PODCAST

Research Translation Podcast

David Newman

Translating Medical and Health Research For All researchtranslation.substack.com

science

All Episodes

19:58

A Cholesterol Study, Straight Out Of Central Casting

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/04/09

I hope you will forgive the mini-barrage. I don’t usually clutter inboxes, but the timely publication of a trial that fits, hand-in-glove, with the current series was too much temptation. To understand what’s gone wrong in cholesterol research, and what my 4-part series is about, you don’t need a theory. You just need a trial.The one published last night in the New England Journal of Medicine, and delivered straight to my inbox, is as clean an example as you’ll find—and it’s right on time.Patients

38:03

Cholesterol: The Big Mistake

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/04/08

The AHA’s cholesterol guideline cites a large review of trials from 2012 as the principal evidence for treating cholesterol in healthy people. The following table is from that review, webfigure 9, in the supplement. It’s okay for your eyes to glaze over, I’ll summarize the important parts.People in statin trials were assessed for their 5-year risk of having a heart problem. The table, which shows deaths in statin and placebo groups, divides people by this risk. The first two rows are the lowest

19:27

Cardiology's Nonfatal (Fatal) Mistake

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/04/01

Author note: What follows is part 2 of a series intended to summarize and explain just how, historically, we went off the rails with cholesterol. Check out part 1 here.In the early 1990s, Eugene Braunwald and the cardiology community had a problem.In the throes of a major heart attack new clot-buster drugs and angioplasty procedures were working—saving lives. Cardiologists could see it even months later, in the clinic.But they couldn’t see it in the data.Published trials were short, lasting weeks or

20:33

The First Cholesterol Mistake

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/03/28

The AHA’s new cholesterol guideline is asking professionals to start earlier, screen more, and treat cholesterol more aggressively, decades before any heart or vascular disease could plausibly occur. What follows, therefore, is the first of a series in which I will attempt to show how doctors (and most others) have misunderstood the science on cholesterol, from the beginning. I will be citing and showing original data from seminal studies, to help clarify what went wrong in translation, and how we

27:04

Cholesterol and Bloodletting

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/03/20

In the early 19th century, the French physician Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis did something medicine had rarely done before: he counted.At the time, bloodletting was standard. It was elegant, logical, and universally accepted. If an imbalance of humors caused disease, removing blood should fix it. The theory made sense. The practice was everywhere.Louis compared outcomes among patients with pneumonia who were bled early and aggressively to those who were not, and found that bloodletting didn’t

19:12

A Curious Surgery

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/03/13

Earlier this week media reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.That’s interesting. Not just because I wrote about rotator cuff surgery last week.Kennedy has spent years arguing that medical treatments should be recommended only after they’re proven to work in rigorous trials.Which raises the inevitable question: What do rigorous trials show about rotator cuff surgery?RT is 100% reader-supported. To help it continue,

12:22

Orthopedic Surgery’s Big Problem

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/03/06

I used to do a lot of push-ups. Then, one day, my right shoulder abruptly said no más. Coincidentally, days later I saw my doctor. To be clear, I live by “See doctors, not too much, only when sick,” but my insurance policy insists on an annual visit. So once a year I skulk into the office and prove why doctors make awful patients—particularly when they’re washed-up, windbag, wiseacres who don’t practice medicine.To his credit, however, my doctor is kind and attentive, and quickly noticed my wincing

17:47

How to Spot a Misleading Cancer Screening Study...

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/02/19

Get full access to Research Translation at researchtranslation.substack.com/subscribe

20:28

The Case of the Missing Heart Attack

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/02/11

When Arthur Conan Doyle wanted Sherlock Holmes to show off, he didn’t give him a bloody fingerprint or a dropped monocle. He gave him a dog that didn’t bark.In Silver Blaze, the silence was the clue. The horse didn’t vanish because of a stranger—the stable dog knew the intruder. The absence of noise told Holmes everything.That’s where we are with the newest trial of PCSK9s, a class of drug that dramatically lowers cholesterol levels.At first glance, the study looks like a triumph of modern

42:54

Selling the Newest Flu Drug: A Masterclass in...

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/01/29

When readers sent me media articles touting baloxavir (‘Xofluza’), I started looking. In the interim, Sensible Medicine, a wonderful Substack by evidence-based doctors, published a podcast, and today a written piece, recommending the drug. I believe they have it deeply wrong. Fun! Check it out, tell me what you think.When I was seven years old I tried hard to see through a frosted glass window. My pediatrician, a silly and smiley man with a nasal voice, stood behind me. “You see that, across the

24:27

Autism, Tylenol, and the FDA

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/01/23

Below marks my first critique of politics, and you’ll see why. For background: I have no political affiliation and do not care for party politics. Years ago I became deeply disenchanted with parties of all stripes. I do not seek a packaged bundle of beliefs or positions—I have my own. I care what works, one issue at a time, and I’m open. What I cannot stand, the attribute that repels me most, is the abuse and distortion of truth. On Tuesday the New England Journal of (oddly partisan) Medicine

39:10

Vitamins, Vaccines, Alcohol, and the Flu—HodgePodge 2026

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/01/16

This week is an audio hodgepodge—lagniappe, if you will—a chance to discuss and explore recent headlines. Enjoy!Here are some of the relevant RT and news links.WSJ on vitamins-Vitamins piece on RTNYT on recent vaccine changes-Vaccines piece on RT (Covid for children, and related discussion)NY Times on Alcohol and Cancer, Alcohol and cardiovascular disease -Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, and alcohol pieces on RT (relation to cancer)YLE on antivirals-Tamiflu, antivirals, and other flu treatments on RT

17:47

Aspirin and Donald Trump: Schadenfreude Alert

Research Translation Podcast ·

2026/01/06

“Meet Virginia” is, I believe, one of the great rock singles of recent decades. It opens with a blue-sy, core-bending bassline and a thirsty guitar riff, as Pat Monahan etches a fantasy vamp. You will not forget Virginia.“Train” is the band’s eponymous first album, and with other tracks like “Free”, “I Am”, “Egglpant”, and “Rat”, it does not falter. Incredibly, it’s nearly matched by “Drops of Jupiter”, their second album. “She’s on Fire” and “It’s About You” are lyrically brilliant curtains of

21:06

Flu Vaccine and Dog Park Etiquette

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/12/24

I wrote and posted this last year, but with the respiratory season now gripping local and national stats—and me spending time with my family, including two boys with the flu—I thought I’d repost this for anyone interested. Turns out no new flu research has changed anything below. And for a list of prior dives into flu-related studies (including a treatment that works!) see the links at the bottom of the page. Happy Holidays, everyone!My boys found our dog, Jazz, earlier this year. She was eating out

22:52

Does Reducing Blood Sugar Prevent Heart Disease?

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/12/19

More than a decade ago, large data reviews found that using drugs to tightly control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes does more harm than good. In careful studies, it didn’t save lives, reduce heart problems, or prevent kidney failure. And while on rare occasions it helped to avoid or delay limb amputations (1 in 250 people), forty times more often it caused life-threatening episodes of low blood sugar (1 in 6 people).These findings, and the fact that newer drugs prevent heart problems and

15:12

The Deception of Absolute vs Relative: Once You Get...

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/12/10

Get full access to Research Translation at researchtranslation.substack.com/subscribe

9:57

The Arterial Line and the Illusion of Knowing

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/11/26

Every generation of medicine has its totems—high-tech gizmos that measure, promising mastery over the human form if we can just capture the numbers precisely, continuously, and in triplicate. For my teachers the Swan–Ganz, a fancy catheter snaked into the hearts of ICU patients, held this role.It offered heart and capillary pressures, saturations, and cardiac outputs to two decimal places. More numbers than any mortal clinician could use. And yet, even with the full force of physiology, the

19:30

Masks, Crocodiles, and Meds: How a Prestigious...

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/11/21

During the pandemic we were treated to a common, but curious site in traffic: A driver gliding by, alone in the car, windows up—wearing a mask. Like Covid was hiding in the glove compartment. It’s tough to count the things that went wrong to make such a moment possible. For starters, masking during Covid wasn’t to protect the wearer. It was to protect people from the wearer. Masking alone, in a car, protects exactly no one. Also, research suggests that at best, masks probably do very little. To

8:34

The Elaborate, Expensive Act We Call Cancer Screening

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/11/10

As you can probably tell I’m frustrated with modern medicine’s apparent immunity to evidence, so I hope you’ll suffer my rant-y, short essay this week.Research Translation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.“Modern medicine tells its own story, one that always begins with control and ends with rescue.”— Arthur W. Frank, The Wounded StorytellerSometimes modern medicine is less a science than a theater of control

31:21

The Myth of Early Detection

Research Translation Podcast ·

2025/10/30

Imagine a weatherman who’s wrong 97% of the time he predicts rain. Picnics and ballgames canceled, flights rerouted, bikes garaged. Yet somehow, he has fans—devout ones—who revel in warning their neighbors about coming storms.“Stock up!” they cry, taping their windows.“Oh my! Thank you!” the neighbors reply.Worse, this weatherman also misses a third of real storms, sending his fans to the beach just as the cats and dogs start flying.Research Translation is 100% reader-supported. If you dig it

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