The American Health Podcast

In this episode, we have a candid conversation with one of the nation's most influential leaders in public health – Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of American Public Health Association (APHA).  We discuss the politics of current health issues and the special challenge of working for health equity in 2019.

In this episode, we talk with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Health Commissioner Dr. Colleen Bridger about steps the city is taking to improve health.  We discuss how and why the city has embraced CityHealth, a national effort to advance evidence-based policies at the city level.

Two years ago, in the face of grim news that life expectancy in the United States was declining, Bloomberg Philanthropies gave the school of public health a transformational gift to create the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. The goal was straightforward but daunting: use the tools of public health to address some of the issues that are driving the decline: Addiction and overdose, Environment...

In the national debate over gun laws, we frequently hear calls for universal background checks, which would close loopholes that exist in some states by extending background check requirements to private sales of firearms. But another policy that goes a step further has stronger evidence behind it: permit-to purchase laws, also called handgun purchaser licensing. In this episode, we'll take a look...

Professor Tom Burke took some time away from his work at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to serve as the EPA's science adviser and assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development under President Obama. He has also served as the deputy commissioner of health for New Jersey, and the director of science and research for the New Jersey Department of Environmental...

A community's health and quality of life depends on access to healthy food. But in too many communities across the country, that access is limited. In order to effectively address this issue, we have to fully understand it. In Baltimore, city officials for a number of years have partnered with the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to map the city's...

In 2016, more than 42,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdoses. A host of complex social, structural and drug-related factors have contributed to the overdose epidemic, but one of the primary factors in recent years is the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Officials are focused on a variety of efforts to address the opioid epidemic and overdose crisis, including finding solutions to hel...

In 2016, more than 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States. That was an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous year, and the  2017 numbers are likely to be worse. At every level of government, policymakers and public health officials are looking for solutions to this problem. And while there's no silver bullet, we do know at least one proven strategy for reducing ov...

Congress is considering a bill to require concealed carry reciprocity between states. In our inaugural episode, we talk to Professor Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, about the legislation, and about other gun policies and regulations and what effect they have on gun violence. Learn more about right-to-carry laws by reading this policy brief , publis...