Public Health On Call

Latest Episodes:

399 - Aaron Dante, Host of the Award-Winning No Pix After Dark Podcast, Talks COVID with Dr. Josh Sharfstein Nov 19, 2021

Show notes

Today's episode is a collaboration with one of Baltimore's top podcasts, No Pix After Dark, and host Aaron Dante. No Pix After Dark is a culture and community-based podcast sharing real people's stories, and has been the Baltimore Sun's Best Podcast for the last two years. For this episode, Aaron's listeners submitted questions about COVID-19 and Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks through some answers. They also discuss Baltimore's unique response to the pandemic and how to think about safe gatherings during the holidays. Check out Aaron's podcast at nopixafterdark.com.

398 - Public Health In Crisis Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

Throughout the pandemic, public health officials have been threatened, assaulted, fired, or forced to resign. Lindsay Smith Rogers speaks with Dr. Beth Resnick, senior scientist at Johns Hopkins and the cofounder of the STOP! Partner Group, and Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Health Officer of Anne Arundel County in Maryland, about the treatment of some officials and their teams, how some states have passed laws restricting public health authority, and why it's critical to address these issues now before the next public health crisis. Learn more about STOP! at standwithpublichealth.jhsph.edu.

397 - How Reducing Salt Could Reduce Chronic Diseases Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

Most adults consume 50% more than the daily recommended amount of salt which, in excess, contributes to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, sexual dysfunction, pregnancy complications and more. Dr. Susan Mayne, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA, talks with Stephanie Desmon about a change in guidelines for sodium intake and how even a modest reduction by food producers can mean huge impacts for public health.

Bonus - Denmark and COVID-19 Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

Thanks to widespread testing, vaccinations, and adherence to masking and social distancing, Denmark was able to lift most COVID restrictions in late summer. Now, with a recent uptick in cases the country considers next steps. In a bonus episode, Dr. Gunhild Waldemar, a health care advocate for the elderly in Denmark, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the country's successes, what's behind some of the regional variations in vaccinations, and lessons learned about elder care from the early days of the pandemic.

396 - Special Guest: The Assistant Secretary For Health, Admiral Rachel Levine Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, is the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services—the "connective tissue" of all the divisions of HHS including the FDA and CDC—and a four-star admiral for the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. As assistant secretary, Dr. Levine focuses on coordinating the HHS response to priorities like COVID-19, health equity, mental health and substance abuse, and climate change. Dr. Levine is also the first transgender official to serve in this capacity.

395 - The Health Care Situation in Afghanistan Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

From the first Taliban government exit in 2001 to 2015, Afghanistan went from having some of the worst indicators for health in the world to dramatic improvements in maternal mortality and childhood malnutrition. But when the Taliban stepped back into power in August of this year, thousands of health clinics were shuttered almost overnight and outcomes for women and children already look much worse. Afghanistan-born Dr. Nadia Akseer, a Johns Hopkins scientist in International Health, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the country's post-Taliban health system, and why the international community will need to wait and see what might happen under this "new Taliban" coming to power 20 years later.

BONUS: Checking In With A COVID Long-hauler Nov 09, 2021

Show notes

Back in February, Jim Golen, a nurse in Minnesota, was on the podcast talking about his agonizing experiences as a COVID-19 long-hauler. Today, Stephanie Desmon checks in with Jim to see how he's doing nearly 19 months after contracting COVID in March 2020. If you or someone you know if suffering from long COVID, please consider taking a short survey as part of the Johns Hopkins COVID Long Study: https://covid-long.com/

394 - The State of COVID On Campus At The University of Michigan Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

Dr. Preeti Malani, the University of Michigan's Chief Health Officer, was a guest on the podcast back in the spring of 2020 and again in the fall of that year talking about how COVID-19 had affected Michigan's oldest university. Dr. Malani returns to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how vaccines have made a stark difference for a return to campus this fall, what life looks like on the North Quad and in the residence halls, and how the school is centering the well-being of students who have had to miss out on so much the last two years.

393 - Friday COVID Q&A With Dr. Amesh Adalja Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

If a vaccinated person is exposed to COVID but doesn't get sick, does that affect that person's immunity? Is weekly testing for unvaccinated coworkers really sufficient to protect everyone? Are any new variants keeping you up at night? Should people switch vaccines for their booster doses? Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Josh Sharfstein address COVID-19 questions submitted to publichealthquestion@jhu.edu.

BONUS - How A Program that Connects Pediatricians With Schools Helps Prevent Chronic Absenteeism in Washington, DC Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

Children miss out on opportunities when they're not in school, and chronic absenteeism can actually affect their health and well-being throughout their lives. Guest host Andrea McDaniels, the Director of Communications for the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, talks with two leaders at Children's National Hospital who are part of an innovative program to share absenteeism data with pediatricians: Dr. Danielle Dooley, a pediatrician and Medical Director of Community Affairs, and Tonya Vidal Kinlow, Vice President of Community Engagement, Advocacy, and Government Affairs. The Chronic Absenteeism Reduction Effort (CARE) is a high-impact project of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.

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