Intention to Treat by NEJM Group

06.19.2024

Are We Prepared for Bird Flu?

A new strain of H5N1 influenza is spreading in dairy cows in the United States. Will it cause an epidemic in humans? And what does our public health system need to do in order to be ready if it does? A...

06.05.2024

Treating Obesity in Kids

In the face of a growing childhood obesity epidemic, some parents and clinicians are turning to new tools such as GLP-1 receptor agonists. This episode explores the implications of that trend. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2400703.

05.15.2024

New Hope for a Common and Deadly Heart Condition

This episode considers a new treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the world’s most common inherited heart condition, which most affected people don’t even realize they have. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2400702.

04.24.2024

CAR T-Cells and Safety Signals

This episode examines CAR T-cell therapy’s early successes, broader promise, and emerging risks, as the FDA considers reports of occasional secondary cancers. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2400701.

04.03.2024

Progress for Parkinson's?

This episode explores the fastest-growing neurologic condition in the world, Parkinson’s disease. What have we learned in recent years, and where are the greatest hopes for the future? A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2414003.

03.13.2024

Doctors and Guns

In this episode, parents who have lost children to gun accidents and physicians working for gun safety discuss the number-one killer of U.S. children and what doctors can do about it. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2314002.

02.28.2024

Race Relations and the First Paramedics

This episode of “Intention to Treat” tells the story of the Freedom House Ambulance Service — a group of Black laypeople in Pittsburgh who underwent intensive training to become the first paramedics in the United States. [Originally aired on May...

02.14.2024

Why Doctors Need to Talk about Death

Highlighting gaps in communication near the end of life, this podcast episode explores a new approach to preparing patients with serious illness and their families for all possible outcomes. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2314001.

01.31.2024

Investigating Injustices in the Journal's History, Part 2

In the second half of our podcast series on historical injustices, guests Evelynn Hammonds and David Jones examine the racism of post-World War II American medicine and its lessons for the present day. A full transcript of this episode is available...

01.17.2024

Investigating Injustices in the Journal's History

Over its 200-plus years, the Journal has sometimes published articles that have perpetuated injustices against various groups of people. A new Perspective series explores that history and its lessons. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2311329.

12.20.2023

Covid Update

This episode examines Covid-19 variants that are currently circulating, recommendations for booster shots, and new treatments in the pipeline. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2311327.

12.06.2023

Is Xenotransplantation Ready for Prime Time?

This episode examines the need for and promise of xenotransplantation, considering first the plight of patients and then the progress being made by researchers. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2309946.

11.22.2023

Alzheimer’s Update, Part 2

This episode explores the current state of research on the multiple likely mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease as well as promising treatments and diagnostics. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2309944.

11.08.2023

Alzheimer’s Update, Part 1

Host Rachel Gotbaum talks with a patient with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and two dementia experts about frustrations with the current state of Alzheimer’s care. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2309485.

10.11.2023

The Long Haul of Long Covid

This episode explores long Covid, an often-disabling but unexplained syndrome of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2. How is it affecting millions of people, and what is being done about it? A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2309483.

09.27.2023

What We Don’t Know about School Shooter Drills

This episode peers into U.S. schools to examine a widespread but non–evidence-based approach to preparing children and staff for gun-violence incidents. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2308309.

09.13.2023

Awakened Hope for Narcolepsy

In this episode, a patient with narcolepsy describes her rough, long road to diagnosis and treatment, and a researcher elucidates both the condition and a new therapeutic direction. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2308308.

08.25.2023

Obesity and Heart Failure

Cardiologists now recognize that heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) may be caused by obesity. This episode of “Intention to Treat” examines new evidence that treating obesity can prevent HFpEF. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2307349.

08.16.2023

Preventing HIV’s Collateral Cardiovascular Damage

People living with HIV have increased risk for cardiovascular disease (and other diseases of aging) earlier in life than those without HIV. In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” researcher Steven Grinspoon describes a new strategy for preventing collateral damage. A...

08.02.2023

Prospects for Pain

Some types of pain have proven resistant to all available medications. In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” Rachel Gotbaum talks with a patient with neuropathic pain and a researcher exploring new sodium-channel blockers that offer promise for such patients. A...

07.19.2023

The Plight of Primary Care, Part 2

What is driving U.S. physicians out of primary care — and keeping trainees from going into it in the first place? In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” host Rachel Gotbaum explores the breakdown of the system and possible ways...

07.05.2023

The Plight of Primary Care, Part 1

This episode of “Intention to Treat,” explores the crisis in primary care in the United States, as increasing numbers or primary care physicians leave the field — driven out by corporatization, growing time pressure, and the inability to form the...

06.21.2023

Unleashing CRISPR on Cancer

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” host Rachel Gotbaum explores the story of a teenager who’s now in remission from previously relapsed lymphoblastic leukemia and talks with the investigator who developed the “off-the-shelf” CAR T cells that made her...

06.07.2023

New Patient-Centered Options for Cancer Treatment

“Intention to Treat” host Rachel Gotbaum talks with patient Awilde Peña and oncologist Deb Schrag about a new approach to treating rectal cancer that sidesteps the need for radiation, thereby avoiding long-term side effects and preserving fertility. A full transcript of...

05.31.2023

Lessons for a Pandemic

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” Drs. Harvey Fineberg and Eric Rubin take stock of the failures and successes of the Covid-19 response and elucidate their lessons for combating the next major public health threat, whatever it may be. A...

05.03.2023

Race Relations and the First Paramedics

This episode of “Intention to Treat” tells the story of the Freedom House Ambulance Service — a group of Black laypeople in Pittsburgh who underwent intensive training to become the first paramedics in the United States. A full transcript of this...

04.19.2023

Waiting on Prostate Cancer

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” host Rachel Gotbaum talks with patient Robert Schlamberg and Doctors Oladapo Yeku and Oliver Sartor about the option of watchful waiting in the care of men with early prostate cancer. A full transcript of...

04.05.2023

Is Medicine Ready for AI?

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” Maia Hightower and Isaac Kohane join host Rachel Gotbaum to explore the promise and hazards of artificial-intelligence and machine-learning tools for both clinical and administrative uses in medicine. A full transcript of this episode...

03.22.2023

The Fauci Phenomenon, Part 2

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” Anthony Fauci sits down with host Rachel Gotbaum to discuss his long career in infectious disease and public health, what has motivated him, and the lessons he has learned and taught along the...

03.08.2023

The Fauci Phenomenon

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” some of the people who have worked closely with “America’s Doctor,” Anthony Fauci, offer insights into his character, values, accomplishments, and adventures over his decades of service at the NIH. A full transcript of...

02.22.2023

The Promise and Perils of Psychedelics

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” a study participant and a long-time investigator of hallucinogenic drugs for psychiatric conditions illuminate the effects of psilocybin in patients with depression. A full transcript of this episode is available at https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2300936.

02.08.2023

Post-Roe Realities

In this episode of “Intention to Treat,” host Rachel Gotbaum takes us to Tennessee and Ohio, where new abortion bans are already harming patients and threatening their physicians. A full transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2300935.

01.25.2023

Covid Vaccines — Playing the Long Game

In this first episode of “Intention to Treat,” NEJM editor-in-chief Eric Rubin and his colleague at the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee, Paul Offit, consider the achievements, limitations, and expectations of Covid vaccines. A transcript of this episode is available at nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2300222.

01.11.2023

Trailer: NEJM Group Presents “Intention to Treat”

From the New England Journal of Medicine, welcome to “Intention to Treat,” a podcast exploring the most complicated, perplexing, and fascinating issues facing medicine today. From groundbreaking research, to clinical advances, to personal stories from doctors and their patients, we...