The Present Illness

Epstein dirty money in Medical Education; Should we make babies in outer space?; Olympian’s relationship fumble; Knitting the resistance; Possum cake (yeah you read that right)

Epstein’s Ties to Medical Education

Fact check! The representative Arghavan referred to who brought up the email from survivors is Thomas Massie, not Anthony Massie.

• Arghavan’s video summarizing Les Wexner’s relationship with Epstein and Ohio State (with references)
• Virginia Giuffre’s 2016 deposition in which she names Wexner (scroll down)
• Mark Landon’s relationship with Epstein (chair of Ob-Gyn at Ohio State)
• Mark Tramo’s relationship with Epstein (neurologist at UCLA)
• Martin Nowak’s emails with Epstein
• David Gelernter is removed from teaching at Yale
• Documentary: Surviving Ohio State

Space Sex (Not SpaceX)

• 404 Media: As Space Tourism Looms, Scientists Ask: Should We Have Sex in Orbit?
• Reproductive biomedicine in space by G.A. Palmer, et al

Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Norwegian Olympian admits to cheating on his ex-girlfriend; check out comments here
• Lost Black American Recipes, by Wick’d Confections
• Story of the Norweigan resistance hat, an elder describes them
• You can knit one! Melt the Ice Knitting Pattern
• Watch a sensory hair cut by @theweightedcape
• A wild possum birthday cake by Greg Mason

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Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

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Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

“Longevity” Doctor Peter Attia in Epstein Files 2,000 times; How to Leave Open Comments on Fed Regs Banning Gender Affirming Care; Bad Bunny’s Big Week; Trump wants women to smile more.

Dr. Peter Attia and the Epstein Files

• What the president said to Kaitlan Collins
• Arghavan’s summary with screenshots of Attia’s emails
• Attia hangs out with Epstein while his baby is critically ill
• Peter Attia’s statement
• Peter Attia keeps CBS News role despite being in the Epstein files almost 2,000 times
• Alyssa’s interview on How The Ultra Rich Are Trying To Live Forever

Gender Affirming Care for Minors

• STAT News: Peds Ethicists Oppose Ban
• Matthew Cortland’s Top Notch Commenting Guide
• Deadline for Public Comments: February 17, 2026, 5:00 PM ET

Submit to BOTH dockets:

🥊 Hospital Ban (CMS-3481-P)

• File code: CMS-3481-P
• Submit at: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CMS-2025-1822-0001

🥊 Medicaid/CHIP Funding Ban (CMS-2451-P)

• File code: CMS-2451-P
• Submit at: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CMS-2025-1823-0001

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning

• Bad Bunny’s album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, is the first Spanish-language album to be awarded Album of the Year
• Josh Johnson talking about the Super Bowl halftime show
• Alyssa recommends Cadbury Mini Eggs and Cream Eggs.

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

The doctors thrive on spite; Nurse Alex Pretti; Iran Update; How cheap bots/trolls drive disinformation

Note: we had an audio issue for the first few minutes of the episode (4:55). 

Iran Update:

• Per Iran International, internal documents from Iran suggest the regime killed at least 36,500 protesters between January 8th and January 9th, 2026
• Arghavan’s carousel about Iran that got a lot of trolls/bots/not nice people in the comments
• Some sources for learning what’s happening in Iran (these are their websites; all are also on Instagram) 
  • Iran International (English)
  • Tavaana
  • Manoto
  • Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA)
  • Hengaw
• Dr. Alireza Golchini has been arrested and faces the death penalty
• More information on what’s happening in hospitals and the names of other physicians who have been arrested
• CNN’s 2022 report on sexual violence in prisons in Iran
• Boycott Huda Beauty 
  • Arghavan’s reaction to Huda’s comments
  • Video 1
  • Video 2 (in Farsi)
  • Video 3

Alex Pretti, ICU Nurse:

• Anderson Cooper’s interview with Stella Carson (the woman in the pink jacket)
• Side-by-side video of Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino
• People who have died in relation to ICE this year
• Agent Jenn Budd's Borderland Talk

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning

• JB Star’s latest Dougie
• The fed gov drops its appeal regarding withholding $$$ from schools with DEI programs
• The EU updates terror list with IRGC
• Otters destroying ice
• Devil and Jesus videos
• Taryn Delanie answers the 777 Hotline

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Unethical research in Guinea-Bissau; Robots won’t fix maternity care deserts; Louisiana tries to extradite California doctor.

Americas public health system teeters on the edge of an ICU admission thanks to the abysmal leadership of RFK Jr and his Clown Car of Public Health officials. This week, the doctors discuss the origins of proposed unethical and exploitative research in Guinea-Bissau. Next, Louisiana attempting to extradite a California doctor for prescribing abortion medications. And Dr. Oz thinks robotic ultrasound machines will close Alabama's maternity care desert.

Marley is not interested in the US buying his country.

Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan”

Unethical research in Guinea-Bissau

• Inside Medicine 
• Guardian article about the response from the African CDC and officials in Guinea-Bissau
• Rolling Stone gets the receipts
• Criticism of researchers in Vaccine
• Harriet Washington’s Medical Apartheid

Abortion News

• Louisiana hopes to extradite a California physician
• Dr. Oz’s on robot ultrasounds in Alabama
• A robot-assisted ultrasound machine and a robotic-assisted surgery device
• RFK Jr slammed for criticizing Germany’s “interference” in the patient-physician relationship.
• ProPublica: Women With High-Risk Pregnancies Have Limited Options Under Abortion Bans

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning

• Arghavan’s carousel of owl impressions
• Beginner method to solving Rubik’s cubes
• Emily Elbert's country blues skills
• Merlin BirdID by Cornell Ornithology Lab

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

This week: famed author's son dies after anesthesia, the "war on protein", and Arghavan's views on protests in Iran.

Join Arghavan and Alyssa as they into the 'war on protein' narrative propagated by RFK Jr, the tragic story of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's toddler son’s death following an anesthetic in Nigeria, and the ongoing protests in Iran.

They discuss:

New Dietary Guidelines, AKA the end of non-existent " War on Protein"

• Kevin Klatt, PhD, RD (Univ. of Toronto) analyzes the new dietary guidelines in plain language

The death of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 21 month old son on Wednesday, January 6. His family attributes his death to anesthesia care at EURACARE Multispecialist Hospital in Victoria Island, Lagos.

• Read about the reported conditions around his death in the Nigerian paper The Guardian. The hospital has denied improper care.
• Adichie is best known for her breakout novel, Americanah, and her 2011 TED Talk “Why We Should All Be Feminists”
• You can review the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists’ Workforce Map

Current events in Iran

• Massive protests have been ongoing in Iran for the past few weeks
• 12,000 protesters killed in Iran
• Videos of the Kahrizak forensic center show bodies in body bags
• Iranian regime charges families for the bodies of their loved ones

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• JB Star learns how to do the Dougie (here’s a tutorial for anyone inspired to learn!)
• Noah Wyle’s PSA lambasting RFK Jr on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
• SNL’s Marcello Hernández in American Boy

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

Activation Warning: This episode discusses SA, CSAM, state violence. 

In the first feverish episode of The Present Illness in 2026, the Doctors discuss the tumultuous events of winter break, including significant changes in vaccination policies, a big win for abortion rights, ICE actions in Minnesota, and the dangers of Elon Musk’s Grok.

Abrupt CDC Child Vaccine Rollback

AAP, APHA lawsuit against HHS moves forward

Grok’s gross contribution to the winter break. Elon happy to push Grok, and the content is worse than what’s on X. “Take It Down Act”. 404 Media coverage. NCII - report (stopncii.org)

Get X removed from the app store - directions.

• Go to the App Store
• Search for X
• Scroll to “report a problem”
• Select “Pornography or sexual content”
• Then select “Predatory behavior toward children”
• Then write a brief description, eg, “This app allows the creation and distribution of non-consensual sexually violent images and child sexual abuse material via Grok. Please remove this from the App Store.”

Wyoming Supreme Court blocks ban on abortion and abortion medication! 

ICE shot and killed Renee Good in Minnesota. JD Vance video praising law enforcement. NYTimes’s video analysis.

January 6 insurrection-versary. NPR video of January 6 and January 6 archive. The White House’s revisionist history J6 site. Jack Smith testimony. “Presidential Memoranda” NSPM-7 on domestic terrorism.

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Georgi Arthur makes a castle with her lips
• Film: One Battle After Another. Here is a thoughtful criticism.
• Visible and Invisible mending, plus this is a speedweaver

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

In their final episode of 2025, Drs. Salles & Burgart perform a brief examination of the Vanity Fair exclusive featuring Trump's new White House staff. Our physician hosts dissect the viral photoshoot that's causing more raised eyebrows than a Botox convention, with special attention to the inflammatory rhetoric surrounding Susie Wiles and her supporting cast of characters.

The physicians perform a thorough examination of HHS cutting AAP funding while also funding an extremely unethical study of the Hepatitis B vaccine, news of HHS abandoning Hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for newborns, and Idaho’s anti-scientific tossing of school vaccine mandates (and Florida showing symptoms of the same). The doctors discuss ethical complexity in mitochondrial risk assessment for anesthesia in the setting of bombing of boats off the coast of Venezuelan.

Resources:

• Interview with Vanity Fair photographer, Christopher Anderson
• RaeShanda Lias’s video about the Vanity Fair photos
• CDC adopts ACIP’s anti-scientific recommendation on Hepatitis B vaccination
• Lecture on emerging anesthesia safety concern in kids. (I would stop at the Q&A because the speakers are not prepared to answer several genetic & safety questions)
• DHS’s original post about remigration. Here is the post with the added context.
• Alyssa’s paper: Pregnancy Testing without Consent
  • Pregnancy Justice’s report: Pregnancy as a Crime
  • Keeping Police out of Pregnancy Care (Fact Check: the second author of the essay is the CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health)
  • Stephanie Tillman’s paper on opt-in consent

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

• Taylor Ann Gallo’s makeup tips
• Glenn DeVar’s first drag video and a more recent look
• Wenches, Baby Motels & other alternative words for grant apps

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

In this episode, the doctors perform a clinical examination of the pathological messaging aimed at young men by right-wing influencers like Nick Fuentes. They dissect the misogyny spreading through social media platforms, with particular attention to the inflammatory rhetoric that leads to dangerous attitudes toward women. The prognosis? With a strong dose of media & gender literacy, recovery is possible.

• Touré’s fact checks on the Diddy doc (this & this); Jeff Pearlman’s insights. Keffe D is set to be on trial in 2026 for the murder of Tupac Shakur. If you go down this rabbit hole, let us know!
• More on fake email addresses created by boys to antagonize their classmates
• Pew data
• Arghavan’s viral video about the growing ideological gender gap
• International survey data showing Gen Z's disparate views on gender equality
• Jesse Mack Butler story
• Scott Galloway’s Notes on Being a Man
• Kristen Ghodsee’s Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism

Fact Check: Women were not able to have their own bank accounts or credit without a man until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. Here’s how the act came to be.

💊Take Two and Call Me in the Morning💊

Arghavan shared the Diddy dance trend

• Here is a video of Diddy’s performance at the MTV Awards (that inspired the trend below)
• Here are a few videos of folks making fun of Diddy dancing and supposedly mourning Biggie’s death from @the.only.v, @kidrawofficial, and @toolie_xo

Alyssa loves the reaction videos about the adversaries physicians face

• Physician Associate Yiannis K. gives his top 5 adversaries, football style

Activation Awareness: This episode contains discussions of misogyny, sexual violence, and online radicalization that may be distressing for some listeners.

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

In this week's episode, Drs. Salles and Burgart perform a critical examination of academic freedom under attack, focusing on the viral case of an Oklahoma pre-med student who's created a fever pitch of controversy by turning in shoddy work and targeting her transgender professor. The doctors dissect how right-wing influencers are turning classroom disagreements into national culture war symptoms, with concerning implications for academia's immune system.

Our hosts investigate the alarming trend of politically-motivated complaints against university professors. From Indiana University to Texas A&M, faculty are experiencing acute cases of administrative panic when confronted with student outrage—often resulting in terminal employment outcomes.

Fact Check: The correct way to reference people from Somalia is Somali, not Somalian. We apologize for the error!

Links

• Here’s more about Samantha Fulnecky and the story at the University of Oklahoma
• Here’s more about the instructor (Jessica Adams) who was removed from teaching her class at Indiana University
• Here’s more about the instructor (Melissa McCoul) who was fired at Texas A&M and the findings of the faculty committee that reviewed what happened
• Jennifer Freyd’s DARVO concept - Deny-Attack-Reverse Victim and Offender

💊Take Two and Call Me In The Morning 💊

• Here’s one of Haley Dortch’s videos. You’re welcome!
• Somebody, Somewhere on HBO
• How I escaped MAGA! Critical thinking woke me up.
• Nurse Johnn on being unprofessional
• Here’s Jeff Hiller’s book Actress of a Certain Age

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else. 

The doctors perform an emergency triage on the state of public health leadership this week, starting with a scathing dissection of The Atlantic's profile of RFK Jr. that seemingly skipped the fact-checking department. Drs. Salles and Burgart administer a strong dose of reality as they examine how mainstream media continues to platform dangerous health misinformation with fewer guardrails than a pediatric rollercoaster.

Their differential diagnosis extends to the newest clown to emerge from the Clown Car of Public Health - the CDC's latest deputy director Ralph Lee Abraham. An avid COVID vaccine skeptic with min-bogglingly illogical public health positions, we're in for more shenanigans out of the nation's top health administration. 

Between discussions of pertussis vaccine efficacy and the EPA's concerning moves on PFAS, asbestos, and air pollution regulations, this episode delivers a thorough examination of how public health leadership impacts everyday Americans - no insurance preauthorization required.

Joy: Take Two And Call Me In The Morning

• Alyssa recommends the dark comedy show, Pluribus (AppleTV)
• "Just look at the degree on that chick" and Dr. Turner’s post on Twitter
• Distractingly Sexy - I can’t believe this trend is from 2015… In response to Nobel scientist Tim Hunt stating, “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.”)

Fact check:

The large study Arghavan mentioned was Danish, not Swedish. Apologies!

Links

• The Atlantic article about RFK Jr
• The New Yorker article by Tatiana Schlossberg
• Information about the pertussis vaccine (as part of Tdap); adults should get a booster every 10 years
• More on Ralph Abraham, the new CDC Deputy Director
• On the Trump administration’s approval of PFAS
• On the Trump administration’s moves regarding particle pollution
• On the Trump administration’s moves regarding asbestos in talc
• To learn more about Rachel Carson
• Book: All Creatures Great and Small by James Harriott

Text us!

Thanks for listening to The Present Illness! 

Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @ThePresentIllness

Credits

• Production by Arghavan Salles & Alyssa Burgart
• Editing by Alyssa Burgart
• Music by Joseph Uphoff
• Social Media by Arghavan Salles

Don’t take medical advice from random people on a podcast. This show is for informational purposes, is meant to be fun, and is certainly not medical advice. Please, take your medical questions to a qualified professional. Nothing we say represents our employers or anyone else.