The 2 Minute Medicine® Podcast

In this episode, we lead with our article of the week from the New England Journal of Medicine, “Tirzepatide as Compared with Semaglutide for the Treatment of Obesity.” We then cover the FDA’s authorization of updated, limited-access COVID-19 boosters and ongoing concerns about uptake. Next, we track the seasonal surge in West Nile virus during peak mosquito activity. We also discuss John Cena’s skin cancer story as a timely call for men to adopt better prevention habits. We close with how celebrity recovery narratives, from addiction to anxiety, are reshaping public conversations about mental health.

In this episode of the 2 Minute Medicine Podcast: AI Roundup, we explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping health care at every level. We begin with Illinois’ landmark law banning unsupervised AI in mental health care, the first of its kind in the U.S. We then spotlight Abridge’s $300 million funding round, as its clinical AI scribe continues to scale across more than 150 health systems. Next, we turn to DeepMind’s reflections on the limits of AI in medicine, where algorithms excel in analysis but fall short in compassion. Finally, we close with Bill Gates’ $1 million Alzheimer’s AI Prize, designed to accelerate innovation against a devastating neurodegenerative disease. Together, these stories show how policy, startups, research, and philanthropy are defining the evolving boundaries of AI in health.

In this episode, we start with Doximity’s nationwide launch of a free AI scribe for every U.S. clinician, designed to cut charting time in half and ease burnout, with analysts predicting it could spark a major pricing shake-up in the medical dictation market. Next, we spotlight Ultromics, an Oxford spin-out that just raised $55 million to expand its FDA-cleared cardiac-ultrasound AI, which detects hidden forms of heart failure up to 74% more accurately than manual reads and could transform early diagnosis. Then we head to England, where the NHS’s first AI-run physio clinic slashed back-pain waiting times by nearly half, delivering same-day virtual assessments and freeing hundreds of clinician hours each month. Finally, we explore Everlab, a preventive-care platform pairing full-body scans with large-language-model “health agents” to catch disease years earlier, backed by a $10 million raise and aiming to make longevity-focused care accessible at scale. Together, these stories reveal how AI is trimming paperwork, sharpening diagnostics, shrinking queues, and pushing proactive medicine closer to everyday patients.

In this episode, we begin with discussing our article of the week which comes  from JAMA Network Open and is entitled “Oral vancomycin for prevention of recurrent clostridioides difficile infection: A randomized clinical trial.” Then, we discuss Venus Williams’ triumphant return to tennis and her advocacy for fibroid awareness and insurance reform. Then we turn to Matt McGorry’s long COVID journey and the scientific breakthrough that redefines the condition as biologically diverse. Next, we examine a global crisis of contaminated pediatric medicines and the WHO’s urgent call for regulatory action. Finally, we highlight Tammy Slaton’s 500-pound transformation and the lingering barriers that shape access to bariatric surgery in the United States.

In this episode, we open with Jessie J’s stage-I breast-cancer disclosure and the immediate surge in mammogram bookings that followed across the United Kingdom. Next, we dive into Olympic swimmer Kyle Chalmers’s frank discussion of anxiety and his virtual workshops that now reach hundreds of young athletes. We then explore Real Housewives star Dolores Catania’s atrial-fibrillation ablation and her plea for women to take palpitations seriously. Finally, we examine how a prostate-cancer subplot on And Just Like That spurred a record spike in Google searches for PSA testing and doubled virtual urology consults. Together these stories underscore the persuasive power of public voices and popular media in driving preventive care, mental-health advocacy, and timely cardiovascular and oncologic screenings.

Welcome to this week’s Pharma Roundup. In this episode, we begin with a peri operative immunotherapy that lowers gastric cancer relapse, move to an FDA decision that lets a prostate cancer pill skip chemotherapy prerequisites, continue with a wearable injector that trims myeloma treatment to five minutes, and finish with the agency’s choice to drop extra safety hurdles so more hospitals can deliver lifesaving CAR T therapy. Together these stories underscore faster surgeries, wider oral options, time saving devices, and streamlined regulation that could bring cutting edge care closer to patients everywhere.

In this episode, we kick things off with a deep dive into the UK’s miONCO-Dx trial, an AI-powered blood test that detects 12 common cancers with 99 % accuracy and could one day replace colonoscopies. Backed by £2.4 million in NHS funding and already analyzing its first wave of samples, the study exemplifies Britain’s push for tech-driven early cancer detection. Then in the second half of the episode, we begin with a discussion about Emory Healthcare’s AI-enhanced virtual nursing program and its success in cutting patient falls. Then we take a closer look at Insilico Medicine’s $110 million funding round and how its Pharma.AI platform is shrinking drug-discovery timelines. After that, we examine real-world NHS data showing the Limbic Care chatbot’s impact on therapy attendance and recovery rates. Finally, we discuss Aura, a new AI app that helps parents spot early signs of emotional distress in children by analyzing online behavior.

In this episode, we begin with a discussion about our article of the week. Our article of the week comes from The New England Journal of Medicine and is entitled “Twice-Yearly Lenacapavir for HIV Prevention in Men and Gender-Diverse Persons.” Then in the second half of the episode, we begin with a discussion about Billy Joel’s newly disclosed diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus and what his case teaches us about spotting this reversible dementia mimic sooner. Then we take a closer look at model and advocate Gigi Robinson’s experience with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and how breast-reduction surgery slashed her pain while exposing persistent insurance hurdles. After that, we examine new research linking each 1 °C rise in Middle East and North African temperatures to a sharp surge in women’s cancer incidence and mortality. Finally, we discuss the discovery of West Nile virus fragments in UK mosquitoes and the public-health actions underway as climate change expands vector-borne threats.

In this episode, we kick things off with our article of the week which comes from JAMA Network Open and is entitled “Cannabis Use and Misuse Following Recreational Cannabis Legalization”Then, we take a look at the devastating impact of Cyclone Mocha on health systems in Myanmar and Bangladesh. We explore how natural disasters don’t just damage infrastructure—they also cripple access to care and mental health support. Then we pivot to an exciting tech meets wellness update as Serena Williams launches a new app that blends fitness with mindfulness, aiming to make mental health as mainstream as a gym membership. After that, we dive into a global health curveball as snakebites are on the rise and climate change is slithering behind the scenes. We follow that with a fascinating study out of Stanford showing that elite athletes may have stronger immune responses to vaccines, giving new meaning to peak performance. Finally, we close with a major labor movement in India where healthcare workers are striking to demand better conditions and pay amid rising COVID-19 cases. Each story ties into the big picture of health, equity, and how our systems are or aren’t keeping up.

In this episode, we begin with a discussion about our article of the week.,Our article of the week comes from The Lancet Oncology and is entitled “Low-dose CT for lung cancer screening in a high-risk population (SUMMIT): a prospective, longitudinal cohort study.” Then in the second half of the episode, we begin with a discussion about a new, three-in-one therapy for endometriosis. Then we take a closer look at a planned Center for Disease Control and Prevention study for connections between vaccines and autism. After that, we examine the effects of extended durations of space flight on human health. Finally, we discuss the relationship between eating well and healthy aging.