Human history hinges on the battle to confront our most dangerous enemies—the half-dozen diseases responsible for killing almost all of mankind. The story of our medical triumphs reveals an inspiring tapestry of human achievement, but the journey was far from smooth. It is a tale replete with dramatic episodes as spellbinding as any blockbuster Hollywood movie.

In The Masters of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Lam, an award-winning author and retinal surgeon, distills the long arc of medical progress down to the crucial moments that were responsible for the world’s greatest medical miracles. He brings to life heroic tales of embattled mavericks who endured ridicule and sometimes risked their own lives to conceive the life-saving cures we depend on, and often take for granted, today.

Listeners will discover fascinating true stories throughout history, including: rival surgeons who killed patient after patient in their race to operate on beating hearts—and put us on the path toward the life-saving heart transplant; a quartet of Canadians who miraculously discovered insulin in a saga marred by jealousy and resentment; the feud between two Americans in the quest for the polio vaccine; and the discredited New York surgeon whose “heretical” idea to cure patients by deliberately infecting them has now inspired our next best hope to defeat cancer.