Welcome to the very first episode of Medicine and the Healing Arts, presented by the MIT Global Humanities Initiative.
In this opening episode, hosts Profs. Michael Stanley-Baker and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim introduce the podcast and reflect on the paths that brought them to the history of medicine and the healing arts. They share how their thinking and scholarly practice have developed over time, the questions that continue to animate their work, and some of the encounters, insights and formative moments that have shaped the way they understand medicine, healing, history and care.
Across the series, Michael and Ronit will be joined by scholars, practitioners and thinkers to explore historically rooted medical knowledge as a resource for rethinking health, illness, care and well-being in the present. Together, they consider how different cultures and traditions have understood the body, healing, suffering, environment and the meaning of health.
This first episode sets out the central questions of the podcast: what can ancient Asian medicine, global healing traditions and the long history of medical knowledge teach us about the challenges facing medicine today?
Subscribe to Medicine and the Healing Arts wherever you get your podcasts for thoughtful conversations with scholars and practitioners on Asian medicine, religion, history, healing and the questions they raise for health today.



