David Blistein

Based on the PBS documentary by Ken Burns, Erik Ewers, and Christopher Loren Ewers. On September 30, 1889, W.W. Mayo and his sons Will and Charlie performed the very first operation at a brand-new Catholic hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. It was called Saint Marys. The hospital arose out of the devastation of a tornado that had struck the town six years earlier. After the storm, Mother Alfred Moes of the Sisters of Saint Francis told the Mayos that...

Presents a history of cancer, from ancient times to the present day. Includes stories of contemporary patients and examines the latest scientific research which might indicate that we are on the brink of a lasting cure.

Opioid addiction is fast becoming the most deadly crisis in American history. In 2017, it claimed nearly fifty thousand lives -- more than gunshots and car crashes combined, and almost as many Americans as were killed in the entire Vietnam War. But even as the overdose crisis ravages our nation -- straining our prison system, dividing families, and defying virtually every legislative solution to treat it-- few understand how it came to be. Opium tells...

"Scientific genetics, little more than a century old, holds at once the promise of eradicating disease and the threat of altering the very essence of what it means to be human. It traces the dizzying evolution of this new science as researchers race to identify treatments for genetic diseases, such as cancer and sickle cell anemia, and to perfect tools for rewriting DNA." --

"Discover the story of the renowned institution that has been called a 'Medical Mecca', the 'Supreme Court of Medicine', and the 'place for hope when there is no hope'." --