Public Health On Call

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. Dr. Michael Osterholm , an infectious disease expert and part of President-Elect Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the critical place we're in now, the sacrifices necess...

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 , executive director of the North Carolina Survivor's Union about the role of harm reduction in both the COVID and overdose crises. In an extended conversation, Tula and Vincent talk about harm reduction as a...

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 many fewer cases and deaths than in other parts of the world. Tolbert Nyenswah , former Deputy Minister of Health for Liberia, talks with Stephanie Desmon about Africa's experience during the pandemic. K...

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 federally funded program that invests in public safety and public health partnerships designed to "bring everyone to the table" in unique collaborations that help facilitate better policy and data coll...

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 COVID-19 and public health news. Listen here for more on what's to come.

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 of expectations. Dr. Ali Khan , dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska and a former top CDC official, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what went wrong despite decades of p...

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 conflict over dwindling clean water sources. Dr. Megan Latshaw talks with Stephanie Desmon about a new report card grading states on how well they are prepared to protect people from health effects linke...

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 prevent child sexual abuse. For more information, visit https://americanhealth.jhu.edu/youth-serving-organizations KEYWORDS: policy; child health

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 returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about the latest data on schools and COVID-19, why many places haven't prioritized reopening schools, and what might get us out of this situation. KE...

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 itself in the "epicenter of the epicenter" of the COVID-19 outbreak that devastated New York. Dr. Cunningham talks with guest host Brendan Saloner about how the clinic adapted to continue providing patien...

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 emotional health of those who may be isolated during the pandemic, and some may be determined to travel to see a loved one face to face no matter what. Epidemiologist Keri Althoff and mental health expert Elizab...

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 for Vaccine Safety, helped lead federal efforts to monitor the H1N1 vaccine's safety once it became widely used in 2009. Dr. Salmon talks with Stephanie Desmon about what goes into monitoring a vaccine...

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 might this new platform be used going forward? Hopkins immunologist Dr. Diane Griffin talks with Stephanie Desmon about RNA vaccines, what they are and why they're different, complications that still ne...

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 the University of Mississippi Medical Center, about the impacts of racism on black men's health. They discuss what stands in the way of basic care for many black men to have a good quality of life and...

Prior to Thanksgiving, the city of Philadelphia announced new COVID-19 restrictions to last for six weeks until January 1—some of the strictest recommendations the country has seen since the spring. Health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley talks with Stephanie Desmon about these targeted restrictions the city hopes will prevent the current surge from overwhelming hospitals or killing large numbers of...

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 head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Obama administration and 32 years into his own recovery, talks with guest host Brendan Saloner about how America's opioid epidemic was already on a...

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 school buses and trains? Dr. Mark Rosekind , a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a Distinguished Policy Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tal...

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 podcast, Gooch talks with Stephanie Desmon about the viral video, and why frontline health care workers are taking to social media to describe the desperate situation and to beg people to wear masks and...

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 Stephanie Desmon about expected fallout from the settlement as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the crisis by disrupting drug markets, shuttering treatment centers, and reducing the chances of...

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 breastfeeding, HIV, and family planning. This experience meant they were well positioned to work with partners around the globe on messaging for COVID-19 prevention. Deputy director and COVID team leader Alice Payne Merritt talks with Dr. Josh Sharf...

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? How will we know if COVID-19 vaccines work for children? My roommate and I have both tested positive—can we be in the same house together? Do I still have to wear a mask if I've recovered from COVID? Does mouthwash help prevent COVID? Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo from the...

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 exposures. As part of an ongoing series on structural racism and public health, Keshia Pollack Porter dives into the topic of environmental injustice with Hopkins environmental epidemiologist Dr. Aisha Dic...

November 18 is the first 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. Prevention experts Dr. Barbara Barlow , founder of a national coalition to prevent childhood injuries, Injury Free Coalition of Kids , and Eileen McDonald , director of Baltimore's local coalition , tal...

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. Meghan Davis returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about whether or not mink pose a danger to humans, what the news means for disease surveillance, and an update on household pets and COV...

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 the legislative precedent for mandatory vaccinations that dates all the way back to a 1905 Supreme Court case after a smallpox outbreak in Massachusetts. They also discuss other strategies states could...