Media and Press
My work on medicine, healthcare, and the history of medical practice has been featured in leading publications, media outlets, and conversations about the stories behind modern medicine. You can explore it all here.
Podcasts
08/24/2026: Make This Make Sense Podcast
Hosts: Kelly Werder, Colleen Robb, and Annie Stout
Episode: The Myth of Meritocracy and Harsh Medicine
08/05/2026: The Dr. Kristin Lyerly Show
Host: Dr. Kristin Lyerly
Episode: Dr. Jennifer Grandis on Harsh Medicine: Why Women Can’t Get Ahead in Science and Health Care
07/13/2026: The Commonwealth Club World Affairs Youtube Podcast
In Conversation with Katie Hafner
Episode: Dr. Jennifer Grandis: Why Women Can’t Get Ahead in Science and Health Care
07/03/2026: KQED Forum
Host: Lesley McClurg, Susan Britton
Episode: Harsh Medicine: Fixing Science’s Gender Gap
06/26/2026: The WECAN Podcast
Host: Stephanie Ferrario
Episode: Why Women Can’t Get Ahead in Science and Healthcare | Dr. Jennifer Grandis x WECAN
03/24/2026: Catalyst: Women Transforming Science
Host: Bhavana Uppalapati
Episode: Undruggable: Dr. Jennifer Rubin Grandis on Cracking Cancer and the System that Wasn’t Built for You
03/17/2026: Fanatical DreamHer Podcast
Host: April Kemp
Episode: Redefining Success in Medicine and Life: Dr. Jennifer Grandis on Courage, Leadership, and Owning Your Path
In The Media
The Scientist
Gender Discrimination Flushes Women Out of the Medicine Pipeline
A Q&A with Dr. Jennifer Grandis on gender inequity in medicine and the research behind Harsh Medicine.
Literary Hub
What Barriers Do Women in Science Face When Trying to Publish?
An essay exploring the structural challenges women continue to face throughout scientific careers.
Deborah Kalb Books
Q&A with Jennifer Rubin Grandis
A conversation about the inspiration for Harsh Medicine, the writing process, and why institutional change matters.
Swarthmore College Bulletin
Summer 2026 Issue
Featured in the alumni bulletin highlighting the publication of Harsh Medicine.
(Listing in the Summer 2026 print issue)
Praise for Harsh Medicine
“Harsh Medicine lays bare what so many clinicians from marginalized communities already know: the system often promises credit and support, but does not deliver. Dr. Grandis names these inequities with clarity and courage, and we need that honesty if we are going to eradicate them, together.”
—Uché Blackstock, MD, author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine
“In Harsh Medicine, Grandis walks a difficult tightrope with grace: channeling righteous anger, born of personal experience and countless stories of gender-based discrimination, while delivering a clear-eyed analysis of both the problems and their potential solutions. It illuminates not only the toll these inequities take on the women who endure them, but also the damage they inflict on academic medicine itself. A timely and valuable contribution to our understanding of what must change–and how.”
—Robert M. Wachter, MD, author of A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future
“Women now make up 57% of all applicants to U.S. medical schools and 55 percent of their graduates. Even in a specialty like otolaryngology in which 18% of practitioners are women, the proportion is growing. So what could be the problem? A lot, it turns out. As a practicing ear, nose and throat surgeon and medical researcher, Jennifer Grandis travelled the country to interview practicing women and men doctors and scientists. This is a book reveals a hidden world of disrespect for women, gone “underground,” and the harshness of that. If you think gender bias in medicine is a matter of history, read this book.”
—Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Stolen Pride, Loss, Shame and the Rise of the Right.
Media Assets
for members of the press:
For more information about the book or to schedule an interview with Dr. Grandis about Harsh Medicine, please email ablake20@jhu.edu
Interview Topics
Jennifer Grandis is available to speak about:
° The making of Harsh Medicine
° Writing about difficult or traumatic experiences
° Patient advocacy and lived experience
° Power dynamics within medical systems
° Truth-telling, voice, and authorship