August 16, 2025 • 27 mins
Whether it's pioneering vaccines or new technologies, women have made a significant impact in the medical field and our lives at large. In this classic episode, we highlight some women doing amazing work in the modern medicine.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Stuff
I Ever Told You production. I Heart you, and welcome
to another classic Today we are bringing back one on
women and modern medicine. Unfortunately, this has been on my
(00:28):
mind a lot because we are seeing a lot of
misinformation and dispreparation around health in the United States. I
have a lot of friends who work with governmental health
organizations that have been impacted by all of these things,
So it's just been something on my mind. I know,
we talk about vaccines and here and things like that,
(00:49):
so it's something that is a big part of our
conversations we're having right now. So that being said, please
enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
I come to staphone never told your protection of iHeart
Radio SD Samantha. Today, I have a two part question
(01:19):
for you. I think we've already talked about the first one,
but were you ever interested in a career in medicine?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah? Actually I started out my college career with the
idea that I was going to be pre med. I
knew I was going to be pre med. It also
went along without wanting to be a missionary. But I
wasn't going to be a missionary without being actually helpful
and actually saving lives hopefully. And then as I started
doing all of my medical courses slash all of the sciences,
(01:49):
I realized how bad I was at that and I
barely passed chemistry, and I was like, let me find
another way to help.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
What was your goal? What was your how are you
envisioning at working in that field.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I was envisioning becoming a general practitioner, being able to
co out in service and travel and help communities. I
was thinking, you know, obviously traveling abroad where there's less access,
and I wanted to really be helpful. Probably doctors without
borders would have been my route m h and all that,
(02:27):
thinking that I would be poor and hopefully you know,
going out in the world and helping. That was what
I was envisioning.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I see, I see, I see, Okay. And the second
part of my question is are you or were you
ever big into like medical TV shows?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, you know what, I think I got caught up
an er for a little while, and maybe it was
the soap opera bit that I liked George Clooney. Who
doesn't love George Clooney at that point in time, But
I did watch that for a little while. Scrubs really
really enjoyed Scrubs. Who doesn't love people being self hating
as well as saving lives and having some heart?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You know?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
But yeah, I did you?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah I didn't really, but I did. I loved Scrubs
and to this day, like I can quote Scrubs. I
have the soundtrack. I was a huge Me and my
friend group, we were really into Scrubs and it's funny,
like one of my favorite episodes is the episode where
they make fun of House, and I'd never seen House,
so I didn't get half the jokes, but I still loved.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I'd watched a few episodes of House and I didn't
get too caught up in that. But yeah, I did
you talk about soundtrack? I have to know have you
watched any of it streaming since the original?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I mean I owned the DVDs, so.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You haven't watched it streaming because they changed some music
I don't know, share or whatever. But because I watched
it so much, I knew what music would win, And
now watching it on streaming, I'm like, wait that, Yeah,
that's not how that goes.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Let me tell you, Samantha Supernatural, A lot of those
songs and not the same, and I'm always like, no, See.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
That's the one blessing that I do have is I
don't know that you.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Can't Yeah, you can't compare, that's true.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
But with Scrubs I did because I was in that
Netflix era of getting the DVDs. Yeah, oh yeah, and
I would watch all the Scrubs through Netflix subscriptions and
now comparing it to our streaming network and the fact
that songs have changed, like it, it's so notable that
it distracts me from the rest of the show.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, well, music is a really big part of that
show exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Of course, that's why I got a sound dressed. They're
so good.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I remember when was it Gray's Anatomy and Scrubs both
had an episode in the same week that had the
phrase how to save a life and people were arguing
about who used it better.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
But the scripturally used it for like a split second
of like, no, not that song anyway. Are we talking
about this because I keep talking about.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
That's for shured probably so to me. We're going to
talk about women in medicine, and specifically modern medicine because
more and more people are getting the vaccine, which is
very exciting. Yes, And yeah, we wanted to highlight some
of the more recent accomplishments of women in this field.
(05:28):
And yeah, we've done episodes on women in nursing and
medicine before, also women's pain being dismissed on the other
side of that. But we wanted to showcase some women
that you might not have heard of doing some really
amazing things in the field of modern medicine.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yes, and we're all about giving flowers to those that
are still with us today, Yes, but we wanted to
start out with some numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So throughout history and despite obstacles, women have been behind
medical innovations around blood transfusions, organ transplants, and all a
lot of areas in reproductive health, says, the medical field
has long ignored women. Women, of course, have had to
make do for themselves.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yes, and while there are still disparities in terms of
gender and race in the medical field, more and more
women are entering it and shaping it at all levels
and professions. Numbers from twenty fifteen indicate that in the
United States, one third of active physicians are women, half
of all new medical graduates are women, eighty eight percent
of nurse practitioners eighty three percent of nurses and sixty
(06:29):
three percent of physician assistance. We've also talked about how
women in medicine are more likely to experience issues around burnout,
wage gap, discrimination, lack of mentors, maternity leave, and toxic environments,
among other things, which are all issues that need to
be addressed and also not isolated to the medical field.
But definitely a lot of articles, especially during the pandemic,
(06:53):
have been written about burnout in particular, so that is
something that we need to keep an eye on. But
all right, let us start our list of women with
doctor Kismechia Corbette or doctor Kizzy Corbett.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Who is a great Twitter followed by the way, if
you haven't started following her, she's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
You should follow her absolutely. She is a thirty four
year old black woman who has been at the forefront
of the fight against COVID nineteen. Corbett is one of
the top scientists working on who has been working on
a COVID vaccine for the National Institutes of Health. She
and her team worked with pharmaceutical company Maderna to pioneer
an mRNA vaccine, and this is a vaccine that has
(07:36):
an efficacy rate of over ninety percent. Recently, when doctor
Anthony Fauci was asked about the input of African American
scientists on the vaccine, Fauci responded, the very vaccine that's
one of the two that has absolutely exquisite levels ninety
four to ninety five percent efficacy against clinical disease and
almost one hundred percent eficcy against serious disease that are
(07:59):
shown to be clearly safe. That vaccine was actually developed
in my institute's vaccine research Center by a team of
scientists led by doctor Barney Graham and his close colleague,
doctor Kismikia Corbett r Kizziy Corbett Kizzy is an African
American scientist who's right at the forefront of the development
of the vaccine. Doctor Corbett's talent, determination, curiosity, and empathy
(08:20):
manifested from a young age, and she secured awards and
monetary funding for her university studies, and she got a
spot as an intern at the National Institutes of Health.
For her PhD, she studied immunology and microbiology while also
working as a research assistant studying viral infections. In twenty fourteen,
she took a post doc position at the NIH's Vaccine
(08:42):
Research Center. In January twenty twenty, doctor Corbett received an
email from one of her coworkers basically telling her and
her teammates to buckle up that their training was about
to be put to use, and yes, yes it was.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It was.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh got Yes. Doctor Corbett has spoken about her experience
as a black woman, a doctor and the importance of visibility.
I felt like it was necessary to be seen and
not to be a hidden figure, so to speak, she said.
I felt that it was important to do that because
the level of visibility that it would have to younger
scientists and also to people of color who have often
(09:16):
worked behind the scenes and essentially who have done the
dirty work for these large efforts towards a vaccine. This
person who looks like you has been working on this
for several years, and I also wanted it to be
visible because I wanted people to understand that I stood
by the work that I'd done for so long as well.
And she's also been really vocal about the disproportionate impact
of COVID on black communities, and I think every woman
(09:40):
on here we could do a whole episode on like
we're doing kind of a brief bio in these but
her story is really inspiring and fascinating. And also Maderna
is the vaccine that I am getting. So also by
Dolly Pardon, Yes, that was a legitimate reaction to.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So many good things that And yeah, doctor Corbett has
also been keeping a kind of thread on her Twitter
about her presenting about the vaccine and she has been
a really big proponent in talking to the black community
about what the vaccine is. And because let's be honest,
there's a lot of distrust when it comes to medicine
(10:19):
in the black community. Rightly so, yeah, rightly so, and
they should be suspicious and I would be suspicious. I
am suspicious sometimes, I mean for sure. But she has
been on the forefront and trying to talk about it
and how it is important and what she did and
making sure that this vaccine was safe and also that
(10:40):
it was accessible. So kudos to doctor Corbett. And now
we want to move on to doctor Rachel Sneersen born
in Warsaw, Poland in nineteen thirty two, who earned her
medical degree from Hadasa Medical School at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem, and she was best known for her work
on the Himophilus influenze type B or hib which is
(11:00):
a bacterium that was one of the principal causes of
meningitis and pneumonia and responsible for over three million serious
illnesses and over three hundred and seventy five thousand deaths
in children around the world. She came to work as
an instructor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for
the Department of Pediatrics and the Laboratory of Imminology. There
she met doctor John B. Robbins, who would move on
(11:22):
to the Division of bacterial Products in nineteen seventy four
and then came back round to the National Institute of
Child Health Development or the NICHD in nineteen eighty three,
and it was during this time doctor Schneerson and doctor
Robbins were able to help create the vaccine through use
of conjugates, which helped make the vaccine safer and more
effective for younger children and as young as I believe
(11:44):
two months old, and this process of conjugating would later
be used to help create other vaccines for diseases such
as whooping cough, typhoid, and certain types of malaria, in
even anthrax, and through her work she has received many
different awards such as the Albert Laskar Clinical Medical Research
Award in ninety six, the World Health Organization Children's Vaccine Initiative,
(12:06):
Pastor Award, Infectious Disease Society of American Citation Award, and
was also elated to the NICHD Hall of Honor, and
she was eventually named as head of the Section of
Vectial Disease, pathogenicis and Immunity with doctor Robbins and finally
retired in twenty twelve. Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, that's a lot of awards.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
They saved a lot of lives and yet, by the way,
the disease is fairly pretty much eradicated and has not
been seen by the new medical field that they have
not seen it since then.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Dang, Well, we have some more women we want to highlight,
but first we have a quick break for word from
her sponsor. Am were back, Thank you sponsor. Okay, So
(13:02):
now let's talk about Mary Geynan. Her story is amazing.
I can't believe I hadn't heard it before. So after
earning her PhD in physiology, graduating from John Hopkins University
School of Medicine, and completing a residency, Doctor Geynan began
working at the Centers for Disease Control of Prevention in
nineteen seventy four, and this is when only ten percent
(13:23):
of medical graduates were women. She started out in the
Epidemic Intelligence Service or the EIS, which is often described
by her too as the Medical FBI, where she studied
global disease outbreaks. She was the only woman of thirty
nine physicians. Through this, she helped out on a smallpox
eradication campaign and for her work, the World Health Organization
(13:47):
awarded her the Noble Order of the Bifurcated Needle in
nineteen seventy six. What a name, I tell you what
the name. But all of this was after her application
to volunteer with india smallpox eradication program was denied twice.
She was told it was because the World Health Organization
and India weren't really looking for women to volunteer. Thank you.
(14:10):
So Guynan asked if India's Prime Minister at the time,
who was a woman, knew about this. And after that,
after Guidan was like, asked about that, and then she
was like, let me speak to your manager. She was
given a spot on the Operations Smallpox zero team and
(14:31):
apparently an elephant became a part of their effort for
transport over flooded rivers. I really wanted to go way
in depth into this, and I was like, Annie, we
have to make this one episode. At the time she
started researching sexually transmitted diseases. She went back to the
CDC two years later in nineteen seventy eight, to work
in the Veneural Disease Control Division as a clinical investigator.
(14:55):
Do her work in this field, she became known as
a national expert on genital herpes, which happens somewhat accidentally.
The media sometimes called her doctor Condom or doctor Herpes.
She basically she appeared in an interview where the chiron
below her was like std expert and she did not
(15:16):
know what was going to say that, and then every
other news outlet contacted her. It was like, we need
you to come talk about this. She was worried about
the reaction of her religious conservative mother when appearing on
TV to discuss sexually transmitted diseases. Apparently her mother never
even said sex, but after watching her on sixty minutes,
(15:37):
her mother allegedly said, congratulations, dear, your hair looked very nice.
Such a mother.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Mother thing to do.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yes, I don't want to touch on these other subjects.
But your hair looks good.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah. Yeah, And guy didn't even turned down that appearance
on sixty Minutes because she was kind of frustrated with
the media's coverage of STDs sdis and also she was
worried about her mother, but the CDC pressured her into
doing it, and she once said after reporter asked her
if you could get AIDS from a toilet seat quote,
the only way that I know you can get AIDS
(16:12):
is if you sit on it before someone else gets up. Yeah.
She was full of those kind of comments. Doctor Gynan
attempted to draw attention to the AIDS epidemic in the
nineteen eighties, but found that the media was reluctant to
cover it since early reports seemed to suggest it mainly
impacted the homosexual community. She, along with the CDC, worked
(16:33):
to raise support awareness around AIDS. Doctor Geyan set up
the CDC's AIDS Task Force. Because of her work, she
was promoted in nineteen eighty four to the CDC's Associate
Director for the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and she
became the CDC's first female Chief Scientific Advisor From nineteen
ninety to nineteen ninety five, she acted as Chief of
(16:55):
Evaluation for the country's HIV prevention program. She's a founding
d at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of
Public Health and has done extensive research into childhood leukemia.
Her work with AIDS was the topic of the book
and later HBO documentary and the band played on. Apparently,
(17:16):
she is only in one scene in the movie, where
she is baking a cake. Guynan said of this, they
didn't know how to portray a woman scientist. In twenty sixteen,
she published the book Adventures of a Female Medical Detective
in Pursuit of Smallpox and AIDS. Wow, that's a great title.
I know. I want to read it.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I want you.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Let's get it. Maybe a book club, yes, think about
how that would translate to a book club. But and
next we're going to talk about Julie Linn Wong. Doctor
Wong not only is a physician and public health specialist,
but she is an expert in robotics and space medicine.
The Harvard and educated doctor has made history by combining
her knowledge of robotics technology with my medicine. In twenty eleven,
(18:01):
doctor Wong founded the three D four MD with the
idea of using three D printers, solo powered and easily
portable to print healthcare supplies in remote communities, and by
creating affordable three D templates, it would help create low
cost medical supplies on demand. And it's so small it
can fit into a carry on bag for easy travel
from global areas that are hard to get to to
(18:24):
even space. Dumb, dumb, dumb, that's so cool, right, And
speaking of space, doctor Wang was selected to participate in
a thirty days simulated mission at NASA's Johnson Space Center
in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of the Space Shuttle
Challenger tragedy. Wong served as the mission's flight engineer, and
then in twenty seventeen, astronauts actually used a three D
(18:44):
printer for medical supplies using her blueprints from three D
four MD, so they were able to actually create like
finger splinters and all of that while in space, which
what I know. And by the way, my partner, who
loves three D printers and has three, was very excited
when I started talking about this, and she didn't stop there.
(19:08):
She founded the Medical Makers, which is a network to
bring others to build and use their skills and creativity
to continue to fight for humanitarian issues and build sustainable
solutions through technology all over the world.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I love this. I feel like that's another great example
of when you specialize in a thing, like, don't limit
yourself to that one field, right, it can work in
different spaces.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And also she seems to be the overachiever that I'm
scared of that. I'm like, oh my god, You're the
one everybody talks about that can do everything.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Don't be scared. Don't be scared. We do have a
few more women we want a spotlight, but first we
have one more quick break for word from a sponsor,
(20:02):
a fact thank you sponsored.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And earlier in the episode, we talked about the amazing
works doctor Corbett did that helped develop Maderna, but we
also wanted to look at the biologists that laid down
the groundwork to help develop that, as well as the
Pfizer Biointech vaccine, which is doctor Katie Courico and doctor
Perico originally came from Hungary, moved to the US in
her early twenties, and though she's now being recognized for
(20:28):
our titleist work, she was barely making it through in
the world of academia until recently, and like me in
the field, she had difficulty in getting both funding or
even being properly compensated for her work. As a colleague
stated quote, when your idea is against the conventional wisdom,
that makes sense to the star chamber, but it's very
hard to break out. But today she's being recognized for
(20:50):
her breakout studies in mRNA, which is the quote genetic
script that carries the DNA instructions to each sales protein
making machinery. Just to give an next one. And thanks
to her continued work with mRNA, she has helped create
a path to these different vaccines. And doctor Vacci stated, quote,
it has already transformed COVID nineteen, but also other vaccines HIV,
(21:12):
and people in the field are excited influenza, malaria, and
he's talking about how it's going to help create vaccines
for these different things. And doctor Carico never held back.
She was known for her intensity and dedication in working
on her research. Her husband talked about how she was
constantly working, whether it was night and day or even
the weekend, and he actually broke down her pay as
(21:33):
being less than a dollar an hour. For all the
time she has been on it, but apparently she just
didn't care about the money. It was about her work.
She earned her PhD at the University of Sega, then
moved to Philadelphia in nineteen eighty five to continue her
research at Temple University, and she did continue throughout her career,
though she would be rejected and continually overlooked. She worked
(21:54):
with different colleagues and different avenues until finally she and
doctor Weisman were able to show progress in their work
were able to get grants from both Maderna and Biointech,
and on November eighth, the testing showed that the mRNA
that she's been studying actually offered powerful immunity to COVID nineteen,
and she and doctor Weisman were able to get their
vaccine publicly during a press conference on December eighteenth of
(22:18):
twenty twenty, and she was applauded as well as he
was by their peers when they made the announcement, Hey,
the people who helped create this vaccine is here. So
they were given a round of applause by their coworkers,
and she apparently celebrated with just the box of goobers,
which she ate all by herself. Not really sure why
that was the way they put it. I guess maybe
(22:38):
she wasn't able to And she told her husband that
it worked, and her response was I thought so. I
thought that was really fun because it just seemed like
she had been working so hard, to the point that
she had changed hands essentially of who was working with
her and her advisors, and she never stopped. Even people
were like, this is not working. We don't care, she
(22:59):
believed yeah, and because of heart, we were able to
get a vaccine so quickly.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah. And I think because there's been some publicity obviously
about people who have been working on the vaccine, and
so stories about her have come out recently, and I
feel like she really wants an HIV vaccine, Like that's
what is.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Right driving her. Apparently, during one of her conversations with
one of her staff members that she was working with,
said can you get a vaccine for HIV? She's like, yeah,
I can do that, and she has and I think
she continued to work for that. So that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, very determined. So now let's end with doctor Francoise
Barre Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine in twenty eighteen quote for their discovery of human
immuno deficiency virus. Born in Paris, France, in nineteen forty
seven at doctor Barret Sinusi loved nature from a young
age and in her words, her path was determined largely
(23:56):
by what her and her family could afford. She's started
volunteering at Paris's Institute Pasteur, and by nineteen seventy five
she had earned her PhD. In nineteen eighty three, she
along with Luke Montaigner, discovered the retrovirus that would later
be called human immuno deficiency virus or HIV, which has
(24:19):
proven to be the cause for AIDS. That year, she
was the first author on the paper that reported on
this discovery. She'd been researching retroviruses since the nineteen seventies.
She headed up her own lab at the Institute Pasteur
in nineteen eighty eight, where she launched several programs looking
into HIVAIDS, including vaccine research. She is in charge of
(24:42):
the Regulation of Retroviral Infection unit at the Institute Pastor
in Paris, where she's also emeritus professor. She was elected
to the French Academy of Science in two thousand and nine,
and from twenty twelve to twenty fourteen she became President
of the International Aid Society. She's been prolific when it
comes to paper as well, authoring or co authoring over
two hundred and seventy original publications and lots lots of
(25:05):
lots more. Her discovery and part led to the development
of life saving drugs that saved millions of lives. However,
more than thirty eight million around the world live with
HIV and not all of them can get treatment. So
doctor Barra Senu C's work continues as well, which I
think I feel like we see in all of these
women this dedication and determination and just to say, I
(25:29):
know that we didn't always put the doctor before their name,
but it's there. The respect is there. Respect. Honestly, this
is amazing. We're talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
The amount of achievement that they've done, the amount of
work and blood, sweat and tears. I can't imagine that
they've had to do and even to fight to be
there and to be hard. Yeah, and the fact that
they had to work to be taken seriously and continue
to have to work to be seen even is a
whole other conversation yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Level of impact they've had on our everyday lives, often
unnoticed or unspoken about, is really it's amazing the work
that they've done. We could definitely go further in depth.
Let us know about something you want, and we know
there's so many more stories we could talk about, so
if you have any suggestions, as always, please send them
(26:23):
our away Hola. Yes, you can email us at stuff Media,
Moomstuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on
Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or on Instagram at stuff
I Never Told You. Thanks as always to our super
producer Christina hey Yo, thank you, thank you, and thanks
to you for listening. Steffan Never Told You inspection of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(26:46):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Stuff
I Ever Told You production. I Heart you, and welcome
to another classic Today we are bringing back one on
women and modern medicine. Unfortunately, this has been on my
(00:28):
mind a lot because we are seeing a lot of
misinformation and dispreparation around health in the United States. I
have a lot of friends who work with governmental health
organizations that have been impacted by all of these things,
So it's just been something on my mind. I know,
we talk about vaccines and here and things like that,
(00:49):
so it's something that is a big part of our
conversations we're having right now. So that being said, please
enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
I come to staphone never told your protection of iHeart
Radio SD Samantha. Today, I have a two part question
(01:19):
for you. I think we've already talked about the first one,
but were you ever interested in a career in medicine?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah? Actually I started out my college career with the
idea that I was going to be pre med. I
knew I was going to be pre med. It also
went along without wanting to be a missionary. But I
wasn't going to be a missionary without being actually helpful
and actually saving lives hopefully. And then as I started
doing all of my medical courses slash all of the sciences,
(01:49):
I realized how bad I was at that and I
barely passed chemistry, and I was like, let me find
another way to help.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
What was your goal? What was your how are you
envisioning at working in that field.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I was envisioning becoming a general practitioner, being able to
co out in service and travel and help communities. I
was thinking, you know, obviously traveling abroad where there's less access,
and I wanted to really be helpful. Probably doctors without
borders would have been my route m h and all that,
(02:27):
thinking that I would be poor and hopefully you know,
going out in the world and helping. That was what
I was envisioning.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I see, I see, I see, Okay. And the second
part of my question is are you or were you
ever big into like medical TV shows?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, you know what, I think I got caught up
an er for a little while, and maybe it was
the soap opera bit that I liked George Clooney. Who
doesn't love George Clooney at that point in time, But
I did watch that for a little while. Scrubs really
really enjoyed Scrubs. Who doesn't love people being self hating
as well as saving lives and having some heart?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You know?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
But yeah, I did you?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah I didn't really, but I did. I loved Scrubs
and to this day, like I can quote Scrubs. I
have the soundtrack. I was a huge Me and my
friend group, we were really into Scrubs and it's funny,
like one of my favorite episodes is the episode where
they make fun of House, and I'd never seen House,
so I didn't get half the jokes, but I still loved.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I'd watched a few episodes of House and I didn't
get too caught up in that. But yeah, I did
you talk about soundtrack? I have to know have you
watched any of it streaming since the original?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I mean I owned the DVDs, so.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You haven't watched it streaming because they changed some music
I don't know, share or whatever. But because I watched
it so much, I knew what music would win, And
now watching it on streaming, I'm like, wait that, Yeah,
that's not how that goes.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Let me tell you, Samantha Supernatural, A lot of those
songs and not the same, and I'm always like, no, See.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
That's the one blessing that I do have is I
don't know that you.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Can't Yeah, you can't compare, that's true.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
But with Scrubs I did because I was in that
Netflix era of getting the DVDs. Yeah, oh yeah, and
I would watch all the Scrubs through Netflix subscriptions and
now comparing it to our streaming network and the fact
that songs have changed, like it, it's so notable that
it distracts me from the rest of the show.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, well, music is a really big part of that
show exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Of course, that's why I got a sound dressed. They're
so good.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I remember when was it Gray's Anatomy and Scrubs both
had an episode in the same week that had the
phrase how to save a life and people were arguing
about who used it better.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
But the scripturally used it for like a split second
of like, no, not that song anyway. Are we talking
about this because I keep talking about.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
That's for shured probably so to me. We're going to
talk about women in medicine, and specifically modern medicine because
more and more people are getting the vaccine, which is
very exciting. Yes, And yeah, we wanted to highlight some
of the more recent accomplishments of women in this field.
(05:28):
And yeah, we've done episodes on women in nursing and
medicine before, also women's pain being dismissed on the other
side of that. But we wanted to showcase some women
that you might not have heard of doing some really
amazing things in the field of modern medicine.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yes, and we're all about giving flowers to those that
are still with us today, Yes, but we wanted to
start out with some numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So throughout history and despite obstacles, women have been behind
medical innovations around blood transfusions, organ transplants, and all a
lot of areas in reproductive health, says, the medical field
has long ignored women. Women, of course, have had to
make do for themselves.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yes, and while there are still disparities in terms of
gender and race in the medical field, more and more
women are entering it and shaping it at all levels
and professions. Numbers from twenty fifteen indicate that in the
United States, one third of active physicians are women, half
of all new medical graduates are women, eighty eight percent
of nurse practitioners eighty three percent of nurses and sixty
(06:29):
three percent of physician assistance. We've also talked about how
women in medicine are more likely to experience issues around burnout,
wage gap, discrimination, lack of mentors, maternity leave, and toxic environments,
among other things, which are all issues that need to
be addressed and also not isolated to the medical field.
But definitely a lot of articles, especially during the pandemic,
(06:53):
have been written about burnout in particular, so that is
something that we need to keep an eye on. But
all right, let us start our list of women with
doctor Kismechia Corbette or doctor Kizzy Corbett.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Who is a great Twitter followed by the way, if
you haven't started following her, she's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
You should follow her absolutely. She is a thirty four
year old black woman who has been at the forefront
of the fight against COVID nineteen. Corbett is one of
the top scientists working on who has been working on
a COVID vaccine for the National Institutes of Health. She
and her team worked with pharmaceutical company Maderna to pioneer
an mRNA vaccine, and this is a vaccine that has
(07:36):
an efficacy rate of over ninety percent. Recently, when doctor
Anthony Fauci was asked about the input of African American
scientists on the vaccine, Fauci responded, the very vaccine that's
one of the two that has absolutely exquisite levels ninety
four to ninety five percent efficacy against clinical disease and
almost one hundred percent eficcy against serious disease that are
(07:59):
shown to be clearly safe. That vaccine was actually developed
in my institute's vaccine research Center by a team of
scientists led by doctor Barney Graham and his close colleague,
doctor Kismikia Corbett r Kizziy Corbett Kizzy is an African
American scientist who's right at the forefront of the development
of the vaccine. Doctor Corbett's talent, determination, curiosity, and empathy
(08:20):
manifested from a young age, and she secured awards and
monetary funding for her university studies, and she got a
spot as an intern at the National Institutes of Health.
For her PhD, she studied immunology and microbiology while also
working as a research assistant studying viral infections. In twenty fourteen,
she took a post doc position at the NIH's Vaccine
(08:42):
Research Center. In January twenty twenty, doctor Corbett received an
email from one of her coworkers basically telling her and
her teammates to buckle up that their training was about
to be put to use, and yes, yes it was.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It was.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh got Yes. Doctor Corbett has spoken about her experience
as a black woman, a doctor and the importance of visibility.
I felt like it was necessary to be seen and
not to be a hidden figure, so to speak, she said.
I felt that it was important to do that because
the level of visibility that it would have to younger
scientists and also to people of color who have often
(09:16):
worked behind the scenes and essentially who have done the
dirty work for these large efforts towards a vaccine. This
person who looks like you has been working on this
for several years, and I also wanted it to be
visible because I wanted people to understand that I stood
by the work that I'd done for so long as well.
And she's also been really vocal about the disproportionate impact
of COVID on black communities, and I think every woman
(09:40):
on here we could do a whole episode on like
we're doing kind of a brief bio in these but
her story is really inspiring and fascinating. And also Maderna
is the vaccine that I am getting. So also by
Dolly Pardon, Yes, that was a legitimate reaction to.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So many good things that And yeah, doctor Corbett has
also been keeping a kind of thread on her Twitter
about her presenting about the vaccine and she has been
a really big proponent in talking to the black community
about what the vaccine is. And because let's be honest,
there's a lot of distrust when it comes to medicine
(10:19):
in the black community. Rightly so, yeah, rightly so, and
they should be suspicious and I would be suspicious. I
am suspicious sometimes, I mean for sure. But she has
been on the forefront and trying to talk about it
and how it is important and what she did and
making sure that this vaccine was safe and also that
(10:40):
it was accessible. So kudos to doctor Corbett. And now
we want to move on to doctor Rachel Sneersen born
in Warsaw, Poland in nineteen thirty two, who earned her
medical degree from Hadasa Medical School at the Hebrew University
in Jerusalem, and she was best known for her work
on the Himophilus influenze type B or hib which is
(11:00):
a bacterium that was one of the principal causes of
meningitis and pneumonia and responsible for over three million serious
illnesses and over three hundred and seventy five thousand deaths
in children around the world. She came to work as
an instructor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for
the Department of Pediatrics and the Laboratory of Imminology. There
she met doctor John B. Robbins, who would move on
(11:22):
to the Division of bacterial Products in nineteen seventy four
and then came back round to the National Institute of
Child Health Development or the NICHD in nineteen eighty three,
and it was during this time doctor Schneerson and doctor
Robbins were able to help create the vaccine through use
of conjugates, which helped make the vaccine safer and more
effective for younger children and as young as I believe
(11:44):
two months old, and this process of conjugating would later
be used to help create other vaccines for diseases such
as whooping cough, typhoid, and certain types of malaria, in
even anthrax, and through her work she has received many
different awards such as the Albert Laskar Clinical Medical Research
Award in ninety six, the World Health Organization Children's Vaccine Initiative,
(12:06):
Pastor Award, Infectious Disease Society of American Citation Award, and
was also elated to the NICHD Hall of Honor, and
she was eventually named as head of the Section of
Vectial Disease, pathogenicis and Immunity with doctor Robbins and finally
retired in twenty twelve. Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, that's a lot of awards.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
They saved a lot of lives and yet, by the way,
the disease is fairly pretty much eradicated and has not
been seen by the new medical field that they have
not seen it since then.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Dang, Well, we have some more women we want to highlight,
but first we have a quick break for word from
her sponsor. Am were back, Thank you sponsor. Okay, So
(13:02):
now let's talk about Mary Geynan. Her story is amazing.
I can't believe I hadn't heard it before. So after
earning her PhD in physiology, graduating from John Hopkins University
School of Medicine, and completing a residency, Doctor Geynan began
working at the Centers for Disease Control of Prevention in
nineteen seventy four, and this is when only ten percent
(13:23):
of medical graduates were women. She started out in the
Epidemic Intelligence Service or the EIS, which is often described
by her too as the Medical FBI, where she studied
global disease outbreaks. She was the only woman of thirty
nine physicians. Through this, she helped out on a smallpox
eradication campaign and for her work, the World Health Organization
(13:47):
awarded her the Noble Order of the Bifurcated Needle in
nineteen seventy six. What a name, I tell you what
the name. But all of this was after her application
to volunteer with india smallpox eradication program was denied twice.
She was told it was because the World Health Organization
and India weren't really looking for women to volunteer. Thank you.
(14:10):
So Guynan asked if India's Prime Minister at the time,
who was a woman, knew about this. And after that,
after Guidan was like, asked about that, and then she
was like, let me speak to your manager. She was
given a spot on the Operations Smallpox zero team and
(14:31):
apparently an elephant became a part of their effort for
transport over flooded rivers. I really wanted to go way
in depth into this, and I was like, Annie, we
have to make this one episode. At the time she
started researching sexually transmitted diseases. She went back to the
CDC two years later in nineteen seventy eight, to work
in the Veneural Disease Control Division as a clinical investigator.
(14:55):
Do her work in this field, she became known as
a national expert on genital herpes, which happens somewhat accidentally.
The media sometimes called her doctor Condom or doctor Herpes.
She basically she appeared in an interview where the chiron
below her was like std expert and she did not
(15:16):
know what was going to say that, and then every
other news outlet contacted her. It was like, we need
you to come talk about this. She was worried about
the reaction of her religious conservative mother when appearing on
TV to discuss sexually transmitted diseases. Apparently her mother never
even said sex, but after watching her on sixty minutes,
(15:37):
her mother allegedly said, congratulations, dear, your hair looked very nice.
Such a mother.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Mother thing to do.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yes, I don't want to touch on these other subjects.
But your hair looks good.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah. Yeah, And guy didn't even turned down that appearance
on sixty Minutes because she was kind of frustrated with
the media's coverage of STDs sdis and also she was
worried about her mother, but the CDC pressured her into
doing it, and she once said after reporter asked her
if you could get AIDS from a toilet seat quote,
the only way that I know you can get AIDS
(16:12):
is if you sit on it before someone else gets up. Yeah.
She was full of those kind of comments. Doctor Gynan
attempted to draw attention to the AIDS epidemic in the
nineteen eighties, but found that the media was reluctant to
cover it since early reports seemed to suggest it mainly
impacted the homosexual community. She, along with the CDC, worked
(16:33):
to raise support awareness around AIDS. Doctor Geyan set up
the CDC's AIDS Task Force. Because of her work, she
was promoted in nineteen eighty four to the CDC's Associate
Director for the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and she
became the CDC's first female Chief Scientific Advisor From nineteen
ninety to nineteen ninety five, she acted as Chief of
(16:55):
Evaluation for the country's HIV prevention program. She's a founding
d at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of
Public Health and has done extensive research into childhood leukemia.
Her work with AIDS was the topic of the book
and later HBO documentary and the band played on. Apparently,
(17:16):
she is only in one scene in the movie, where
she is baking a cake. Guynan said of this, they
didn't know how to portray a woman scientist. In twenty sixteen,
she published the book Adventures of a Female Medical Detective
in Pursuit of Smallpox and AIDS. Wow, that's a great title.
I know. I want to read it.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I want you.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Let's get it. Maybe a book club, yes, think about
how that would translate to a book club. But and
next we're going to talk about Julie Linn Wong. Doctor
Wong not only is a physician and public health specialist,
but she is an expert in robotics and space medicine.
The Harvard and educated doctor has made history by combining
her knowledge of robotics technology with my medicine. In twenty eleven,
(18:01):
doctor Wong founded the three D four MD with the
idea of using three D printers, solo powered and easily
portable to print healthcare supplies in remote communities, and by
creating affordable three D templates, it would help create low
cost medical supplies on demand. And it's so small it
can fit into a carry on bag for easy travel
from global areas that are hard to get to to
(18:24):
even space. Dumb, dumb, dumb, that's so cool, right, And
speaking of space, doctor Wang was selected to participate in
a thirty days simulated mission at NASA's Johnson Space Center
in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of the Space Shuttle
Challenger tragedy. Wong served as the mission's flight engineer, and
then in twenty seventeen, astronauts actually used a three D
(18:44):
printer for medical supplies using her blueprints from three D
four MD, so they were able to actually create like
finger splinters and all of that while in space, which
what I know. And by the way, my partner, who
loves three D printers and has three, was very excited
when I started talking about this, and she didn't stop there.
(19:08):
She founded the Medical Makers, which is a network to
bring others to build and use their skills and creativity
to continue to fight for humanitarian issues and build sustainable
solutions through technology all over the world.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I love this. I feel like that's another great example
of when you specialize in a thing, like, don't limit
yourself to that one field, right, it can work in
different spaces.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And also she seems to be the overachiever that I'm
scared of that. I'm like, oh my god, You're the
one everybody talks about that can do everything.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Don't be scared. Don't be scared. We do have a
few more women we want a spotlight, but first we
have one more quick break for word from a sponsor,
(20:02):
a fact thank you sponsored.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And earlier in the episode, we talked about the amazing
works doctor Corbett did that helped develop Maderna, but we
also wanted to look at the biologists that laid down
the groundwork to help develop that, as well as the
Pfizer Biointech vaccine, which is doctor Katie Courico and doctor
Perico originally came from Hungary, moved to the US in
her early twenties, and though she's now being recognized for
(20:28):
our titleist work, she was barely making it through in
the world of academia until recently, and like me in
the field, she had difficulty in getting both funding or
even being properly compensated for her work. As a colleague
stated quote, when your idea is against the conventional wisdom,
that makes sense to the star chamber, but it's very
hard to break out. But today she's being recognized for
(20:50):
her breakout studies in mRNA, which is the quote genetic
script that carries the DNA instructions to each sales protein
making machinery. Just to give an next one. And thanks
to her continued work with mRNA, she has helped create
a path to these different vaccines. And doctor Vacci stated, quote,
it has already transformed COVID nineteen, but also other vaccines HIV,
(21:12):
and people in the field are excited influenza, malaria, and
he's talking about how it's going to help create vaccines
for these different things. And doctor Carico never held back.
She was known for her intensity and dedication in working
on her research. Her husband talked about how she was
constantly working, whether it was night and day or even
the weekend, and he actually broke down her pay as
(21:33):
being less than a dollar an hour. For all the
time she has been on it, but apparently she just
didn't care about the money. It was about her work.
She earned her PhD at the University of Sega, then
moved to Philadelphia in nineteen eighty five to continue her
research at Temple University, and she did continue throughout her career,
though she would be rejected and continually overlooked. She worked
(21:54):
with different colleagues and different avenues until finally she and
doctor Weisman were able to show progress in their work
were able to get grants from both Maderna and Biointech,
and on November eighth, the testing showed that the mRNA
that she's been studying actually offered powerful immunity to COVID nineteen,
and she and doctor Weisman were able to get their
vaccine publicly during a press conference on December eighteenth of
(22:18):
twenty twenty, and she was applauded as well as he
was by their peers when they made the announcement, Hey,
the people who helped create this vaccine is here. So
they were given a round of applause by their coworkers,
and she apparently celebrated with just the box of goobers,
which she ate all by herself. Not really sure why
that was the way they put it. I guess maybe
(22:38):
she wasn't able to And she told her husband that
it worked, and her response was I thought so. I
thought that was really fun because it just seemed like
she had been working so hard, to the point that
she had changed hands essentially of who was working with
her and her advisors, and she never stopped. Even people
were like, this is not working. We don't care, she
(22:59):
believed yeah, and because of heart, we were able to
get a vaccine so quickly.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah. And I think because there's been some publicity obviously
about people who have been working on the vaccine, and
so stories about her have come out recently, and I
feel like she really wants an HIV vaccine, Like that's
what is.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Right driving her. Apparently, during one of her conversations with
one of her staff members that she was working with,
said can you get a vaccine for HIV? She's like, yeah,
I can do that, and she has and I think
she continued to work for that. So that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, very determined. So now let's end with doctor Francoise
Barre Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine in twenty eighteen quote for their discovery of human
immuno deficiency virus. Born in Paris, France, in nineteen forty
seven at doctor Barret Sinusi loved nature from a young
age and in her words, her path was determined largely
(23:56):
by what her and her family could afford. She's started
volunteering at Paris's Institute Pasteur, and by nineteen seventy five
she had earned her PhD. In nineteen eighty three, she
along with Luke Montaigner, discovered the retrovirus that would later
be called human immuno deficiency virus or HIV, which has
(24:19):
proven to be the cause for AIDS. That year, she
was the first author on the paper that reported on
this discovery. She'd been researching retroviruses since the nineteen seventies.
She headed up her own lab at the Institute Pasteur
in nineteen eighty eight, where she launched several programs looking
into HIVAIDS, including vaccine research. She is in charge of
(24:42):
the Regulation of Retroviral Infection unit at the Institute Pastor
in Paris, where she's also emeritus professor. She was elected
to the French Academy of Science in two thousand and nine,
and from twenty twelve to twenty fourteen she became President
of the International Aid Society. She's been prolific when it
comes to paper as well, authoring or co authoring over
two hundred and seventy original publications and lots lots of
(25:05):
lots more. Her discovery and part led to the development
of life saving drugs that saved millions of lives. However,
more than thirty eight million around the world live with
HIV and not all of them can get treatment. So
doctor Barra Senu C's work continues as well, which I
think I feel like we see in all of these
women this dedication and determination and just to say, I
(25:29):
know that we didn't always put the doctor before their name,
but it's there. The respect is there. Respect. Honestly, this
is amazing. We're talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
The amount of achievement that they've done, the amount of
work and blood, sweat and tears. I can't imagine that
they've had to do and even to fight to be
there and to be hard. Yeah, and the fact that
they had to work to be taken seriously and continue
to have to work to be seen even is a
whole other conversation yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Level of impact they've had on our everyday lives, often
unnoticed or unspoken about, is really it's amazing the work
that they've done. We could definitely go further in depth.
Let us know about something you want, and we know
there's so many more stories we could talk about, so
if you have any suggestions, as always, please send them
(26:23):
our away Hola. Yes, you can email us at stuff Media,
Moomstuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on
Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or on Instagram at stuff
I Never Told You. Thanks as always to our super
producer Christina hey Yo, thank you, thank you, and thanks
to you for listening. Steffan Never Told You inspection of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(26:46):
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