Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine. Hosted by Dr. Travis Brown and Steve Davis, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their...
Latest episodes
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32 min
Episode 112: Pleomorphic Adenoma | Mixed Tumours
Pleomorphic adenoma is the most common parotid gland tumour. It is benign, usually presents as a painless, slow-growing lump near the jaw, and was first described by surgeon Theodo…
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53 min
Episode 111: 2026 Early Prostate Cancer Detection | PSA And mpMRI
New guidelines are here. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing have released the 2026 Guidelines for…
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1 h 07
Episode 110: Narcolepsy | Fighting The Sleep Demon
In 1880, a French physician described a patient having up to 200 sleep attacks a day, some triggered by nothing more than a good hand of cards or the sight of his own wine barrels.…
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1 h 06
Episode 109: Sexual Harassment In Medicine | Dr Louise Stone
Sexual harassment in medicine is almost universally perpetrated by men, and in over half of doctor-on-doctor cases, it happens in the workplace itself, not at a conference or a sta…
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1 h 06
Episode 108: Alzheimer’s Disease | Auguste Deter’s Decline
One doctor’s case from 1901 changed how we understand memory loss. Auguste Deter was 51 when her husband Carl brought her to see Dr Alois Alzheimer in Frankfurt, worried by memory…
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50 min
Episode 107: Bone Sarcomas Part 2 | Ewing And Coley’s Legacy
Two teenage patients, thirty years apart, changed how bone sarcomas are treated. In 1890, seventeen-year-old Bessie Dashiell saw New York surgeon William Coley with a painful hand.…
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57 min
Episode 106: Bone Sarcoma Part 1 | Osteosarcoma, Chondrosaroma & Ewing Sarcoma
Bone sarcomas are rare, accounting for 0.2% of all cancer diagnoses, with around 200 cases diagnosed in Australia each year. The three main types differ by age and site: osteosarco…
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1 h 00
Episode 105: Soft Tissue Sarcoma Part 2 | Adjuvant Therapies
The treatment of soft tissue sarcomas is a highly specialised area. The first effective chemotherapy agent against sarcomas was only identified in the 1960s and benefits of adjuvan…
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1 h 21
Episode 104: Soft Tissue Sarcoma Part 1 | Avoiding The Whoops Lesion
Soft tissue sarcomas are tumours that arise from connective tissue, fat, muscle, and blood vessels. They are distinct from epithelial malignancies (carcinomas) in both morphology a…
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45 min
Episode 103: Clinical ethics | Eternal conundrums
Ethics, codes of conduct, and challenging decisions are universal constants in medicine. Difficult situations and trying to do the right thing are not always obvious particularly w…
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38 min
Episode 102: Lipoprotein (a) | Genetic Cholesterol
Lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) was discovered in 1963 by a Norwegian geneticist by the name of Kåre Berg who studied particles that carried cholesterol in the blood. He found some patient…
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1 h 08
Episode 101: Psoriasis | Skin, Immunity, And The Marks We Carry
Skin has always told stories. For thousands of years, those whose skin behaved differently — scaling, thickening, inflaming — were feared, isolated, and misunderstood. Psoriasis wa…
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1 h 06
Episode 100: The Artful Dodger | James McNamara
The Artful Dodger is a television series on Disney+ that is a historical medical drama set in 1850s Australia with Jack Dawkins, the Artful Dodger from the world of Oliver Twist. J…
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1 h 07
Episode 99: Graves’ Disease | Hyperthyroidism & Thyrotoxicosis
The complex symptomatology of hormonal diseases only started to be recognised in the 19th century as we learned about anatomy and physiology. When Doctor Robert Graves began piecin…
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31 min
Episode 98: Statin Dosage | Finding The Sweet Spot
It has been well established in studies and articles that cholesterol lowering medications have significant heart morbidity and mortality benefits. However, high dosage trials did…
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39 min
Episode 97: Crucifixion | Ancient Rome & State Sanctioned Execution
Crucifixion was a form of punishment, humiliation, and execution. Adopted by the Ancient Romans, crucifixion was used on the State’s worst criminals on lower classes and slaves. As…
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1 h 49
Episode 96: Steroids & Testosterone (Part 2) | Anabolic Steroids
Recreational use of steroids and testosterone to enhance image and performance is on the rise. Over the last 70 years, testosterone and testosterone-like substances have been used…
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55 min
Episode 95: Steroids & Testosterone (Part 1) | Male Hypogonadism
Hypogonadism is a medical condition where the body does not produce enough testosterone. This can be primary (testicular failure) or secondary (pituitary or other condition). There…
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1 h 18
Episode 94: Testicular Cancer | Check Deez Nuts
While testicular cancer is rare, it is the most common cancer in young men aged between 15 and 39 years. Like with every cancer, early detection is the key. Self-examination is imp…
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15 min
Episode 93: Return of TML | Diseased
And we’re back – for another year – with more stories, more expert guests, more topics to discuss. Episodes released fortnightly. And we’ve also released an ebook with audio narrat…