America Dissected

You’ve probably heard all about Project 2025, the conservative plan to remake America … for 1950. Abdul reflects on the power of the federal government when it comes to health. Then he sits down with Sulma Arias and Aija Nemer-Aanerud with People’s Action Institute to dig into what Project 2025 would mean for health in America. This show would not be possible without the generous support of our sp...

The FDA recently issued a rule that requires all mammography reports include information about breast density. Abdul talks to Dr. Elise Desperito, the Breast Imaging Director at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center about what breast density is and its implications for breast cancer screening. To assess your breast cancer risk, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center recommends the Tyrer-Cuzick Ri...

Sharing an episode of To See Each Other, a show that complicates the narrative about small town Americans in our most misunderstood, and often abandoned, communities. This season, host George Goehl travels to Lincoln County, Wisconsin to follow a small town battle for the last remaining public nursing home in the community. A conservative county board is hell bent on selling off this 5-star facili...

It’s October–which if the ubiquitous pink ribbons didn’t make it clear–is breast cancer awareness month. Breast cancer is a terrible disease, but so are so many others. But it has excellent branding. Which raises the question: should diseases have brands? Abdul reflects on the implications of branding disease. Then he sits down with Mara Einstein, a professor, author, and marketing expert to learn...

Over the past several years, cities, counties, and states have elected to relieve their residents’ medical debt. That’s cascaded into a national movement to relieve it — which has been picked up by the likes of Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential campaign. Abdul reflects on the particular pain of medical debt. Then he interviews Allison Sesso, President and CEO of Undue Medical Debt,...

You are what you eat…right? Or maybe, we are what we eat. And together, most of the meat we consume is raised on factory farms that degrade our environment, our pocketbooks, and yes, our health. Abdul reflects on the role financialization has played in creating factory farms. Then he sits down with Bob Martin, Senior Policy Advisor at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and co-editor of...

Is a hospital the best place for childbirth? That question is driving a revolution in birthing, focused on creating outpatient birth centers. This National Birth Center Week, Abdul reflects on the birth experience — and who it leaves behind. Then he sits down with the co-founder and CEO of the birth center Birth Detroit Leseliey Welch to talk about why birth centers are a key public health interve...

For more than half of the adults alive, pelvic exams are among the most dreaded parts of getting healthcare. That’s not to mention the troublesome history of how they came to be a part of standard medical practice. Abdul reflects on the gender imbalance in medical innovation. Then he speaks with author and historian Prof. Wendy Kline, author of the new book “Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelv...

It’s back-to-school season — and that means back-to-school vaccines. Abdul reflects on the roles that ritual and trust play in shaping vaccination. Then he sits down with Dr. Natasha Bhuyan, a family physician, to discuss the conversations she has with hesitant families and the future of family medicine. This show would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. America Dissecte...

You’ve probably never heard of Trikafta — unless you or someone you love lives with cystic fibrosis. The drug has fundamentally changed cystic fibrosis care, extending life expectancy by decades. But the drug costs $326,000 a year — and requires people to be on it for life. Abdul reflects on the central challenge at promoting life-saving innovations that the people who need them can afford. Then h...

Environmental injustice leaves too many Americans, mainly Black and brown, breathing air that has been poisoned by smokestacks too close to their homes and schools. Abdul reflects on the process that drives it. Then he sits down with Darren Riley, CEO of JustAir, a company working to build air monitoring networks across hard hit communities, about how to leverage tech for environmental justice. Th...

Public health is universal–or at least it should be. But since the pandemic, it’s been politicized in ways that threaten critical work in conservative communities. Abdul reflects on how the way we talk about public health may be contributing to that. Then he sits down with Dr. Dwayne Proctor, President and CEO of the Missouri Foundation for Health to learn about the pioneering work they sponsor in...

The concept of “excited delirium” has been used to justify extreme force from law enforcement and to cover up police violence. Coined by a medical examiner in Florida in the ‘80s, it has its roots in eugenics. Abdul reflects on the way that pseudoscience has too often been used by the medical establishment to justify racist maltreatment. Then he interviews Prof. Aisha Beliso-De Jésus, an anthropol...

Hospitals can charge you however much they want for healthcare — without telling you. Rapper turned healthcare advocate Fat Joe thinks they need to lean back. Abdul reflects on the fight for price transparency in healthcare, then sits down with the entertainer to learn more about his fight for healthcare transparency. This show would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Am...

The Supreme Court is an unelected body–there was a time when the justices understood that. Not this court. In their most recent set of rulings, they took a hammer to the fundamentals of American government. Abdul unpacks the most important ruling. Then he sits down with Leah Litman, Constitutional Law professor and host of Crooked Media’s  Strict Scrutiny to understand the implications for public...

Recently, the FDA approved a genetic test for opioid use disorder despite clear opposition from scientists and the FDA advisory panel that had reviewed the evidence. The case demonstrates the space where Pharma’s incentive may drive innovation that may not help–or worse, cause harm. Abdul reflects on how genetic essentialism and the wrong incentives can reinforce each other. Than he speaks with Dr...

To the untrained eye, public health and healthcare are–if not the same thing–then two sides of the same coin. But to those of us who work in public health, healthcare is too often a giant vacuum of health dollars focused more on the bottom line than public wellbeing. Abdul reflects on the tradeoffs between health and healthcare. Then he sits down with Dr. Dave Chokshi, the former New York City Hea...

The pandemic didn’t change everything–it just made everything weird. From declining trust in institutions to the growing power of Big Tech on our lives, we are struggling to deal with the world as it’s become. Abdul reflects on the long tail of the pandemic. Then he sits down with New York TImes columnist David Wallace-Wells to talk about post-pandemic “medical libertarianism,” social media and te...

Racism is among this country’s most persistent original sins. Not only does it pattern access to everything from education to housing to jobs — but infant mortality, cancer, and life expectancy. Abdul reflects on the stickiness of racism. Then he interviews author and journalist Dr. Layal Liverpool, author of the new book “Systemic,” about how racism gets under the skin, how that differs across co...

We talk a lot more about mental health than we used to — and that’s served to destigmatize it and promote opportunities to improve it. But that conversation has yet to improve mental healthcare for those who need it most. Abdul reflects on why we still have so much further to go. Then he sits down with Dr. Alice Feller, a psychiatrist and author of American Madness about how politicians disassembl...

Too many politicians are too beholden to the healthcare industry to propose any meaningful change. That’s not true of the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senator Bernie Sanders. Since 2016, his ideas have animated some of the most important changes in healthcare policy. Abdul reflects on the need for big ideas–and why we don’t get them that often. Then he i...

Trauma is all around us–and the word has come to dominate so much of our conversation about mental health. The common perception of trauma is that it lingers, devastating mental health over time. But what if the more common consequence of trauma was growth? Abdul reflects on the way we think about trauma. Then he interviews Prof. Richard Tedeschi, the psychologist who coined the term “post-traumat...

Millions of Americans go without healthcare every year. Many of them turn to crowdfunding to support their needs. Abdul reflects on what that says about how we think about one another. Then he interviews Prof. Nora Kenworthy, author of the new book “Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare” about who wins, who loses, and how we build a healthcare system where Americans don’t need to...

The H5N1 Bird Flu has been circulating in cows for 5 months, spreading faster and farther than we had previously expected. Abdul reflects on the wake-up call it poses for the public health community. Then he interviews Dr. Kimberly Dodd, a veterinarian and former USDA official, about the risk of spread, whether or not the current regulations are enough to protect humans, and where this goes from h...

The Anti-Diet movement has helped us understand some of the downsides of a perpetual diet culture driven by influencers and advertisers selling us this or that fad. But what happens when the influencers behind that movement get co-opted by corporations too? Abdul reflects on the way that corporate interests too often interfere with sound science and public education. Then he sits down with Sasha C...