09/24/2026
Telemedicine owes at least part of its existence to… Boston traffic.
In 1967, a Mass General doctor working at Logan Airport got fed up with his patients struggling to get care because of constant traffic jams. So he put a camera at the airport and started examining patients remotely.
That doctor, Kenneth Bird, would go on to coin the term “telemedicine.”
This story is from the latest episode of The Telepsychiatry Advantage, where Dr. Edward Kaftarian traces telemedicine’s surprisingly long history — one that started long before Zoom, FaceTime, or the pandemic. Listen to the full episode below!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-telepsychiatry-advantage/id1893377031
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1sk8JaIhTzOQe9qlAQQPid?si=0b6fd812955c46f9
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/