American Journal of Public Health Podcast

On March 18, two months after its installation, the new US Presidential Administration achieved the symbolic mark of 100 million vaccine shots. The vaccines are safe, but the speed of vaccination has been slowing down across the country. There is a tendency to assign the slowdown to a lack of confidence in the vaccine. But there is also evidence that former vaccine hesitant have changed their mind...

In this context of growing violence against persons of Asian descent and exactly one year after the former president of the United States, referred to coronavirus as "the Chinese Virus," in an infamous tweet, I discuss with Dr Gilbert Gee from UCLA and and Dr Sylvia Chou, from the National Cancer Institute, how the hashtag Chinesevirus has impacted anti-Asian racism and xenophobia. We also approac...

Regional Editor of @AMJPublicHeath, Professor Stella Yu, assisted by contributor Pengfei Guo, a doctoral student at Yale University, reviews some articles recently published in the January to March issues of AJPH. The guest presenter is Professor Lisa Bowleg, Associate Editor of AJPH, and Professor at George Washington University. She discussed the importance of intersectionality research in publi...

As it is now a tradition, in the April issue of AJPH, we publish several points and counterpoints between democrats, republicans and libertarians about key issues in public health. This podcast focuses on one of these conversations, dealing with the future of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC. My guests are Drs Rebekah Gee, who advised the Biden team during last presidential e...

History has always occupied an important place in the Journal. In this podcast, we show how the tables were turned over the course of a century and left three countries, the USA, China, and Spain, in very different relations to each other and to the pandemics in just about a century. I am meeting with with Dr. Ted Brown and Dr. Miguel Hernan in a panel session and separately with Dr. Ruth Rogaski...

Mark Ryan, from WHO, points out that we may still not facing what “the big one”. I met with Dr Renuka Tiperneni (U. Michigan), Dr Jeremy Greene (Johns Hopkins), and Dr. Rebekah Gee (Louisiana State U) to explore how public health can be galvanized so that a new administration best prepares the country to face a future pandemic that is worse than Covid-19.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, assisted by contributor Pengfei Guo, a doctoral student at Yale University, review some articles recently published in the September to December issues of AJPH. The guest presenter is Professor Yinghua Ma, Associate Director of the Adolescent Health Institute at Beijing University. She discussed the article on “Body Mass Index Trajectory and Incident H...

In this podcast, with Profs. Lisa Bowleg (AJPH & GWU), Skyler Jackson, (Yale) and Jennifer Nazareno (Brown), we discuss what is intersectionality and why early career public health researchers are attracted by a framework that is premised on the interplay of science and society and on the heterogeneity of people’s lived experiences. It also features a song by KJ Denhert.

We review the evidence relating medical care expenses and health and discuss whether diverting part of the resources now wasted in medical care, which is expensive per capita and of inequitable access, and investing these resources in prevention can help reinvent public health. My Guests are Dr Sanne Magnan (MN) and Professors Phillis Meadows (MI)and Mac McCullough (AZ).

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the June, July, and August issues of AJPH, including: financial toll of untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, Covid-19 in Asia, and impact of Covid-19 and Asian populations in the US. The guest presentation features a preview of the article, entitled, “Estimation of the outbreak severity and evaluat...

Why is there a need to reinvent public health and what should be the essential traits of the reinvented public health system? These are the questions I discuss in this podcast with authors of the November issue of AJPH. Professor Nancy Krieger (Harvard U) wrote that we had enough with the current public health. Professor Ross Brownson (Washington U. StLouis) with three colleagues described the pat...

In this podcast, we attempt to answer three questions: How effective has the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic been? Were the major but localized crises of Katrina and Flint harbingers of the generalized Covid-19 crisis? What did we learn from them to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic and what did we miss? Third, did CDC play the role the public, the states, and scientists were expecting from i...

This month issue and podcast provide a public health perspective on rural America. Is rural America sinking or is it America’s public health’s life buoy? The ongoing pandemic invites us to reconsider the role of rural regions in designing a new, post-Covid19 public health. The overall message emanating from these contributions is paradoxically optimistic. My four guests are: Shauntice Allen (Alaba...

Why is police brutality a public health problem? Why is there a need for more evidence to control a phenomenon that is blatantly harmful at a mass scale? What should be the role of PH departments if funds are diverted from the police to social services? And is the current uprising some form of revolution? My four guests are Sirry Alang (Lehigh University), Mary Bassett (former Commissioner of Heal...

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the March, April and May issues of AJPH, including: importance of the January supplement on carceral health, health disparities uncovered by Asian subgroup analysis, and actions to improve Asian American health. The guest presentation features the editorial on ‘Seven Reasons to Care About Racism and COVID-19...

Submissions to AJPH related to the on-going pandemic reveal the disproportionate risks undergone by essential workers, minorities, incarcerated persons, immigrants, persons with disabilities, homeless persons, and other populations made vulnerable by their social and economic position and/or simply because they are discriminated against. So, are we really together in this pandemic? I explore this...

In this podcast, I review with Mitch Zeller (US FDA) what is the rationale underlying the guidance emitted by the FDA about vaping products. I then discuss with Dr. Rebekah Gee, (formerly Louisiana Health Department,) her concerns about the severity of the youth epidemic of vaping and finally with Tom Miller, (Attorney General of Iowa) I review how he can reconcile having been a prominent anti-tob...

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the January and February issues of AJPH. This podcast focuses on two timely editorials on Covid-19, including an editorial from the ASTHO and one from RAND. The guest presentation features Professor Jennifer Bouey discussing the ‘Strengthening China’s Public Health Response System: From SARS to COVID-19’ edit...

The May AJPH features occupational health and safety, an issue that is both timely and topical in the middle of the dreadful pandemic that is affecting the planet, but in particular workers, whose mission is to keep the economy and public health functioning. My guests are David Michaels (Former OSHA Assistant-Secretary), Peg Seminario (AFL-CIO) and John Howard (NIOSH DIrector). Their message is: C...

This year is the 25th anniversary of the launching of National Public Health Week (#NPHW)in 1995. Before NPHW there has been a 35 year-long National Negro Health Week (#NNHW), from 1915 to 1950. What was #NNHW? What did it achieve? Is there any link between #NNHW and #NPHW? I explore these questions with 3 guests: Pr Vanessa Gamble, from George Washington University, Prof Paul Braff, from Temple U...

This podcast is about a supplement of the AJPH published in January 2020 and dedicated to the public health dimensions of mass incarceration. The supplement covers many intersections of mass incarceration and public health. In this podcast I focus on a rarely discussed and studied consequence of incarceration: its effect on the relatives of people with a history of incarceration. My interviewees a...

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the November and December issues of AJPH, including: Shift work and mental health; and the series of articles focusing on the Supplemental Nutrition Program Assistance Program. The guest presentation features Professor Jun Zhang discussing the Preterm Birth in China article.

Is a revolution taking place in Sex Ed? The podcast focuses on one original experience that takes places in Boston which consists of developing a course for teenagers which uses pornography as a lead to prevent teen dating violence, promote healthy relationships and consent, and encourage critical thinking and healthy communication. My interviewees are Emily Rothman, Professor at the Boston Univer...

A set of commissioned papers in the January issue discusses the public health initiative entitled "Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America." Here I interview Admiral Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary of Health, leader of the Plan, and ask questions regarding stakeholders, hard-to-reach populations, stigma against LGBTQ people and people who inject drugs, the obstacles of low insurance cove...

This month, we review the history, politics, and public health implications of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, abbreviated as SNAP and formerly known as the food stamp program. With Joanna Simmons, who used food stamps herself, we see how the system works and whether it is useful. Then with Prof. Marion Nestle, we will review the history of SNAP, what he program has achieved, and wh...