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Brain Friends: The Podcast is a survivor-led show about stroke, brain health, aphasia, recovery, and health equity.
Hosted by Angie Cauthorn, a two-time stroke survivor and aphasia advocate, Brain Friends takes complicated medical and research topics and turns them into everyday clarity. The show is for survivors, care partners, families, clinicians, researchers, and anyone trying to understand what life after stroke can really look like.
Brain Friends began with me and my friend and co-host, Dr. D. Seles Gadson, a neuroscientist, speech-language pathologist, and champion for equity in aphasia care. Dr. Seles’s work focused on health disparities, representation, and making science useful for real communities. Her voice still opens and closes every episode, and her legacy remains part of the show’s foundation.
Since launching in June 2022, Brain Friends has reached listeners in more than 100 countries, with conversations that center stroke recovery, aphasia, cognition, communication, prevention, brain health, and the real-life “now what?” after a neurological event.
Regular segments include:
The Breakdown: Clear explanations of stroke, aphasia, brain health, research, and recovery topics.
Smart Cookie: The thoughtful question Angie asks guests about brain health, recovery, equity, or what they wish more people understood.
OTC with the Commish: “On The Clock” style recovery talk, where Angie uses football draft energy to break down the moves, tools, and first-round picks that matter.
The Check-In: Short, honest reflections on life after stroke, recovery, advocacy, and what comes next.
Brain Friends is not here to give medical advice or empty inspiration. It is here to make the science clearer, the recovery road less lonely, and the next step easier to see.
Welcome to Brain Friends.
Dr. Brielle Stark is a neuroscientist and aphasia researcher at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research focuses on discourse, the language we use in everyday life to tell stories, describe experiences, and communicate what matters to us. She studies how the brain tells a story, why standard aphasia tests miss so much of the real picture, and what recovery can look like years and decades after stroke.