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In 1834, Robert Graves gave a lecture series on the ‘Newly observed affection of the thyroid gland in females’. He presented three women who had violent palpitations, enlarged thyroids, and an apparent enlargement of the eyeballs (later it would be called ‘exophthalmos’).

In 1912, Hakaru Hashimoto reported a new disease in a German journal after examining microscopically the thyroid tissue from four middle-aged women. He noted the lymphocytic infiltration and likened it to other conditions containing lymphocytes (ie. Sjögren syndrome) and named it ‘Strum lymphomatosa’.

It would not be until the 1950s that the underlying mechanism of these diseases would be known: autoimmunity. The former, now known as Graves’ disease, and the latter Hashimoto disease are the most common causes of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism respectively.

Our special guest is Dr Daman Langguth who is an immunology and Head of the Immunology Department at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology.

This is the story of autoimmune thyroiditis.

In 1834, Robert Graves gave a lecture series on the ‘Newly observed affection of the thyroid gland in females’. He presented three women who had violent palpitations, enlarged thyroids, and an apparent enlargement of the eyeballs (later it would be called ‘exophthalmos’).
In 1912, Hakaru Hashimoto reported a new disease in a German journal after examining microscopically the thyroid tissue from four middle-aged women. He noted the lymphocytic infiltration and likened it to other conditions containing lymphocytes (ie. Sjögren syndrome) and named it ‘Strum lymphomatosa’.
It would not be until the 1950s that the underlying mechanism of these diseases would be known: autoimmunity. The former, now known as Graves’ disease, and the latter Hashimoto disease are the most common causes of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism respectively.
Our special guest is Dr Daman Langguth who is an immunology and Head of the Immunology Department at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology.
This is the story of autoimmune thyroiditis.

Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine.


Hosted by Dr. Travis Brown and Steve Davis, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their profession. From experience, we know that our audience extends beyond these fields and would like to welcome anyone to listen. The stories of those who came before us are nothing short of remarkable and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Production by Tim Whiffen

Design by Tom Buzz

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