From the Nominator

The Health Compass podcast is a collection of conversations about health, medicine, and, at its core, people. The podcast, hosted by Dr. Maya Adam, Director of Health Media Innovation at Stanford Medicine, is an exploration of the human health experience and how that has motivated our faculty to do what they do best—whether that’s teach, research, care for patients, or lead innovation. The podcast is tied to our flagship content channel, Stanford Medicine magazine, and each episode interviews a Stanford Medicine expert featured in a story from a recent issue. But it’s not just about the science. We want to lean into storytelling, so we ask our interviewees to reach back into their personal and professional histories (to the extent that they are comfortable) and explain why they do what they do. These interviews, while covering health challenges, also share tales of a 13-year-old kid who went to college, a tragedy of a lost fiancé, and a devastating diagnosis that pushed one professor to inspire a new generation of cancer doctors. Health Compass published six episodes in 2024. The topics were AI in Health Care, Longevity in Blue Zones, Mental Health Stigma, Autoimmunity and Women, Global Mental Health Crisis, and Lessons From Lung Cancer.

From the Judges

The Health Compass podcast stands out by pairing medical expertise with authentic lived experience, creating a strong emotional connection that humanizes complex health topics. The series thoughtfully discusses tough subjects like mental health stigma and autoimmune disease through a conversational approach that could serve as a model. The podcast's impressive engagement metrics demonstrate how effectively Stanford Medicine has translated scientific expertise into emotionally resonant storytelling that breaks down barriers around challenging health topics.