SCIENCE FOR PEOPLE WHO GIVE A SHIT

Health & Medicine Episodes

Public health, biotech, research, medicine, and more
May 19, 2021

112. The Next Pandemic

Oh, when we were young and so naive. In Episode #9 (!), Quinn and Brian got to know Dr. Nahid Bhadelia , an infectious diseases physician, Associate Professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, and the Medical Direc...
April 26, 2021

109. Introducing “What Can I Do?”

In Episode 109 , Quinn & Brian try to help answer the eternal question: What can I do? Our guest is Frank Buncom IV , Head of Product Management at AIRx Health, a ground-breaking digital health and remote monitoring service f...
April 5, 2021

#106: Black Moms Matter

In Episode 106 , Quinn & Brian ask: Why is it so dangerous to have Black babies in America? Our guest is Congresswoman Lauren Underwood , the millenial Black nurse and former senior adviser to President Obama. Her “Momnibus ...
March 15, 2021

#104: Global.Health: Big Data for Good

In Episode 104 , Quinn & Brian discuss: the future of data and medicine. Our guests are: Robel Kassa & Dr. Sam Scarpino , two of the brilliant minds behind Global.Health, which is setting a new standard for epidemiological da...
March 8, 2021

#103: Black Hearts Matter

In Episode 103 , Quinn & Brian ask: Why do so many more Black people die after heart transplants than everybody else? Our guests are: Dr. Hasina Maredia and Dr. Errol Bush , who recently published a paper in the American Hear...
Oct. 12, 2020

#101: Code Blue: Arizona Goes to The Emergency Room

In Episode 101 , Quinn & Brian ask: How did all of America end up in the emergency room? Our guest is: Dr. Hiral Tipirneni. She is an emergency room physician, mom, immigrant, cancer research advocate, and congressional candi...
Sept. 28, 2020

#99: How You Doin’?

In Episode 99 , Quinn & Brian, with help from Inverse.com, ask: how are YOU feeling? Our guest is: Ali Pattillo , a health and science reporter at Inverse.com and co-producer of The Abstract podcast. Supplements, metabolism b...
Aug. 31, 2020

#95: How to Upgrade Your Microbiome

In Episode 95 , Quinn & Brian ask: how can we upgrade our microbiome (also, what’s a microbiome (also, why does it need upgrading))? Our guest is: Raja Dhir, Co-Founder of Seed Health a microbiome company pioneering the appli...
June 15, 2020

GOOD NEWS: What The Hell Is CRISPR?

Back in Episode 51 , Quinn & Brian asked: Are we thinking about CRISPR all wrong (and what the hell is it)? This is one of our most popular episodes, probably because it features one of our coolest guests: C. Brandon Ogbunu ,...
May 11, 2020

GOOD NEWS: Can Zebrafish Beat Childhood Cancer?

In Episode 75 , Quinn & Brian discussed: Beating the crap out of childhood cancer with science and... zebrafish? Our guests are Dr. Jaclyn Taroni and Dr. Genevieve Kendall . Dr. Kendall is a Postdoctoral scholar at UT Southwe...
April 13, 2020

#90: What It’s Like to be a COVID-19 Lab Rat

In Episode 90 , Quinn & Brian discuss: What it’s like to be a COVID-19 Lab Rat. Our guest is: Allie Broas , an almost-MBA and one of Quinn’s many, many cousins. We weren’t exactly planning to do more of these episodes right n...
March 31, 2020

BEST OF THE BEST: Is COVID-19 America’s Chernobyl?

Way back in Episode 65 , Quinn asked: Was Chernobyl a preventable and rare accident from the past, or a vivid picture of what happens when the government abandons its citizens during a crisis? FUN STORY: turns out, it’s B! We...
March 27, 2020

Special Edition: How You Can Help — And (Mostly) Still Stay Home

If you've been wondering how else you can help fight coronavirus besides staying at home in sweatpants, this episode is for you. Please share widely. You can find links and additional details at importantnotimportant.com/blog...
March 9, 2020

#87: What's In Your Moisturizer, Anyways?

In Episode 87 , Quinn & Brian ask: What, exactly, are we putting on our bodies (and why aren’t more people asking questions about it)? Our guest is: Gregg Renfrew . Gregg is a serial entrepreneur who most recently founded Bea...
March 3, 2020

Special Edition: How to Survive the Coronavirus (With Your Sanity Intact)

In this special episode, Quinn (with some help from our friends at the CDC and elsewhere) talks you through everything you need to know about the coronavirus, what you can do to prepare, and — maybe most importantly — what yo...
Oct. 1, 2019

#80: Mosquitoes. The Serial Killers of Nature. Should We Make Them Go Away?

In Episode 80, Quinn & Brian discuss Quinn’s wife’s least favorite thing: Mosquitoes! Our guest is Dr. Natalie Kofler, a trained scientist and the founding director of Editing Nature at Yale University, a global initiative to...
Aug. 21, 2019

BEST OF THE BEST: Where Does Ebola Go From Here?

In Episode 62, Quinn & Brian asked: Where does Ebola go from here? Our guest is Karin Huster, a Field Coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, where she is currently bouncing between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozamb...
July 23, 2019

#75: Can Zebrafish Beat Childhood Cancer?

In Episode 75, Quinn & Brian discuss: Beating the crap out of childhood cancer with science and... zebrafish? We’re getting really nerdy about beating childhood cancer with Dr. Jaclyn Taroni and Dr. Genevieve Kendall. Dr. Ken...
April 16, 2019

#62: Where Does Ebola Go From Here?

In Episode 62, Quinn & Brian ask: Where does Ebola go from here? Our guest is Karin Huster, a Field Coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, where she is currently bouncing between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambiq...
March 26, 2019

#59: Is Florida the Harbinger of Doom? (Probably)

In Episode 59, Quinn & Brian ask: Is Florida the harbinger of doom? (Probably) Our guest is Dr. Salvador Almagro-Moreno, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Cen...
Jan. 22, 2019

#51: Are We Thinking About CRISPR All Wrong (& What the Hell is CRISPR)?

In Episode 51, Quinn & Brian ask: Are we thinking about CRISPR all wrong (and what the hell is CRISPR)? Our guest is C. Brandon Ogbunu , an evolutionary systems biologist working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of...
Jan. 15, 2019

BEST OF 2018: New Antibiotics in a Post-Antibiotic Era

Back in Episode 19, Quinn & Brian asked: What’s the future of antibiotics? To find out, we sat down with bowtie enthusiast and professor of pathology and immunology and biomedical engineering Dr. Gautam Dantas. Dr. Dantas lea...
Dec. 18, 2018

#48: Why Does Childhood Cancer Exist & What Can We Do to Make It Go Away Forever?

In Episode 48, Quinn & Brian ask: Why the hell does childhood cancer exist, isn't the world effed up enough as it is, and what can we do to make it go away forever? Our guest is one of our favorite humans, Jay Scott, Co-Execu...
Dec. 11, 2018

#47: The Future of Digital Health, Part 2: America’s Data

In Episode 47, Quinn goes solo for a minute to discuss: America’s data and the future of digital health. Quinn sits down for a one-on-one chat with Dave Gershgorn, the lead artificial intelligence reporter at Quartz (AKA qz.c...