The 15 Best Doctors Podcasts (2026)

If you work in internal medicine and you haven't found The Curbsiders yet, you're genuinely missing out on one of the most useful medical podcasts around. Hosts Matthew Watto and Paul Williams bring in expert guests each week to break down clinical topics in a way that actually sticks. They've put out over 500 episodes, and the format is refreshingly consistent: a specialist sits down with the hosts, walks through a clinical problem, and drops practical pearls you can use the next day on rounds.

What makes this show stand out from the flood of medical education content is the tone. Watto and Williams are funny without being goofy about it, and they ask the kinds of questions a real clinician would ask -- not just textbook prompts. You'll hear them push back, admit confusion, and genuinely learn alongside the listener. Episodes run about 70 to 90 minutes, which is long, but they pack enough substance that you won't feel like it drags.

The guest list is impressive too. Recent episodes have featured cardiologists, endocrinologists, and sleep medicine researchers from major academic centers. The show has built a loyal following of over 100,000 health professionals per month, and for good reason. It earned a 4.8-star rating across more than 3,200 reviews on Apple Podcasts. If you're a resident, hospitalist, or primary care doc looking for CME-quality content with personality baked in, The Curbsiders is one of the best things you can put in your earbuds during a commute.

If you operate or plan to, Behind The Knife is basically required listening at this point. Frequently called the world's number one surgery podcast, it covers an absurdly wide range of specialties: colorectal, trauma, bariatric, vascular, breast, endocrine, pediatric, plastic surgery, and more. The show publishes twice a week, with over 500 episodes in its catalog, so there is a lot to work through.

The format rotates hosts depending on the surgical topic. Jason Bingham, John McClellan, Kevin Kniery, and a rotating cast of surgeons from various academic medical centers take turns leading episodes, which gives each installment a slightly different feel while maintaining a consistent educational standard. Some episodes are straightforward expert interviews. Others function as board review sessions or journal club discussions, breaking down recent literature with the kind of clinical nuance that textbooks just cannot replicate.

What makes Behind The Knife particularly useful for surgical trainees is the dual-format approach to test preparation. You get high-yield content delivered in a conversational style, which is far more tolerable during a long commute or between cases than reading another review book chapter. But attendings listen too, because the interviews with surgical leaders often touch on career development, leadership in academic medicine, and the evolving culture of surgical training. It is a podcast that grows with you from medical school through fellowship and beyond.

Adam Rodman started Bedside Rounds in 2014 as a second-year internal medicine resident at Oregon Health and Science University, and it has quietly become one of the most thoughtful medical podcasts around. This is not a clinical review show. It is a storytelling podcast about the history of medicine, and Rodman has a genuine gift for narrative. Each episode traces a specific thread through time, uncovering how some medical practice or idea came to exist, and why it matters now.

The episodes are carefully researched and lean more toward long-form audio essays than interviews. Rodman does most of the talking, weaving together primary sources, historical context, and modern clinical relevance into stories that feel more like a favorite professor's office hours than a podcast. Past episodes have covered topics like appendectomies performed in extreme environments, the evolution of clinical reasoning, and the social forces that shaped how doctors think about disease.

With around 87 episodes total, Bedside Rounds is not a high-volume show. Rodman takes his time with each installment, and it shows. The production quality and depth of research punch well above what you might expect from an independent medical podcast. He also includes shorter segments called #AdamAnswers, which are quick educational pieces that address specific questions. If you love medicine and have even a passing interest in history, this podcast will change how you think about the profession. It is the kind of show that makes you smarter and more curious at the same time.

The Doctor's Art tackles something that most medical podcasts avoid entirely: what it actually means to be a physician beyond the clinical knowledge. Co-hosts Henry Bair, a resident physician, and Tyler Johnson, an oncologist, sit down each week with healthcare professionals to talk about burnout, empathy, purpose, and the deeply personal side of practicing medicine. It's the kind of show that makes you stop and think about why you got into this field in the first place.

With 165 episodes and counting, the conversations go places you don't expect. One episode features an oncologist discussing what happened when he became his own patient. Another brings in a humanist chaplain to talk about meaning-making at the end of life. The hosts also run occasional panel discussions on topics like technology's impact on the doctor-patient relationship, and these multi-voice episodes have a different energy that works really well.

Episodes run about 50 to 65 minutes, and the pacing feels unhurried in a good way. Bair and Johnson are thoughtful interviewers who clearly prepare for each conversation. They give their guests room to tell real stories without steering everything toward a tidy takeaway.

Stanford Medicine has highlighted this podcast, and it carries a 4.8-star rating from over 260 reviews. It's not a show that will help you pass your boards, but it might help you remember why passing those boards mattered to you. For physicians feeling ground down by the system, or medical students wondering what their career will really look like, The Doctor's Art offers something genuinely nourishing.

Core IM takes a different approach to medical education podcasting. Instead of one long interview per episode, the show is organized into distinct series, each with its own format and focus. "5 Pearls" episodes distill five practical takeaways on an internal medicine topic using active learning techniques like pre-episode quizzing and intentional pauses. "Mind the Gap" challenges dogma by looking at the evidence (or lack of it) behind common IM practices. "Hoofbeats" dissects clinical reasoning cases. "At the Bedside" tackles everyday challenges that do not fit neatly into a textbook chapter.

The show is produced by a team rather than a single host. Shreya, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the show's editor-in-chief, and Marty, a primary care physician at Ohio State, are founding members who co-host many of the segments. This collaborative structure means different voices and perspectives show up across episodes, which keeps things fresh across the biweekly release schedule.

With about 190 episodes over eight years, Core IM is not trying to flood your feed. Each episode is clearly the product of careful preparation, and the structured learning format makes it particularly effective for board prep and clinical review. The purposeful pauses built into episodes are a small touch that actually works well, giving you a moment to think before the answer comes. It is one of the more pedagogically intentional medical podcasts you will find, and the quality is consistently high.

Dr. Jim Dahle is a practicing emergency physician who got tired of watching his colleagues make avoidable financial mistakes. He started the White Coat Investor blog, then the podcast, and has built what is essentially the personal finance hub for high-income medical professionals. The show drops twice a week and has amassed well over 600 episodes since launching in January 2017, which means there is a back catalog for almost every financial question a doctor might have.

The format varies. Some episodes are solo, with Dahle walking through a specific topic like PSLF strategies, backdoor Roth IRAs, or disability insurance. Others feature interviews with financial advisors, real estate investors, or physicians who have reached financial independence. He also does listener Q&A episodes where he tackles questions submitted by the audience, which tend to be some of the most practical installments.

Dahle's style is direct and occasionally blunt. He is not trying to sell you a financial product; he is trying to make sure you do not get ripped off by someone who is. That perspective resonates with a lot of physicians who went through a decade of training without a single lecture on how money works. The podcast covers student loan repayment, retirement planning, real estate investing, side hustles, contract negotiation, and wealth building in a way that is specifically tailored to the physician financial timeline. If you are a doctor and you listen to one finance podcast, this is probably the one.

Dr. Nii Darko hosts a podcast that sits at the intersection of money, medicine, and pop culture, and somehow it all works. The premise is straightforward: highlight doctors who are doing interesting things beyond the exam room. Some guests have launched startups. Others have built real estate portfolios or negotiated their way into non-traditional career paths. The conversations feel natural, like sitting in on a chat between colleagues who happen to be doing remarkable things with their careers.

Nii and his wife Dr. Renee co-host many episodes together, and their back-and-forth adds a warmth and relatability that solo-hosted shows often lack. They banter about life, pop culture, and parenting alongside the financial and career content, which gives the podcast a personality that is distinctly its own. The show has earned a spot in Apple Podcasts' Top 100 for Careers, and it is easy to see why.

A major focus of the podcast is first-generation doctors, the ones who did not have physician parents to explain contract negotiations, financial planning, or the unwritten rules of the profession. Episodes cover debt payoff without family financial support, building wealth from scratch, and the career questions nobody told you to ask. Dr. Darko interviews his guests with genuine curiosity and a conversational ease that makes even complex financial topics feel approachable. This is a show for physicians who want to think bigger about what their career can look like.

Saul Weiner from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Stefan Kertesz from the University of Alabama at Birmingham co-host a podcast that interrogates the culture of medical training and practice with unusual depth. The show grew out of Weiner's 2020 book of the same name, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and it carries that same scholarly but accessible tone into its audio format.

With about 67 episodes released on a bimonthly schedule, this is not a high-frequency show. But each episode earns its runtime. Weiner and Kertesz bring on thoughtful guests to explore topics that most medical podcasts avoid or only touch on briefly: the ethics of labeling addiction as disease, what it means to contextualize patient care, how learning disabilities intersect with medical education, and the systemic forces that shape clinician well-being. These are not conversations that wrap up with five neat takeaways. They sit with complexity and resist easy answers.

The hosting dynamic is one of the show's strengths. Both Weiner and Kertesz are experienced clinicians and academics, and they push their guests with genuine intellectual curiosity rather than softball questions. You can hear them thinking in real time, which makes the conversations feel alive rather than rehearsed. If you are a medical student, resident, or attending who wants to think more carefully about the culture you are practicing in and how it shapes patient care, On Becoming a Healer is a podcast that will challenge you in the best way.

The AFP podcast is the audio companion to American Family Physician, the journal published by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Twice a month, faculty and residents from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix sit down to discuss the key clinical takeaways from each new issue. Episodes run about 15 to 20 minutes, which makes them easy to fit into a commute or a lunch break.

The current hosting team for 2025-2026 includes faculty members Steven R. Brown, MD and Jacob Anderson, DO, along with a group of residents who rotate through as co-hosts. This mix of experience levels gives the discussions a practical feel. The residents ask the kinds of questions that reflect real clinical uncertainty, and the faculty bring evidence-based perspective without being preachy about it.

Each episode covers article summaries, POEMs (Patient-Oriented Evidence That Matters), practice guidelines, editorials, and clinical inquiries from FPIN. They also weave in interviews with family physicians and occasional Twitter highlights. With around 250 episodes over its ten-year run, the show has quietly become one of the most consistent continuing education resources for family medicine docs. It is not flashy, and it does not try to be. The value is in the steady, reliable delivery of evidence-based content that you can actually use in clinic the next day. For family physicians who want to stay current without drowning in journal articles, this is the podcast equivalent of having a smart colleague summarize the highlights for you.

Dr. Jimmy Turner is a practicing anesthesiologist at Wake Forest and the author of The Physician Philosopher's Guide to Personal Finance. On Money Meets Medicine, he teams up with co-host Justin Harvey, a CFP, to tackle the financial topics that medical school never bothered to teach. The show publishes weekly, and the pairing of a physician who has lived through the financial gauntlet with a financial planner who understands the medical profession's quirks makes for practical, grounded advice.

Episode topics range broadly across the physician financial life cycle. Student loan strategies, especially PSLF, get serious attention. So do the different employment models: academic positions versus private practice versus 1099 contractor work, each with their own tax implications and lifestyle trade-offs. Turner and Harvey also get into the emotional side of money, covering the financial stress that builds up during residency, the psychological traps of lifestyle creep after attending salary kicks in, and the home-buying decisions that trip up so many new physicians.

The tone is conversational without being casual about the actual financial guidance. Turner brings personal experience and honest reflection on his own money mistakes, which makes the show feel less like a lecture and more like advice from a friend who happens to know a lot about tax-advantaged accounts. If you are a resident or early-career attending trying to build a financial plan from scratch, Money Meets Medicine gives you a solid framework without the jargon overload you get from generic personal finance shows.

Rob Orman spent 20 years as a community emergency physician before pivoting to full-time medical education and physician coaching. He is also the former chief editor of EM:RAP and the creator of ERcast, so the man knows how to make medical content that people actually want to listen to. Stimulus is his current project, and it focuses on the non-clinical skills that determine whether your medical career sustains you or slowly grinds you down.

The format is typically a deep conversation with a thought leader, but Orman's interview style is anything but formulaic. He asks pointed questions about burnout, communication, leadership, and the mental frameworks that separate physicians who thrive from those who merely survive. Episodes have covered topics as varied as competence versus decision-making capacity, expert witness testimony, mass casualty triage, nonviolent communication in clinical settings, and patient safety systems. The range is wide, but the through-line is always practical: what can you actually do differently after listening?

Orman's background as a certified executive coach gives the show a different texture than most medical podcasts. He is not just asking experts to explain their research. He is pulling out the mindset shifts and behavioral strategies that physicians can apply immediately. The result is a podcast that feels more like professional development for your entire career than just another CME credit. If you have ever felt like medical training taught you how to diagnose but not how to lead, communicate, or protect your own well-being, Stimulus fills that gap.

Dr. Heather Fork is a former board-certified dermatologist who left clinical practice over a decade ago to become a full-time career coach for physicians. That personal experience of making a major career transition gives her podcast a credibility that purely theoretical career advice shows just cannot match. She has been through the identity crisis of leaving patient care, and she coaches hundreds of doctors through the same process.

The Carpe Diem Podcast publishes weekly and mixes two types of episodes. Some feature Dr. Fork sharing actionable tools and resources directly, covering practical topics like LinkedIn optimization, job applications, interview preparation, and salary negotiation. Others are interviews with physicians who have found new and fulfilling paths, whether that means staying in clinical medicine but on different terms, moving into nonclinical roles like consulting or medical writing, or leaving medicine entirely for something unexpected.

What makes this show particularly valuable is how specific the advice gets. This is not vague encouragement to "follow your passion." Dr. Fork talks about concrete steps: how to update your CV for a nonclinical role, what to say in an informational interview, how to negotiate a contract when you have no leverage. She speaks with the warmth of someone who genuinely cares about her listeners' well-being, but she is also pragmatic about the realities of career change. For any physician standing at a crossroads, wondering whether to stay in medicine or try something different, this podcast provides a thoughtful, experienced guide.

Dr. Michael Hersh is a gastroenterologist and physician coach who noticed that a lot of his colleagues were stuck. Not clinically, but personally and professionally. They felt trapped in careers that looked great on paper but felt hollow in practice. Better Physician Life is his attempt to help doctors find their way back to clarity, joy, and purpose without necessarily quitting medicine to do it.

The weekly podcast alternates between honest solo episodes where Hersh shares his own experiences and reflections, and interviews with physicians who have made bold career and life changes. Some guests shifted specialties. Others set new boundaries with their employers or learned to be more present at home after years of letting work consume everything. The conversations are candid in a way that feels rare in physician media, where the default is often to project confidence and competence at all times.

Hersh also co-hosts a separate show called Doctors Living Deliberately, but Better Physician Life is where his coaching philosophy comes through most clearly. He talks about the questions no one teaches you to ask during training: Am I practicing because I want to or because I feel like I have to? What would my life look like if I stopped chasing the next achievement? The podcast does not pretend that these questions have easy answers. Instead, it gives physicians permission to ask them in the first place. For doctors feeling disconnected from their work or wondering what comes next, this show offers both practical tools and the kind of emotional honesty the profession desperately needs.

Dr. Michael Jerkins and Dr. Ned Palmer are practicing physicians and the co-founders of Panacea Financial, a banking platform built specifically for doctors. Their podcast takes that insider knowledge and turns it into biweekly conversations about the realities of being a physician in America. Available in both audio and video, the show features interviews with fellow doctors and industry experts who speak candidly about the profession's highs and lows.

The episode topics reflect the broad scope of challenges doctors face. Burnout gets honest treatment here, as do the financial pressures that hit especially hard during residency and early career. Direct primary care models, healthcare policy, medical training culture, and the things nobody warned you about in medical school all get their turn. A recent episode covered the medical maze of physician turnover and workforce trends, which gives you a sense of how current and relevant the discussions stay.

Jerkins and Palmer bring an interesting perspective because they operate at the intersection of medicine and financial services. They understand the unique financial timeline of a physician's career, the years of negative net worth during training, the sudden jump in income, and all the decisions that cluster around those transitions. The podcast does not shy away from the ugly parts either. They talk about the systemic issues in healthcare with a frankness that comes from actually living within the system. For doctors who want unfiltered conversations about their profession from people who get it, this show delivers without the corporate polish that makes so many healthcare podcasts feel sanitized.

Dr. Rupy Aujla is a practicing NHS GP in the UK who became one of the leading voices in culinary medicine -- the idea that what you cook and eat is a form of medical treatment, not just fuel. The Doctor's Kitchen started as a cookbook project and grew into a podcast that now has 417 episodes and a 4.8-star rating from around 470 reviews.

The show releases weekly, with episodes typically running between one hour and ninety minutes. Aujla interviews researchers, fellow doctors, nutritionists, and public health experts on topics that sit at the intersection of food and medicine. Recent episodes have covered pesticide exposure that most people unknowingly encounter, saliva tests and emerging diagnostic technology, and why muscle might be the most important organ for longevity. The conversations are detailed and clinically informed without being inaccessible.

Aujla brings a perspective that is relatively unique in health podcasting: he is both a working doctor seeing patients every week and someone who has trained specifically in how food compounds interact with human physiology. That dual lens means he can evaluate a study on, say, polyphenols in berries and then explain what it actually means for your Tuesday night dinner. He does not just tell you what to eat -- he explains the biological reasoning and often shares specific recipes.

The show also touches on mental wellbeing and lifestyle factors beyond nutrition. Aujla has spoken about burnout in the medical profession, the psychological aspects of eating, and how mindset affects treatment outcomes. The production is straightforward -- no elaborate sound design, just good microphones and thoughtful conversation. For anyone interested in the growing field of food as medicine, this is one of the most credible and practical shows in the space.