EPISODE · Jan 24, 2025 · 1H 7M
Our minds and bodies will be linked with Pamela Ryckan and Candace Pert
from Peculiar Book Club Podcast · host Peculiar Book Club Podcast
I loved this book so much that I wrote the Wall Street Journal review for it! It’s an absolutely madcap and unexpected take on history I thought I knew… But I hadn’t yet encountered Candace Pert. This amazing scientist stood at the dawn of three revolutions: the opioid crisis, the AIDS crisis, and the mind-body movement. A troubled genius, beleaguered, beguiling, and not above bedeviling, her visionary work shaped history - for good and, inadvertently, for evil. She discovered the opiate receptor (the mechanism by which opioids function in the brain), launching the opioid crisis… She proved the mind-body link, launching the field of integrative or functional medicine… and most shockingly, she created Peptide T, the underground AIDS drug featured in the film Dallas Buyers Club… and then went rogue, becoming a linchpin in the black market. Like a mythic hero, her greatest strengths—singularity of purpose and blind faith in her own virtuosity—would be her undoing. Come for a fast paced discussion about this singular woman, a name almost forgotten to history, now resurrected by Pamela Ryckman. It’s a breathtaking ride! Episode was recorded live January 23, 2025. Email: [email protected] Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon
What this episode covers
I loved this book so much that I wrote the Wall Street Journal review for it! It’s an absolutely madcap and unexpected take on history I thought I knew… But I hadn’t yet encountered Candace Pert. This amazing scientist stood at the dawn of three revolutions: the opioid crisis, the AIDS crisis, and the mind-body movement. A troubled genius, beleaguered, beguiling, and not above bedeviling, her visionary work shaped history - for good and, inadvertently, for evil. She discovered the opiate receptor (the mechanism by which opioids function in the brain), launching the opioid crisis… She proved the mind-body link, launching the field of integrative or functional medicine… and most shockingly, she created Peptide T, the underground AIDS drug featured in the film Dallas Buyers Club… and then went rogue, becoming a linchpin in the black market. Like a mythic hero, her greatest strengths—singularity of purpose and blind faith in her own virtuosity—would be her undoing. Come for a fast paced discussion about this singular woman, a name almost forgotten to history, now resurrected by Pamela Ryckman. It’s a breathtaking ride! Episode was recorded live January 23, 2025. Email: [email protected] Website: https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ixJJ2Y Patreon: https://www.patreon
NOW PLAYING
Our minds and bodies will be linked with Pamela Ryckan and Candace Pert
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 26, 2026 ·1m
Jan 2, 2026 ·47m
Dec 21, 2025 ·46m