Explore the Pomegranate Health Podcast library
Browse all episodes below, starting with the most recent releases.
Latest episodes
Ep146: Dealing with the next pandemic 2- lockdowns and human rights
While Australia’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most effective in the world it caused unintended social harms and lingering resentment in some parts of the community. In the second of two episodes we ask whether there even is a scientific answer to the cost-benefit calculus around lockdowns and school closures.
Ep145: Dealing with the next pandemic 1- border closures and vaccine mandates
Australia’s public health policies to manage the COVID-19 pandemic are estimated to have spared up to 50,000 lives up to December 2022, and vaccines probably saved three times as many again. Over two episodes we examine the efficacy and the social costs of various interventions, starting with border closures and vaccines.
Ep138: Amyloid busters- the benefit and the burden
Australia has approved a two amyloid-targeting therapies for incipient Alzheimer’s dementia but both remain unfunded. We put the research outcomes into context and discuss the implications of the burdensome treatment regimen for the health system.
Ep126: Trying times for Māori medics
Medical schools in Aotearoa-New Zealand have turbocharged their intake of Māori and Pasifika students but these graduates have not trickled through to the RACP’s training programs in great numbers. We take a look at the culture of training environments and also the recent politicking over Māori self-governance.
Ep122: Funding pan-cancer therapies
Tissue-agnostic therapies may be a godsend for people with rare cancers and cancers of unknown origin, but regulatory and funding frameworks haven’t kept up with the scientific revolution.
Ep109: Cultivating a rural workforce
The density of physicians to population plummets as soon as you leave the major cities. Addressing this requires targeted recruitment and a more flexible training strategy that motivates doctors to reap the rewards of rural medicine.
Ep102: Staying on script with semaglutide
Semaglutide has proven effectiveness for glycaemic control and weight loss as well as predictable benefits for cardiovascular and metabolic health. But the unprecedented demand from the wider population has posed a problem for regulators and prescribers.
Ep99: When AI goes wrong
Uncertainty around the medicolegal aspects of AI-assisted care is of the main reasons that practitioners report discomfort about the use of this technology. It's a question that hasn’t been well tested in the courts but there is evidence about the types of adverse events that result.
Ep97: The governance of AI
The inexplainability of deep learning models creates discomfort for some clinicians and regulators. But AI-based clinical interventions can still be tested to the standards of evidence-based medicine we are accustomed to.
Ep94: Facing up to racial bias
There is systematic variation in delivery of care to culturally diverse patients in all fields of medicine. This podcast highlights the subtle biases that affect clinical decision-making by practitioners and provision of services at an institutional level.