Podcasts by Public Health On Call
Evidence and experts to help you understand today’s public health news—and what it means for tomorrow.
Further podcasts by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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698 - Why Tuberculosis, an Ancient Disease, Remains a Public Health Threat from 2023-12-11T11:00
Tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases on earth—taking more than 1 billion lives throughout history. Dr. Richard Chaisson, director of the Johns Hopki...
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697 - The 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 2023-12-08T11:00
After two World Wars and the Holocaust, the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 was a milestone for humanity. But 75 years later, the document re...
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696 - Peacebuilding to Help Mend A Broken World from 2023-12-06T11:00
Peacebuilders work to help solve violent conflicts and rebuild societies through nonviolent means. Michael Shipler, vice president of Search for Common Gr...
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BONUS: What We Know—And Don’t Know—About Atypical Canine Respiratory Disease from 2023-12-05T11:00
A mysterious respiratory disease is affecting dogs across the country, in some cases causing serious illness and even death. Veterinarian Dr. Meghan Davis...
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695 - The Shortage of Stimulant Medications for Kids with ADHD from 2023-12-04T11:00
Stimulant medications can significantly increase the quality of life for kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Dr. Rheanna...
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694 - World AIDS Day: Why The World’s Most Lifesaving AIDS Program is in Danger from 2023-12-01T11:00
PEPFAR, or the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was initiated by President Bush in 2003 is credited with saving 25 million lives over the past 20 years and rema...
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693 - DoxyPEP: A “Morning-After Pill” for STIs from 2023-11-29T11:00
An alarming rise in sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia, gonnorhea, and syphilis in the US calls for new prevention and treatment tactics. Dr. Matthew H...
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692 - How Migration Affects Human Health from 2023-11-27T11:00
Our individual health is shaped by the environments we live in. So what does that mean for the more than 280 million people worldwide who have moved across country borders...
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691 - Maryland’s Public Defender Works to Keep Young People Out of Trouble from 2023-11-22T11:00
As Maryland’s Public Defender, Natasha Dartigue’s office sees 90% of criminal cases in the state. In addition to the mission of representing individuals w...
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690 - A Conversation With Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams from 2023-11-20T11:00
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams talks about his new book, “Crisis and Chaos, Lessons From the Front Lines in the War Against COVID-19" with Dr...
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689 - Do Overdose Prevention Sites Make Their Communities Less Safe? from 2023-11-17T11:00
Overdose prevention sites—places where people can use illicit drugs under supervision—are extremely controversial and many cities are opposed to them because of the belief...
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688 - Red Flag Laws, Maine’s “Yellow Flag” Law, and Preventing Gun Violence Through Policy from 2023-11-15T11:00
In the wake of last month’s Lewiston shootings in Maine, the state’s “yellow flag” law has come under scrutiny. Josh Horwitz of the Johns Hopkins Center f...
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687 - Two New RSV Products to Protect Infants from 2023-11-13T11:00
RSV—respiratory syncytial virus—is a common infection that causes cold-like symptoms but can become very severe in young children and is the leading cause of hospitalizati...
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686 - Some Practical Tips For Coping With Grief During the Holidays from 2023-11-10T11:00
The holiday season can be intense for anyone, but especially those who are living with grief—whether it’s recent or decades old. Eleanor Haley, who has a ...
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685 - Still in Court: COVID Vaccine Mandates from 2023-11-08T11:00
Many lawsuits against employers for requiring COVID-19 vaccines remain in U.S. courts. Dawn Solowey, a partner in the labor and employment practice of Sey...
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684 - From Contraception to COVID to Climate Action, The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs Has Inspired Healthy Behaviors Worldwide for 35 Years from 2023-11-06T10:00
The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs was established to develop and research creative ways to boost the use of modern family planning around the world. Toda...
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683 - In the West Wing With Dr. Ashish Jha, Former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator from 2023-11-03T15:53
Dr. Ashish Jha, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator under President Biden, helped the country move out of the acute phase of the pandemic—and...
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682 - The Surprising Benefits of Narrower Traffic Lanes from 2023-11-01T10:00
The U.S. is home to some of the widest streets and driving lanes in the world—and that's not something to brag about. Shima Hamidi, director of the Johns Hopkins Center fo...
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681 - All About Ringworm from 2023-10-30T10:00
Ringworm, athletes foot, and jock itch are all names for a fungal infection of our skin, hair, and nails. Dermatologist Dr. Avrom Caplan talks with Dr.
680 - How Genomics is Helping Scientists to Understand Why There Is Local Malaria Transmission in the U.S. from 2023-10-27T10:00
For the first time in 20 years, locally transmitted cases of malaria have been reported across three US states. Scientists are trying to piece together why and how malaria...
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679 - October 28 is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 2023-10-25T10:00
National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is coming up, and Dr. Caleb Alexander joins the podcast to help you clean our your medicine cabinet in preparatio...
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678 - The Urgent Need to Conserve Groundwater from 2023-10-23T10:00
Humans are using up groundwater—or water stored in naturally occurring aquifers underground—at a dangerous pace. Kellogg Schwab, the Abel Wolman professor...
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677 - Fighting For The Right to Contraception Access from 2023-10-20T10:00
Opill, the over-the-counter birth control pill recently approved by the FDA, marked a major win for access to contraceptives. But, in the wake of SCOTUS’s Dobbs decision, ...
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676 - Could We Genetically Modify Mosquitos to Die From the Diseases They Carry? from 2023-10-18T10:00
The Aedes aegypti mosquito transmits deadly viruses like Zika, chikungunya, and dengue, but doesn’t actually get sick from the diseases it carries. George Dimopoul...
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675 - How Phone Calls Can Help Combat Loneliness from 2023-10-16T10:00
The Surgeon General issued an advisory about the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the U.S., saying there are serious physical and mental health impacts of lonelines...
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674 - An Update on Ukraine from 2023-10-13T10:00
Just back from a trip to Kyiv, Human rights expert Len Rubenstein talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what things are like on the day to...
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673 - Dietitian Influencers On Social Media Are Being Paid By the Food Industry to Promote Products and Messages from 2023-10-11T10:00
Registered dietitians with huge social media followings are getting paid to promote sugar, supplements, and other products and messages that clash with evidence-based reco...
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672 - What Studying The Nipah Virus Can Tell Us About Investigating Spillover Events from 2023-10-09T10:00
Nipah virus is a lethal zoonotic disease that passes from bats to humans in what are called "spillover events." But it’s still not known for sure how outbreaks happen, whi...
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671 - Treating Substance Use Disorders in Pregnancy—How Improper Policies Are Resulting in Child Removal from 2023-10-06T10:00
Treatment for substance use disorders during pregnancy is effective, and recommended by experts in many cases. But outdated, and often misinformed, policies have led to ba...
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670 - When Health Care Providers Don’t Listen to Their Patients from 2023-10-04T13:06
When patients don’t feel heard by their doctors, there’s an erosion of trust that can lead to serious health consequences—even if clinicians have their patients’ best inte...
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669 - How We Talk About Disability from 2023-10-02T10:00
How we talk about disability frames the way we view the importance of access. The Accessible Stall podcast co-hosts
668 - Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls from 2023-09-29T10:00
An estimated 97,000 Black women and girls have gone missing or been murdered in the US in the last year—which represents about 40% of all missing persons. These women and ...
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667 - RxKids—Flint, Michigan’s Cash Allowances For New Parents from 2023-09-27T10:00
Starting in January, 2024, every family with a new baby in Flint, Michigan will be eligible to receive cash payments for the first year of life. Dr. Mona Hanna-Att...
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666 - The Institute for Global Tobacco Control Turns 25 from 2023-09-25T10:00
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Institute for Global Tobacco Control was founded in 1998, and since then it has become a global lead...
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665 - Bankruptcy and Purdue Pharma from 2023-09-22T10:00
A major bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma—the makers of Oxycontin—now sits with the Supreme Court. How did it get there, and what’s at stake? Andy Dietderich Listen
664 - Disaster Planning For Extreme Weather from 2023-09-20T10:00
Extreme heat, wildfires, hurricanes, and more are driving huge changes for emergency managers like Chas Eby, the deputy executive director of the Maryland...
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663 - The Impact of Health Care on Climate from 2023-09-18T10:00
Daily health care operations in the US account for 8.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Shanda Demorest is a cardiac nurse and Associate Director of Clim...
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662 - National Food Safety Education Month: What a Health Department Does to Keep Our Food Safe from 2023-09-15T10:00
There’s a bit of detective work that has to go into investigating outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, and your local health department plays a key role. Cari Sledzik...
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661 - Why is Methadone So Hard to Get? from 2023-09-13T10:00
Methadone is a gold star treatment for opioid use disorder but it’s heavily regulated at the federal level, making it hard for patients to get and even harder for doctors ...
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660 - The CDC’s 9.11 World Trade Center Health Program from 2023-09-11T10:00
Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to dust, debris, carcinogens, and trauma at the three sites of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the immediate aftermath and then ...
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659 - What You Need To Know About the Juvenile Justice System from 2023-09-08T15:27:10
Many of us only hear about the juvenile justice system from the news in 30-second snippets. But Sam Abed, acting director of the Department of Youth Rehab...
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658 - What Happened to the Doctors Spreading Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic? from 2023-09-06T10:00
Throughout the pandemic, a few medical professionals spread false and misleading information about COVID-19 and even touted potentially harmful “treatments” to their patie...
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657 - The Consequences of Abortion Restrictions Part 2: Denials of Medical Care from 2023-09-01T10:00
Part two of this series features Dr. Daniel Grossman, an obstretrician and gynecologist, and Dr. Katrina Kimport, a sociologist in Obstet...
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656 - The Consequences of Abortion Restrictions Part 1: Spotlight on Texas from 2023-08-30T10:00
In part one of a two part series, Johns Hopkins demographic researcher Suzanne Bell talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about a new report qu...
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655 - Are We At A Tipping Point For Climate Change? from 2023-08-28T10:00
Massive deadly fires, bleached coral reefs, extreme heat, ocean temps topping 100 degrees….have we reached a tipping point in climate change? Johns Hopkins planetary scien...
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654 - The Evidence—and Lack Thereof—About Cannabis from 2023-08-25T10:00
Legalizing medical cannabis may have paved the way for recreational use in many states, but what is actually known about cannabis as a medical treatment? Dr. Johan...
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653 - Back to School: How One K-8 School Is Getting Ready for the Fall from 2023-08-23T10:00
Principal Matt Hornbeck of Hampstead Hill Academy, an award-winning public K-8 school in Baltimore City, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. J...
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652 - How to Extend Life Expectancy: Pay for Health, Not Just Health Care from 2023-08-21T10:00
As life expectancy slips in the US, what can we do differently to improve overall well-being and health? For one thing: start paying for health care differently. D...
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651 - The Indoor Air Quality Act: Mandating Clean Air in Public Spaces from 2023-08-18T13:22
Outdoor air quality is a major concern but what about the safety of the air we breathe indoors in public spaces like schools and offices? Dr. Gigi Gronvall Listen
650 - How to Make Sure Food is Available in a Crisis from 2023-08-16T10:00
During the pandemic, it became clear that America’s vast and complex food system has weak spots and needs help from farm to table to be more resilient to shocks and stress...
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649 - Tradeoffs—988 Turns 1: Progress and Pain Points in National Crisis Line's First Year from 2023-08-14T10:00
Last summer, Lifeline transitioned away from a 10-digit national suicide prevention number to the three-digit 988 line in hopes of making it easier for people experiencing...
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648 - Pandemic Learning Loss Will Take Years To Reverse from 2023-08-11T10:00
More than three years after COVID first shuttered schools, researchers are taking stock of how children are doing academically. Hopkins biostatistician Elizabeth S...
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647 - The Zombie Episode: Pandemics in Science Fiction from 2023-08-09T10:00
What can we learn from depictions of pandemics in films and series like The Last of Us, I Am Legend, and Contagion? Dylan George, director of the new Cent...
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645 - Taplines Podcast: Who Killed Four Loko? from 2023-08-07T21:21
If a product is available for sale, it’s probably safe. Right? Not so fast. Taplines podcast host Dave Infante talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein Listen
646 - ChatGPT and Public Health from 2023-08-07T10:00
ChatGPT has lots of potential for use in public health, but how well does it actually perform? Public Health On Call intern Caroline Wang and Lindsay Smith Rogers discuss ...
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EP 644 - From the Archives: What Do Diet Sodas Have to Do With Our Microbiome? from 2023-08-02T10:00
Earlier this month, a WHO group declared that aspartame, a synthetic sweetener found in everything from breath mints to diet sodas, is a possible carcinogenic. While more ...
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643 - A Look Ahead at COVID, Flu, and RSV Vaccines for Fall with Dr. Andy Pekosz from 2023-07-31T10:00
Virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about shots, shots, shots! Updated COVID vaccines, how th...
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642 - Last Year Was A Big Respiratory Viral Mess. Will We See The Same Again This Year? from 2023-07-28T10:00
After last year’s “tripledemic” of flu, COVID, and RSV, we’re all wary of what this coming year might bring. Infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. David Dowdy Listen
641 - What Can We Learn About Medicine from What Iconic Sci-Fi Movies Get Wrong? from 2023-07-26T10:00
There’s a paradox in sci-fi movies: Even in the most futuristic, technologically advanced societies depicted in film, main characters often die because of a lack of basic medical care. Two movie...
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638 - This Ability Clinic's Dr. Stephanie Van on Disability Advocacy, Accessibility, and Appreciation from 2023-07-24T20:56
For Disability Pride Month, Dr. Stephanie Van, a Johns Hopkins rehabilitation physician and founder of YouTube’s Listen
640 - Inside the Humanitarian Response to the Destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovka Dam from 2023-07-24T10:00
In early June, a major Ukranian hydroelectric dam was destroyed. The situation is incredibly complex with widespread fallout and the potential for long-term public health ...
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639 - Why Hearing Aids Could Help Slow Cognitive Decline in People at Risk of Dementia from 2023-07-21T10:00
Over the last decade, research has established strong connections between hearing loss and cognitive decline in older people. Now, a new study presents compelling evidence...
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637 - Why Are So Many Pedestrians Getting Struck and Killed By Cars, and Why Aren’t We Doing More To Stop It? from 2023-07-17T10:00
In the last decade, a record number of pedestrians were killed by cars. The problem is complex and lacking a singular cause or solution. Jeff Michael, now...
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636 - RAP Club: A Mental Health Program that Brings Coping Skills and Mindfulness to Schools from 2023-07-14T10:00
Many lifetime mental health issues emerge during adolescence, but equipping youths with strategies and skills to work through trauma, anxiety, and depression can be key to...
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635 - Dr. Meena Seshamani is on a Quest to Make Medicare Personal from 2023-07-13T13:04
With 64 million people enrolled, billions of dollars in payouts, and millions of clinicians and health systems in the mix, it’s hard to see how Medicare policies translate...
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634 - Vital Talks: What if Public Health Fueled Social Reform Movements from 2023-07-10T10:00
Public health has a long history of activism in social movements and new overlaps took hold in the last few years with COVID-19 and social unrest. In Vital Talks, a podcas...
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633 - The Far-Reaching Impacts of Drug Shortages Affecting Cancer Treatments from 2023-07-07T10:00
Shortages of lifesaving drugs—the result of failures at every step of complex supply chains—have far-reaching impacts on patients, providers, and the broader field of medi...
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632 - Investigating the Why of Suicide: Maryland’s New Suicide Fatality Review Committee from 2023-07-05T10:00
A new committee in Maryland is charged with a big undertaking: investigating deaths by suicide to help inform prevention efforts. Mental health expert and committee member...
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631 - Vital Talks: How Donor Dynamics are Shaping Public Health from 2023-06-30T10:00
Philanthropy is a critical part of global public health but funding cycles, donor preferences, and other systems can fundamentally impact organizations and cause mission c...
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630 - Why Are Some Humans’ Scents More Preferable to Mosquitoes? from 2023-06-28T10:00
Mosquitoes are excellent hunters. Anopheles gambiae—the mosquito in sub-Saharan Africa that spreads malaria—in particular loves to feast on humans and, it turns o...
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629 - Alcohol Use as a Risk Factor for Gun Violence from 2023-06-26T10:00
Alcohol plays an outsize role in gun deaths and a new study finds that alcohol misuse can be a better predictor of future violence than any other risk factors. Jos...
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628 - Scientists in Exile: When Researchers and Clinicians are Forced to Flee from 2023-06-23T10:00
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...
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627 - Workplace Mental Health and Well-being from 2023-06-21T14:09
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...
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EP 626 - Katelyn Jetelina, “Your Local Epidemiologist,” on The Benefits and Harms of Active Assailant Drills and the Widespread Impacts of Mass Shootings from 2023-06-16T10:00
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 “You...
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625 - Tackling Housing Injustice—and Improving Childhood Asthma from 2023-06-14T10:00
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 o...
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624 - The “Youngest Science:” Debates over Evidence During the Pandemic Within Medicine from 2023-06-12T10:00
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 br...
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623 - How to Talk About the Climate Crisis With Kids from 2023-06-09T11:48
Having honest conversations with kids about the climate crisis doesn’t have to be distressing. Climate scientist Heather Price talks with Stephani...
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BONUS - Another Air Quality Emergency in the US—2020 Wildfire Episode Re-release from 2023-06-08T18:39
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 ...
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622 - The State of Emergency Preparedness in the US from 2023-06-07T10:00
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 Hea...
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621 - The Health Consequences of Displacing People Experiencing Homelessness from 2023-06-05T10:00
What happens when homeless encampments are swept away? Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious disease physician at the University of Colorado School of Medicin...
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620 - How The Opioid Settlement Tracker Is Monitoring $50 Billion from 2023-06-02T10:00
Who is making decisions about how to spend more than $50 billion in proceeds from opioid-related litigation? Christine Minhee, lawyer and founder of Listen
619 - A Conversation with Barkha Dutt from 2023-05-30T20:37:05
Renowned journalist Barkha Dutt, dubbed the “Indian Anderson Cooper,” has spent her career reporting from conflict zones about gender equity and violence ...
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618 - Two Newly-Minted Public Health Graduates Share Their Mental Health Research from 2023-05-26T10:00
In a special episode, two brand-new graduates of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about their dissertatio...
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617 - Convocation Speaker Dr. Raj Panjabi on Facing Public Health’s Unprecedented Challenges from 2023-05-24T10:00
Dr. Raj Panjabi, one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2016, is a physician, professor, epidemiologist, entrepreneur, and public serva...
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616 - Lessons from the COVID War: 9-11 Commission Leader Philip Zelikow on Another National Disaster from 2023-05-22T10:00
From origin to Warp Speed, COVID-19 proved to be a national disaster the likes of which hadn’t been seen since 9-11. Lead writer of “Lessons from the COVID War” and former...
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615 - How a Unique Mental Health Model Developed After 9/11 is Helping Ukrainians Find Some Peace of Mind from 2023-05-19T10:00
After 9/11, mental health workers in New York City found themselves overwhelmed with requests to provide treatment to kids and their families. In response, clinical psycho...
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614 - The Clinical Research Into Psilocybin as a Tool for Mental Health Treatment from 2023-05-17T11:19
Psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, have been used throughout human history. But it’s only in the last few decades that researchers have been examining ...
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613 - COVID Update: Variants, Vaccines, and No More “Boosters” from 2023-05-15T10:00
The pandemic phase of COVID-19 is officially over, but there’s still work to be done. Virologist and podcast regular Dr. Andy Pekosz talks with St...
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612 - The Xylazine Crisis from 2023-05-12T10:01
Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer that is showing up in illicit opioid supplies. In addition to contributing to the risk of overdose, xylazine causes horrific, necrotizin...
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611 - Public Health in the Field: The Grassroots Revolution in Maternal Health from 2023-05-12T10:00
Concluding our 3-part series dedicated to addressing the Black maternal health crisis in the United States, co-hosts Dr. Rachel Bervell and Annali...
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610 - Public Health in the Field: How Policy Can Help Solve the Black Maternal Health Crisis from 2023-05-08T10:00
Continuing our 3-part series dedicated to addressing the Black maternal health crisis in the United States, co-hosts Dr. Rachel Bervell and Annali...
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609 - The Surge in Anti-Trans Bills and Attacks on LGBTQ+ Health from 2023-05-05T10:00
In the last year, more anti-trans legislation has been passed in the U.S. than at any other time in history. Dr. Helene Hedian, director of clinical educa...
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608 - What May Happen When the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends on May 11 from 2023-05-03T10:00
Jennifer Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at KFF, returns to the podcast to talk with Lindsay Smith Roger...
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607: How The FDA Can Help More People Stop Smoking from 2023-05-01T10:00
In a recent commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins tobacco policy expert Joanna Cohen and colleagues call for the FDA t...
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606 - What Happens Next with Mifepristone? from 2023-04-28T10:00
To understand what happens now that SCOTUS has stayed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling on mifepristone, we first have to understand how the case got to the highest court i...
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605 - World Immunization Week: The Big Catch-Up and Preventing a Large-scale Global Outbreak of Measles from 2023-04-26T12:58
World Immunization Week is the last week in April and this year’s theme is The Big Catch Up. Vaccine expert Dr. Bill Moss returns to the podcast to talk w...
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604 - Malaria Advocates Go to D.C.: Meet the Americans Passionate About Ending Malaria For Good from 2023-04-24T10:00
Malaria infects hundreds of millions of people around the globe each year and kills more than 600,000. But the disease has been eliminated in many of the countries providi...
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603 - Adjusting for Reality: Rethinking Goals to Address Climate Change from 2023-04-21T10:00
In the 1980s and 90s, the world came together to successfully address a major environmental problem: a growing hole in the ozone layer. So why hasn’t that success translat...
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602 - How The Use—and Overuse—of Antibiotics is Making Us Sicker from 2023-04-19T10:00
Antibiotics are marvels of modern medicine but overuse has created deadly strains of bacteria that can’t be treated. Where and how could prescriptions be curtailed to have...
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601 - How Health Care Algorithms and AI Can Help and Harm from 2023-04-17T10:00
Algorithms—formulas that do everything from suggesting Netflix shows to streamlining Google results—are increasingly used in health care settings. But could these tools be...
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Public Health in the Field: What is the Black Maternal Health Crisis and How Can It Be Solved? from 2023-04-14T10:00
Dire statistics about birth outcomes for Black people in the U.S. have become front-page news in recent years. But this problem isn’t new—in fact, it has roots in the very...
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599 - Book Club—“Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and the Health of Our Nation” with Linda Villarosa from 2023-04-12T10:00
This week is Black Maternal Health Week in the US and to kick off the conversation, Dr. Josh Sharfstein speaks with author and New York Times contributor Linda Villarosa a...
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BONUS: Mifepristone On Trial: An Unprecedented Overreach from 2023-04-11T10:00
Dr. Raegan McDonald Mosley, an obstetrician-gynecologist and CEO of Power to Decide, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein Listen
598 - A Court Decision Reducing Access to Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act from 2023-04-10T10:00
A U.S. district court in Texas issued a ruling limiting the scope of the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for coverage of preventive services. On today’s podcast,
597 - Intimate partner violence, guns and the courts from 2023-04-07T10:00
Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed a man subject to an intimate partner violence restraining order to keep his guns. Kelly ...
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596 - Building a Better CDC from 2023-04-05T10:00
A new report entitled “Building the CDC the Country Needs,” makes recommendations for how to return trust and confidence to the nation’s top public health agency’s tarnish...
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463 - Is COVID-19 Aging Us? from 2022-05-02T13:24:42
Emerging research shows that COVID-19 infection can accelerate the aging process, especially for older people with chronic conditions. But the pandemic may also be aging those who haven’t been s...
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462 - Friday Q&A With Dr. Amesh Adalja from 2022-04-29T11:00
How did omicron numbers affect hospitalization rates? Why are positivity rates so high in some areas, and should we even pay attention to those? How accurate are rapid tests, and how ...
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461 - How COVID-19 Became a “Watershed” Moment for Wastewater Surveillance from 2022-04-27T11:00
Wastewater surveillance has become an indispensable leading indicator of community COVID levels, providing real time data a week or so ahead of health department testing reports. Johns Hopkins e...
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BONUS - The Obstacles Slowing Down America’s “Test-to-Treat” Program for COVID-19 from 2022-04-26T11:00
The federal “test-to-treat” program was designed to reduce hospitalizations and deaths by getting antivirals to people who test positive for COVID-19 as quickly as possible. Hannah Recht...
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460 - World Malaria Day: Genetically Modified Mosquitoes from 2022-04-25T11:00
Malaria, a serious disease caused by the plasmodium pathogen which is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, affects some 228 million people worldwide each year and kills more than 600,000—90% of ...
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459 - Advances in Treating Hospitalized COVID Patients from 2022-04-22T10:00
In-patient treatment for severe COVID has come a long way since 2020 thanks, in part, to the rare opportunity of real-time data collection from so many people sic...
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458 - A National PrEP Program to End the Nation’s HIV Epidemic from 2022-04-20T10:00
The Biden administration recently approved nearly $10 billion to broaden access to PrEP, a medication that is 99% effective at preventing HIV and key to ending th...
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457 - Black Public Health from 2022-04-18T13:18:41
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Black physicians and social scientists connected racism to a host of health consequences. Dr. Ayah Nurid...
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456 - Book Club: The Invisible Kingdom—Reimagining Chronic Illness with Meghan O’Rourke from 2022-04-15T11:00
For 15 years, science journalist Meghan O’Rourke chased a diagnosis for a constellation of symptoms that left her bedridden at times. O’Rourke talks with Stephanie Desmo...
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455 - The Public Health Consequences of Russia’s Disinformation About Ukraine’s Biosecure Labs from 2022-04-13T11:00
Russia has claimed that the US and Ukraine were working on bioweapons in labs across Ukraine, dangerous disinformation being used in part to justify the Russian invasion. Biosecurity expert
454 - How Hospitals Can Help Prevent Gun Violence from 2022-04-11T11:00
Emergency departments not only treat gunshot wounds, they can help prevent them. Trauma surgeon Dr. Chethan Sathya talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about treating...
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453 - Why It’s Still Too Soon to End the US’s COVID-19 Emergency Response from 2022-04-08T10:00
Ending the US’s COVID-19 state of emergency has far-reaching effects and may leave Americans vulnerable to the next pandemic. Reducing spending on COVID-19 now co...
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452 - Making COVID-19 Decisions Amid Uncertainty from 2022-04-06T10:00
A persistent pandemic challenge has been making decisions when the evidence is limited. Should masks be required? Should bars and restaurants be closed? Should kids in school be spaced out by si...
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451 - Ready Or Not? The Trust For America’s Health Report Assessing States’ Public Health Emergency Preparedness from 2022-04-04T10:00
Even as COVID-19 remains a critical public health issue, there are all sorts of emergencies that can occur due to diseases, disasters, and bioterrorism. Dr. Nadine Gracia, CEO o...
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450 - An Update on COVID-19 Vaccines With Dr. Anna Durbin and Dr. Bill Moss from 2022-04-01T11:00
Will we see strain-specific vaccines in the future? Where are we on fourth doses/second boosters? What do we know about the effectiveness of international vaccines like Sinopharm and Sputnik? Wh...
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BONUS - 988 is the New 911 For Mental Health Crises: A Special Episode from the Tradeoffs Podcast from 2022-03-31T11:00
On a special episode, Tradeoffs host Dan Gorenstein talks about 988, a nationwide mental health crisis line launching in July that connects people with emergency help without ha...
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449- The Center for Gun Violence Solutions: Where Science and Advocacy Merge from 2022-03-30T13:00
The newly launched Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions brings together two powerhouses in gun policy: The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy and the Educatio...
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448 - New Zealand's World Class COVID Response from 2022-03-28T10:00
Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist, was a guest on the podcast in the early days of the pandemic to talk about her work with autopsies and COVID-19 in San Francisco. Since...
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447 - How Kraków is Caring for the Health of 200,000 from 2022-03-25T10:00
In just a few weeks, Poland has welcomed more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees and 200,000 of them have come to the city of Kraków. Dr. Wojtek Szc...
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446 - California’s New COVID-19 Approach from 2022-03-23T10:00
California has had a reputation as one of the more vigorous in terms of COVID-19 mitigation tactics and now, two years later, the state is changing tack. ...
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BONUS: China’s Zero-COVID Policy from 2022-03-22T10:00
China and Hong Kong are facing the worst COVID outbreaks since the start of the pandemic and a draconian zero-COVID policy is making things worse. Dr. Yanzhong Huang, a senior f...
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BONUS - Here We Go Again: The BA.2 Version of Omicron from 2022-03-22T10:00
Virologist Dr. Andrew Pekosz returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about BA.2, a “not unexpected but tiring” new sibling of the omicron varian...
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445 - Disease X and Preparing for the Next Pandemic from 2022-03-21T10:00
What is Disease X? Dr. Amesh Adalja and Dr. Anita Cicero of the Center for Health Security return to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein Listen
444 - An Update on A National Weather Service Model for Epidemics from 2022-03-18T11:00
Dr. Caitlin Rivers returns to the podcast to talk about her work with the CDC’s new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics. Funded through the American Rescue Plan, the C...
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443 - How Russia May Impose Deadly Public Health Policies on Ukraine from 2022-03-16T10:00
Based on past conflicts, if Russia takes over in Ukraine, it’s likely that some of Ukraine’s public health policies will be essentially rewritten or revoked overnight. Dr. Chris Beyrer Listen
442 - "No Temporary Scaffolding" in Chicago's COVID-19 Response from 2022-03-14T10:00
Chicago’s public health response to the pandemic has been focused on racial equity from the beginning—and the approach is paying dividends. Dr. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s health ...
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441 - Navigating “The Great Unmasking” With Keri Althoff and Elizabeth Stuart from 2022-03-11T11:00
Epidemiologist Keri Althoff and mental health expert Elizabeth Stuart return to the podcast to talk us through yet another phase...
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Bonus - War Crimes and Russia’s Bombing of Mariupol Maternity Hospital in Ukraine from 2022-03-10T18:15:45
Does Russia’s bombing of the Mariupol Maternity Hospital constitute a war crime? Johns Hopkins faculty member and author Len Rubenstein returns t...
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BONUS - Ukraine’s Humanitarian Crisis from 2022-03-10T12:50:24
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is displacing millions of people across Europe. Humanitarian expert Paul Spiegel returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon Listen
440 - “It Really Spared No One”—Covid-19’s Long-term Heart Problems from 2022-03-09T11:00
Two years into the pandemic, we now have more data about how COVID affects people in the long term. Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, Chief of Research and Education Service at Veterans Affairs...
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439 - The Nursing Crisis With Nurse Alice from 2022-03-07T11:00
Even before COVID-19, the US was facing a shortage of nurses which has now become a full blown crisis. Nurse Alice, Chief Nursing Officer at nurs...
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438 - A Look Back At March 2020 With Dr. Josh Sharfstein from 2022-03-04T12:00
In the very early days of the pandemic in the US, there was so much we didn’t know about COVID and a lot of concern among experts about how the country could weather the health crisis. In this s...
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437 - COVID-19 in Columbus, Ohio from 2022-03-02T11:00
Dr. Mysheika Roberts has been the health commissioner
of Columbus, Ohio since 2017. In March 2020, however, the trajectory of her career changed. Dr. Roberts...
436 - The Primary Care of COVID-19 from 2022-02-28T11:00
At the beginning of the pandemic, primary care clinicians had few treatments to offer patients who had COVID-19 but were not sick enough to be hospitalized. But t...
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435 - Research Update: Sex and Gender Differences and COVID-19 from 2022-02-25T11:00
Virologist Dr. Sabra Klein returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about what research has seen regarding COVID-19 outcomes for men and women. They...
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434 - Vaccinating Virginia from 2022-02-23T11:00
In early 2021, Virginia’s governor tapped Richmond’s public health director Dr. Danny Avula to be the State Vaccine Coordinator. Avula talks with J...
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433 - Recognizing W.E.B. Du Bois and His Seminal Work on Racism and Health from 2022-02-21T11:00
In 1899 W.E.B. Du Bois published a landmark study on tuberculosis in the Black communities of Philadelphia, titled “The Philadelphia Negro.” This was the first scholarly work to demonstrate that...
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432 - Fighting COVID as A Respiratory Disease from 2022-02-18T11:00
When will COVID become just another respiratory illness? Another way to ask that question may be: When will the response to other respiratory illnesses more close...
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431 - Mental Health Check-In With Clinical Psychologist Dr. Laura Murray: 2 Years Into the COVID-19 Pandemic from 2022-02-16T11:00:31
What do we know at this point about the potential for long term effects on mental health from the pandemic? How can we approach socializing and other activities we may have gotten used to NOT do...
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430 - How to Talk to Parents About COVID-19 Vaccines For Kids from 2022-02-14T12:00:28
Although Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for kids ages 5-11 back in November, uptake has been markedly slower than other age groups. Social and behavioral scientist Dr. Rupali Limaye ta...
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429 - Book Club—Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America with Journalist Beth Macy from 2022-02-11T11:00
Since 1996, more than 1 million Americans have died of drug overdoses. Beth Macy, journalist and author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Dr...
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428 - Building Back Public Health in Indiana from 2022-02-09T11:00
The state of Indiana was focused on bolstering its public health system before COVID-19. The pandemic has only made this work more urgent. Dr. Judy Monroe...
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427 - Candida auris: A Yeast to Fear from 2022-02-07T11:00
Candida auris is a species of yeast that is increasingly becoming a hospital-acquired drug-resistant infection. Dr. Tara Palmore, the hospital ep...
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426 - Why Are Health Disparities Everyone’s Problem? from 2022-02-04T11:00
Dr. Lisa Cooper, a forward-thinking national leader in health equity, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein ab...
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BONUS - The 2022 Pandemic Olympics from 2022-02-03T11:00
The Beijing Winter Olympics kicks off this week in a much different pandemic context than the Tokyo Summer Olympics six months ago. Former Olympian and public hea...
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425 - The Supreme Court, COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates, and OSHA’s Charge to Keep Worker’s Safe from 2022-02-02T11:00
The Supreme Court recently dealt a blow to vaccine mandates for larger employers, saying OSHA had overstepped in requiring employees to be vaccinated or tested we...
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424 - So You Want to Lead a Public Health Agency? from 2022-01-31T11:00
Public health leaders are tasked with enormous jobs which have been made even more difficult during the pandemic. Dr. Jay Varma, physician and ad...
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423 - Assessing the World's Knowledge of COVID-19: A Global Survey of Attitudes and Behaviors Towards the Virus, Vaccines and More (Season 5) from 2022-01-28T11:30:49
To understand what is driving beliefs and behaviors around the world, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs created a global dashboard with data from an ongoing survey of more tha...
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422 - Rehabilitation and Care for People With Long-COVID, or PASC (Post-Acute Sequela of COVID) from 2022-01-26T11:00
Some COVID patients continue to suffer from symptoms long after the initial infection clears. The formal name for "long COVID" is Post-Acute Sequela of COVID, or PASC. It's a condition that bene...
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421 - Why Omicron Is Such “A Different Animal” When It Comes to COVID and Kids from 2022-01-24T11:00
Although the majority of children who catch COVID recover without incident, some progress to multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), thousands wind up in the ...
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420 - “Dangerously Unprepared”: Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo on the Global Health Security Index’s Newest Findings from 2022-01-21T11:00
The Global Health Security Index, released by the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, looks at every country’s capacity to...
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419 - COVID-19 in Lincoln, Nebraska: The Mayor's View from 2022-01-19T11:00
Lincoln, Nebraska has fared quite well compared to counties with similar demographics: the county is in the top 10% in terms of lowest mortality rates and...
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Bonus - The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Transition Phase with Dr. Monica Gandhi: What Questions Do We Need to Ask and What Answers Do We Need to Find in 2022? from 2022-01-18T11:00
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what the COVID pandemic might look like on the oth...
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418 - Update: COVID-19 Vaccines and Immunocompromised Patients from 2022-01-14T11:00
What do we know now about the number of doses needed for people on immunosuppressant medications to be protected from severe COVID? What about the use of “passive...
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417 - An Update on Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19 from 2022-01-12T11:00
Early in the pandemic, clinicians began to treat people sick with COVID-19 with the plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19. The idea was that protectiv...
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416 - Will President Biden's Infrastructure Bill Address the Historical Legacy of Racist Transportation Policies? from 2022-01-10T11:00
For decades, infrastructure policies harmed communities of color. New highways displaced residents through eminent domain, public transit systems were left in disrepair, and urban construction p...
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415 - Modeling the Omicron Wave from 2022-01-07T11:00
Dr. Shaun Truelove, an infectious disease epidemiologist, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the late...
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BONUS: Omicron Update—The Good, The Bad, and the Unknown from 2022-01-07T11:00
Dr. Josh Sharfstein checks in again with virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz about omicron and what we now know in terms of increased tra...
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414 - The Disappointing State of Global Vaccination for COVID-19 from 2022-01-05T11:00
In September 2020, President Biden pledged to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population by September 2021. More than a year later, however, the US has delivered abo...
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413 - Rethinking the US COVID Strategy from 2022-01-04T11:00
Going into 2022, what should the next phase of our COVID strategy look like? Epidemiologist Dr. Emily Gurley talks with Stephanie Desmon about how our current a...
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412 - Backstage at Public Health On Call: 2021 In Review with Dr. Josh Sharfstein and Stephanie Desmon from 2021-12-22T11:00
In the last episode of Season 4, Lindsay Smith Rogers talks with co-hosts Dr. Josh Sharfstein and Stephanie Desmon about 2021: how it started, what happened, and how it's going now. They reflect...
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411 - The Bridge Between “Science and the Sanctuary”: Building Trust In COVID-19 Vaccines With Communities of Faith from 2021-12-20T11:00
A discussion of vaccines and trust. In an interview with Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Rev. Dr. Terris King, pastor of Liberty Grace Church of God in Baltimore and former official at t...
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410 - Omicron in South Africa: The Latest News from 2021-12-17T11:00
Nearly a month into the emergence of omicron, much more is known about how omicron behaves in the real world—thanks to the work of scientists like South Africa’s ...
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409 - Viral Mutations and Global Vaccinations from 2021-12-15T11:00
There’s still lots to learn about omicron, but two things are certain: vaccinations will provide some level of protection, and until the majority of the world’s p...
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408 - Public Health Forward: A Bipartisan Report About the Future of the Public Health System from 2021-12-13T11:00
Public health is having a moment, both in terms of challenges and opportunities. Dr. Anand Parekh, the chi...
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407 - Navigating Another COVID Holiday Season from 2021-12-10T11:00
Coming into this holiday season, things seemed a lot brighter than they did a year ago in terms of COVID safety: We have a broader toolbox including masks, ventil...
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406 - Better Together: Helping Young People at Risk for Addiction from 2021-12-08T11:00
Addiction prevention often comes in the form of “Just Say No” campaigns. But Dr. Terri Powell knows that to be successful, prevention strategies ...
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Bonus - The Latest on Omicron from 2021-12-07T11:00
Dr. Josh Sharfstein checks in again with Hopkins virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz about omicron and what the data are saying about how easily it can spread. So far, t...
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405 - International Finance for COVID Vaccines from 2021-12-06T11:00
Prior to COVID-19, the world had the capacity to produce about 5 billion vaccines a year. In the age of COVID, much greater capacity is needed. The U.S. International Development Finance Corpora...
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404 - How Colombia Weathered One of the World’s Most Severe COVID-19 Outbreaks from 2021-12-03T11:00
Throughout the pandemic, Colombia has fared better than other South American countries in terms of hospital overload and deaths, due in no small part to its empha...
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403 - World AIDS day: The Impacts of the COVID Pandemic on the HIV Pandemic from 2021-12-01T11:00
In the more than 40 years since HIV was first detected there have been incredible advances in testing, prevention, and treatment. But COVID-19 disrupted global gains and will continue to cause b...
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Bonus - The Omicron Variant from 2021-11-30T11:00
How did omicron come to the world’s attention? Why is this variant generating so much concern? Is it expected that vaccines will provide substantial protection? What can governments do to protec...
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402 - Special Episode: Public Health In The Field—The Supreme Court and Abortion in Mississippi from 2021-11-29T11:52:03
A potentially landmark battle is in play over abortion rights, and it’s headed to the U.S. Supreme Court on December 1. In a special episode of the podcast, guest...
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402 - Special Episode: Public Health In The Field—The Supreme Court and Abortion in Mississippi from 2021-11-29T11:52:03
A potentially landmark battle is in play over abortion rights, and it’s headed to the U.S. Supreme Court on December 1. In a special episode of the podcast, guest...
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401 - School in the Time of COVID: A Tour Of Hampstead Hill Academy from 2021-11-24T11:00
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Principal Matt Hornbeck of the award-winning Baltimore City public school Hampstead Hill Academy has been on the podcast to talk about how the ...
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400 - Can Spillover—How Viruses Move From Animals to Humans—Be Prevented? from 2021-11-22T11:00
SARS-CoV-2, like other zoonotic diseases, originated in animals before “spilling over” into humans. Dr. Raina Plowright of Montana State University studies these events and the ...
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399 - Aaron Dante, Host of the Award-Winning No Pix After Dark Podcast, Talks COVID with Dr. Josh Sharfstein from 2021-11-19T11:00
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 shar...
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398 - Public Health In Crisis from 2021-11-17T11:00
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...
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397 - How Reducing Salt Could Reduce Chronic Diseases from 2021-11-15T11:00
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 com...
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Bonus - Denmark and COVID-19 from 2021-11-12T11:00
Thanks to widespread testing, vaccinations, and adherence to masking and social distancing, Denmark was able to lift most COVID restrictions in late summer. Now, ...
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396 - Special Guest: The Assistant Secretary For Health, Admiral Rachel Levine from 2021-11-12T11:00
Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, is the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Ser...
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395 - The Health Care Situation in Afghanistan from 2021-11-09T22:22:43
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 child...
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BONUS: Checking In With A COVID Long-hauler from 2021-11-09T14:02:15
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...
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394 - The State of COVID On Campus At The University of Michigan from 2021-11-08T11:00
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...
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393 - Friday COVID Q&A With Dr. Amesh Adalja from 2021-11-05T10:00
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 ...
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BONUS - How A Program that Connects Pediatricians With Schools Helps Prevent Chronic Absenteeism in Washington, DC from 2021-11-04T13:13:29
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. Gue...
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392 - Idaho’s COVID-19 Crisis Standards of Care: Low Vaccination, Full Hospitals, and Difficult Decisions Around Who Gets Ideal Care from 2021-11-03T10:00
A few months ago, the state of Idaho declared Crisis Standards of Care when COVID cases peaked and hospitals were full. Dr. David Pate, a member ...
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BONUS - The FDA Grants Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids Ages 5-11—What’s Next? from 2021-11-02T10:00
After months of scrutinizing data from clinical trials, the FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11. Many parents a...
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391 - Underappreciated: The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Mental Health Effects On Non-Clinical Health Care Workers from 2021-11-01T10:00
Fear of COVID exposure and overflowing hospital units are two of the known stressors contributing to burnout among nurses and doctors. But there are a slew of other factors exacerbating health c...
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390 - Halloween Episode: All About Bats from 2021-10-29T10:00
Happy Halloween! Today, epidemiologist Dr. Emily Gurley talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about bats and why they are so critical f...
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389 - The Perfect Storm Behind Ongoing COVID-19 Misinformation from 2021-10-27T10:00
Where are we now on combating mis- and disinformation about COVID and vaccines that has run rampant online since the early days of the pandemic? Clint Wat...
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388 - An Update on COVID-19 In Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care Facilities from 2021-10-25T10:00
Across the US, 84% of residents in nursing homes and long-term care facilities are vaccinated for COVID-19, but only 64% of staff. Federal mandates could help but it’s unclear when or how those ...
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387 - Why We Need Better (and More!) Masks Before the Next Pandemic from 2021-10-22T10:00
At this point in the pandemic, what do we need to know about masks? Dr. Amesh Adalja from the Center for Health Security talks with Stephanie Desmon about a new...
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Bonus - How COVID Is Pushing People Out Of and Into Public Health Careers: A Special Episode From The Tradeoffs Podcast from 2021-10-21T10:00
On a special episode, Tradeoffs host Dan Gorenstein talks about how the pandemic has affected the public health workforce: More than 300 official...
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386 - What To Expect From This Year’s Flu Season from 2021-10-20T10:00
There was virtually no flu in the U.S. last year thanks to a confluence of factors including COVID-related mask wearing and social distancing. But, now that more and more of life is “back to nor...
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385 - How COVID-19 Is Impacting Kids’ Vision from 2021-10-18T10:00
School closures and unprecedented screen time may be contributing to vision problems for kids. Pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Megan Collins talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein...
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384 - COVID-19 Research Update: The Value of Masks&Testing in Schools from 2021-10-15T10:00
In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with researchers who break down two papers in the news....
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383 - Molnupiravir: The Game-changing Oral Antiviral Pill for COVID-19? from 2021-10-13T10:00
This week, Merck applied for FDA Emergency Use Authorization for its COVID-19 oral antiviral drug, molnupiravir. Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, director o...
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Bonus - Why COVID-19 Policy is About More Than Just “Following The Science” from 2021-10-12T14:00
Dr. Jay Varma, physician and advisor for New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio on the pandemic response authored an Atlantic called “Not Every Question Ha...
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382 - Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Un-Erasing America’s History from 2021-10-11T10:00
Monday, October 11 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the U.S.—a day previously recognized as Columbus Day that is now reserved for reflection, education, and untangling the false narrative of discov...
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381 - How the Pandemic Has Opened Our Eyes to Our Relationship with Nature from 2021-10-08T10:00
During the pandemic, many found solace outdoors on hikes and in city parks.
380 - Vaccines for Pets and Zoos? An Update on Animals and COVID-19 from 2021-10-06T10:00
As a zoonotic disease, COVID-19 can infect animals. Some, like farmed mink, are more susceptible to disease while others, like white-tailed deer, may only be carriers. But there’s always the cha...
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BONUS - The Latest from Louisiana: A COVID-19 Delta Surge + Hurricane Ida from 2021-10-05T10:00
How does a health department cope with a pandemic surge that coincides with one of the largest hurricanes to make landfall in 150 years? State health commissioner Dr. Joseph Kante Listen
379 - Mental Health Check-In With Dr. Laura Murray: Where Are We in the COVID-19 Pandemic? from 2021-10-04T10:00
Where are we with our mental health these days given that we’re past the initial panic of the COVID-19 pandemic and into a more long-term fallout phase? Clinical ...
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378 - What Might the Next Six Months of COVID-19 Look Like in the US? from 2021-10-01T10:30
Dr. Shaun Truelove, an infectious disease epidemiologist, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hu...
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COVID-19 Boosters Q&A With Dr. Josh Sharfstein from 2021-09-30T14:00
What, exactly, is a booster shot? For which groups has the FDA authorized Pfizer boosters? What about boosters for Moderna and J&J? Will we need a fourth shot in the future? Will there be a delt...
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377: An Update on COVID-19 and India from 2021-09-29T19:30
Last spring, India experienced a catastrophic wave of COVID-19 infections with more than 100,000 cases per day, exceeding hospital capacity in some areas and leading to oxygen shortages. What ha...
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376 - Rethinking Herd Immunity and COVID-19 from 2021-09-27T10:00
With the rollout of vaccines earlier this year, the concept of “herd immunity”—the idea that enough people would become immune to COVID-19 that we could more or less “return to normal”—seemed pl...
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375 - All Things COVID-19 Testing With Dr. Gigi Gronvall from 2021-09-24T12:30
Where are we with testing technology? Why is the demand for testing surging and are there enough tests? When is the best time to use at-home testing given the cost? What’s the difference between...
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374 - COVID-19 in Mississippi from 2021-09-22T10:00
Mississippi is leading the nation in the rate of COVID deaths. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state’s health commissioner, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the state...
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373 - Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet? from 2021-09-20T10:00
How can we help the planet by rethinking our diets? In a new book, Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet?, Dr. Jessica Fanzo, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Polic...
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372 - Book Club: Perilous Medicine—The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War from 2021-09-17T10:00
There is a long history of protecting health care workers during conflict, beginning with an 1859 battle in Italy that gave rise to the first Geneva Convention. But there’s never been a “golden ...
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371 - Appreciation and Hostility: Working With COVID-19 Patients from 2021-09-15T10:00
For a year and a half, Johns Hopkins infectious disease doctor Kelly Gebo has been working with people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Gebo and a team of medical professi...
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370 - VoteER: Helping Patients and Providers Vote Like Their Health Depends On It from 2021-09-13T10:00
There are over 50 million Americans who are eligible to vote but are not registered. VoteEr is an organization at the intersection of health and voting, providing kits for health care offices an...
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369 - How 9-11 and Anthrax Changed Public Health from 2021-09-10T10:00
In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the Anthrax events in the weeks that followed, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Dr. Tom Inglesby Listen
368 - COVID-19 and Protecting Our Kids from 2021-09-08T10:00
Stephanie Desmon talks to Dr. Stephen Patrick, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, about why the focus of COVID-19 right now ne...
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Bonus - Suicide Prevention and Muslim Americans from 2021-09-07T13:51:09
This year, National Suicide Prevention Week coincides with the 20th anniversary of 9-11. Amelia Noor-Oshiro, a Hopkins PhD candidate, is conducting research at the intersection ...
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367 - HIV Among Women in Abusive Relationships from 2021-09-03T10:00
Bloomberg Assistant Professor of American Health Tiara Willie studies the HIV epidemic among Black women in the American South, particularly among those in abusive relationships...
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366 - The Microbiome Episode from 2021-09-01T10:00
What is a microbiome? Are they helpful or are they harmful? Do they cause disease or can they cure disease? And what does diet soda have to do with them? In this episode, Dr. Joshua Shar...
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365 - The Politicization of COVID-19 Vaccines from 2021-08-30T10:00
Research shows that conservatives are significantly less likely to get a COVID vaccine than liberals. Timothy Callaghan of Texas A&M’s school of ...
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364 - The Ethics of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates from 2021-08-27T10:00
This week, Stephanie Desmon and Josh Sharfstein are teaming up to talk to experts about COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Today, they look through the ethical lens wit...
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BONUS - COVID and Extended Unemployment Benefits from 2021-08-26T10:00
As pandemic-related, federal unemployment insurance is set to expire, Stephanie Desmon talks to Mallika Thomas, PhD, of Brookings Institution about its impacts,...
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363 - How COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Have Played Out from 2021-08-25T10:00
What goes into the decision to mandate a vaccine? Today, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein and Stephanie Desmon continue the conversation on COVID-19 vacci...
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362 - COVID-19 and Vaccine Mandates from 2021-08-23T10:00
Why has it come to mandates as a way to get people vaccinated against COVID-19? Stephanie Desmon and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein talk to Saad Omer, MBBS, MPH,...
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361 - Friday Q&A With Dr. Amesh Adalja from 2021-08-20T10:00
I am fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine. If I catch the delta variant will I acquire additional immunity—in addition to the immunity to the vaccination? If I received the COVID-19 vaccine...
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Bonus - Caring for Kids with COVID-19 in Florida from 2021-08-19T10:00
Caring for Kids with COVID-19 in Florida. There are more children sick with COVID-19 in Florida today than ever before. Joseph Perno is an emergency department physician and the...
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360 - Book Club: Gender Bias On Women's Health from 2021-08-18T10:00
Public Health On Call producer Lindsay Smith Rogers speaks with Elinor Cleghorn, author of the book Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World. The...
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359 - The Back-to-School Episode from 2021-08-16T10:00
It’s back-to-school time and the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging in many places. Stephanie Desmon talks to Keri Althoff and
BONUS - Treating Addiction in Jails and Prison from 2021-08-13T11:00
2020 marked a historically high number of overdoses with more than 93,000 deaths in the United States. A particular risk for overdose is recent incarceration, yet few people who are incarcerated...
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358 - Are Hospitals Breaking the Law? from 2021-08-13T10:00
Overdose death rates in the U.S. reached record highs during the pandemic. Stephanie Desmon talks to Sika Yeboah Sampong about a recent report from the Legal Ac...
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357 - The Link Between Evictions and Rising COVID-19 Cases from 2021-08-11T10:00
Recent research led by Craig Pollack of Johns Hopkins and Kathryn Leifheit of UCLA suggests that more than 433,000 excess cases and 10,700 excess deaths from CO...
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356 - Climate Disruption and Our Health from 2021-08-09T10:00
With a string of massive climate crises seemingly ever-present in the news, Dr. John Groopman, an environmental epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public He...
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355 - COVID-19 in the Land Down Under from 2021-08-06T10:00
In the early days of the pandemic, Australia kept COVID cases low by closing its borders and instituting rigorous public health measures like contact tracing. Now, however, low vaccination rates...
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BONUS - How Worried Should the Vaccinated be About Delta? from 2021-08-06T10:00
With so much news about the Delta variant and calls for many vaccinated people to mask up again, Gigi Gronvall of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security talks with
354 - A Public Health Official Is Fired in Tennessee from 2021-08-04T10:00
Until recently, Dr. Michelle Fiscus served as the Medical Director for Immunization Programs at the Tennessee Department of Health. But after sending out a factual memo explaini...
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353 - How Delta and Low Vaccination Rates are Feeding a Deadly Surge of COVID-19 in Missouri from 2021-08-02T10:00
After a drop in COVID hospitalizations and deaths over the spring and early summer, hospitals in southwest Missouri are at capacity again. Steve Edwards, president and CEO of Co...
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352 - COVID-19 Research Update: The Delta Variant from 2021-07-30T10:00
In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with researchers who break down three papers about the delta variant. Carli Jones, a PhD student at Hopkins School of...
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351 - A Vaccine with that Haircut? Barber Shops and the Fight Against COVID-19 from 2021-07-28T10:00
Dr. Stephen Thomas, the director of the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity, works with barber shops in the African-American community to offer health services.
350 - Book Club: A Meningitis Outbreak from Pharmaceutical Compounding from 2021-07-26T10:00
Dr. Joshua Sharfstein speaks to Jason Dearen, author of the book Kill Shot: A Shadow Ind...
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349 - Mucormycosis: The Black Fungus Killing COVID-19 Patients in India from 2021-07-22T20:53:14
Fungal diseases are rare but, once diagnosed, incredibly hard to treat and often fatal. The overwhelming surge of COVID-19 cases in India has given rise to mucormycosis, also called “black fungu...
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348 - Mental Health Before, During and After the Pandemic from 2021-07-21T10:00
The pandemic has caused trauma, grief, and stress leading to depression, anxiety, and worsening of other mental health conditions. Dr. Adam Karpati...
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347 - COVID-19 Vaccines Update: Boosters, FDA Approval, New Vaccines, and More from 2021-07-19T10:00
Will we need COVID-19 booster shots and, if so, when? Where is the FDA in its approval process of the vaccines currently under emergency use authorization? What goes into this process? Why, if t...
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346 - Vermont’s Response to COVID-19 from 2021-07-16T10:00
Vermont has had far fewer COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths than many other states, and health commissioner Dr. Mark Levine credits a number of reasons why. Dr. Levine t...
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345 - How COVID-19 May Change Our Culture For Good from 2021-07-14T10:00
The COVID-19 pandemic will change our culture in all kinds of ways, both concrete and conceptual. Coming to work if you’re sick, for example, may hopefully be a thing of the past while normalizi...
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344 - “The Work Undone”: The 40th Anniversary of AIDS and Lessons For the COVID-19 Pandemic from 2021-07-12T10:00
On June 5, 1981, the CDC identified a cluster of five cases of a rare pneumonia occurring in previously healthy young, homosexual men in the US. Forty years later...
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343 - Combating Global Vaccine Hesitancy from 2021-07-09T10:00
The US is not the only country facing COVID-19 vaccine hesitation. Around the world, public health officials are grappling with this issue that has the potential to slow or even derail efforts t...
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342 - COVID-19 Vaccines and Children from 2021-07-07T10:00
Youths 12 and older have been eligible for COVID-19 vaccines since March, but clinical trials are still ongoing for kids under 12. Dr. Kawsar Talaa...
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341 - COVID-19 Research Update: The consequences of COVID from 2021-07-02T10:00
In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with researchers who break down three papers looking at what happens to patients with COVID over the longer term. Dr. Lauren P...
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Bonus - The Promise and Perils of the Lung Cancer Screening Tool: Tradeoff’s Dan Gorenstein Talks to Experts and Patients About Early Detection Vs Unnecessary Treatments from 2021-07-01T11:00
Tradeoffs host Dan Gorenstein talks with a host of experts about screening for lung cancer, America’s number one cancer killer. Hear from pulmonologist Dr. Gerard Silvestri; behavioral scientist & ...
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BONUS - What the Delta Variant Means for Vaccinated and Unvaccinated People from 2021-07-01T10:00
There are a lot of worrying headlines about the delta variant and outbreaks of COVID-19 around the world. Lindsay Smith Rogers talks to Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo from the Center for Health Security about ...
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340 - The Future of the Public Health Workforce after COVID-19 from 2021-06-30T10:00
Epidemiologists, community health workers, laboratory professionals, data analysts, and a whole spectrum of public health workers rose to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, ...
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339 - The Lows and Highs of Native American Communities’ Struggles With COVID-19 from 2021-06-28T10:00
Native American communities were especially hard hit during the pandemic with COVID cases 10 times that of the rest of the US. Dr. Allison Barlow talks with Stephanie Desmon about how the Native Am...
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338 - Tying the Hands of Public Health from 2021-06-25T10:00
According to a new report by the Network for Public Health Law, several states are considering or have passed legislation to limit the ability of public health agencies to respond to infectious dis...
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337 - The Tokyo Olympics and COVID-19 from 2021-06-23T10:00
As a 2004 Olympic silver medalist in swimming and public health expert at the Center for Health Security, Dr. Tara Kirk Sell is uniquely positioned to talk about what to expect at next month's Olym...
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336 - How You Can Support the US Vaccine Effort from 2021-06-21T10:00
With millions of Americans still unvaccinated and dangerous variants continuing to spread, the footrace against the virus continues into the summer months. Want to help? The Made to Save Coalition ...
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BONUS - The American Health Podcast: The Facts About Waste from 2021-06-18T10:30
The Bloomberg American Health Initiative offers full scholarship for MPH and DrPH degrees to people working on the front lines of key challenges to health in the United States. This special episode...
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335 - Investing in Health Equity from 2021-06-18T10:00
Maryland’s new Health Equity Resource Act will provide more than $50 million to support community-led plans that advance health equity. Dr. Josh Sharfstein interviews Michelle Spencer, a faculty me...
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BONUS: Inside a COVID-19 Field Hospital from 2021-06-17T10:00
Dr. Josh Sharfstein was invited inside the Baltimore Convention Field Hospital command center to meet with Director Dr. Jim Ficke and Deputy Director Dr. Chuck Callahan. He also speaks with Dr. Min...
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334 - COVID-19 Vaccines and Immunocompromised People: Fully Vaccinated And Not Protected from 2021-06-15T21:20:26
After being fully vaccinated, only 50% of people who are immunocompromised show an antibody response against COVID-19, compared with 100% of those with a typical immune system. Hopkins transplant s...
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333 - Gun Violence Prevention: Interrupting Gun Violence in Urban Neighborhoods from 2021-06-14T10:00
Guest host Dr. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, talks with DeVone Boggan, founder, and CEO of Advance Peace to discuss how the organizati...
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BONUS - The American Health Podcast: Nearly Expired Meat and Understocked Produce—Differences in Food Retail Quality Between High- and Low-Income Communities in the South from 2021-06-11T10:00
The Bloomberg American Health Initiative offers full scholarships for MPH & DrPH degrees to people working on the front lines of key challenges to health. This episode of the Initiative's American ...
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332 - COVID-19 Research Update: How Well COVID-19 Vaccines Work Against Variants from 2021-06-11T10:00
In this episode, Carli Jones talks about some good news from a study looking at the effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine against the variants found in the UK and South Africa. Greg Rosen, a PhD candid...
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331 - COVID-19 Variants and Young People from 2021-06-09T10:00
At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed like COVID-19 didn’t really affect young people. But a recent uptick in cases and hospitalizations among younger adults could point to the transmissibili...
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BONUS - The American Health Podcast: The Public Health Response to Human Trafficking from 2021-06-04T10:30
This special episode of the Initiative's American Health Podcast features an interview with host Shane Bryan and scholarship recipient and "Bloomberg fellow" Katherine Chon, Director of the Office ...
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329 - Will There Be a Fall 2021 Resurgence of COVID-19 in the US? from 2021-06-04T10:00
Dr. Justin Lessler, an infectious disease epidemiologist, returns to the podcast to talk to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the Scenario Modeling Hub’s models for the fall of 2021. Researchers projected ...
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330 - Gun Violence Prevention: A Focus on Police Violence from 2021-06-04T10:00
Guest host Dr. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, talks with Tracey Meares, professor of law and founding director of The Justice Collabora...
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328 - Laying the Groundwork for a COVID-19 Commission from 2021-06-02T10:00
After 9-11, the US government convened a crisis commission to investigate what happened and why, and to glean lessons to inform crisis prevention and response in the future. Philip Zelikow, the exe...
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327 - Remembering and Honoring George Floyd Part V: Disrupting the School-To-Prison Pipeline from 2021-05-28T10:00
According to the ACLU, Black students are arrested, suspended, and expelled from school at higher rates than other students and far more likely to wind up in the juvenile justice system. Guest host...
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326 - Remembering and Honoring George Floyd Part IV: Listening to Young People from 2021-05-27T10:00
A recent survey found that 90% of young people support the Black Lives Matter movement’s work to end racism in policing. Guest host Dr. Chidinma Ibe talks with youth leader Jada Johnson and with Jo...
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325 - Remembering and Honoring George Floyd Part III: How Racism Keeps Black Men In Poverty from 2021-05-26T10:00
Guest host Dr. Chidinma Ibe talks with Joe Jones, executive director of the Center for Urban Families about the economics of racism in the United States. They discuss how discrimination in educatio...
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324 - Remembering and Honoring George Floyd Part II: The Link Between Voting Rights And Meaningful Police Reform from 2021-05-25T10:00
In the year since George Floyd’s murder, there have been calls for police reform, record voter turnout for a Presidential election, and 360 bills with restrictive voting provisions introduced by le...
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323 - Remembering and Honoring George Floyd Part I: Examining the Psychological Impacts of Racialized Police Violence from 2021-05-24T10:00
George Floyd’s murder had an impact on our collective consciousness, and racism by itself is a “biopsychosocial stressor.” Guest host Dr. Rachel Thornton of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equi...
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322 - Becoming a PhD During the Pandemic: A Conversation with Asari Offiong from 2021-05-21T10:00
Graduation is May 25 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with soon-to-be Dr. Asari Offiong, an expert in the health and wellbeing of adolescents. Dr. O...
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321 - COVID-19 Testing Update from 2021-05-20T10:00
Where are we in terms of technology in testing for COVID-19? What kinds of tests are available now, how accurate are they, and which tests should be used in different circumstances? Will workplaces...
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320 - Does In-Person Schooling Put Families At Risk of COVID-19? from 2021-05-19T10:00
Are school closures helpful in preventing outbreaks of COVID-19? Epidemiologist Justin Lessler and statistician researcher Elizabeth Stuart co-authored a recent research paper looking at the risk o...
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319 - COVID-19, Kids, and Summer: Thinking Ahead About Camps, Vacations, and Family Fun from 2021-05-18T10:00
Families in the US are ready for fun this summer after a long year. But with unvaccinated children & changing guidance for vaccinated adults, how can families plan ahead for summer? Guest host Dr. ...
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318 - Gun Violence Prevention: What a Study of Mass Shootings Tells Us About How to Prevent Them from 2021-05-17T10:00
Mass shootings are very rare, but they receive a lot of media attention and have enormous social costs. Guest host Dr. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Preventi...
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317 - Book Club—Jonathan Cohn and The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage from 2021-05-14T11:46:04
The Affordable Care Act was meant to bring the US into alignment with every other developed country in offering universal health coverage. Author Jonathan Cohn joins Dr. Josh Sharfstein to talk abo...
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316 - Nepal’s Growing COVID-19 Crisis from 2021-05-13T10:00
Nepal is suffering from a growing humanitarian crisis. Less than 4% of the country is vaccinated, test positivity rates are up to 60-90% in some areas, and ICU care is extremely hard to find. Binit...
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315 - Climate Change and Mental Health from 2021-05-12T10:00
Mental health impacts from climate change are largely thought of as acute exposures to extreme events like hurricanes and wildfires. But there are other concerns like chronic “ecological grief” and...
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314 - COVID-19 and Weight Gain from 2021-05-11T10:00
For some, the pandemic has been a “perfect storm” in terms of unhealthy eating resulting in the “quaran-ten” or the COVID "19 pounds." Dr. Elena Jansen and Dr. Susan Carnell, two Johns Hopkins obes...
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313 - Stopping Gun Violence Before It Starts: How Community-Based Violence Prevention Programs Keep People Safe from 2021-05-10T10:00
Stopping gun violence requires more than thinking about policies and programs that focus on guns alone. Dr. Shani Buggs, a professor with the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, talks...
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312 - What Do We Need To Do to End the COVID-19 Pandemic, What Does An Ending Look Like, and How Close Are We? from 2021-05-07T10:00
Vaccinations are seen as the primary tool to prevent COVID-19 infections, but are there other things we should be doing to bring down transmission rates? Dr. Caitlin Rivers and Dr. Crystal Watson f...
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311 - A Baltimore Public School Reopens from 2021-05-06T10:00
We last heard from Matt Hornbeck—longtime principal of Hampstead Hill Academy, a K-8 school in Baltimore city—in the fall for an update on how the school community was faring with online learning. ...
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BONUS - The COVID-19 Crisis In India from 2021-05-05T11:00
India is in the throes of the world’s worst COVID-19 infection with overwhelmed health systems and a shortage of oxygen, hospital beds, testing, and medications. Dr. Amita Gupta, chair of the Johns...
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310 - The Impact of COVID-19 on Family Planning from 2021-05-05T10:00
At the onset of the pandemic, the world’s family planning community worried about the impact COVID-19 would have on access to contraception and unintended pregnancies in lower- and middle-income co...
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309 - How the COVID-19 Crisis in a Vaccine-Generating Powerhouse Like India Took Hold, and What This Means for the World’s Supply of Other Life-saving Vaccines from 2021-05-04T10:00
India produces much of the world’s vaccines in normal times, and even produced enough COVID-19 vaccines that it was donating doses to poorer countries earlier this year. So how did a vaccine powerh...
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308 - Ghost Guns: Untraceable DIY Firearms from 2021-05-03T10:00
Ghost guns are firearms that can be made at home from kits or 3D printed parts. They’re unregulated and untraceable, meaning no background check is required to purchase them. Dr. Alex McCourt, a pu...
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307 - An Update on COVID-19 in Canada with The Dose’s Dr. Brian Goldman from 2021-04-30T10:00
Canada is experiencing a serious wave of COVID infections with the majority from variants of concern like B.1.1.7. British Columbia currently has one of the highest rates of P.1 outside of Brazil i...
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306 - The Dire COVID-19 Crisis in India from 2021-04-29T10:00
India is in the throes of the world’s worst COVID-19 infection with overwhelmed health systems, and a shortage of oxygen, hospital beds, testing, and medications. Dr. Amita Gupta, chair of the John...
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305 - “Red Flag” Laws: Extreme Risk Protection Orders and What Went Wrong in Indiana from 2021-04-28T10:00
The recent mass shooting in Indianapolis sparked a national conversation about “red flag” laws, or Extreme Risk Protection Orders. Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Dr. Shannon Frattaroli of the Johns...
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304 - COVID-19 and the Amish and Mennonite Communities of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania from 2021-04-27T10:00
Lancaster County is home to one of the largest Amish and Mennonite, or “Plain”, communities in the US. In the last year, it’s estimated that 90% of families had a case of COVID-19 in their househol...
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303 - A Digital Problem With An Old-School Solution: COVID-19 Vaccinations in San Francisco from 2021-04-26T10:00
Early in the vaccine rollouts, 14 clinics in the San Francisco Health Network texted their most vulnerable patients a webform to sign up for COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Dr. Anna Robert, director...
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302 - COVID-19 Research Update: Reinfection from 2021-04-23T10:00
In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Hopkins researchers who break down three papers looking at reinfection. Dr. Sheree Schwartz, an epidemiologist, talks about a CDC paper on reinfectio...
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301 - Earth Day: Why COVID-19 Has Caused an Increase in Ocean Pollution from 2021-04-22T10:00
COVID is creating massive environmental issues such as the 1.56 billion face masks that entered the oceans in 2020 alone. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, the Director of Research for Oceans Asia, talks wit...
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300 - COVID-19 Vaccines and People with Disabilities from 2021-04-21T10:00
61 million Americans have a disability yet most haven’t been prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines. And while eligibility has opened up across the nation, there remain significant barriers for people w...
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299 - Baltimore’s Mobile Vaccination Teams: Meeting People Where They Are from 2021-04-20T10:00
Across the country, COVID case rates are going up and public health officials are racing to get vaccines in arms. Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner, talks with Stephanie Des...
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298 - Why The US Needs a Marshall Plan for Vaccines With Congressman Jake Auchincloss from 2021-04-19T12:22:26
The race between vaccines and variants has to be won globally, but at the current rate, much of the world won’t reach herd immunity until 2023. Congressman Jake Auchincloss from Massachusetts talks...
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BONUS - Pressing Pause on the Johnson and Johnson Vaccine from 2021-04-16T11:00
This week, the FDA paused the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine because of reports of six women under 50 who developed a rare form of blood clots called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. ...
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297 - The Arithmetic of Compassion: How Psychology and Literature Help Explain the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic from 2021-04-16T10:00
There are psychological and cognitive obstacles to compassion, especially against an invisible virus. Dr. Paul Slovic, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon, and his son Dr. Scott Slov...
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296 - Making Safe Decisions During the Race of “Infections vs Injections” from 2021-04-15T10:00
We’re in a strange “limbo” where vaccinations are on the rise, but so are hospitalizations. Epidemiologist Keri Althoff and mental health expert Elizabeth Stuart return to the podcast to talk with ...
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295 - The Impact of COVID-19 on Refugees and People in Conflict Zones from 2021-04-14T10:00
There’s a lack of data around COVID-19 in humanitarian settings and refugee camps so it’s difficult to know how people there have fared in the pandemic. Paul Spiegel, director of the Center for Hum...
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294 - Dr. Michael Osterholm on the Race Between COVID-19 Variants and Vaccines, How the Pandemic Looks Different than a Year Ago and How Children are More at Risk Now from 2021-04-13T10:00
While one-third of Americans have received their first COVID vaccine dose, COVID cases in parts of the U.S. are at their highest levels since December because of new variants that are more contagio...
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293 - Female Sex Workers and the Police from 2021-04-12T10:00
Dr. Susan Sherman talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about her 2016-2017 research on the relationship between female sex workers and police, including how abusive policing practices directly and indir...
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292 - National Public Health Week Finale: Georges Benjamin on Mending the Broken System Post-COVID-19 from 2021-04-09T10:00
The theme of this year’s National Public Health Week is “Building Bridges to Better Health.” Dr. Georges Benjamin, president of the American Public Health Association, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstei...
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291- We Stand With Public Health Part 4: Solutions from 2021-04-08T10:00
In a special 4-part series excerpted from a webcast, we look at the extraordinary challenges facing the field of public health in the COVID era. In the final episode, we hear more about how serious...
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290 - We Stand With Public Health Part 3: The Challenges Facing Health Departments from 2021-04-07T10:00
In a special 4-part series excerpted from a webcast, we look at the extraordinary challenges facing the field of public health in the COVID era. Today, health officers from around the country talk ...
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289 - We Stand With Public Health Part 2: By the Numbers from 2021-04-06T10:00
In a special 4-part series excerpted from a webcast, we look at the extraordinary challenges facing the field of public health in the COVID era. Today, Dr. Beth Resnick and Paulani Mui of Johns Hop...
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288 - We Stand With Public Health Part I: The Harassment of Health Officers During COVID-19 from 2021-04-05T10:00
In a 4-part series excerpted from a webcast, we look at the extraordinary challenges facing the field of public health in the COVID era. Today, hear from Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC;...
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BONUS EPISODE - Regreso a Clases en Persona: La Pandemia y El Aprendizaje from 2021-04-02T10:00
Una conversación entre Dra. Sara Polk, una de las directoras del Centro Sol de la universidad de Johns Hopkins y Gabriela Calderon Velazquez, especialista en salud escolar de Johns Hopkins. Hablan ...
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287 - A COVID-19 Silver Lining: The Child Tax Credit and Other Game-Changing Programs for Families in the American Rescue Plan Act from 2021-04-01T10:00
The American Rescue Plan Act, meant to help the country dig its way out of the pandemic’s disastrous economic effects, has some benefits that could be long-term game-changers for children and famil...
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286 - COVID-19 and the Arts Part 3: Virtual Showtime at The Apollo Theater from 2021-03-31T12:55
Like many venues, the Apollo Theater made the transition to virtual performances, drawing audiences from all over the world, but it also considered ways to serve its local community. Fatima Jones, ...
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285 - COVID-19 and the Arts Part 2: Performing Arts and the Pandemic with Marin Alsop from 2021-03-30T10:00
The pandemic halted all in-person performing arts in the last year: a “big hole to crawl back out of,” says Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Alsop talks with Josh Sh...
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284 - COVID-19 and the Arts Part 1: What Has Been Lost and What We Can Regain from 2021-03-29T10:00
Research suggests that the arts—a sprawling industry of museums, theaters, studios, production companies, artists, administrators and more—have lost over $15 billion in the COVID-19 pandemic. Kate ...
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283 - Where Are We in the Pandemic? Friday Q&A with Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo from the Center for Health Security from 2021-03-26T13:06:41
Is the recovery on track or about to be derailed? What can we do alongside vaccines to step down case numbers? What does the CDC’s relaxed guidance for 3-feet of distance for kids mean for schools ...
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282 - The Crisis of Declining Life Expectancy in the US—Before, During, and After COVID-19 from 2021-03-25T10:00
Life expectancy in the US has been declining over the last 30 years, especially among working-age adults—a stark contrast from wealthy peer countries in Europe and Asia where adults are living long...
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281 - The Importance of Genomic Surveillance for COVID-19 from 2021-03-24T10:00
Staying on top of the COVID-19 pandemic means understanding the infectiousness, lethality, and spread of variants of SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Jonathan Quick, managing director for pandemic preparedness and ...
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280 - An Update on Incarcerated People, COVID-19 and Vaccines, and New Insights About Pregnant Inmates from 2021-03-23T10:00
Many of the largest clusters of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are in prisons, jails, and detention centers—places that have not been prioritized for vaccine rollouts. New data also shows that there ar...
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279 - Why Europe’s AstraZeneca Situation is Reassuring—COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Update with Dan Salmon from 2021-03-22T10:00
Last week, parts of Europe suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after a few vaccinated individuals reported dangerous blood clots. Dan Salmon talks with Stephanie Desmon about the si...
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278 - COVID-19 Research Update: Obesity and COVID-19 from 2021-03-19T10:00
Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Hopkins researchers who break down three research papers looking at the relationship between obesity and COVID-19. Lauren Peetluk talks about a study published early ...
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277 - COVID-19 and POTS—Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome from 2021-03-18T10:00
POTS is a chronic syndrome marked by high blood pressure and dizziness that can be debilitating. It’s often diagnosed after patients recover from viruses like strep or mono, and now doctors are see...
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276 - A COVID-19 Update from a North Dakota Hospital from 2021-03-17T12:28:34
Last fall, the state of North Dakota had the highest COVID-19 rate per capita in the world and Sanford Medical Center in Fargo was nearly overwhelmed with COVID patients from as far away as Montana...
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275 - How a Former Twisted Sister Roadie Is Getting Thousands of People Vaccinated Every Day from 2021-03-16T10:00
Baltimore County’s mass vaccination sites—called “PODs,” which stands for Point of Dispensing—can serve up to 500 patients an hour. The logistics of moving so many people safely through a space are...
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274 How the Pandemic Could Help Fix Health Care Post-COVID-19 from 2021-03-15T10:00
While COVID-19 showed all the ways the health care and public health systems in the US are broken, the pandemic has also led to innovative problem solving and fixes for the future. Health economist...
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273 - “This Is Our Shot”: A Digital Campaign to End the Pandemic, One Vaccine At a Time from 2021-03-12T11:00
Physicians play a crucial role in educating patients, who have lots of questions about COVID-19 vaccines. Drs. Jay Bhatt and Hussein Lalani are part of a digital campaign called This Is Our Shot th...
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272 - Understanding the CDC’s New COVID-19 Guidance for Vaccinated People from 2021-03-11T11:00
This week, the CDC released new guidance for vaccinated people who can resume some lower-risk activities. Dr. Tara Kirk Sell from the Center for Health Security talks with Stephanie Desmon about th...
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271 - COVID-19 and Immunosuppressant Drugs from 2021-03-10T11:00
Does taking immunosuppressant drugs put you at higher risk of more serious disease from COVID-19? Dr. Caleb Alexander and PhD candidate Kayte Andersen talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about their new ...
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270 - How to Talk About Climate Change and COVID-19 With YouTube's ClimateAdam from 2021-03-09T11:00
How do you have meaningful conversations around really big, complex problems like climate change or COVID-19? How can we address "climate anxiety?" Dr. Adam Levy—aka ClimateAdam on YouTube—a scienc...
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269 - COVID-19 and Diabetes from 2021-03-08T11:00
We know that having diabetes is a risk factor for more serious COVID-19 disease, but is being seriously ill from COVID-19 a risk factor for diabetes? Hopkins endocrinologist Dr. Mihail Zilbermint t...
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268 How did the COVID-19 pandemic begin? from 2021-03-05T11:00
Dr. David Relman, a professor of medicine and microbiology at Stanford, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his view that more investigation is needed into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. ...
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267 - When Will Children Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19? from 2021-03-04T11:00
With a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines, the focus has been on getting the most vulnerable vaccinated first. But to reach the kind of population-level immunity needed to truly curb the pandemic,...
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266 - Caution and COVID-19: Why Vigilance Still Matters from 2021-03-03T11:00
Morale is up and case numbers are down at Johns Hopkins Hospital, but infection prevention expert Dr. Lisa Maragakis says vaccines are in a race against variants and we shouldn’t let our guard down...
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265 - Monica Gandhi and Vaccine Optimism from 2021-03-02T11:00
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Gandhi returns to the podcast to talk about why she’s so optimistic about COVID-19 vaccines and their ability to free us from the pandemic. Dr. Gandhi talks...
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264 - Why Helping to Vaccinate the World Against COVID-19 is in America’s Best Interests from 2021-03-01T11:00
Although America is struggling to vaccinate our most vulnerable populations in a race against variants, just vaccinating people here won’t help bring the pandemic to an end around the world. Lawren...
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263 - Healing from the Grief and Trauma of COVID-19 from 2021-02-26T11:00
This week, the US passed the tragic milestone of 500,000 lives lost to COVID-19. Each death generates a circle of trauma for family and friends. Annette March Grier is a nurse and the founder and p...
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262 - A National Weather Service for Epidemics? from 2021-02-25T11:00
From seasonal flu to SARS, outbreaks and epidemics occur regularly and require sophisticated data analysis to help decision makers know how to respond. Dr. Caitlin Rivers from the Center for Health...
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261 - The Pandemic “Baby Bust”: The Disruption of COVID-19 from 2021-02-24T11:00
While some predicted that lockdowns in the US might lead to a baby boom, the reality is that COVID-19 seems to be impacting demographics more like a disaster or a recession than a snowstorm. Sociol...
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260 - The Intersection Between the Crisis of Democracy and the COVID Pandemic from 2021-02-23T11:00
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stress test for democracy, exposing fault lines that already existed. So, where do we go from here? Dr. Hahrie Han, inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute an...
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259 - The Politics of COVID-19: How Worldview Influences Willingness to Follow Public Health Guidance from 2021-02-22T11:00
A person’s worldview is a fundamental, gut-level set of instincts that has played a larger role in influencing political attitudes and affiliations in the last two decades. It can also influence th...
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258 - COVID-19 Research Update: Schools from 2021-02-19T11:00
Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Hopkins researchers who break down three research papers with implications for the national discussion over COVID and schools. Dr. Nikolas Wada discusses how the coro...
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257 - A COVID-19 Long-hauler Shares His Story from 2021-02-18T11:00
Jim Golen, a nurse in Minnesota, became sick with COVID in March of 2020. Nearly one year later, he still suffers from severe shortness of breath and brain fog and may have permanent lung damage. G...
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256 - A Good Time to Be Born: A Conversation with Dr. Perri Klass from 2021-02-17T11:00
150 years ago, it was common—even expected—that children would die, and tragedy struck families from the poor to the rich and powerful. Dr. Perri Klass, a pediatrician and author of A Good Time to ...
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255 - Why Workers in Nursing Homes and Care Facilities are Declining COVID-19 Vaccines: Tradeoff’s Dan Gorenstein Talks to Staff and Experts About the Problem and Possible Solutions from 2021-02-16T11:00
On a special episode, Tradeoffs host Dan Gorenstein talks with Tracey, a staff member at a long term care facility, about her experience with having COVID-19, her hesitancy to get vaccinated, and h...
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254 - Sleep Issues and COVID-19 from 2021-02-15T11:00
COVID-19 is tied to sleep issues like insomnia but is this a result of stress and anxiety or is there a biological issue caused by the virus? Dr. Rachel Salas, a neurologist and sleep specialist at...
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253 - Schools Week Finale: Is It Safe to Reopen US Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic? from 2021-02-12T11:00
While schools may not be inherently safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, they can be made safer. Dr. Caitlin Rivers of the Center for Health Security talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what schools...
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252 - A Principal Gets Ready to Reopen During the COVID-19 Pandemic from 2021-02-11T11:00
Matthew Hornbeck, principal of Hampstead Hill Academy—a K-8 public school in Baltimore City—talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the challenges of virtual learning, the excitement and fears of teac...
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251 - Dr. José Ramón Fernández-Peña and How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Impacting Pre-Med and Undergraduate Students from 2021-02-10T11:00
Dr. José Ramón Fernández-Peña, APHA President and Northwestern’s director of Health Professions Advising, talks with Stephanie Desmon about how the pandemic is affecting undergraduate students, an ...
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250 - An Update on the Impacts and Opportunities of COVID-19 on Schools from 2021-02-09T11:00
Although the CDC has found little evidence of COVID spreading in schools with proper precautions in place, 17% of districts in the US are fully open for in-person learning. Dr. Annette Anderson of ...
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249 - COVID-19 and Chicago’s Public Schools from 2021-02-08T11:00
Although private schools and daycares have been open across Chicago since June, public schools are only now preparing to reopen for in-person learning. Dr. Ken Fox, chief health officer and “the di...
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248 - Dating in a Pandemic from 2021-02-05T11:00
Dating is already so much about trust and safety—COVID-19 adds new complications. Dr. Keri Althoff and Dr. Laura Murray return to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about why human connectio...
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247 - An Update on COVID-19 in Brazil from 2021-02-04T11:00
After public health measures helped stem a massive first wave of infections, fatigue set in, and Brazil is now facing the worst moment of the pandemic so far. Dr. Luana Araujo, a public health cons...
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246 - Do Pandemics Really End? What We Know From the 1918 Flu and a Brief History of Vaccine Resistance from 2021-02-03T11:00
Even after the 1918 pandemic supposedly “ended” a significant number of people continued to die from “flu-like illnesses” for years. So do pandemics really “end” or do they fade from the public’s c...
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245 - COVID-19 Research Update: Reinfection in a Health Care Worker, Why Men Might Experience More Serious Disease, and a Look at an Inhaled Antiviral Treatment from 2021-02-02T11:00
In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Hopkins researchers who break down three COVID-19 research papers: Dr. Sheree Schwartz talks about a preprint study of a healthcare worker who experi...
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244 - Why a Global Health Organization Let Most of its U.S. Employees Go from 2021-02-01T11:00
In early 2020, PIVOT, an NGO in Africa, decided to let the majority of US employees go and shift operations to Madagascar and the communities that PIVOT serves. Executive director and Hopkins alum ...
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243 - Vaccine Week Finale: Q&A with Dr. Josh Sharfstein from 2021-01-29T11:00
How do I find out where to get vaccinated? How much flexibility in timing is there for the second dose? If I’ve gotten vaccinated, can I be infected by one of the new variants? Should I get the vac...
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242 - Will COVID-19 Vaccination Be Required for the Workplace? from 2021-01-28T11:00
Once vaccines are more widely available, employers may start requiring their workers to be vaccinated. Employment law expert Karla Grossenbacher talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein to break down vaccine...
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241 - Understanding and Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy—A Two Part Episode from 2021-01-27T11:00
In a special two-part episode, we look at the landscape of vaccine hesitancy and what can be done to address it.
In part one, Hopkins vaccine safety expert Dr. Dan Salmon talks with Stepha...
240 - Considering Ethics and Equity in Vaccinating a Nation—A Two-Part Episode from 2021-01-26T11:00
In a special two-part episode, we look at considerations of ethics and equity in vaccinating a nation.
In part one, Stephanie Desmon talks to Johns Hopkins ethicist Dr. Ruth Faden; and in ...
239 - VACCINE WEEK: Maine’s Top Health Officer Dr. Nirav Shah on the Complicated Logistics of Vaccine Distribution from 2021-01-25T11:00
Why is it so hard to get vaccines to people who need them? Maine’s CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah talks to Stephanie Desmon about the massive logistical challenges with COVID-19 vaccines: identificati...
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238 - New Year, Same Problems? Mental Health Q&A with Laura Murray from 2021-01-22T11:00
2021, so far, looks a lot like 2020 in terms of pandemic fatigue. What are signs of burnout and mental exhaustion? What can we do about anger? How can we “just hang on” until the pandemic is under ...
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237 - Declarations of Racism as a Public Health Crisis: A Policy Tool for Real-World Solutions and Meaningful Change from 2021-01-20T19:01:53
After the murder of George Floyd, a number of jurisdictions formally declared racism a public health crisis. Dawn Hunter, deputy director of the Southeastern Region for the Network for public healt...
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236 - Rethinking the US COVID-19 Response from 2021-01-20T11:00
Today’s episode is audio from a webcast recorded last week with two members of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board. In a conversation moderated by Global Health NOW’s Brian Simpson, infec...
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235 - COVID-19 and Senior Housing from 2021-01-19T11:00
There are more than 2 million federally-subsidized apartments, units, and homes designated for senior housing. These communities have unique opportunities and challenges. Juliana Bilowich, director...
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234 - State Health Departments and Vaccine Distribution Challenges from 2021-01-15T11:00
What accounts for the sluggish rollout of COVID-19 vaccines? Dr. Michael Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein abou...
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233 - Why There Are Fewer COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Cantabria, Spain Than the Rest of the Country from 2021-01-14T11:00
Urban areas in Spain have been hard hit by COVID, but the rural northern state of Cantabria has fared much better thanks to a strong public health approach. Dr. Paloma Navas, former director genera...
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232 - The COVID-19 Variants Explained from 2021-01-13T11:00
What caused the variants seen in the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the UK and elsewhere? Why is the UK variant more contagious? Is it more lethal? Will the current vaccines still work against these variants?...
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231 - COVID-19 and Low-Income, Undocumented Latino Immigrants from 2021-01-12T11:00
The Latino immigrant community has been hard hit by COVID—in Baltimore, there are sustained positivity rates of up to 30%. Dr. Kathleen Page, medical director of the Johns Hopkins The Access Partne...
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230 - COVID-19 Vaccines and the Opportunity to Build Trust Between Health Care Institutions and the Black Community from 2021-01-11T11:00
Helping members of the Black community get the information they need in order to trust COVID-19 vaccines is a daunting task. But it’s also an opportunity to invest in the health and wellbeing of Bl...
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229 COVID-19 Vaccines Q&A: The Two-Dose Strategy, Speeding up Rollouts, and Very Normal Side Effects from 2021-01-08T11:00
With a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, is it a good idea to give people just one dose now and a second dose later when there is more available? How can the process of rolling out vaccines be sped up...
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228 - Health Commissioner Dr. Monica Bharel on Massachusetts’ Unique Approach to COVID-19 Vaccine Rollouts from 2021-01-07T11:00
States are rolling out COVID-19 vaccines to “high risk groups” but there’s a lot of nuance in how “high risk” is defined. Dr. Monica Bharel, health commissioner of Massachusetts, talks with Dr. Jos...
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227 Psychological Distress Among Latinos During COVID-19 from 2021-01-06T12:00
COVID-19 is having impacts on mental health in the US with more than 14% of all adults meeting the criteria for serious psychological distress. These numbers are even higher among Latinos with more...
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226 - COVID-19 in Assisted Living Facilities and the Special Challenges with Alzheimer’s Disease from 2021-01-05T11:00
Assisted living facilities are small, congregate settings that make infection control measures harder to implement. These facilities also care for a large proportion of residents with Alzheimer’s d...
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225 - The Challenges With Communicating COVID-19 Prevention Measures from 2021-01-04T11:00
Communicating evidence-based COVID-19 prevention measures like mask-wearing and hand washing has been a challenge. What’s further complicated buy-in are public health officials and politicians crea...
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BONUS: Backstage at Public Health On Call from 2020-12-18T12:00
What goes into Public Health On Call? Had you ever hosted a podcast before? Who would you most want to interview? Have there been any "oops" moments?
Public Health On Call, which has been ...
224 - COVID-19 Q&A featuring Drs. Josh Sharfstein and Caitlin Rivers from 2020-12-18T11:00
Why do COVID-19 vaccines require two doses? Will I still have to wear a mask and social distance once I get the vaccine? If my friends and I had COVID, can we get together for the holidays? Are peo...
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223 Dr. Michael Osterholm on Rising Cases, Vaccine Rollouts, and Getting Through What is Both “The Best and Worst of Times” in the COVID-19 Pandemic from 2020-12-17T11:00
While there’s light at the end of the tunnel with the first COVID vaccines being administered to US health care workers, the next few months will be difficult in terms of sickness and loss of life....
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222 - Overdose and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Harm Reduction Movement from 2020-12-16T11:00
As part of a periodic series on overdose and the pandemic, guest host Susan Sherman speaks with Monique Tula, executive director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition, and Louise Vincent, execut...
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221 - Why COVID-19 Cases in Africa Are Much Lower Than Expected from 2020-12-15T11:00
Thanks to an early warning system that was put in place for Ebola and other infectious disease outbreaks, countries across Africa acted swiftly to respond to COVID-19—actions that have resulted in ...
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220 - Overdose and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Breaking Through Bureaucracy With High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area from 2020-12-11T22:22:43
As part of a periodic series on overdose and the pandemic, guest host Susan Sherman speaks with Chauncey Parker, director of the New York/New Jersey High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. HIDTA is a...
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BONUS: Public Health On Call—Season 3 Trailer from 2020-12-11T14:30
The Public Health On Call podcast is wrapping up Season Two with our final episode on December 18. We’ll return for Season Three on January 4 with more evidence and experts to help unpack the days ...
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219 - What Went Wrong? The CDC and COVID-19 from 2020-12-11T12:00
The CDC has been hailed as the world’s leading public health agency, but throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when the agency should have been leading the charge—its responses have fallen short ...
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218 - The Health Impacts of Climate Change from 2020-12-10T12:00
The health impacts of climate change can be severe: asthma attacks triggered by mold from flooding, infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes which thrive in warmer and wetter climates, and violent ...
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217 - How Youth Serving Organizations Can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse from 2020-12-09T12:00
Elizabeth Letourneau, director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, talks with Stephanie Desmon about a groundbreaking new report to help youth serving organizations preven...
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216 - Economist Dr. Emily Oster on COVID-19 and Schools from 2020-12-08T12:00
Although there’s enough data to show that K-12 schools are not driving COVID-19 transmission, many are still closed even though bars, restaurants, and gyms are open. Brown economist Dr. Emily Oster...
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BONUS: Overdose and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Dr. Chinazo Cunningham and the Challenges of Providing Patient-Centered Treatment During the Pandemic from 2020-12-07T14:00
Treatment for opioid use disorder can be highly effective in preventing overdoses, but only if it’s easily accessible. Last spring, Dr. Chinazo Cunningham’s health clinic in the South Bronx found i...
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215 - Considering Holiday Travel During COVID-19 from 2020-12-07T12:30
With COVID-19 cases on the rise, the CDC and other health authorities are urging people to avoid nonessential travel in the coming weeks. But there are also concerns about the physical and emotiona...
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214 - The Ongoing Process of Determining COVID-19 Vaccines Safety from 2020-12-04T12:00
While clinical trials are a “gold standard” to indicate if a vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks, safety monitoring doesn’t stop there. Dr. Daniel Salmon, director of the Johns Hopkins Institute ...
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213 - The New Technology Behind COVID-19 RNA Vaccines and What This Means for Future Outbreaks from 2020-12-03T12:00
After a decade of work, COVID-19 vaccines are the first RNA vaccines to be put through the paces of clinical trials. But what sets RNA vaccine technology apart from more traditional methods and how...
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212 - Racism As a Public Health Crisis: Black Men’s Health from 2020-12-02T12:00
As part of the continuation of the series on racism as a public health crisis, Dr. Keshia Pollack Porter talks with Hopkins professor Dr. Roland J. Thorpe, Jr., and Dr. Marino A. Bruce, faculty at ...
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211 - Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley on Targeted COVID-19 Restrictions from 2020-12-01T12:00
Prior to Thanksgiving, the city of Philadelphia announced new COVID-19 restrictions to last for six weeks. Health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley talks with Stephanie Desmon about these targeted res...
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210 - Overdose and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Obama’s Drug Czar Michael Botticelli on America’s Opioid Epidemic from 2020-11-30T12:00
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of opioid overdose have increased dramatically but this is only due in part to disruption of services and increased isolation. Michael Botticelli, former hea...
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209 - COVID-19 Transportation Safety: Holiday and Everyday Travel, Autonomous Vehicles, and Preparing for Future Pandemics from 2020-11-25T12:00
How can people think about safety for holiday travel during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are some means of transport safer than others? What about safety during day-to-day transportation on buses and tra...
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BONUS - ICU Nurse Lacie Gooch on Nebraska’s Horrific Outbreak and a Desperate Plea to “Take COVID Seriously” Ahead of the Holidays from 2020-11-24T13:00
Last week, Nebraska ICU nurse Lacie Gooch recorded a video of herself after a long shift talking about the overwhelming number of people dying in hospitals from COVID-19. In a bonus episode of the ...
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208 - The Opioid Epidemic: What’s Next With Purdue Pharma’s $8.3 Billion Settlement and How COVID-19 is Intensifying The Public Health Crisis from 2020-11-24T12:00
Last week, a judge approved the $8.3 billion settlement between the Department of Justice and OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma. Hopkins opioids researcher Dr. Caleb Alexander talks with Stephan...
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207 - The Center for Communication Programs and COVID-19 Messaging From Around the World from 2020-11-23T12:00
The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs has worked for more than 30 years on health communication in at least 60 countries for issues like HIV and family planning. They were well positi...
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206 - Friday Q&A With Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo From the Center for Health Security from 2020-11-20T12:00
If I test positive for COVID-19, could my name and phone number be reported to the health department? How does closing bars at 10pm help? My roommate and I have both tested positive—can we be in th...
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205 - Racism As a Public Health Crisis: Environmental Injustice from 2020-11-19T12:00
Pollution and racism go hand in hand: low-income, predominantly non-white communities with less capital and political power become dumping zones for hazardous waste and other toxic environmental ex...
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BONUS - National Injury Prevention Day from 2020-11-18T13:00
November 18 is National Injury Prevention Day. Injuries like burns, falls, and poisonings are the leading cause of death in the US for children over the age of 1 and most are preventable. Preventio...
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204 - Denmark’s Mink Situation and an Update on Pets and COVID-19 from 2020-11-18T12:00
Denmark, one of world’s leading pelt producers, is culling all of its farmed mink after evidence that a different variant of SARS-CoV-2 might be circulating among the animals. Veterinary expert Dr....
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203 - Can COVID-19 Vaccines Be Mandatory in the US and Who Decides? from 2020-11-17T12:00
Once COVID-19 vaccines are widely available, could they be made mandatory and, if so, what entities could enforce this? Legal and public health expert Joanne Rosen talks with Stephanie Desmon about...
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202 - Kaiser’s Chief Health Officer Dr. Bechara Choucair On COVID-19 Response from 2020-11-16T12:00
Kaiser Permanente, the largest not-for-profit health system in the US, has mobilized in response to COVID-19. Senior vice president and chief health officer Dr. Bechara Choucair talks with Dr. Josh...
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BONUS - Dr. Josh Sharfstein on Pfizer’s Vaccine and Next Steps from 2020-11-13T13:00
This week, Pfizer reported some encouraging early results from Phase III of it’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Stephanie Desmon about what might happen next, when...
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201 - Overdispersion of COVID-19: Why A Small Percentage of People May Be Responsible for the Majority of Transmission from 2020-11-13T12:00
High profile instances show up in the news as “super spreader” events, but there’s evidence that the phenomenon of “overdispersion” could be much more common. Infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. ...
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BONUS - World Pneumonia Day from 2020-11-12T16:10:55
Pneumonia is the leading killer of children under 5 around the world with most deaths in low- and middle-income countries. But it’s not just a problem of developing countries: pneumonia is also the...
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200 - The Logistics and Ethics of Distributing COVID-19 Vaccines from 2020-11-12T12:00
We’re closer to safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines, but what will the actual rollout look like? Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist and health policy expert recently appointed to President-elect Joe ...
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199 - What We Can Learn From The Success of the NBA’s COVID-19 Bubble from 2020-11-11T12:00
After the National Basketball Association shut down on March 11, the league was able to resume play and complete both its season and postseason without interruption from COVID-19 from the safety of...
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198 - Why Women Are Dropping Out of the Workforce During COVID-19 and What the Long-term Impacts May Be from 2020-11-10T12:00
A disproportionate number of women in the U.S. appear to be “dropping out” of the workforce during the pandemic, presumably to care for children or because they are more likely to have jobs that ca...
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197 - What We’ve Learned About How COVID-19 Spreads from 2020-11-09T12:00
New knowledge about COVID-19 can help us make informed decisions about risks but it's also led to mixed messages. Hopkins environmental epidemiologist Dr. Tom Burke and dean of the University of Co...
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BONUS - Fixing Chronic Underinvestment in Public Health and Prevention: COVID-19’s Unexpected Opportunities to Chart a Path to a Healthier Future from 2020-11-06T13:00
The pandemic has revealed major deficits in public health infrastructure and a lack of prioritization of prevention efforts: only 3% of all health dollars are spent on prevention. Dr. Ellen J. MacK...
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196 - Contact Tracing for COVID-19 in New York City from 2020-11-06T12:00
New York City’s contact tracing program is one of the largest in the nation. Dr. Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior adviser for public health, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the trained workforce ...
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195 - Racism As A Public Health Crisis: The Impacts of COVID-19 and Racism on Kids, Education, and Health from 2020-11-05T12:00
In the first of a periodic series on racism and health, Dr. Keshia Pollack Porter talks with Taylor Porter, a principal at Gamble Montessori High School in Cincinnati with a unique approach to lear...
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194 - Research update: COVID-19 Vaccines and Older Adults, COVID and Pregnancy, and the Potential of Rapid Tests from 2020-11-04T12:00
In this episode, Dr. Josh Sharfstein talks with Hopkins researchers who break down three new COVID-19 research papers: Dr. Andrew Redd talks about COVID-19 vaccines and whether they will work in ol...
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193 - Suicide Prevention and COVID-19 from 2020-11-03T12:00
The pandemic has elevated many of the risk factors of suicide, including loneliness, grief, economic distress, and a record number of people requesting new access to firearms which are involved in ...
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192 - An Update on COVID-19 Treatments: Monoclonal Antibodies, Convalescent Plasma, Remdesivir and More from 2020-11-02T12:00
COVID-19 mortality rates are falling and better treatments are one of the main reasons why. Dr. Arturo Casadevall returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about where we are with differ...
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191 - Friday Mental Health Q&A: Dealing with Election Anxiety, Hard Decisions About Holiday Plans, and COVID Fatigue from 2020-10-30T11:00
How can we deal with election stress and uncertainty? How should we think about hard decisions like traveling for the holidays? How can we balance the health and safety risks of visiting with frien...
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190 - Election Series: What’s At Stake With Gun Policy from 2020-10-29T11:00
As part of our election series, guest host Dr. Colleen Barry talks with Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence about what’s at stake for gun policy in this election....
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189 - Election Series: What’s At Stake With Health Care—Preexisting Conditions, Medicaid Expansion, and Drug Pricing from 2020-10-28T11:00
As part of our election series, Stephanie Desmon talks with Dr. Gerry Anderson, an expert in health policy at Johns Hopkins. They discuss what the election could mean for the coverage of preexistin...
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188 - Election Series: What’s At Stake With Climate Change and the Environment? from 2020-10-27T11:00
As part of our election series, Stephanie Desmon talks with Dr. Tom Burke, the EPA’s science advisor during the Obama administration. They discuss this critical moment after huge reversals of envir...
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187 - Election Series: What’s At Stake With Immigration from 2020-10-26T11:00
As part of a pre-election series, Stephanie Desmon talks with Dr. Paul Spiegel, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, and Katherine Narvaez, a student, researcher and DACA r...
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186 - COVID-19 Friday Q&A with Dr. Amesh Adalja from the Center for Health Security from 2020-10-23T12:00
What do we know about reinfection? Can adults get the rare inflammatory syndrome that was infecting some children? If guidelines say “close contact” is being within six feet of someone for 15 minut...
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185 - Doctors Coping with COVID: Tradeoffs’s Dan Gorenstein Interviews Dr. Albert Wu About the Mental Health of Frontline Health Care Workers from 2020-10-22T12:00
With the possibility of a spike in COVID-19 cases this fall and winter, doctors, nurses, and medical staff may be coming in feeling already depleted from an uncontrolled pandemic. Guest host Dan Go...
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184 - The US’s Coronavirus Response: A 1:1 with Anthony Fauci from 2020-10-21T12:00
Today’s episode is audio from the inaugural Johns Hopkins Health Policy Forum webcast recorded on Oct. 15 with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bloomberg School dean Dr. Ellen MacKenzie. They discuss Fauci’s ...
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183 - The Second COVID-19 Lockdown in Israel from 2020-10-20T12:00
Early on, Israel surfaced as a pandemic success story when strict lockdowns kept case counts low. The country returned to something close to normal, reopening businesses and schools and resuming ga...
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182 - Provost Dr. Michael Kotlikoff on How Cornell University Has Kept Campus Case Counts Low from 2020-10-19T13:08:04
This fall, Cornell University invited all students back to campus. Out of roughly 28,000 people on campus including students, faculty and staff, the school has seen only 100 positive tests. Provost...
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BONUS - Debunking the “Herd Immunity” Strategy from 2020-10-16T12:30
This week, senior White House officials embraced the Great Barrington Declaration, a statement funded by a libertarian think tank that calls for an end to most COVID-19 response measures. In this t...
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181 - Friday Q&A: Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials from 2020-10-16T12:00
Why is it so important for African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and other members of racial and ethnic minority groups to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials? Why is recruitment difficult? How...
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180 - Thinking Through The Fall and Winter Holidays During COVID-19: Innovative Ways to Gather and Celebrate from 2020-10-15T12:00
Halloween is approaching, followed by Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. What should parents and families be thinking about? Elizabeth Stuart and Keri Althoff return to the podcast to talk with ...
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179 - Why a COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Participant Feels Better Than Ever About COVID Vaccines from 2020-10-14T12:00
In the COVID-19 pandemic, safety and speed are critical for developing an effective vaccine which means finding lots of volunteers for clinical trials. Georgia Lewis signed up for the Pfizer clinic...
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178 - How COVID-19’s Misinformation Storm May Impact the Election from 2020-10-13T12:00
Back in April, Dr. Brendan Nyhan, an expert in the politics of misinformation about health, talked with guest host Dr. Colleen Barry about social media, scientific uncertainty, and COVID-19’s misin...
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BONUS - An Opportunity For a Full Scholarship to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Through the Bloomberg Fellows Program from 2020-10-12T13:00
Today, we’re releasing a special bonus episode with what might be an opportunity for you or for someone you know—a chance for a full scholarship to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heal...
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