Too Curious MDs
Too Curious MDs
Podcast Description
Curiosity fuels discovery, and in medicine, it’s the key to transformation. Too Curious MDs explores the frontiers of healing through narrative medicine, integrative therapies, psychedelics, and patient-centered care.
Hosted by Dr. Alya Ahmad and Dr. Suraiya Simi Rahman, this podcast challenges the boundaries of traditional medicine, uncovering the untold stories, ethical dilemmas, and groundbreaking research shaping the future of healthcare.
Join the journey—because medicine is more than science; it’s a story.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on narrative medicine, integrative therapies, and psychedelics, with episodes exploring topics like the mind-body connection, ethical dilemmas in healthcare, and the role of curiosity in patient care, such as discussions on how storytelling enhances healing processes.
Curiosity fuels discovery, and in medicine, it’s the key to transformation. Too Curious MDs explores the frontiers of healing through narrative medicine, integrative therapies, psychedelics, and patient-centered care.
Hosted by Dr. Alya Ahmad and Dr. Suraiya Simi Rahman, this podcast challenges the boundaries of traditional medicine, uncovering the untold stories, ethical dilemmas, and groundbreaking research shaping the future of healthcare.
Join the journey—because medicine is more than science; it’s a story.
Children explore the world with a wide, open attention, while adults narrow that attention toward their immediate goals. Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik calls it lantern awareness and spotlight awareness, and frames childhood as an evolutionary season of exploration before the ‘exploit’ mode of adulthood. We came home from UC Berkeley's States of Consciousness Conference talking about her conversation with neuroscientist Dr. Gül Dölen, and what it means for development when a child doesn't feel safe enough to keep exploring and has to narrow their attention too soon.
From there, we connect childhood learning to critical periods, the limited windows when the brain is unusually open to change, and to Dölen's work suggesting some psychedelics can reopen a version of that window in adult animals. We also talk about her octopus research, how psychedelic, mystical, and religious experiences can share some of a child's wider awareness, and why an open window is only an opportunity. Researchers are now exploring whether pairing a psychedelic session with intensive rehabilitation could help recovery after a stroke, and that work is investigational and not standard of care. In our experience, what turns openness into lasting change is everything around it: preparation, a safe and supportive setting, and the integration work that comes after.
This episode discusses psychedelics and related research for informational purposes. It is not medical advice.
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About the Hosts:
Dr. Alya Ahmad, MD, FAAP, is a physician and the co-founder and medical director of ShaMynds Healing Center in Sacramento, where she brings narrative medicine, integrative care, and ketamine-assisted therapy together.
Dr. Suraiya ”Simi” Rahman, MD, is a physician at Pala Medicine in Pasadena, where she offers ketamine therapy and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Together they host Too Curious MDs, a show about narrative medicine, integrative practice, and psychedelic care.
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Dr. Alya Ahmad, MD, FAAP
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alya-ahmad-md-0601b190/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shamynds/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shamynds
Website: https://shamynds.com/
Dr. Suraiya Simi Rahman, MD, FAAP
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suraiya-rahman-palamedicine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pala_medicine/
Too Curious MDs
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