36 Best Medical History Podcasts

1. Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
Join Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin McElroy for a tour of all the dumb, bad, gross, weird and wrong ways we've tried to fix people.
Hosts Dr. Sydnee McElroy, Justin McElroy
Producer/Network Maximum Fun
Email ****@mbmbam.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 50k-250k
Apple Rating 4.8/5Apple Reviews 18.2KFacebook 30.2KTwitter 59.5K Avg Length 41 min Format Long form Since Jun 2013 Get Email Contact Get access to full database of 2.7M podcastsCreate podcast lists, export in spreadsheet or CSV file with email contacts and start your podcast outreach in minutes.Sign Up for Free with Email Continue with Google

2. Legends of Surgery

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
This podcast takes an entertaining and informative approach to telling the stories of the people and events that make up the history of modern surgery.
Host Tyler Rouse
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Apple Rating 4.7/5Apple Reviews 339Facebook 495Twitter 30K Avg Length 25 min Format Medium form Since Jan 2016 Get Email Contact

3. Behind the Walls of the World's Psychiatric Hospitals

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
This podcast examines the history of now-defunct or abandoned psychiatric hospitals. Listen every week to learn about the history of mental health care and the true stories of the people who lived and worked behind the walls.MORE Host Dr. Sarah Gallup
Email ****@georgefox.edu
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Apple Rating 4.9/5Apple Reviews 238 Avg Length 33 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

4. History of Health

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
Stories of health breakthroughs and the people who made them. Host, Connor Sexton, has studied public health for 15 years. He spent 2 years in Kenya with Peace Corps before earning his Master of Public Health. We blend Public Health, History, Political Science, and Art to tell stories of health breakthroughs, the context in which they occurred and who drove them forward. The goal is to give its listeners a better understanding of the world they live in and how it came to be.MORE Producer/Network Connor Sexton
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 39 Avg Length 30 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

5. Infectious Historians

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
Covering infectious diseases through history from plague to COVID-19.
Hosts Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai
Producer/Network InfectiousHistorians
Email ****@okstate.edu
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Recent Guests Jordan Wilson, Mary Dunn +3 more
Apple Rating 4.8/5Apple Reviews 24 Avg Length 65 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

6. For the Medical Record

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
For the Medical Record is a podcast from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, hosted by Postdoctoral Fellow Mia Levenson and Research Associate Richard Del Rio. In these episodes, we talk to people affiliated with the Center to discuss their research within the history of medicine and the medical humanities. We ask them why their work matters, and how history and the humanities can help us to better understand debates and practices within medicine and care today...MORE Producer/Network For the Medical Record
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 17Twitter 1.5K Avg Length 34 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

7. This Medical Life

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine.Hosted by Dr. Travis Brown and Steve Davis, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their profession...MORE Hosts Dr. Travis Brown, Steve Davis
Producer/Network Auscast Network
Email ****@thismedicallife.com.au
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 16Facebook 4Twitter 3.1K Avg Length 57 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

8. Beyond The Knife

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
Beyond the Knife is a Medical History podcast brought to you by Surgeons Hall Museum, Library and Archive. Each episode we are joined by speakers who bring you stories from the history of Medicine and Surgery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.MORE Email ****@rcsed.ac.uk
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Recent Guests Leah Hazard, Cat Irving +1 more
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 11 Avg Length 36 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

9. The Overend-Knight Medical History Podcast

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
What were the medical firsts in Sheffield over the last 200 years? We set out to find these in the Overend-Knight Medical History Podcast named after two founding figures of medical education in Sheffield. As the University of Sheffield's medical school approaches its bicentenary in 2028, each episode will feature medical discoveries discussed by scientists, medical experts and historians. Find out about the personalities involved, life in Sheffield over the past 200 years, scientific research discoveries and where some of the medical treatments we take for granted today actually came from.MORE Producer/Network The Overend-Knight Medical History Podcast
Email ****@sheffield.ac.uk
Apple Reviews 1 Avg Length 35 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

10. Hysterical Medicine

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
Hysterical Medicine explores the occasionally funny, often strange, and outrageously misogynistic history of women's healthcare. Hosted by Board Certified Ob/Gyn and amateur historian, Dr. Joe-la DeWitt, and her husband, regular guy, Matt. This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to be considered medical advice.MORE Producer/Network Dr Joe-la DeWitt
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 8 Avg Length 71 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

11. Questionable Treatments

Play
Apple Episodes
Kim, a CNA, Medical Assistant, and True Crime enthusiast drags her husband, Ryan, through the dark history of the medical industry, treatments, and criminal behavior.  This show explores the origins of infamous treatments and facilities in an attempt to uncover what went wrong and what motivated dangerous acts from people who took an oath to do no harm.MORE Apple Rating 5/5 Avg Length 63 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

12. The Cadaver's Lessons

Play
Apple Episodes
The Cadaver's Lessons is a podcast that explores the strange, fascinating, and sometimes unsettling history of medicine. Each episode traces the origins of medical practices and rare or unusual diagnoses, examining why people believed in them, how they were used, and what they reveal about the people and societies behind them.From early anatomy and experimental treatments to cases where medicine and crime collide, this show examines what lessons the past has left behind. Some ideas evolved into the foundations of modern healthcare...MORE Email ****@gmail.com
Recent Guest Dr. Walter Freeman
Apple Rating 5/5 Avg Length 58 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

13. The Pharma Files

Play
Apple Episodes
The Pharma Files explores lesser-known chapters of medical history—treatments once pursued with genuine promise before evidence caught up.Narrated by fictional investigators Lance Simard and Justine Burke, each episode examines how medical consensus forms, how it changes, and what abandoned or misunderstood therapies still reveal about modern medicine.Where medicine meets mystery. thepharmafiles.substack.comMORE Email ****@gmail.com
Apple Rating 5/5 Avg Length 33 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

14. Mechanism of Action

Play
Apple Episodes
Discover how modern medicine was built. This podcast explores the careful, often overlooked history of how doctors and scientists identified diseases, uncovered their secrets in the lab, and developed treatments that transformed lives. Join us to appreciate the work behind the medicines we rely on today.MORE Host Adam J. Brown
Email ****@moapodcast.com
Avg Length 22 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

15. Toxic History!

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
Toxic History! is a narrative medicine lecture series where medical experts tell you stories from the history of poison. Human beings have known about poison substances that harm and even kill for thousands of years. Poisons have been seen as mysterious, supernatural, and enigmatic. What are these plants, mixtures, and elements with such powerful properties? It is only in the past century that science has begun to demystify these chemicals and explain how they work...MORE Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 4.9/5Apple Reviews 7 Avg Length 22 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

16. Kevvy's Cancer Chronicles

Play
Website Episodes
Retired medical oncologist Kevin Patterson chronicles the history of cancer care in South Australia over the last 40 years as told to him in a series of interviews with the clinicians involved.MORE Avg Length 38 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

17. History Taking

Play
Apple Episodes
History Taking is a podcast that digs into the outbreaks, missteps, breakthroughs, and quiet shifts in thinking that shaped modern medicine. Each episode uncovers a story from the past to reveal how it changed the way we understand illness and care today.MORE Email ****@historytakingpod.com
Avg Length 9 min Format Bite size Get Email Contact

18. Medicine's Rebel Child - Osteopathy through the ages

Play
Apple Episodes
The history of medicine is written by the victors, but the story of osteopathy is found in the margins. For decades, our profession has been dismissed, misunderstood, or 'sanitized' by the medical establishment. But there is a wealth of brilliant, eye-opening research out there exploring Andrew Taylor Still's radical, holistic vision—if only we had the time to read it.If you're anything like me, you stumble across a fascinating osteopathic journal article, only to get distracted or bogged down by dense, academic language. How much incredible insight is sitting on digital shelves, unread by the very people practicing today?This podcast bridges that gap...MORE Avg Length 50 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

19. The Global Health Histories Podcast

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
The Global Health Histories podcast series seeks to enhance understanding of the historical context of health challenges facing the word today. The podcasts bring historians of international and global health into conversation with medical researchers and policymakers, examining the cultural, economic, political, and social contexts which shaped past health interventions. Each podcast examines a specific case study of contemporary relevance, addressing not only medical research and the prevention or amelioration of disease and debility, but also health-related policy and diplomacy...MORE Avg Length 59 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

20. Cross Clamp Chronicles

Play
Episodes
Medical History podcast on cardiothoracic anesthesia and surgery.
Email ****@gmail.com
Avg Length 71 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

21. Healing Arts: Medicine in History, Culture and the Arts

Play Watch Video
Apple YouTube Episodes
Welcome to Healing Arts, I'm your host, Eve Elliot.Did you know the ancient Egyptians performed surgery? Or that the oracle of Delphi was hallucinating due to noxious gases? I'll explore topics on the history of medicine, how medical terminology developed and influenced our language, and explore the close connection between medicine and the Greek and Roman pantheon., and of course feature famous people in history, literature and art that were touched by illnesses they barely understood or knew how to cure.If you enjoy healing and the arts, then let's jump in!MORE Email ****@mail.com
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 6 Avg Length 14 min Format Short form Get Email Contact

22. Socialist Medicine

Play
Apple Episodes
In Socialist Medicine, we discuss recent research on the global history of socialist medicine. Our podcast features scholars from history, political science, anthropology, or sociology and introduces their take on global health history. Socialist Medicine introduces you to inspiring ideas, creative minds and share our fascination for re-writing global history from the socialist perspective.MORE Email ****@student.hu-berlin.de
Avg Length 47 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

23. Past Medical History: The Story of EMS

Play
Apple Episodes
Hosted by paramedics Evan Claunch and Sophie Fuller, Past Medical History: The Story of EMS is an immersive, cinematic storytelling audio drama and documentary-type podcast featuring rich soundscapes and dramatic narration. The PMHX podcast explores how heroes, disasters, and ideas collided to create the world of EMS we know today...MORE Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 5/5 Avg Length 32 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

24. The Caduceus Files

Play
Apple Episodes
The Caduceus Files explores the forgotten and often dangerous history of medicine.Each episode is a long-form case study examining treatments, procedures, and medical beliefs once considered authoritative—many of which caused widespread harm before the rise of evidence-based science.Drawing from historical records, medical literature, and firsthand accounts, the series reconstructs how good intentions, institutional certainty, and incomplete knowledge led to catastrophic outcomes.This is not shock content.It is documentation.New episodes present one case at a time, allowing the factsMORE Email ****@gmail.com
Avg Length 4 min Format Bite size Get Email Contact

25. Care Under Fire: The History of the Journal of Special Operations Medicine

Play
Apple Episodes
Care Under Fire is a documentary audio short examining the history, evolution, and impact of the Journal of Special Operations Medicine . Through archival research and narration, this production explores how a uniquely operational form of medical knowledge—originating within United States Special Operations Command—was documented, evaluated, and preserved, and how it grew into a global, peer-reviewed publication reaching readers in more than eighty countries. Presented by Breakaway Media. Executive Producer: Sophia Leishman.MORE Apple Rating 5/5 Get Email Contact

26. Cardiac Cowboys

Play
Apple Episodes
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them...MORE Host Chris Pine
Email ****@chris-pine.org
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Apple Rating 4.9/5 Avg Length 39 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

27. Rub Some Dirt In It

Play Watch Video
Apple Spotify YouTube Episodes
Rub Some Dirt In It takes a humorous look into the people, events, folklore, and inventions that shaped medical history. In a field pioneered by some of the greatest minds of all time, some popular ideas and practices... didn't quite cut the medical mustard. This series spotlights some of those practices that time forgot: partially to prevent history from repeating itself, partially to illuminate so-called 'primitive' approaches that actually worked, and wholly to entertain modern practitioners.Because when all else fails, you can always...MORE Producer/Network ReachMD
Email ****@reachmd.com
Get Email Contact

28. The Body Returns Home: The History of Osteopathic Medicine

Play
Apple Episodes
Step beyond the stethoscope and into the soul of medicine. The Body Returns Home: The History of Osteopathic Medicine is a scholarly, evocative exploration of osteopathic medicine—its origins, philosophy, evolution, and cultural impact. Hosted by physician and medical storyteller Dr. Susan Rashid, this podcast journeys through the luminous lineage of osteopathic medicine, where osteopathic medicine continues to breathe, evolve, and illuminate the sacred dialogue between body, mind, and spirit...MORE Email ****@gmail.com
Apple Rating 5/5 Avg Length 56 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

29. Army Medicine History

Website Apple Spotify
Welcome to the Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage Podcast series, 'Army Medicine History'. The opinions and statements of the speakers featured on this podcast are not necessarily the views of the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Center of Excellence (MEDCoE), or the U.S. Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage. The goal of this podcast is to share the story of Army Medicine History with soldiers, military, civilians, teachers, researchers, and the general public.MORE Host Stephen C. Craig
Producer/Network Army Medicine History
Facebook 136.6KTwitter 38.1K Get Email Contact

30. Bedside Rounds

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
Bedside Rounds is a storytelling podcast about medical history and medicine's intersections with society and culture. Host Adam Rodman seeks to tell a few of these weird, wonderful, and intensely human stories that have made modern medicine.MORE Host Adam Rodman
Producer/Network Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, FACP
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 10k-50k
Apple Rating 4.8/5Apple Reviews 577Twitter 18K Avg Length 44 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

31. The Poor Historians: Medical History Misadventures

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
This is a show for all the nerdy medical history people.Three modern emergency physicians and their show's 'medical history intern' take a lighthearted, humorous  quest through various stories in the history of medicine.  Topics from ancient times to recent history, all related to important advancements, people, or discoveries in the history of medicine.  New episodes every two weeks!MORE Hosts Dr. Max, Dr. Aaron, Dr. Mike, Alba Woolard
Producer/Network Dr. Max, Dr. Aaron, Dr. Mike, and Alba
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Apple Rating 4.8/5Apple Reviews 100Facebook 395Twitter 172Instagram 406 Avg Length 69 min Format Long form Get Email Contact

32. The History of Medicine

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
Explore the rich history of medicine, from the diseases that once plagued us, how the medicine we take for granted today came to be, and the curious characters and stories surrounding these topics. Updates every week, with breaks between seasons for additional research and planning. Our current topic: Pain. Episodes to resume in early October 2021! Past Season's topics: Season 1 - Antibiotics. Season 2 - Surgery/Anesthesia. Season 3 - Public Health. Season 4 - Mental Illness. Season 5 - Pain.MORE Host Kirby Gong
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Apple Rating 4.8/5Apple Reviews 44Facebook 554 Avg Length 6 min Format Bite size Get Email Contact

33. Dissecting Medical History

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
A bi-monthly mental vacation from life's worries by providing information formatted on medical related historical topics, events, and biographies in a fun and critically thinking way with a nurse and sometimes other history enthusiasts. MORE Hosts Ang, Mel
Producer/Network The Professional Gypsy
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 1k-10k
Apple Rating 4/5Apple Reviews 37Facebook 131Twitter 10 Avg Length 36 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

34. Ramblings with a Medical Historian

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
I discuss the history of medicine. I look at the practices, practitioners, misconceptions and more. I also talk about working in a museum and reenacting medical history. I also throw in some local history from my hometown.MORE Host Nicole Curry
Email ****@gmail.com
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Rating 5/5Apple Reviews 4Facebook 39Twitter 7Instagram 182 Avg Length 19 min Format Short form Get Email Contact

35. Epidemic Belfast

Play
Apple Spotify Episodes
Epidemic Belfast raises difficult and challenging questions about Northern Ireland's medical history, from the 19th century to COVID. In each episode, experts examine themes including the health of Belfast's mill workers, asylums, Victorian anti-vaxxers, 'cures' and shock therapies for homosexuality, the thalidomide tragedy, lobotomies, prison doctors during the Troubles and the AIDS crisis.MORE Producer/Network Ulster University
Email ****@ulster.ac.uk
Estimated Monthly Listeners 100-1k
Apple Reviews 2 Avg Length 21 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact

36. The Bitter Pill podcasts

Play
Website Apple Spotify Episodes
How do doctors think and take clinical decisions during times of prolonged uncertainty?'The Bitter Pill' podcasts explore this theme using examples from the 1980's when patients with hemophilia contracted HIV and hepatitis from their treatment with blood plasma. For four years, between 1982 and 1985 hemophilia doctors struggled with the challenges posed by HIV in their patients and how to modify their treatments. This is a critical period in medical history because of the suffering and death of so many people brought on by medical treatment...MORE Host Mallika Sekhar
Email ****@nhs.net
Apple Reviews 1 Avg Length 30 min Format Medium form Get Email Contact