This Pathological Life
Every disease has a story to tell – Dr. Travis Brown
This Pathological Life podcast is an inspired collaboration between General Pathologist Dr. Travis Brown and seasoned radio interviewer and podcaster, Steve Davis. By using a storytelling format, they share the history behind diseases and put health challenges into context to deepen your library of anecdotes and explanations.
Episodes
S1E10: Ep 10 Pathologists | Origin Stories
Everyone has a story…
Pathology is Medicine. The day-to-day challenges and opportunities in pathology are mixed and varied. Often, very much like the journey of Pathologists into Pathology, the queries can take many different pathways. For example, Pathologists can be asked questions such as:
- Is this skin malignant?
- What infection is this?
- Has her breast cancer spread?
- Why is he anaemic?
- What respiratory infection is this?
In this episode we reflect both the path into Pathology and why as pathologists we do what we do and why we have got to where we are.
Plus we share a few stories from along the way.
This podcast includes interviews with:
Dr Suchitra Somers
Link https://www.clinpath.com.au/about-us/clinpath-leadership/our-pathologists/dr-suchitra-somers/
Dr Nicole Sladden
Link https://www.clinpath.com.au/about-us/clinpath-leadership/our-pathologists/dr-nicole-sladden/
Dr Adam Swalling
Link https://www.clinpath.com.au/about-us/clinpath-leadership/our-pathologists/dr-adam-swalling/
Dr Rebecca Morrow
Link https://www.clinpath.com.au/about-us/clinpath-leadership/our-pathologists/dr-rebecca-morrow/
Dr Fergus Whitehead
Link https://www.clinpath.com.au/about-us/clinpath-leadership/chief-executive-officer/
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S1E9: Ep 9 Transgender | Transitional Crossroads
Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their sex assigned at birth. Until recently, these people have too often fallen into the ‘too hard’ category when dealing with their health, disease, and illness – and there are many reasons for this. However, it is imperative that we find a satisfactory solution to adhere to one of the core foundations of pathology: to provide the best care to our patients. In this podcast, we explore the challenges Pathology organisations like Clinpath face in order to best serve our trans patients and examine what we know about the biological changes they go through during and after their transition.
This episode includes interviews with Dr Devika Thomas and Dr Nicole Sladden.
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S1E8: Ep 8 Mesothelioma | An undisolvable problem
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral composed of silk-like soft flexible fibres that are resistant to fire, heat, electricity, and chemical damage. Known from antiquity as a miracle product and believed to possess magical powers, there was only one problem; it’s toxic to humans. Inhaled fibres are responsible for diseases including asbestosis (pulmonary fibrosis), lung cancer, and mesothelioma. However, the long latency period between exposure and disease development paved the way for numerous examples of unconscionable conduct from Asbestos manufacturers in modern times. ‘
This podcast includes an interview with Dr Fergus Whitehead and is eligible for 1 RACGP CPD point – self reporting.
Episode notes, references and learning objectives, available at
This Pathological Life is produced by Clinpath Pathology in South Australia.
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S1E7: Ep 7 Prostate | A Seminal Problem
In 1920-1930’s, Dr Charles Huggins had an unusual problem: prostatic cancer cells appeared in his metabolic experiments that he was conducting on the Prostate of Dogs. With further experimentation, he was able to demonstrate that Prostate Cancer maintained its normal hormone regulation for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1966.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common male malignancies but most men will die with it rather than from it. The role of pathology is to determine how to detect this cancer and identify the clinical significance of the findings.
Our interview is with Dr Bradley Webster, Histopathologist specialising in Uropathology and Lymphoid Pathology and this section of the podcast is eligible for 1 RACGP CPD point – self reporting.
This podcast also includes guest interview snippets with Dr Troye Wallet, Aged Care and Workforce General Practitioner + Health and Business Advisor.www.linkedin.com/in/troyewallett
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S1E6: Ep 6 Haemophilia | Inherited bleeding disorders | Blue Bleeding
Inherited bleeding disorders before the modern era were a death sentence. Haemophilia, also known as the Royal Disease (specifically Haemophilia B), is an X-linked coagulation disorder that the Heir to the Throne Alexei Romanov inherited in the early 1900’s. However, in 1926 a Finnish physician by the name of Erik von Willebrand identified a family with a bleeding disorder with an Autosomal Dominant pattern of inheritance. This was later named von Willebrand Disease (vWD) is now known to be the most common inherited form of bleeding disease worldwide.
This podcast includes an interview with Dr Nicholas Myles regarding our current understanding of Haemophilia A, Haemophilia B, von Willebrand disease, and platelet disorders and this section of the podcast is eligible for 1 RACGP CPD point – self reporting.
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S1E5: Ep 5 Typhoid | A Pathological Addiction to Catering | The Story of Typhoid Mary
The Story of Typhoid Mary
An outbreak of Typhoid occurred 1906 in a wealthy family in Oyster Bay, New York.
Typically a disease of ‘deprived’ people, investigators concluded that the source must have been contaminated water or freshwater clams. However, in 1907, another wealthy family in Manhattan, New York also had an outbreak. One investigator, George Soper, identified the link: it was the Cook.
Mary Mallon, a.k.a. Typhoid Mary, was found to have worked for 8 different families between 1900-1907; 7 of these families experienced cases of typhoid. Mary was sent into isolation for 2 years and confirmed as a healthy carrier of the bacteria Salmonella typhi but reoffended within 3 months of release. This is the story of the villain Typhoid Mary vs the tragedy of Mary Mallon.
We thank Fidelma McCorry as the voice behind the reading of Mary’s letter.
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