandemic's impact, and module 2 is about decision making and political governance. The report describes inertia, toxic cultures, and an inability to learn lesson...
Dec 04, 2025•31 min•Ep. 58
It’s the BMJ’s annual climate issue - and in this episode, we’ll be hearing about more ways in which climate mitigation is good for health. Firstly, climate change is fuelling conflict, and exacerbating the impact it has on fragile healthcare systems. Andy Haines, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Barbora Sedova, from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, discuss how climate and conflict intersect, and what they think needs to be done to combat it. “Car spread...
Nov 18, 2025•44 min•Ep. 55
