Public Health On Call

The planetary health crisis can't be ignored in hospitals where patients are sick from climate-driven things like asthma from air quality emergencies, COVID-19 from a zoonotic spillover event, and cardiovascular complications from heat waves. Chris Lemon , an ER doctor and Bloomberg Health Initiative fellow who focuses on the intersection of climate change and health, talks with Stephanie Desmon a...

From mushrooms to microscopic organisms, fungi represent a serious—and still relatively unexplored—threat to human health. Dr. Arturo Casadevall returns to the podcast to talk about his new book,  What If Fungi Win? which looks at why certain fungal infections take off, why they're so hard to treat, and why we will most certainly see more of them with climate change and treatment-resistant strains...

Johnson v. Grants Pass , a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, raises the question of whether homelessness can be criminalized. Ashley Meehan , a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the public health dimensions of this issue. They discuss her research looking into what happens to people after encampment sweeps and what policies would benefit not only people expe...

Dengue, or "break-bone fever"—a disease transmitted by mosquitoes that can cause serious fever, rash, muscle and joint pain and even problems with bleeding and shock—is surging around the world and popping up in new places like the U.S. Vaccine expert Anna Durbin returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about these trends and the general status of vaccines, treatments, and prevention....

More than a decade after electronic cigarettes became broadly available in the United States, their merits are still being debated. Do these products help people quit smoking? How serious are the health risks associated with these products? In a two-part series, we hear from two researchers in tobacco control about their views. In part two, Stan Glantz , the Truth Initiative Distinguished Professo...

More than a decade after electronic cigarettes became broadly available in the United States, their merits are still being debated. Do these products help people quit smoking? How serious are the health risks associated with these products? In a two-part series, we hear from two researchers in tobacco control about their views. In part one, Dr. Nancy Rigotti , Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medi...

Virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz and public health veterinary expert Dr. Meghan Davis return to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about what we've learned so far from viral sequencing of H5N1, its presence in milk, what we know about infections in humans, the status of the overall response to a major pathogen of concern on the heels of COVID-19, and more. Read Dr. Davis's recent New York Times e...

An alarming and dangerous syphilis surge across the Great Plains Region, an area spanning North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, has prompted tribal officials to urge HHS Secretary to declare a public health emergency. Dr. Meghan Curry O'Connell , chief public health officer at the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board and a member of the Cherokee Nation, talks with Lindsay Smith Roger...

In part two of a two-part series about the crisis of health care for immigrants and refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border, Dr. Alexander Tenorio , a neurosurgical resident at the University of California, San Diego, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the influx of traumatic brain and spinal injuries his team has seen from people attempting to climb the border wall. They discuss the scope of the pro...

In part one of a two-part series about the crisis of health care for immigrants and refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border, Dr. Janine Young , a pediatrician at the University of California, San Diego, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the tenuous situation for children and families. More and more people are showing up at the border in poor health—dehydrated, malnourished, some severely injured and ma...

Methadone is a highly effective treatment for substance use disorder but strict regulations like daily clinic visits have led to its nickname, "liquid handcuffs." Dr. Yngvild Olsen , director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about new federal regulations that expand access to this life savi...

World Malaria Day is April 25. Today, guest host Thomas Locke takes us to Capitol Hill where we meet malaria scientists who have joined an advocacy group to lobby members of Congress to fund critical interventions against malaria. They talk about their work and what scientific messages they bring to DC to impart on policy makers who play a major role in efforts to combat this preventable and deadl...

Humans are transforming, degrading, and altering Earth's natural life support systems so profoundly that our actions have created an existential crisis. For Earth Day, Sam Myers , founding director of the Planetary Health Alliance and director of the brand new Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the concept of planetary health, an interdisciplinary ap...

The presence of infectious diseases can be picked up through wastewater surveillance but how can this data be useful in predicting future outbreaks? Dr. Dylan George , director of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics at the CDC, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how the Center's forecast for the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season performed and the role of wastewater surveillance as...

There's a lot of research around Type 2 diabetes that has informed patient care when it comes to diagnosis, treatment, and lifestyle management. But much less is known about Type 1, long mislabeled "childhood diabetes." Johns Hopkins epidemiologists Elizabeth Selvin and Michael Fang talk with Stephanie Desmon about new research debunking a lot of previously held assumptions about Type 1 diabetes,...

Cigarette butts are the most littered object in the world. With their plastic filters and toxic substances, they are a significant source of contamination for soil and water. Grazi Grilo , a researcher at the Global Institute for Tobacco Control, talks with Stephanie Desmon about her work quantifying the scope of the problem, and why some of the very things that make cigarettes so environmentally...

Dr. Antonia Novella served as the 14th Surgeon General under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 - 1993. She is the first female and first Hispanic Surgeon General in U.S. history. Dr. Novella talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about her life and career, from being born with a rare condition called Hirschsprung's disease to her childhood in Puerto Rico and her notable career in medicine and public he...

Much research has been dedicated to the long-lasting negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences—far less has focused on the powerful effects of positive experiences. Dr. Melissa Walls , co-director of the Center for Indigenous Health and a member of the Bois Forte and Couchiching First Nation bands, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about her research with benevolent childhood experiences amo...

On March 26, Baltimore's iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge was hit by a cargo ship and collapsed, killing six people. Since then, many have found themselves watching endless loops of the video and ongoing coverage, and some are feeling symptoms of anxiety or even intense fear. Dr. George Everly , a Johns Hopkins psychologist, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the phenomenon of "psychological contagi...

Recent reports of spillover of avian virus H5N1 into cows, cats, and even one human are concerning to the scientific community for a number of reasons. But what does the public need to know? Virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz and public health veterinary expert Dr. Meghan Davis return to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about these spillovers events and what they mean for biosecurity and our safe...

Per- and polyfluorinated substances are in all kinds of products from waterproof makeup to fire retardants. Dr. Ned Calonge , co-author of a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, talks with Stephanie Desmon about these "forever chemicals" and what is known about their impact on health, who is most at risk, and what people should do if they have high levels o...

Xolair is the first FDA-approved therapy to prevent severe and potentially life-threatening reactions in adults and children who are allergic to dairy, eggs, wheat, nuts and other foods. Dr. Robert Wood , the director of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about this drug that has the potential to make life a little easier for patients and parents of...

A hidden population of children serve as caregivers for family members who are chronically ill, elderly, disabled or injured. Left out of the systems that support adult caregivers, these youths often sacrifice their education, health, well-being, and childhoods. Connie Siskowski , founder and president of the American Association of Caregiving Youth, and Dr. Julie Belkowitz , a pediatrician at the...

How can a play about rural Norway in 1882 help us process the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic? That's the question posed by Theater of War Productions, which is hosting readings of  The Enemy of the People , by Henrik Ibsen—and then is leading intense community conversations immediately following the productions. Bryan Doerries , artistic director of Theater of War Productions, speaks to Dr. Josh...

Despite a national plan to eliminate syphilis by 2010, the sexually transmitted infection has reached the highest rates since the 1950s. Dr. Khalil Ghanem , a researcher of sexually transmitted infections at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, talks with Stephanie Desmon about syphilis infections and the disease course, and why rates are so high not just in the US but around the w...