The Future of Medicine

Welcome to The Future of Medicine, a podcast from Stanford's Department of Medicine. We bring you into conversation with the thought leaders who are reshaping how we understand disease, deliver care, and imagine what's possible in human health. This show is built around the extraordinary speakers who join us for Medicine Grand Rounds – one of the longest-running and most respected forums in academic medicine. Our guests include world-renowned physicians, scientists, innovators, and policy leaders from across the globe, as well as the remarkable faculty at Stanford. Together, they represent the full spectrum of modern biomedical discovery: from breakthrough therapeutics and cutting-edge genomics, to health equity, digital health, global health, neuroscience, AI, and the re-design of care systems. This is The Future of Medicine.

The Future of Medicine is a health podcast hosted by Stanford Department of Medicine, with 25 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Stanford Department of Medicine hosts The Future of Medicine, a health show with 25 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #26

  Clarence Braddock on the Future of Medical Education

  Aug 16, 202639 minS1

  Clarence Braddock, MD, MPH, a nationally recognized medical educator and former Executive Vice Dean and Vice Dean for Education in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, joins Euan Ashley on The Future of Medicine to explore how we train future doctors, why changing long-established systems can be so difficult, and what leaders often misunderstand about creating meaningful change. Braddock describes how experiences ranging from serving as a physician in the Navy to teaching trainees and studying conversations between doctors and patients shaped his thinking about what medicine asks of both clinicians and educators. The conversation then turns to medical education itself. Braddock challenges assumptions that have shaped medical school for generations and discusses newer approaches, including simulation-based learning and a growing shift away from expecting physicians to function as encyclopedias of medical knowledge. As AI and other technologies increasingly bring information directly to the point of care, he argues that tomorrow’s doctors will need to become skilled and responsible consumers of knowledge. Braddock and Ashley also examine the human side of organizational change. Drawing on lessons from major curriculum reforms, Braddock explains why the process of change can strain colleagues and institutions, and ultimately, why he concluded that how change happens can matter even more than what is changed. Together, they discuss shared decision-making, the evolution of medical training, AI in medicine and what medical schools should be preparing their graduates to do in the decades ahead. Thank you for listening! Call to action: If you enjoy The Future of Medicine, subscribe for more conversations with leading scientists shaping the next era of healthcare. Please rate and review the podcast to help others discover these important discussions. Share with friends and colleagues who are curious about how science becomes medicine.

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  Episode #25

  Valter Longo on Fasting-Mimicking Diets and Longevity

  Jul 26, 202645 minS1

  What can fasting teach us about aging, and can the body receive some of its benefits without giving up food completely? Valter Longo, PhD, professor of gerontology and biological sciences, director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California, and author of The Longevity Diet, joins The Future of Medicine for a wide-ranging conversation about nutrition, fasting-mimicking diets, protein, chronic disease, and the biology of longevity. In this episode, Longo traces an unconventional path from aspiring rock guitarist to longevity scientist. He describes how the early death of his grandfather and the striking differences he observed between relatives living in Italy and Chicago helped shape his interest in why people age and develop disease. Longo explains how experiments in yeast led his laboratory to study the effects of sugar, amino acids, and fasting on lifespan. He also discusses the development of the fasting-mimicking diet, a five-day, low-sugar, and low-protein eating plan designed to trigger some of the biological responses associated with fasting while still providing food. The conversation also examines caloric restriction, time-restricted eating, breakfast skipping, and today’s enthusiasm for high-protein diets. Longo distinguishes between short-term changes in weight or metabolic markers and the much harder question of whether a dietary practice improves long-term health. Together, Longo and host Euan Ashley explore what scientists are learning about nutrition and healthy aging, why extreme approaches can carry tradeoffs, and how carefully designed dietary interventions might one day become part of preventive medicine. Thank you for listening! Call to action: If you enjoy The Future of Medicine, subscribe for more conversations with leading scientists shaping the next era of healthcare. Please rate and review the podcast to help others discover these important discussions. Share with friends and colleagues who are curious about how science becomes medicine.

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  Episode #24

  Travis Zack on OpenEvidence and the Future of Medical AI

  Jul 19, 202644 minS1

  How can medical AI help doctors make better decisions while preserving clinical judgment and human connection? Travis Zack, MD, PhD, an oncologist, researcher, and chief medical officer of OpenEvidence, joins The Future of Medicine to discuss the future of AI in clinical care. OpenEvidence is an AI-powered platform that helps clinicians find and understand information from peer-reviewed medical research, clinical guidelines, and other trusted sources. In this episode, Zack explains why reliable medical AI depends not only on avoiding fabricated information, but also on finding the right evidence for each clinical question. He discusses how OpenEvidence is designed to bring relevant research into physicians’ workflows while leaving the final decision in the clinician’s hands. The conversation also looks ahead to more proactive forms of care. Zack describes a future in which AI could identify meaningful changes in a patient’s health or in the medical literature and alert physicians before the patient’s next scheduled visit. Zack also shares his research using language from medical records to improve cancer care. By analyzing how patients describe symptoms such as chemotherapy-related nerve damage, researchers may be able to better predict when treatment should be adjusted to prevent lasting side effects. Together, Dr. Zack and host Errol Ozdalga, MD, explore whether reliance on AI could weaken physicians’ skills, how medical education may change, and why human reasoning and empathy will remain essential to medicine. They also consider a central question for health systems: Will AI be used only to increase efficiency, or will some of the time it saves be returned to patients? Thank you for listening. Call to action: If you enjoy The Future of Medicine, subscribe for more conversations with leading scientists shaping the next era of healthcare. Please rate and review the podcast to help others discover these important discussions. Share with friends and colleagues who are curious about how science becomes medicine.

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  Episode #23

  Michael Osterholm on Pandemic Threats, Public Trust, and the Future of Vaccines

  Jul 12, 202641 minS1

  Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, one of the world’s leading experts on infectious disease threats and pandemic preparedness, joins The Future of Medicine for a wide-ranging conversation about COVID-19, vaccines, airborne transmission, public trust, and what the world must do before the next pandemic arrives. Osterholm is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and has spent nearly five decades investigating outbreaks and advising public officials. In this episode, he reflects on the experiences that first inspired him to become a “medical detective,” including an unusual outbreak linked to thyroid tissue entering the food supply through hamburger meat. The conversation then turns to COVID-19 and the lessons that remain unresolved. Osterholm explains why he believes the United States needs an independent, nonpartisan review of its pandemic response—one focused on identifying what worked, what failed, and how changing evidence shaped decisions about schools, hospitals, masking, and public gatherings. “The pandemic clock is ticking,” Osterholm says. “We just don’t know what time it is.” He also discusses why public health guidance must be able to evolve. As Osterholm puts it, “Science is not truth. Science is the pursuit of truth.” New variants, new evidence, and changing risks do not necessarily mean earlier recommendations were made in bad faith; they reflect the reality of responding to a rapidly developing threat. Watch the full conversation to learn what COVID-19 revealed about the strengths and weaknesses of modern public health—and how science, vaccines, and more honest communication could help the world respond differently next time. Thank you for listening! Call to action: If you enjoy The Future of Medicine, subscribe for more conversations with leading scientists shaping the next era of healthcare. Please rate and review the podcast to help others discover these important discussions. Share with friends and colleagues who are curious about how science becomes medicine.

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  Episode #22

  Michelle Mello on AI, Insurance Denials, and the Future of Health Policy

  Jun 28, 202632 minS1

  Dr. Michelle Mello, professor of law and health policy at Stanford University, joins The Future of Medicine for a conversation about one of the most frustrating and consequential parts of American healthcare: prior authorization. For many patients and clinicians, prior authorization is the process behind the letter saying an insurance company will not cover a medication, procedure, or service unless additional criteria are met. As Dr. Mello explains, this system is already difficult, time-consuming, and often painful for patients and care teams. Now, artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape how these decisions are made. In this episode, Dr. Mello and host Dr. Euan Ashley discuss how insurers and healthcare systems are using AI in prior authorization, billing, appeals, and utilization management. AI may be able to speed up routine approvals and reduce administrative burden, but it also raises serious questions about transparency, bias, accountability, and whether patients are being protected from wrongful denials. The conversation explores what Dr. Mello describes as an “arms race” of AI systems, with insurers using technology to evaluate requests and health systems using their own tools to identify denials most likely to be overturned and draft stronger appeal letters. She also explains why appeals matter: a large share of insurance denials can be reversed, but many health systems do not have enough staff to appeal every case. Together, Dr. Mello and Dr. Ashley consider what responsible AI governance should look like in healthcare, why simply banning AI may not solve the underlying problems, and how AI could be used in ways that support patients, clinicians, and fairer decision-making. They also discuss the need for greater transparency from insurers, the role of private governance, and why academic medical centers have a responsibility to help shape the safe and ethical use of these tools. Thank you for listening! Call to action: If you enjoy The Future of Medicine, subscribe for more conversations with leading scientists shaping the next era of healthcare. Please rate and review the podcast to help others discover these important discussions. Share with friends and colleagues who are curious about how science becomes medicine.

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