RSPH Presents: Spread the Health

This month on Spread the Health, William speaks to Professor Bola Owolabi CBE, Chief Inspector at the Care Quality Commission, RSPH Vice President and NHS GP. Bola takes us on a deep dive into the issues facing the country around health inequalities: why healthy choices are a function of privilege, the economic and moral case for equalising health outcomes, and our health trajectory looking toward...

This month on Spread the Health, William sits down with Jonathan Van-Tam, former Deputy Chief Medical Officer and one of the most respected names in British public health. JVT talks about his career from academia through to his prominent role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, as well as all things vaccines and the importance of communicating health topics clearly with the public. This podcast dis...

This month on Spread the Health, William speaks to presenter and health expert Shakira Akabusi about women's health. They cover the challenges women face around maternity and menopause, the online health misinformation that targets women and how to spot it, as well as the new women's health strategy. Shakira is a presenter, speaker, writer, entrepreneur and leading voice in women’s health in the U...

Content warning: This episode features strong language throughout and references to suicide. On his recent trip to Australia, William took the opportunity to sit down with Travis Garone, founder of the men's health charity and annual event Movember, as well as Dr Jaelea Skehan, Movember's Men's Health Advisory Committee Global Chair and Director of the mental health charity Everymind. Over the cou...

This week, we are tackling a subject which has developed so rapidly over the last few years that almost every sector has had to reckon with it in form or another. That subject is AI and large language models. To help shed light on what it means for public health, William is joined by Christina Pagel, professor of operational research at University College London, and Martin McKee, Professor of Eur...

With 2025 in the books and 2026 underway, William catches up with two leading figures in public health – Tracy Daszkiewicz, Faculty of Public Health President, and Greg Fell, President of the Association of Directors of Public Health – to discuss the wins of the previous 12 months and what to expect in the year to come. Got a question for the podcast? Email podcast@rsph.org.uk and share your thoug...

For the final episode of 2025, William is joined by James Bethell, also known as Lord Bethell, for an extended interview. We cover everything from his early career as a clubbing pioneer with the Ministry of Sound to his time as a health minister, as well as his post-government career as an RSPH trustee and evangelist for prevention. Got a question for the podcast? Email podcast@rsph.org.uk and sha...

This month, we're mixing things up a little bit on the podcast. With William having recently returned from the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA), David is taking to the interviewer's chair to ask him about his impressions of the current state of American public health. What is the mood of the sector in light of cutbacks, lawsuits and policy shifts? And what similariti...

Public health doesn't exist in a vacuum. Just like any other sector, it has to navigate an increasingly tumultuous and uncertain political climate to achieve any real change. Fresh from party conference season, former government special advisor and Future Health founder Richard Sloggett joins William to discuss the realities of public health policy making, the challenges faced by the current gover...

Childhood bereavement can have a serious impact on health and wellbeing. To shed light on the realities of how universally anticipatory grief and bereavement affect us physically as well as mentally and emotionally, we spoke to Ines and Deepa at Ruth Strauss Foundation . Founded after the death of Ruth Strauss, wife of Cricketer Sir Andrew Strauss, their work focuses on support for families facing...

Content warning: this episode discusses youth suicide and depression. This month, William speaks to mental health campaigner Ben West, who, after the tragic suicide of his brother as a teenager, decided to try and make a difference to how youth mental health is understood and treated in the UK. Ben discusses how his experiences shaped his campaign work, why policy takes such a long time to produce...

We all know that damp and mould are bad for us, but the link between housing quality and staying healthy goes far deeper. To help explain the causes, effects and solutions to housing's effect on health, we're joined by Faye Sanders, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bath. For more from Faye, check out her academic work and follow her on LinkedIn . Plus, we hear from RSPH Deputy Chief Execut...

The decline of the Great British high street has been ongoing for a long time now, with out-of-town and online shopping diminishing the focal points of our town centres. Making matters worse, the replacements for shuttered shops are often a detriment to their local area. This episode we ask: can we reverse the decline? And are healthy high streets the way to do it? We speak to Mark Robinson, Head...

It's 2025, so why are we seeing child poverty – something often associated with the Victorian era – having such an effect on children and families? To get to the bottom of the issue and its very real, direct solutions, William speaks to Sara Ogilvie, Director of Policy, Rights and Advocacy at the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). Plus, the team tells us about the latest from RSPH including our ne...

For the first ever episode of Spread the Health , host William Roberts speaks to Georges Benjamin, Executive Director at the American Public Health Association, in a fascinating chat about the setbacks to global health in recent months and how we can push back against them. Georges tells us about decisions by the Trump administration and how they're impacting both domestic and international public...

Spread The Health is coming soon! RSPH's new podcast will tackle the big questions in the public health world, from where we live and work to vaccinations and global health crises. Join our host William Roberts along with David Utley-Williams and other members of the RSPH team as we chat with fascinating guests working to improve everyone's health. Like and subscribe to get our first episode direc...