Public Health On Call

Latest Episodes:

628 - Scientists in Exile: When Researchers and Clinicians are Forced to Flee Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Phyu Phyu Thin Zaw was a research scientist at Myanmar's ministry of health before she emigrated to teach global health at Hong Kong University. After the military coup in 2021, she and many of her friends and colleagues felt unsafe returning to Myanmar and some even had their passports blacklisted. Thin Saw talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about her experience, what happens when doctors and researchers are forced to flee in conflict situations, and what the scientific community can do to help those in exile.

627 - Workplace Mental Health and Well-being Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

Workplace wellness goes beyond safe offices to consider how employees can live healthy and productive lives at home while being focused on work at work. Hopkins health and productivity management expert Ron Goetzel talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about this unique aspect of public health where the business community and public health collaborate on the psychosocial, organizational, and environmental facets of health at work—and how ensuring that people get to live healthy and joyful lives outside of work is a necessity in business.

https://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/institute-for-health-and-productivity-studies/

EP 626 - Katelyn Jetelina, "Your Local Epidemiologist," on The Benefits and Harms of Active Assailant Drills and the Widespread Impacts of Mass Shootings Jun 16, 2023

Show notes

Active shooter and lockdown drills are part of a broader spectrum of emergency preparedness but there are differing levels of effectiveness and risks. Katelyn Jetelina, aka "Your Local Epidemiologist," talks with Stephanie Desmon about the benefits and real harms of these activities and why she does have hope that we will make progress with gun violence solutions, though at a "snail's pace." They also discuss the wide-ranging ripple effects of violence beyond the victims such as community-level mental health impacts.

625 - Tackling Housing Injustice—and Improving Childhood Asthma Jun 14, 2023

Show notes

Redlining and other discriminatory practices represent structural racism in housing. Efforts to counter the legacy of this injustice include voucher programs that help people move out of areas of poverty into "opportunity neighborhoods." Hopkins researcher Craig Pollack talks with Stephanie Desmon about evidence that these programs improve childhood asthma. They discuss opportunities to help people both through relocation and by improving conditions where they are. Read the study here:https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2804846

624 - The "Youngest Science:" Debates over Evidence During the Pandemic Within Medicine Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

In the frenzy of research for COVID-19 prevention and treatment, there were many disagreements about what really did—or didn't—work. The nature of the debates reveals a broader problem in how data are interpreted in medicine. Dr. Arturo Casadevall and Dr. Josh Sharfstein discuss the nature of evidence and Dr. Casadevall's new paper, Misinterpretation of Clinical Research Findings and COVID-19 Mortality. You can read the paper here: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/full/10.7326/M23-0737?af=R

623 - How to Talk About the Climate Crisis With Kids Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Having honest conversations with kids about the climate crisis doesn't have to be distressing. Climate scientist Heather Price talks with Stephanie Desmon about her work with www.talkclimate.org, an organization that collects age- and developmentally appropriate resources for talking about climate change with people of all ages, from birth to adult.

BONUS - Another Air Quality Emergency in the US—2020 Wildfire Episode Re-release Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

With huge parts of the eastern seaboard covered in a thick hazy smoke from Canadian wildfires, we're re-releasing an episode from September 2020 with air pollution expert Dr. Kirsten Koehler. In this episode, Dr. Koehler and Dr. Josh Sharfstein discussed how the massive West Coast forest fires raging at the time were affecting people's health. Their conversation about particulate matter and its impacts on respiratory health, and how to protect yourself, is just as relevant today in yet another air quality emergency.

622 - The State of Emergency Preparedness in the US Jun 07, 2023

Show notes

With the expiration of the COVID-19 emergency, how prepared are states for another crisis? Dr. Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America's Health, returns to the podcast to discuss a 2023 report assessing states' performance in key areas related to emergency preparedness—including infectious disease, natural and artificial disasters, and bioterrorism. You can find individual state reports at www.tfah.org.

621 - The Health Consequences of Displacing People Experiencing Homelessness Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

What happens when homeless encampments are swept away? Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious disease physician at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about a new study that simulates the true cost of "move along" orders and encampment "clean ups"—including infectious disease outbreaks, hospitalizations and deaths. They then discuss the short-term and long-term implications of these findings.

620 - How The Opioid Settlement Tracker Is Monitoring $50 Billion Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

Who is making decisions about how to spend more than $50 billion in proceeds from opioid-related litigation? Christine Minhee, lawyer and founder of opioidsettlementtracker.com, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about tracking the complex cashflow state by state, and her hopes that the website will challenge more jurisdictions to share just how they're spending dollars intended for tackling the opioid epidemic.

http://publichealth.jhu.edu/subscribe

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected