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Working Sick During Covid: What We Learned from Swine Flu
‘Stay home if you’re sick’ is time-tested advice. But not all workers can afford it.
medicinecovid-19
Cullen Golden
María Villaseñor
Video
What the Bungled Response to HIV Can Teach Us About Dealing With Covid-19
Politics, public health and a pandemic. What we didn’t learn from HIV.
covid-19politicsmedicine
Brian Kamerzel
Jill Rosenbaum
Video
Why History Urges Caution on Immunity Testing
After past outbreaks, workers with proof of antibodies were in demand. But history urges caution.
covid-19medicine
Cullen Golden
Kit R. Roane
Mini-doc
Xenophobia in the Age of COVID-19
Scapegoating immigrant groups in times of disease outbreak has a long history.
medicine
Cullen Golden
Charu Raman
Video
Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics
Dr. Larry Brilliant, who helped eradicate smallpox, says past epidemics can teach us to fight coronavirus.
covid-19medicine
Umbreen Butt
Erin Barnett
Heru Muharrar
Umbreen Butt
Sianne Garlick
Karen M. Sughrue
Janet Tobias
Mini-doc
Coronavirus Quarantine: Are There Lessons From A Nurse Who Challenged One For Ebola?
Coronavirus has public health officials scrambling to put
quarantines into effect. The 2014 Ebola outbreak may have some lessons.
covid-19medicine
Emily Orr
Heru Muharrar
Karen M. Sughrue
Video
AIDS: From Ryan White to Today's Silent Epidemic
While H.I.V. rates have fallen in many places, the AIDS crisis remains in some of the U.S.
medicine
Anne Checler
Sandrine Isambert
Lila Place
Meral Agish
Kit R. Roane
Video
The Surprising Legacy of the Boy in the Bubble
Newborns today are tested for genetic and immune disorders that might not be apparent at birth. The tests evolved from the treatment of a patient with a rare diagnosis who became known as “the Boy in the Bubble.”
popular-culturemedicine
Jeff Bernier
Kit R. Roane
Victor Couto
Video
Could a Simple Intervention Fight a Suicide Crisis?
A simple intervention to reduce suicides -- “caring letters,” messages of compassion and empathy – showed promise in the 1960s, but has been overlooked until now.
militarymedicine
Anne Checler
Sarah Weiser
Jason Cherkis
Video
How Fear of the Measles Vaccine Took Hold
Skepticism and fear surrounding vaccines were fed by a flawed study done in 1998 linking the MMR vaccine to autism. The study was quickly discredited, we’re still dealing with the repercussions.
medicinemedia-criticism
Sianne Garlick
Sandrine Isambert
Bonnie Bertram
Erik German
Meral Agish
Video
LSD Gets Another Look
LSD has long been associated with 1960s counterculture. Today, psychedelic drugs are back in the lab, providing hope for people who suffer from anxiety, depression and addiction.
popular-culturemedicine
Anne Checler
Joshua Fisher
Victor Couto
Meral Agish
Video
Thalidomide: Return of an Infamous Pill
How a pill that led to drug safety guidelines became a case study for rising drug prices.
medicine
Jeff Bernier
Kit R. Roane
Mini-doc
Trump, Measles, and a Study That Fueled Fear
President Donald Trump has long been a critic of childhood vaccines -- but then he suddenly changed course, urging parents to vaccinate their children.
science-technologymedicine
Bonnie Bertram
Erik German
Mini-doc
How an Underground Abortion Network Got Started
It started with one request. A friend's sister was pregnant and suicidal. Before long a clandestine group called Jane was created to help women in Chicago with illegal abortions.
medicinecivil-rights
Jennifer Oko
Miriam Weintraub
Video
Genetic Screening: Controlling Heredity
With every new advance in prenatal genetic screening, the ability to prevent suffering has also sparked difficult questions about what should count as “a disease” versus “a difference,” and whether we’re in danger of wiping out certain segments of the population. This story was produced in collaboration with PBS, American Experience.
science-technologymedicine
Brian Kamerzel
Jill Rosenbaum
Video
Abortion Was Illegal. This Secret Group Defied the Law
We tell the story of a little known chapter in American history, before Roe v. Wade, when a clandestine group provided thousands of women with illegal abortions in Chicago.
law-policymedicine
Sandrine Isambert
Miriam Weintraub
Jennifer Oko
Meral Agish
Video
A Trusted Pill Turned Deadly. How Tylenol Made a Comeback
How do some companies regain public trust after something goes seriously wrong, while others fail? A look at how Tylenol responded after someone spiked its pills with poison in the 1980s sheds some light.
popular-culturemedicine
Sandrine Isambert
Kit R. Roane
Meral Agish
Mini-doc
Surviving Heroin
After surviving four heroin overdoses, Heather Wetzel hopes she can stay clean for her daughter.
medicine
Sarah Weiser
Video
Where the Debate Over "Designer Babies" Began
Genetic technology is advancing, and critics are warning of a slippery slope. We speak with the scientists working at the forefront of the research, families who have benefited and the first-ever "test-tube" baby to understand the debate.
science-technologymedicine
Anne Checler
Jennifer Oko
Miriam Weintraub
Olivia Katrandjian
Mini-doc
Life as the World's First Test Tube Baby
On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown became the first ever so-called “test-tube baby.” Her birth was one of the biggest media stories of the 20th century, and she became famous just by being born.
medicinescience-technology
Miriam Weintraub
Jennifer Oko
Video
Old Attitudes on Addiction Are Changing. So Are Treatments.
Overdose deaths are skyrocketing, forcing researchers to find new ways to think about and treat addiction.
science-technologymedicine
Anne Checler
Jill Rosenbaum
Barbara Dury
Victor Couto
Video
Selling the Code: Can Genetic Testing Services Really Predict Your Future?
Today, companies market genetic tests for everything from cancer to diet and exercise. But how much can tests like 23andme really predict?
science-technologymedicine
Sandrine Isambert
Jill Rosenbaum
Meral Agish
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
Fixing the Code: Genetically Engineering Your DNA to Cure Disease
For the past 20 years, scientists have been trying to cure disease by altering DNA. We examine how with CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing and the revival of gene therapy, they're closer than ever.
medicinescience-technology
Sandrine Isambert
Jill Rosenbaum
Meral Agish
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
Finding the Code: The Race to Sequence the Human Genome and What It Means
One of biology’s most spectacular achievements -- the race to sequence the human genome -- was billed as a way to end disease. Here's where it led.
medicinescience-technology
Sandrine Isambert
Jill Rosenbaum
Meral Agish
Olivia Katrandjian
Mini-doc
Anorexia and Suicide: A Mother's Fight for Change
Kitty Westin shares the story of her daughter, Anna, who killed herself after struggling with anorexia for years.
medicine
Barbara Dury
Video
Myths and Misperceptions about Eating Disorders
Thirty million people will suffer from eating disorders in their lifetime, yet decades after Karen Carpenter died from anorexia, myths about eating disorders continue.
medicine
Anne Checler
Barbara Dury
Sandra McDaniel
Video
Lobotomy: A Dangerous Fad's Lingering Effect on Mental Illness Treatment
From the 1930s to the 1950s a radical surgery -- the Lobotomy -- would forever change our understanding and treatment of the mentally ill.
medicine
Sandrine Isambert
Barbara Dury
Margaret M. Ebrahim
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
Could You Patent the Sun?
Decades after Dr. Jonas Salk opposed patenting the polio vaccine, the pharmaceutical industry has changed. What does that mean for the development of innovative drugs and for people whose lives depend on them?
medicine
Anne Checler
Gonda-Bastian Sinagowitz
Peter Klein
Lisa Hale
Sandra McDaniel
Video
A Change of Heart
The artificial heart became a media sensation in the 1980s as it both raised hopes and spread controversy. Today its impact on medical science is still playing out in surprising ways.
medicine
Anne Checler
Catherine Olian
Joshua Fisher
Mini-doc
The Doctor
The pediatric neurosurgeon who first identified shaken baby syndrome has a surprising take on the very syndrome he's credited with discovering.
medicine
Miriam Weintraub
Video
The Nanny Murder Case: Shaken Baby Syndrome on Trial
In 1997, a young British nanny charged with murder brought shaken baby syndrome into the national spotlight, and raised a scientific debate that continues to shape child abuse cases today.
medicine
Sandrine Isambert
Miriam Weintraub
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
A Right to Die?
Should doctors be allowed to help suffering patients die? In 1990, with his homemade suicide machine, Dr. Jack Kevorkian raised that question. It's an issue Americans still struggle with today.
medicine
Anne Alvergue
Jill Rosenbaum
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
Is Multiple Personality Disorder Real? One Woman's Story
In the 1970s, the TV movie “Sybil” introduced much of the nation to multiple personality disorder and launched a controversy that continues to resonate.
popular-culturemedicine
Bret Sigler
Barbara Dury
Sarah Weiser
Video
How Prozac Turned Depression Medication into a Cultural Phenomenon
When Prozac was introduced in 1988, the green-and-cream pill to treat depression launched a cultural revolution that continues to echo.
Popular CultureMedicine

Video
Her Vegetative State Caused Congress, President Bush and Even the Pope to Weigh In
The controversy over Terri Schiavo’s case elevated a family matter into a political battle that continues to frame end-of-life issues today.
law-policymedicine
Sandrine Isambert
Miriam Weintraub
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
The Long War on Cancer
When President Richard Nixon vowed to make curing cancer a national crusade, many anticipated quick results. But decades later, what have we really accomplished?
medicine
Anne Alvergue
Jill Rosenbaum
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
Walter Reed: The Battle for Recovery
In 2007, the scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center shocked the nation. Today, after major reforms, what’s changed for America’s injured soldiers?
medicinemilitary
David Feinberg
Harry W. Hanbury