Hi, I'm Henry Bear.

And I'm Tyler Johnson.

And you're listening to The Doctors Art, a podcast that explores meaning in medicine.

Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered, what makes medicine meaningful?

Can a stronger understanding of this meaning create better doctors?

How can we build healthcare institutions that nurture the doctor-patient

connection? What can we learn about the human condition from accompanying our patients in times of

suffering? In seeking answers to these questions, we meet with deep thinkers working across health

care, from doctors and nurses to patients and health care executives, those who have collected a career's

worth of hard-earned wisdom. Probing the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we

will hear stories that are by turns heartbreaking, amusing, inspiring, challenging, and

enlightening. We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do. Join us as we think

out loud about what illness and

healing can teach us about some of life's biggest questions.

In recent years, it's become evident that loneliness is one of the most pressing public

health challenges of our time, so much so that the U.S. Surgeon General

has labeled it an epidemic with far-reaching consequences. The pain of isolation doesn't

merely gnaw at our sense of belonging. It undermines our physical well-being, erodes our mental

health, and places an invisible strain on communities. In this climate of ever-widening

personal and cultural divides, the collective call for deeper human bonds feels both urgent

and universal. Our guest on this episode is Julia Hots, a journalist and passionate advocate

for social prescribing, the practice of directing

...