Rotations

50 episodes listed below

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Medicine with the surrounding world left in.

The gist

Rotations treats medicine as a human system, not just a set of diagnoses. Across long-form conversations, Todd Fredericks and his guests move from ophthalmology and primary care to military deployment, public health, immersive technology, ethics, and the social pressures around care.

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About Rotations

Rotations is a medical storytelling and science conversation show with a distinctly working-clinician sensibility. It is not polished into a narrow interview format. The show allows digressions, false starts, personal context, and long chains of thought, which gives its best episodes the feel of a candid office conversation that kept going because the subject mattered. Todd Fredericks often frames topics from inside academic medicine, primary care, military service, and the practical obligations of teaching. That perspective shapes the show. Clinical details matter, but they are rarely isolated from the systems around them. In the ophthalmology conversations with Bryant Giles, basic eye evaluation becomes a lesson in why primary care habits affect vision outcomes. A stained eye, a flipped lid, a useful description to an ophthalmologist: small acts carry weight. The same series also follows the path into ophthalmology residency, chief resident responsibilities, surgical goals, lenses, refraction, and the ordinary reasons a specialty becomes a life. Other episodes widen the lens. John Bowditch brings GRID Lab work into conversations about gaming technology, immersive design, deepfakes, copyright, public-domain likenesses, augmented reality, and the question of who owns a person’s image or data. Those technology threads bend back toward medicine through electronic health records and the risks of inaccurate portraits of a patient. Public health appears through COVID vaccine uptake, mask behavior, economics, social proof, and the different pressures faced by different communities. The show also makes room for war, deployment, Afghanistan, and the long aftermath of decisions made far from home. Its psychology conversations push against a narrow view of medical training, arguing that family medicine is inseparable from depression, abuse, addiction, work, family stress, and the people who never make it to primary care at all. Rotations can be blunt. It can be meandering. Its value is the way it keeps medicine connected to culture, technology, ethics, teaching, and lived experience without sanding off the awkward edges.

Made for: For listeners who like clinical conversation with real-world context: medical students, clinicians, educators, health-policy observers, and curious science listeners comfortable with long, reflective discussions.

What sets it apart: Rotations stands apart by letting medical topics collide with deployment, technology ethics, psychology, public health, and teaching practice in the same conversation. It favors lived reasoning over tidy segments.

In their own words

Welcome to Rotations. Rotations is the weekly (with our best efforts sometimes thwarted) podcast of all things medical and science and is part of the Media in Medicine family of medical storytelling. Visit us at mediainmedicine.com/rotations for more information!

Why you'd press play

A 'pink eye' label meets dye and a Woods lamp; your curiosity gets a closer look.

Press play if you want

  • to hear Todd Fredericks press an ophthalmologist on the eye checks that make a referral useful
  • to hear why future doctors should learn to see the person beyond the injury
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
medical educationprimary care practiceophthalmology and eye evaluationCOVID public health behaviormilitary deployment and Afghanistanaugmented reality and deepfakeselectronic health recordspsychology in family medicine

Talks about

Best episodes of Rotations

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

John Bowditch Mr. GridLab Episode 2Nov 1, 2021

A GRID Lab conversation that follows gaming technology into augmented reality, disinformation, and perception-shaping layers.

Rotations stays with Todd Fredericks' hour-long conversation with John Bowditch, returning to the GRID Lab and Bowditch's explanation of its work in game research and immersive design.

John Bowditch, Mr. GRID LabOct 14, 2021

A loose but thoughtful episode on deepfakes, medical records, and who controls a person's identity.

Ownership gives this single episode its shape, though it arrives by a wandering route. The host starts with an affectionate, unsolicited case for the Rodecaster Pro, then moves through deployment and age before landing on deepfakes, public-domain likenesses, and the legal…

Rotations Labor Day 2021…We are Back…Sep 6, 2021

Todd Fredericks reflects on Afghanistan, civilian clinical medicine, and why war's aftermath continues after the last troops leave.

Rotations brings back Todd Fredericks, DO, Associate Professor of Primary Care at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, speaking from his new office in Irvine 226 as he prepares for his first civilian clinical shift after time away from clinical medicine.

Bryant Giles DO , Ophthalmology Episode IIIMar 31, 2021

A practical ophthalmology episode links diopters and cataract planning with the everyday reality of severe myopia.

Optical prescription gives this episode its path into ophthalmology, with Todd Fredericks, DO, and Brian Giles, DO, moving from diopters and focal points to the way severe myopia changes a Snellen chart.

Bryant Giles DO Ophthalmology Episode IIMar 16, 2021

A chief resident's eye-triage perspective turns a simple stain into a meaningful clinical habit.

Rotations pairs Todd Fredericks, DO, with Brian Giles, an ophthalmologist in his last year of residency and already a chief resident, for a grounded look at eye complaints that can appear routine.

Podcasts like Rotations

Episodes

  1. 1

    John Bowditch Mr. GridLab Episode 2

    Hidden gem

    John Bowditch says the GRID Lab at Ohio University moved from a public arcade above Court Street into a research lab for simulation, education, and training.

    Nov 1, 2021·36m·3 clips
  2. 2

    John Bowditch, Mr. GRID Lab

    Hidden gem

    ["Rotations pairs Todd Fredericks with John Bowditch, the OU Grid Lab director, for a long conversation about AI likeness, digital privacy, and COVID-era medicine.", "Fredericks opens by talking about his Rodecaster Pro, his 56-year-old return from deployment, and hybrid work that saves him an hour of commuting.", "He then shifts to COVID boosters and mandates, saying his mother should get a booster, that FDA, Moderna, and Pfizer consensus matters, and that coercion can weaken trust.", "Bowditch later connects Anthony Bourdain's AI-generated voice, social-media siloing, and the warning that 'the internet is forever' for posts, records, and images."]

    Oct 14, 2021·59m·4 clips
  3. 3

    Rotations Labor Day 2021…We are Back…

    Hidden gem

    Todd Fredericks returns to Rotations after months on active duty in the Middle East and a year of COVID duty, saying he is only now regaining the headspace to record.

    Sep 6, 2021·33m·2 clips
  4. 4

    Bryant Giles DO , Ophthalmology Episode III

    Hidden gem

    Rotations with Todd Fredericks, DO and Brian Giles, DO centers on ophthalmology at Joint Base San Antonio, starting with the way Alta and other EHR systems slow down patient care.

    Mar 31, 2021·54m·5 clips
  5. 5

    Bryant Giles DO Ophthalmology Episode II

    Hidden gem

    Brian Giles says conjunctivitis is the red-eye problem family medicine should handle before referral, and he ties that to careful history, lid-flipping, and fluorescein staining.

    Mar 16, 2021·39m·2 clips
  6. 6

    Bryant Giles DO Ophthalmology Episode 1

    Hidden gem

    Rotations host Todd Fredericks interviews Captain Bryant Giles, a fourth-year U.S.

    Jan 5, 2021·39m·2 clips
  7. 7

    Bryant Giles DO Intro and COVID Vaccine Status 20201224

    Hidden gem

    Todd Fredericks of Rotations discusses COVID-19 vaccine distribution, emergency use authorization, and the phase-four data collection beginning in December 2020.

    Dec 24, 2020·30m·2 clips
  8. 8

    Dawn Graham PhD Episode 3

    Hidden gem

    Todd Fredericks and Don Graham discuss why medical students and physicians need behavioral-health training alongside treatment for physical injuries.

    Dec 17, 2020·44m·3 clips
  9. 9

    COVID Update 20201204

    Hidden gem

    Dr.

    Dec 4, 2020·58m·3 clips
  10. 10

    Dawn Graham PhD Episode 2

    Hidden gem

    Dawn Graham describes 47 patients at Logansport State Psychiatric Hospital whose apparent psychiatric crises sometimes reflected untreated thyroid problems or type 2 diabetes.

    Dec 4, 2020·48m·3 clips
  11. 11

    Dawn Graham, PhD Psychologist Episode 1

    Nov 15, 2020·34m
  12. 12

    An Intro to Psychology

    Nov 12, 2020·37m
  13. 13

    Neil Copeland MD Pediatrics Episode 3

    Oct 28, 2020·52m
  14. 14

    Neil Copeland MD Pediatrics Episode 2

    Oct 20, 2020·41m
  15. 15

    Neil Copeland MD, Pediatrician Episode 1

    Oct 12, 2020·41m
  16. 16

    COVID 20200903 Update

    Sep 30, 2020·38m
  17. 17

    Trauma Informed Care Episode 3

    Sep 20, 2020·37m
  18. 18

    Trauma Informed Care Episode 2

    Sep 1, 2020·39m
  19. 19

    Trauma Informed Care Episode 1

    Aug 19, 2020·33m
  20. 20

    Intro to Trauma

    Aug 18, 2020·15m
  21. 21

    Melissa Thomas PhD, Health Care and the Amish, Episode 3

    Aug 10, 2020·57m
  22. 22

    A COVID-19 Intermission 6 August 2020

    Aug 6, 2020·17m
  23. 23

    Melissa Thomas PhD Health Care and the Amish Episode 2

    Jul 13, 2020·46m
  24. 24

    Melissa Thomas PhD Life Studying Amish Atmospherics Episode 1

    Jul 3, 2020·39m
  25. 25

    John Bishara DO, Pediatric Pulmonologist in the time of COVID-19, Episode 3

    Jun 23, 2020·1h 9m
  26. 26

    Wendy Dean MD and Simon Talbot MD; Moral Injury, Episode 2

    Jun 16, 2020·42m
  27. 27

    John Bishara DO; Pediatric Pulmonologist in the age of COVID-19, Episode 2

    Jun 15, 2020·47m
  28. 28

    John Bishara DO: Pulmonologist in the Age of COVID-19 Episode 1

    Jun 11, 2020·41m
  29. 29

    Wendy Dean MD and Simon Talbot MD Moral Injury

    Jun 10, 2020·42m
  30. 30

    John Bishara DO; Pulmonologist. Episode 1

    Jun 10, 2020·41m
  31. 31

    Wendy Dean MD and Simon Talbot MD Moral Injury Intro

    Jun 7, 2020·20m
  32. 32

    Todd Jamrose DO, Psychiatrist, Physician Episodes 2/3 A TWOFER!

    Jun 1, 2020·1h 19m
  33. 33

    Todd Jamrose DO; Psychiatrist and Medicine Man Episode 1

    May 24, 2020·36m
  34. 34

    David Morton PhD, The Noted Anatomist, Episode 3

    May 18, 2020·49m
  35. 35

    David Morton PhD The Noted Anatomist Episode 3

    May 18, 2020·49m
  36. 36

    David Morton PhD The Noted Anatomist Episode 2

    May 11, 2020·29m
  37. 37

    David Morton PhD The Noted Anatomist Episode 1

    May 4, 2020·37m
  38. 38

    Nisarg Bakshi DO Episode 2

    Apr 30, 2020·44m
  39. 39

    Nisarg Bakshi OMS 4 Episode 1

    A medical podcast that interviews interesting people in the field of medicine and science.

    Apr 13, 2020·40m
  40. 40

    COVID - 19 V

    A podcast covering all things medical and science, produced by Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

    Mar 31, 2020·46m
  41. 41

    COVID - 19 IV I found some Students!!!

    The host struggles with technical difficulties while preparing to interview guests about medical and science topics.

    Mar 23, 2020·1h 13m
  42. 42

    Corona III

    A medical podcast introducing the host and setting the stage for discussions on science and medicine.

    Mar 17, 2020·52m
  43. 43

    Corona II: Or what I learned in OCP this week...

    Mar 14, 2020·1h 20m
  44. 44

    Corona Update

    Dr.

    Mar 11, 2020·38m
  45. 45

    Jason McMullan MD Emergency Medicine Physician in the Field, Episode 3

    An interview with Dr.

    Mar 2, 2020·49m
  46. 46

    Jason McMullan MD: Emergency Medicine Physician in the Field, Episode 2

    An interview with an emergency medicine physician about fellowship training in pre-hospital medicine.

    Feb 24, 2020·34m
  47. 47

    Jason McMullan MD: Emergency Medicine Physician in the Field, Episode 1

    Feb 17, 2020·30m
  48. 48

    The Oscars 2020

    The host discusses a scientist with a service animal and accessibility issues, tying into a project about service dogs for veterans with PTSD.

    Feb 15, 2020·30m
  49. 49

    Canine Officer Nigel Allsopp: Dogs and Humans and other Animals Episode 3

    Feb 10, 2020·54m
  50. 50

    Canine Officer Nigel Allsopp: Dogs and Humans and other Animals Episode 2

    Feb 3, 2020·45m