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Podcast: PHI’s Michael Dimock Discusses Food and Farm Policy Advocacy

PHI’s Michael Dimock, executive director of our Roots of Change program, joins The Leading Voices in Food podcast for a conversation about transforming food systems through innovative policies.

PHI’s Michael Dimock, executive director of our Roots of Change program, joins The Leading Voices in Food podcast for a conversation about transforming food systems through innovative policies. Listen to the podcast to learn about how Roots of Change collaborates with various stakeholders to create nutrition incentive programs and support sustainable agriculture, focusing on community-first approaches.

Topics discussed include pioneering projects, insights into policy influence, and the future of agricultural practices.

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Interview Summary

Why don’t we begin by you explaining what Roots of Change does. What’s the mission and role of the organization?

Yes. We were originally founded by a group of philanthropic foundations that were very interested in food system change but had not seen much success in years. So we were really designed to be a catalyst to ignite the growth of what we would call the Good Food Movement. For 10 years, we were actually a philanthropic fund investing in different projects that built the power of the food movement. And then implemented projects that would catalyze change. That would show how you could scale change fairly rapidly by building collaboration. So that’s really what we’ve been doing. And in 2013, the philanthropic fund ended, we’d spent down all the money. So we joined the Public Health Institute at that time because public health is such an incredibly important engine for food system change because the food system impacts public health so greatly. We’ve been since that time focused on policy change and implementing model demonstration projects.

Thanks for that explanation. You talked about catalyzing change for transforming the food system. What sort of changes have you emphasized?

We’ve been focused on a few key things. I would say that one of the most important for us has been healthy food access. And doing that through the creation of nutrition incentive programs. And the reason we’re interested in that is, all the changes that we pursue are aimed to hit several different levers of change simultaneously. By building nutrition incentive programs, you help the small and midsize farmers who are supplying local grocery stores, the farmers markets, and at the same time, you’re creating the funding for low-income families to actually purchase organic, regenerative, sustainable agriculture. From their local market. You get a lot of payoff for that kind of action.

You mentioned incentives. How do incentives fit into this?

There is a program, a federal program called the GUSNIP. Named after Gus Schumacher, who was Undersecretary at USDA during the Clinton years, and actually worked with us early on. And so that program is a pool of funding through the Farm Bill that is given as grants to either states or nonprofits that are creating these programs where a family comes in with their SNAP benefits, and their purchasing power is doubled. They’re given matching dollars to buy fruits and vegetables from a farmer’s market, a local store, grocery store. So it’s an incentive to purchase fresh nutritious food. And so, we have worked on the original federal policy. We’re one of the first demonstration projects to show how you do nutrition incentives working with folks in the upper Midwest and in the East. And then we created an analog. California also has a matching fund which helps us pull more money from the federal level. So, we can really get a big impact at the local level. And we built that California program as well. We’ve been really deep in nutrition incentives.

But we also work on farmer farmworker protections from heat. It’s a big problem out here in the West. Increasing temperatures. We’re working with different scientists, epidemiologists, and farmers to figure out best management practices or technologies that keep farmers cool. And then we also work on programs to provide incentives for ranchers to produce regenerative meat, that is grass-finished meat.

So, those are the three areas working in right now. But we’re also just starting a project. I have a meeting today with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to develop a plan for mid and small-scale infrastructure for regional food systems in the state of California to be achieved by 2040.

One thing I really like about your approach is the lining up of incentives to produce food in a way that’s better for both human health and the environment. Because so many incentives are lined up the other way. Obviously, the food industry wants to make as much money as they can, and that comes from highly processed foods that aren’t very good for health. And then the same sort of incentives lines up for agriculture to do industrial forms of agriculture where you maximize the yield per acre. To turn that around is really going to be a major effort. One thing I like about your approach is that you’re trying different things that can become models for what could be used in a very broad scale in terms of public policy. I really admire that and like what you’re doing. Do you have an overall strategy for helping bring about change?

One of the things that we did in 2010-11 is we did a deep analysis of the food system and did a systems dynamic map of the entire food system. Working with leaders, Secretary of Agriculture for California, farmers – big size, small size, organic, conventional, with food justice folks. And we looked at where are the real intervention points. One of the things that we really realize is that, as you were pointing out, the current incentives are for industrialization, basically. And so, the question is, how do you actually change that? And policy is one important lever for doing that. So, we work a lot on trying to change the policy levers to create incentives for what we would call healthy and resilient agriculture.

Tell me more about how you go about doing that. I’d love to hear when you’re done with that, how you go about doing that with policymakers.

Well, I’ll jump right in on that. Let’s look at what we did with nutrition incentives. So, working with Fair Food Network out of the upper Midwest, and Wholesome Wave out East, Roots of Change did a study. We created our own nutrition incentive programs using philanthropic dollars and some USDA kind of innovative dollars, and then we studied it for two years, what the impacts were. We wrote a report then, which went to Congress, to Debbie Stabenow in Minnesota, who was the Senator there who was on the ag committee. And she began writing a bill that would say, okay, let’s provide incentives for people to buy healthy food that also helped the small farmers. So that switched the incentive from the big agricultural systems to the regional food system players. That was one way we did it.

The other thing that we did in California was we organized all the farmers markets to go to the State of California and say, look, if you provide this nutrition incentive program in California and analog, we’ll pull down more dollars from the federal government. The California legislature said that’s a great idea. They got on board. Which then helped the farmers markets to provide more funding because farmers markets are often stressed. Too many markets, so there’s problems. Competition between markets. So, to provide a new market, which is low-income families who are using nutrition incentives and their SNAP dollars, that was really important for the farmer’s market. Those farmer’s markets became another big piece of our strategy. Our way of making change was just to build collaborations, large collaborations of people.

We work with many other nonprofits and farming groups in California to approach the legislature and over the last three years we’ve gotten $1.3 billion dollars in investments from the state of California into sustainable agriculture and food justice. Because we’re able to build these large collaborations who convince the legislators who really care about votes that there’s enough people out there want to see this happen. And we have just placed a billion-dollar request on the next bond, which will be in the next election, November. This November there’s the climate bond. It’s called a climate bond for the State of California. Ten billion dollars, one billion of that will be dedicated to nutrition, nutritional health, farm workers, and sustainable agriculture.

So, in all ways, it’s about getting enough voices. So, if you look at what we’re really trying to do, we’re trying to build the power of what we would call the Good Food Movement.

Best of luck with that billion-dollar request. I really hope that goes through. You know, in the beginning of your response to my last question, you talked about a report that you did in concert with other organizations around the country and how that became influential in the policy process. Very often, some of the people in my orbit, scientists, wonder how they can help with this kind of thing and how they can do work that makes a difference. And I’ve often thought that speaking with people in the policy and advocacy world, like you, turns up some really interesting questions they could help address, if they knew what those questions were. But they often aren’t having those conversations because they’re mainly speaking to other scientists. That’s one of the reasons why I so much like having people who approach things like you do on this podcast series. Scientists aren’t our only listeners, but they’re among them, and it’s nice to give them ideas about how they can connect their work with what’s going on out there on the ground in terms of policymaking. So, you emphasize putting people in communities first. What does that mean? And how does that play out in the work you do?

It’s a great segue from what you were just saying about the need to combine community voices with nonprofits and scientists, academics, and people who are good at research and who are good at analysis. Back to this idea of nutrition incentives that really grew out of what community groups were doing. The IRC (the International Rescue Committee) works with immigrants from Africa, primarily at that time who were coming into San Diego. And they were farmers, mostly. They were escaping violence, war, in their countries. And they came to San Diego and the IRC worked with them to create a farmer’s market, and a farm – a community farm. And those folks were the ones that were saying, this program works. And this is a really good way to solve many problems at once. So, we were hearing from community members and the nonprofit that had created this model. So, it was a way of us understanding what was actually working on the ground. So that’s one example.

I can also say that in 2017, 2019 and 2020, we had terrible fires here in California. We also had all that followed with COVID in 2020. We were working with the University of California at Davis. Tom Tomich, who at that time was with the Ag Sustainability Institute at UC Davis. And we were doing research on how do you deal with climate change as small farmers? And what we realized is there was this moment in time when all of these things that have been piling up were impacting the ability to get meat. You’ll remember that meat disappeared from shelves for a while because all the big plants that process meat in the Midwest were shut down due to COVID. So, what we did is then went out and we interviewed ranchers up and down the State of California, and we asked them, what do you need? And are you interested in finishing animals for grass-fed markets? Are you interested in building local markets? We got a lot of feedback that led to a white paper that Roots of Change published with the University of California at Davis and put out to the world. Which led to us getting a grant to actually take some of the suggestions and the recommendations we had gotten from the producers about what to do. What’s that led to now? We have built a relationship with the University of California: ten campuses, five medical systems. They have committed to buy regenerative regional meat from the State of California. That grew out of a white paper, which was fed information by the ranchers on the ground, analyzed by academics and nonprofits, and delivered in a system that’s now gotten the university to make a commitment. So, it’s another example of just how you can mix all these great parties to get some sustainable change at a large scale?

Now that leads me pretty nicely to what my next question. And it has to do with what’s needed going forward and how do these things occur in more places in a bigger way than the places they are now. Now you mentioned, for example, the regenerative agriculture pledge that got made by the University of California system. That’s a big enterprise. There are a lot of people that get touched by that system. So, that’s a pretty impressive example of taking an idea that might’ve been smaller to begin with and then became bigger. Going forward, what kind of things are going to be needed to make that kind of thing happen more often?

That’s a really good question. Kelly, I think that one of it is communication. I mean, perhaps some somebody will hear this and reach out to us and say, how’d you do that? And then we’ll say, well…and they’ll tell us what they did and we’ll learn from them. One of the things I’m really interested in, always been interested in, and one of the things that Roots of Change is focused on is trying to convene people to share information. Because you build partnerships when you share information. And those partnerships can become the engines for getting the policy makers or the corporations to change their modalities. How they’re doing things. Because they realize, hey, the writing is on the wall. This has to happen. We need to figure out how to get there. And sometimes it’s complex to get there because the food system is very complex.

So, I would say that one of the things I’m really looking forward to is more cross collaboration. You know, we’re living in the season of elections. We’re hearing it on the news all the time. And the thing that drives the policy makers is whether or not they’re going to be elected or reelected. And so, the more that we can convince them that there is a large majority of the public that wants to see these fundamental changes in the food system. We will have their support. We’ve seen it in California. We are getting incredible support from our Secretary of Agriculture, our governor, and our Secretary of Natural Resources. They work together to create things on the ground. I would say that the Tom Vilsack and Biden did a lot for regenerative agriculture, working on two big projects that have been funded by the USDA that will touch a thousand ranchers of bison and beef to get them to learn about, adapt, adopt, and then build new markets for their products. So that’s an important piece. The other is the marketplace and companies want to sell their products. So, the more that consumers become discerning and what they’re purchasing, the better off we’re going to be. So, we have a podcast like you do. And what we’re trying to do is just educate people about the connections between what they’re doing and what the farmers and ranchers out there who are trying to do good work with the land and with health and with their workers. We just try to promote this idea of making good decisions about what they purchase.

Tell us a little bit more about your podcast, which is called Flipping the Table. Tell us more about what you’re trying to accomplish and the kind of people that you speak with.

Well, it’s similar to yours in a certain way, I would say. Because what I’m doing is interviewing the people that are doing the kinds of projects that we think are scaling change or could scale change. Or people who have a depth of understanding. So, the regenerative meat world, we’ve done a lot in the last few years. Talking to Nicolette Hahn Nyman, who wrote a couple of books about the meat system, with a great rancher up in Northern California, who advises other ranchers on how to finish their animals on grass in California in a dry environment. I just, today we dropped a podcast with Cole Mannix from the Old Salt Co op in Montana about the ranchers he’s pulled together. The co op he’s built that has a slaughter plant, restaurants, a meat shop, and has an online thing. And then they do a big, they do a big annual event in the summer during the solstice. So, you know, we’re just trying to get voices who, like you are, who are, who are modeling and educating the public around what is happening. How much is actually happening. I’ve been in this world for 30 years almost, and I have to say, I have never been more optimistic about the scale of change, the accelerating speed of change, and the possibilities that lay ahead.

Podcast: Flipping the Table

PHI’s Michael Dimock hosts dynamic and enlightening conversations with people who are flipping the table to create new ways to feed the world.

Honest conversations about food, farming and the future

Food production causes more damage to the planet than any other human activity, contributing to global warming, lost biodiversity, degraded soil, water, air and rural economies and epidemics of diet-related disease.

This podcast, hosted by PHI’s Michael Dimock, presents dynamic and enlightening conversations with people who are flipping the table to create new ways to feed the world. Their ideas will inspire action and positivity in our challenging times, and appeal to listeners and sponsors who strive to create healthy and resilient people, communities and economies.

Michael Dimock is director of PHI’s Roots of Change, a think tank-and-do tank working to ensure emergence of a sustainable food system in California.

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About the Podcast

Flipping the Table - logoPHI’s Roots of Change’s (ROC) collaborative network of organizations, businesses and governments hopes to make regenerative agriculture and healthy food accessible to all people including individuals, community-based organizations, food producers and businesses, advocating nonprofits, government agencies and more. ROC is committed to improving our culture’s understanding of our food system from field to table, its production systems and markets, and the policies that guide its function. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Host: Michael Reid Dimock is the program director of Roots of Change at the Public Health Institute. From a leadership role in the global Slow Food Movement to leadership of winning policy campaigns, for two decades he has led catalytic work to transform thinking and laws governing our production of food and management of farms. He serves on the advisory board of the UCLA Law School’s Resnick Food Law and Policy Program as well as the nonprofit boards of Farm to Pantry and the Wild Farm Alliance. Author Katrina Fried and Photographer Paul Mobley feature Michael in their book Everyday Heroes: 50 Americans Changing The World. His global network of allies and social media followers links 140,000 individuals and organizations.

Producer: Courtney Grace is a sound designer, vocalist, and music producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied Sound Design at San Francisco State University and started her music and sound business, Courtney Grace Music and Sound in 2015. She has worked on several podcasts, films, and songs, and has worked on projects with Google and Skywalker Sound. Aside from work, she is very passionate about social justice issues, video editing, graphic design, and enjoys healthy foods and adventurous hikes in nature.

 

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headshot of Oussama Mokeddem

Episode 9: Racism is a Public Health Crisis with Oussama Mokeddem

In this episode, CA4Health speaks with with Oussama Mokeddem on how Racism is a Public Health Crisis and how to work with diverse communities equitably. Oussama Mokeddem is the Director of State Policy at Public Health Advocacy in Sacramento, CA. "I think the basis of advocacy is curiosity. It's the question of why, why does this have to be this way?" says Oussama Mokeddem.

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Episode 8: Domestic Violence, Guns, and United States v. Rahimi with Michael Rodriguez and Jennifer White

In this episode, CA4Health speaks with Michael Rodriguez and Jennifer White on the possible outcomes of domestic violence and guns from the current United States v. Rahimi case. Michael Rodriguez, MD, MPH, is the Director of the California Alliance of Academics for Public Health Equity in Oakland, CA. Jennifer L. White, JD, is the Program Director for Curriculum Development & Program Design at Futures Without Violence in San Francisco, CA. “Thinking about the root causes... we need to continue to think about not just violence and how it occurs between two people or multiple people. But what the root causes are that allow this type of violence to occur and persist," says Jennifer White, program director for curriculum development & program design at Futures Without Violence.

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Special Youth Series Episode 5 - Mental Health with Empowering Black Youth Participants

In this special episode from their youth series, Justin Boyle moderates a panel with Empowering Black Youth Participants (Isis, Deja and Shamarrie) about mental health in the Black community and from the perspective of Black youth. Justin Boyle is a student as University of San Francisco and also a part of the Empowering Black Youth (EBY) Program at Code Tenderloin in San Francisco, California. “Just being around my teammates and my friends being able to talk about my feelings and being in a safe environment around other people who look like me, like most of my friends are Black. Being able to express my feelings around them helps me,” says Deja, Empowering Black Youth Participant.

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Special Youth Series Episode 4: Sexual and Reproductive Health With the Empowering Black Youth Program

In this special episode from their youth series, Justin Boyle moderates a panel with Empowering Black Youth Participants (Isis Breston and Quincy Casey) about their Sexual and Reproductive Health education before and during the Empowering Black Youth Program. Justin Boyle is a student as University of San Francisco and also a part of the Empowering Black Youth (EBY) Program at Code Tenderloin in San Francisco, California. “There needs to be an area of destigmatization of the conversation around STDs and STIs in the Black community as a whole, and just how we speak to each other about these things, in order to create a sense of comfortability amongst each other to be able to move forward. Without that, we arent going to be able to progress,” said Quincy Casey, Empowering Black Youth participant.

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Special Youth Series Episode 3: Impacts of the Empowering Black Youth Program

In this special episode from their youth series, Justin Boyle moderates a panel with Empowering Black Youth interns (Elijah, Mar, and Sicily) about their experiences in the Empowering Black Youth Program. Justin Boyle is a student at the University of San Francisco and also a part of the Empowering Black Youth (EBY) Program at Code Tenderloin in San Francisco, California. “As the youth, we have started to get in touch with our mental health…we can sit there and change the way we react to racist comments. We can change the way we perceive ourselves,” said Sicily Griffins, an Empowering Black Youth participant.

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Special Youth Series Episode 2: USF Intern Experience with the Empowering Black Youth Program

In this special episode from their youth series, Antwan Matthews moderates a panel with University of San Francisco interns (Will, Kamryn, Onyé, Chidera, and Justin) about their experiences in the Empowering Black Youth Program. Antwan Matthews is the Director of the Empowering Black Youth (EBY) Program (and all youth programs) at Code Tenderloin in San Francisco, California. “By engaging in community-engaged learning, it reaffirms the fact that there is not just one of us," said an Empowering Black Youth participant.

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Special Youth Series Episode 1: Introducing the Empowering Black Youth Program

In this special episode from their youth series, CA4Health speaks with Antwan Matthews, Director of the Empowering Black Youth Program (and all youth programs) of Code Tenderloin in San Francisco, California. "I think oftentimes in public health institutions, everyone's right, there is no room for error, everyone feels that they have the answer. And oftentimes, those answers are not facilitated by the community." says Antwan Matthews.


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Episode 7: Building a Workforce for Community Health Workers

In this episode, CA4Health speaks with Donna Hilliard on Building a Workforce for Community Health Workers. Donna Hilliard is the Executive Director at Code Tenderloin in San Francisco, California. “A lot of the problems and issues we tried to tackle if we brought more people with the lived experience, who are actually living through that we'd have new ideas to the table," says Donna Hilliard.




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Episode 6: Community, COVID, and Power Sharing with Lisa Tealer

In this episode, CA4Health speaks with Lisa Tealer on Community, COVID, and Power Sharing. Lisa Tealer is the Executive Director at Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council in Redwood City, California. “The reason why I think it's so important is because those individuals who are making policy decisions, and also budgetary decisions, really need to understand the impact that they have on the communities that are disproportionately impacted by their decisions," says Lisa Tealer.

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Episode 5: Equity and Land Conservation with Shelana deSilva

In this episode, CA4Health speaks with Shelana deSilva on Equity and Conservation. Shelana deSilva is the Policy and Advocacy Strategist at SdS Consulting in Oakland, California. "But when it comes to the work of conservation and land protection, there's a way that that settler colonial framework has been very much in the back seat. And we're only today really looking at that, and understanding the role that this framework of protecting land actually had as an impact on indigenous communities and other communities of color," says Shelana deSilva.


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Episode 4: The Importance of Promoting Prevention Forward Investments with Lauren Pennachio

In this episode, CA4Health speaks with Lauren Pennachio on the Importance of Promoting Prevention Forward Investments. Lauren Pennachio is the Director of Revenue Strategy and Partnership at Health Leads in Boston, Massachusetts. “[To] the folks that are wanting to advance equity and justice in their communities, acknowledge your positional privilege and power within the ecosystem and do an honest investment about what are you capable of doing around your goals to advance equity and justice,” says Lauren Pennachio.

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Episode 3: Building a Culture of Solidarity in Public Health with Mojgan Sami

In this episode, CA4Health discusses how to build a culture of solidarity in public health, with guest speaker Dr. Mojgan "Mo" Sami, PhD, MA, an Assistant Professor of Health Equity and Public Health Researcher at CSU Fullerton in Fullerton, California. “Public health, health, wellbeing is not just about individual bodies, although interestingly, we all embody it, disease impacts us individually, but healing happens collectively," says Dr. Sami.

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Episode 2: Reproductive Health, Rights & Justice with Shantay R. Davies-Balch

Shantay is President and CEO of BLACK Wellness & Prosperity Center, the first CBO in the County of Fresno established to address the Black Maternal Child Health Crisis. She also serves as the Director for the COVID-19 Equity Project, African American Coalition, housed at one of the nation’s largest Community Action Agencies, Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission.

Her career has been dedicated to improving health outcomes for all women and babies and is a certified lactation educator, doula, and certified newborn care specialist, with an expertise in premature birth, infant and maternal mortality, and breastfeeding. Shantay is a Community researcher and a member of the Black Maternal Infant Health Statewide Advisory Board, to develop the first comprehensive statewide report on the status of Black women and babies in California in 30 years. In 2019, Shantay was recognized for her leadership in Black Maternal Health by then-U.S. Senator, Kamala Harris.

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Episode 1: Participatory Budgeting with Kristania De Leon

In this episode, Kristania De Leon speaks on participatory budgeting, a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. Kristania currently works as the Co-Executive Director of the Participatory Budgeting Project to increase the adoption, visibility, and impact of Participatory Budgeting across North America. "Participatory budgeting at its core is really about community led decision making," says Kristiana. "It's allowing community members to make real decisions that results in real financial investments in their communities directly. And so, we've seen this emerge as a tool that people will use across various movement building spaces."

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About the Podcast

CA4Health understands that social movements should be inclusive, authentic and brave, and that no single person or entity can do it alone. People.Power.Perspectives. lifts up the work and insights from partners who are working on upstream issues impacting communities, and explores how different inequities intersect, the connections to health and the value of expanding community- and equity-centered approaches across multiple sectors.

Learn more about People.Power.Perspectives and CA4Health.

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Podcast: Saving Lives Through Increased Access to Addiction Treatment with PHI’s CA Bridge

On this podcast episode of Everyday Injustice, LaToya Mitchell, navigator project manager at PHI’s CA Bridge, talks about how the innovative program helps to get people from the ER into drug treatment—ultimately reducing annual drug overdoses and saving lives.

On this podcast episode of Everyday Injustice, LaToya Mitchell, navigator project manager at PHI’s CA Bridge, talks about how the innovative program helps to get people from the ER into drug treatment—reducing annual drug overdoses and saving lives.

In the podcast, LaToya also discusses her role in supporting lower patient treatment barriers, the importance of harm reduction and the use of treatment over incarceration.

Latoya Mitchell, navigator project manager at PHI's CA Bridge Program
We found that with the presence of the Navigator, patients felt more comfortable coming in and saying, I’m here because I’m having opioid withdrawals, as opposed to them naming their symptoms and because they were afraid of admitting their substance use. Because of that, we’re able to get them treated and in and out in a couple of hours. Instead of spending six hours in the emergency room getting unnecessary and costly tests, we found that it actually saved resources and a lot of money. LaToya Mitchell

Navigator Project Manager, CA Bridge Program, Public Health Institute

Podcast: “Not Designed for Health” with PHI’s Steve Downs

PHI’s Steve Downs, co-founder of Building H, joins The Other 80 podcast to discuss how Building H is helping companies and designers re-engineer products and “product environments” so they improve rather than harm health.

PHI’s Building H aims to reverse chronic disease in the U.S. by building health into everyday life. Building H believes the infrastructure of our daily life—food, transportation and housing, and entertainment—can be reimagined with health and well-being as explicit design goals.

In the episode “Not Designed for Health,” PHI’s Steve Downs joins The Other 80 podcast to discuss how Building H is helping companies and designers re-engineer products and “product environments” so they improve rather than harm health.

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Speakers discuss:

  • Shocking trends in American health: 48% of Americans are lonely, 35% don’t get six hours a night of sleep and 60% of adult calories come from ultra-processed food.
  • The mistake of thinking of our daily choices as “individual” decisions, when these decisions are profoundly shaped by our environments and the products we use.
  • The Building H Index, which evaluates everyday products against five metrics of health: eating, physical activity, sleep, social connection, and spending time outdoors.
  • Culdesac – A real-estate developer that is building “cities for people without cars”.
headshot of Steve Downs
McDonald's is not responsible for all the food related chronic illnesses in America. But you might argue that they are, I don't know, 1.7%, responsible or 3.8% responsible … I think we ultimately need to get to a place where if your product is leading to unhealthy behaviors, which is leading to illness and disease and cost, there may need to be some accountability for that. Steve Downs

co-founder of Building H

Programs in San Francisco Offer Overdose Response Training for Youth and Community Members to Help Save Lives

Deputy Director, Brooke Briggance, and youth leader, Jennifer Mendoza, with PHI’s FACES for the Future Public Health Youth Corps, discuss how training other youth and community members in overdose response training can help to reverse overdoses and save lives.

A longer version of this article by Sylvie Sturm — “SF Students, SRO Residents Train to Reverse Drug Overdoses” — was originally published by the San Francisco Public Press and adapted from its “Civic” podcast. Listen to the audio player at the bottom of this page to hear the full story.


“Experts in overdose prevention say many teen and adult lives could be saved if more people know how to identify and respond to overdoses. In San Francisco, an array of programs are providing overdose response training to teenagers, college and graduate school students, and residents in neighborhoods that have a high rate of overdose deaths.

Fentanyl-related teen overdose deaths nearly tripled nationally from 2019 to 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And two-thirds of those who died had someone nearby who did not provide an overdose response.

Now, some San Francisco high school students are trying to help by volunteering for a program that trains them to recognize drug abuse and reverse overdoses.

Among them is 17-year-old Burton High School student Jennifer Mendoza.

“I think it’s really important, especially in our school and at my age, that we should be teaching our students how this is performed,” Mendoza said.

The program, called Public Health Youth Corps, is run by FACES for the Future Coalition, which offers underprivileged youth a pathway toward a career in health care. It includes a healthcare innovation called mental health first aid, according to coalition Deputy Director Brooke Briggance.

“It’s in some ways kind of like CPR,” Briggance said.

Addressing psychological health is a key part of mitigating drug-related deaths among teenagers since more than 40% of teens who died of overdose from 2019 to 2021 had a history of mental health conditions, according to the CDC.

Through the program, students learn the early signs of various mental health challenges, how to approach conversations with individuals who may be suffering, and how to follow a trajectory of de-escalation in the event of worsening stages such as a panic attack, non-suicidal self-injury or thoughts of suicide.

Briggance said the students who volunteer for the training are passionate about mental health and substance use disorder because they routinely encounter these challenges in their personal lives.

Brooke Briggance
Many of them have seen overdose on the streets, in the neighborhoods in which they’re walking to school or hanging out with their friends,” she said. “Some of them have lost family members to overdose. Brooke Briggance

Deputy Director, FACES for the Future Coalition

Mendoza said if she had learned these skills earlier, she might have been able to help a friend whom she fears may have died of an overdose.

“We’re not really sure where they are right now but we have a feeling that they’re not here because they did a lot of drugs,” she said. “I feel like if I was more educated at that age, I could have helped him or found help.”

Some local university students are also getting involved in overdose reversal training. This year, a new California state Senate bill required that all community colleges and universities provide opioid overdose education and distribute Naloxone. Maia Scarpetta and Rachel Murro, both PhD students at UCSF, organized drug reversal training for the UCSF community by enlisting the help of National Harm Reduction Coalition’s Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project — aka the DOPE Project — a 20-year-old harm reduction organization that has been featured in CDC reports for its innovative research and practices in community-based naloxone distribution.

“I don’t think that anybody living in SF is not in the presence of drug use, whether it’s your friends, your family, your neighbors, folks that you interact with on a daily basis,” Murro said.

“And I think a lot of us kind of intellectualize it and focus on it from a research perspective, or we’ll learn all the facts we can, but it’s like, what would we do if somebody was actually standing in front of us and needed our help? Which is not out of the realm of possibility at all.”

Click on the link below to read the full article.

In Episode 6 of the podcast series, “The Grassroots Effort to Save Lives: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis,” find out why students are participating in trainings to learn how to reverse overdoses. Listen to the episode below:

Podcast: PHI’s Bridge Experts on Solutions to the Opioid Crisis

In these High Truth on Drugs and Addiction podcast episodes, host Dr. Roneet Lev speaks with PHI experts working to address the opioid crisis, including Dr. Mary Maddux-Gonzalez, coach with PHI’s National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health and the California Overdose Prevention Network Accelerator Program; and Arianna Campbell co-founder of PHI’s CA Bridge.

High Truth on Drugs and Addiction host Dr. Roneet Lev speaks with PHI experts who are finding innovative ways to support people dealing with substance use, and discuss how communities can address the opioid crisis.

 

Episode #145 High Truths on Drugs and Addiction with Dr. Gene Hern on Prehospital Medicine

What role does Prehospital Medicine or First Responders have in treating addiction? Is it just naloxone, or is there more?

On this episode of High Truths on Drugs and Addiction, Dr. Roneet Lev speaks with Dr. Gene Hern, project director of PHI’s EMS Bridge, about the need to bridge the gap between EMS and hospital care in response to the opioid epidemic. Dr. Hern advocates for initiatives such as the distribution of naloxone, connecting patients with substance use navigators and EMS-provided buprenorphine—and shares how this can become a national standard for responding to overdose clusters.

Episode #133 High Truth on Drugs and Addiction with Arianna Campbell on California Bridge MAT program

MAT Medication Assisted Treatment is key for treating opioid addiction. No one should suffer from opioid withdrawal and everyone with an opioid use disorder should receive treatment with compassion and hope. California Bridge assists in providing MAT 24/7 through the emergency departments.

On this episode of High Truths on Drugs and Addiction, Dr. Roneet Lev speaks with Arianna Campbell from PHI’s CA Bridge and her work initiating CA Bridge’s MAT program to treat patients with opioid use disorder.

Learn about these topics in the podcast

  • How MAT Medication Assisted Treatment is key for treating opioid addiction.
  • Learning about barriers to medication assisted treatment (MAT) and new opportunities to increase access.
  • Identifying practical steps they can take to get more clinicians to prescribe addiction treatment in their community.
Arianna-Sampson headshot
There is a moment when somebody says, “I’m ready for treatment,” and if the system does not support them in that moment, we sometimes lose them. Arianna Campbell, PA-C

Founder, Principal Investigator of PHI’s Bridge Program

Arianna-Sampson headshot
It is important for all emergency departments to offer evidence based treatment, but it needs to be a system of care and that system has to include a telehealth option. Arianna Campbell, PA-C

Founder, Principal Investigator of PHI’s Bridge Program


Episode #126 High Truths on Drugs and Addiction on Xing the X Waiver

Now that the X-Waiver is no longer required for clinicians to prescribe addiction treatment, what comes next?

On this episode of High Truths on Drugs and Addiction, Mary Maddux-Gonzalez from PHI’s National Overdose Prevention Network sits down with Dr. Roneet Lev, who served as the first Chief Medical Officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Together, they explore what the new legislative move means for providers and how to get more clinicians to prescribe addiction treatment.

Learn about these topics in the podcast

  • Understanding the implications of the elimination of the DEA X-Waiver.
  • Learning about barriers to medication assisted treatment (MAT) and new opportunities to increase access.
  • Identifying practical steps they can take to get more clinicians to prescribe addiction treatment in their community.

This podcast features audio recording from the Dialogue4Health web forum, “End of the X Waiver: A New Frontier in Addiction Treatment.”

headshot of Roneet Lev from Twitter
I'm very excited and optimistic for the future of addiction, treatment innovations, and also for prevention… I see a future where every large hospital system has an addiction medicine service. Dr. Roneet Lev

Emergency and Addiction Physician

Podcast: Bridging the Gap Between Clinical Care and Community Population Health

In this American Hospital Association podcast, PHI’s Dr. Kevin Barnett discusses how rural providers can bridge the gap between clinical care and community population health, while also improving health equity.

Rural health care providers face challenges in caring for their communities while coping with finite resources. On this episode of the Advancing Health podcast, PHI’s Dr. Kevin Barnett discusses what it will take for rural providers to bridge the gap between clinical care and community population health, while also improving health equity.

Advancing Health, hosted by the American Hospital Association, features conversations with hospital and health system leaders on issues that impact patients and communities. This episode is part of the Community Cornerstones Conversations with Rural Hospitals in America series.

headshot of Kevin Barnett
There is a lot of talk these days about ways in which we engage community health workers, promoteras, as a way of extending our reach from the clinical setting and to understand what's going on in communities, what's going on in the home. And these are people with lived experience, people that understand their culture and are and know, for example, to ask the questions that in most primary care physicians might not know to ask of people… community health workers represent a powerful extension of what we do in the clinical setting into understanding what's going on in the community setting. Dr. Kevin Barnett

Senior investigator with the Public Health Institute and board member for Trinity Health

Adverse Reactions Podcast: PHI’s Dr. Barbara Cohn on Generational Exposure and DDT

Dr. Barbara Cohn, director of PHI’s Child Health and Development Studies, discusses the program’s unique multigenerational research cohort, and CHDS’ critical findings on the generational effects of exposure to DDT and other substances.

PHI’s Dr. Barbara Cohn is the featured guest speaker on the the Adverse Reactions podcast, in “Tox in the Family: Generational Exposure and DDT.”

Dr. Cohn speaks with co-hosts Anne Chappell and David Faulkner about PHI’s Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS), which investigates how health and disease are passed on between generations—not only genetically, but also through social, personal, and environmental surroundings. The episode explores CHDS findings on the generational effects of exposure to DDT and other substances. For example, CHDS research has shown that women who were exposed to higher levels of DDT in utero were nearly four times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer as adults than women who were exposed to lower levels before birth.

Learn about these topics in the podcast

  • Generational Changes in Disease Susceptibility
  • How Three Generations Can Be Exposed at One Time
  • Influencing Public Policy and Regulations
  • Using Science for Good
Barbara Cohn
It takes 60 years to observe three generations, 70 years to observe four. And there are very few studies that exist where we’re able to do this. For that reason, my career goal has been to show that these data remain relevant to the current health status of human populations. Dr. Barbara Cohn

Director of PHI’s Child Health and Development Studies

Barbara Cohn
This is an amazing cohort, and we look at multiple health outcomes. And just to give you a couple of vignettes, we’re looking at the predictors of breast cancer in the mother’s generation, then the daughter’s generation, and risk factors in the granddaughter’s generation. We have looked at semen quality in the son’s generation. Sometimes, it’s hard to get that into people’s head that it still matters who your parents and your ancestors were. Dr. Barbara Cohn

Director of PHI’s Child Health and Development Studies

Barbara Cohn
It’s an amazing study because in addition to having a very wide-ranging interview about their health habits and behaviors, we have blood from multiple points in time in their own pregnancies and from the fathers and partners that fathered the pregnancies. And we have clinical data abstracted from medical records directly about the progress of their pregnancy, their labor, and delivery; the health status of all the children through the age of five, including follow up if the people left the cohort, where they went. Dr. Barbara Cohn

Director of PHI’s Child Health and Development Studies

PHI/CDC Global Health Podcast: Stories from the Field

The PHI/CDC Global Health Podcast features stories from the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded program, implemented by the Public Health Institute, where Fellows are guided by leading global health experts from the CDC.

Stories from the front lines of global health

Learn how Fellows from the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program are working to improve health, in the US and around the world. Fellows work on the front lines of global health, developing the technical and professional skills needed to make meaningful contributions to today’s global health challenges.

In 2022, the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellows Podcast was named a Top 12 Global Health podcast by Global Health Hub Germany.

headshot of jerome

Episode 23: Health Equity & Data Modernization at CDC with Jerome Bronson, MS

Jerome Bronson, MS currently works in CDC’s Office of the Deputy Director for Public Health Service and Implementation Science, serving as a PHI/CDC Global Health Fellow focused on health equity and data modernization. He is also a DrPH candidate at Jackson State University, concentrating in Health, Policy, and Management. Jerome discusses his path to the fellowship and his work in health equity. To learn more about Jerome, you can access his website at jeromebronson.com.

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Episode 22: From CDC Zimbabwe to the WHO with Mayuko Takamiya, MPH

Mayuko Takamiya, MPH currently works for the World Heath Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Previously, she was an Epidemiology Fellow for two years for CDC in Zimbabwe, which is part of CDC’s Center for Global Health. She discusses her path that lead her to the fellowship, her assignment as a fellow and what she’s working on now.

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Episode 21: 2022 PHI/CDC Fellows’ Showcase with Fellows Will, Sarah, Caleb, Nessa and Malavika

In July 2022, the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program invited fellows to highlight their work throughout the year in a virtual event called the Fellows’ Showcase. Fellows and CDC mentors and CDC host office staff from the US and all over the world tuned in to hear what our fellows had been working on. Fellows based in the US and the country of Georgia are highlighted in this episode. Topics included capacity building, operations and relationships. The guests this episode are Mike Sage MPH, Will Jardell MPH, Sarah Legare MPH, CPHQ, Caleb Ward MPH, Dr. Nessa Ryan, and Malavika Divakaran MPH.


Lucy Ellis & Gareth Durrant

Episode 20: Designing for Systems Innovation & Leadership with Lucy Ellis & Gareth Durrant

Lucy Ellis is Program Architect and Advisor of the Unnamed Road, part of Designing for Systems Innovation and Leadership (DSIL). She spent several years working on leadership development and organizational design in CDC’s Center for Global Health, both internally and with health systems around the world. She now works with The Ready helping organizations and leaders from all sorts of sectors cut through bureaucracy and hierarchy that are holding them back in order to meet the complexity and uncertainty in which we all work today.

Gareth Durrant is a Designer and Facilitator for the Unnamed Road, part of Designing for Systems Innovation and Leadership (DSIL). He is an expert in ensuring successful projects can merge private sector innovation and development. He uses human-centered design tools matched with bold facilitation skills to leverage public health strengths and apply those to evolving challenges in the social impact world.

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Episode 19: Perspectives from the Field with CDC in Malawi with Dr. Alinune Kabaghe

Dr. Alinune Kabaghe is a medical doctor and an Epidemiologist for the Epidemiology and Strategic Information Branch at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Malawi. At the time of recording this interview, Dr. Kabaghe was in a rural area of Malawi responding to the polio outbreak. He discusses his past work addressing malaria, and current work in global health on HIV, COVID-19 and the polio response. Thank you to current fellow, Reno Stephens, MPH, who also contributed to this episode.

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headshot of Tigest Mekonnen, MPH

Episode 18: Supporting CDC in Malawi with Tigest Mekonnen, MPH

Tigest Mekonnen, MPH is a current PhD student at Emory University and a former Surveillance Fellow for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch for CDC Malawi, which is part of CDC’s Center for Global Health. Tigest discusses her path to the fellowship, her work as a fellow before and after the pandemic began, and lessons learned along the way. Thank you to current fellow, Mallory Michalak, MPH, who also contributed to this episode.

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headshot of Dr. Janelle Wright

Episode 17: Perspectives from CDC Central America with Dr. Janell Wright

Dr. Janell Wright is the Regional Director of the Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis for CDC Central America, which is part of CDC’s Center for Global Health. Janell started at CDC as a fellow and is now a mentor for the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program. She is based in Guatemala and previously worked for CDC in Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Thank you to her fellow, Cristine Gutierrez, MPH, who contributed to this episode.

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Headshot of Evan Pye

Episode 16: Global Health Policy with Evan Pye, MPH

Evan Pye, MPH is a Program Management Fellow for CDC’s Center for Global Health based in Washington D.C.. Evan discusses global health policy, his work responding to COVID-19 within the Emergency Operations Center at CDC and his previous work experience with WHO and various organizations in Uganda.

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Headshot of Danielle Fernandez

Episode 15: Outbreak Investigation and Response with Danielle Fernandez, MPH

Danielle Fernandez, MPH is a Global Health Surveillance Fellow with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, part of the Division of Global HIV and TB at CDC’s Center for Global Health. Danielle discusses her previous work in outbreak investigation, including Ebola and Zika. She elaborates on her work on HIV case surveillance with CDC in Tanzania and Zimbabwe, along with COVID-19 with CDC.

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Courtney Sciarratta

Episode 14: Global Epidemiology & Immunization Safety with Courtney Sciarratta, MPH

Courtney Sciarratta, MPH, is a PHI/CDC Global Epidemiology Fellow with the Global Immunization Safety Team in the Global Immunization Division at CDC’s Center for Global Health. Courtney discusses her time spent working in global health in Latin America and Uganda, and her work on global immunization and the COVID-19 response with CDC.

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Dr. Hammad Ali

Episode 13: Medical Epidemiology at CDC’s Center for Global Health with Dr. Hammad Ali

Originally from Pakistan, Dr. Hammad Ali first became a physician before working in public health. He discusses his path to CDC, shares advice for those interested in the world of global health, and discusses his many field experiences around the world as a Medical Epidemiologist.

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headshot of Grace Adofoli

Episode 12: Following Your Purpose and Creating Meaningful Mentorship in Global Health with Grace Adofoli, MPH MSW

Grace Adofoli, MPH/MSW is a Project Manager for Chickasaw Nation Industries. For 2.5 years, Grace served as a Program Management Fellow for CDC’s Center for Global Health in the Overseas Operations Office in Atlanta, Georgia and remains close with her CDC mentors. She discusses her time as a fellow, her passion for holistic public health and the African diaspora, and shares advice for others on following a sense of purpose and building their careers in public health.

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Headshot of Neetu Abad

Episode 11: From Ebola to COVID-19: Life as a Behavioral Scientist at CDC with Dr. Neetu Abad

Neetu Abad, PhD is a Behavioral Scientist for the Immunization Systems Branch at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, and serves as a mentor for the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program. She has worked at CDC for over 10 years and holds a PhD in social psychology. She discusses her path to global health and her work on vaccines and outbreaks as a Behavioral Scientist, from responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to her current work on the COVID-19 response in the US.

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headshot of Mike Sage

Episode 10: Reflecting on Over 30 Years at CDC with Mike Sage, MPH

Mike Sage, MPH is Program Director for the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program. He currently holds an appointment as Guest Researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and serves as a senior consultant to the Public Health Institute (PHI). In this episode, Mike reflects on his career of 34 years at CDC which included leadership positions in the Public Health Portfolio Management Program, the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, and Policy, Evaluation, and Planning at the National Center for Environmental Health, among others.

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Anyie Lee

Episode 9: Vaccine Introduction as a Fellow and Epidemiologist at CDC with Anyie Li, MPH

Anyie Li, MPH is an Epidemiologist and CDC Foundation Field Employee for the Vaccine Introduction Team, in the Immunization Systems Branch, Global Immunization Division, within CDC’s Center for Global Health. Anyie is an alumna of the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program and served as a Fellow from 2016 to 2018 on the same team she currently works on in Atlanta, Georgia. She discusses her first exposure to public health working on the Thailand/Myanmar border with refugees, as well as her current work on the HPV vaccine and COVID-19 response.

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Headshot of Natascia

Episode 8: Global Health Recruitment & Fellowship Support with Natascia Al-Kass, MS

Natascia Al-Kass, MS, is the Recruitment & Fellowship Support Coordinator for the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program, based in Oakland, CA. Natascia shares her expertise in leading the program’s recruitment process and supporting domestic and overseas-based fellows throughout the program year.

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headshot of Roara Michael MHA

Episode 7: Global Health Outreach & Virtual Networking with Roara Michael, MHA

Roara Michael, MHA, is the University Liaison Program Officer at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health based in Washington D.C.. Roara leads PHI/CDC’s outreach efforts with universities and public health programs across the country, and supports Fellows seeking professional development opportunities.

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image: headshot of Aybuke Koyuncu

Episode 6: Strengthening Access to Immunizations with Aybüke Koyuncu, MPH

Aybüke Koyuncu, MPH, is a PHI/CDC Global Epidemiology Fellow within the Immunization Systems Branch at CDC’s Center for Global Health. In this episode, Aybüke discusses her work supporting interventions aimed at improving coverage of routine immunizations and data analysis on public knowledge, attitude and practices related to immunizations around the world.

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image: head shot of Maureen Bartee

Episode 5: Lessons in Global Health Security at CDC with Maureen Bartee, MPH

Maureen Bartee, MPH, is the Associate Director for Global Health Security within CDC’s Center for Global Health. She holds 22 years of experience with CDC, and currently leads CDC’s work on their global health security agenda, policy and strategy discussions with other US agencies and international partners.

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Samantha Gross, MPH

Episode 4: Emergency Response & Monitoring & Evaluating Outbreaks with Samantha Gross, MPH

PHI/CDC Monitoring & Evaluation Fellow, Samantha Gross, MPH, discusses her experience with CDC Center for Global Health’s Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis. She has held 3 assignments with CDC’s Emergency Operations Center responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Samantha discusses her background working in monitoring and evaluation and global health, and emergency response.

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image: Robyn Bernstein

Episode 3: Mitigating COVID-19 & Supporting CDC Zambia with Robyn Bernstein, MPH

PHI/CDC Surveillance Fellow, Robyn Bernstein, MPH, discusses her experience with CDC Zambia’s Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis. Robyn also elaborates on her time as Strategic Information Coordinator for the COVID-19 International Task Force- Strategic Information Unit Mitigation Team, part of CDC’s Emergency Operations Center.

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image: Greg Chang

Episode 2: Mapping COVID-19 & Building Global Health Capacity with Greg Chang, MPH

PHI/CDC Surveillance Fellow, Greg Chang, MPH, discusses his experience serving on CDC’s International Epidemiology Team responding to COVID-19 and his work on Population-based HIV Impact Assessments with the Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis for CDC’s Center for Global Health.

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image: podcast episode one

Episode 1: COVID-19 & the Cruise Ship Task Force with Riley Wagner, MPH

The first episode features Riley Wagner, MPH, who is a Global Program Management Fellow for CDC’s Center for Global Health Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Riley was the first of currently 24 Fellows to be assigned to CDC’s Emergency Operations Center in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Riley discusses her experience on the EOC and elaborates on her work with the Cruise Ship Task Force.

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About the Podcast:

PHI/CDC Global Health PodcastThe PHI/CDC Global Health Podcast features stories from the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded program, implemented by the Public Health Institute, where Fellows are guided by leading global health experts from CDC. Fellows work on the front lines of global health, developing the technical and professional skills needed to make meaningful contributions to today’s global health challenges.

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Wildfires & Extreme Heat: Resources to Protect Yourself & Your Community

Communities across the U.S. and around the world are grappling with dangerous wildfires and extreme heat. These threats disrupt and uproot communities and pose serious risks to environmental and community health—from rising temperatures, unhealthy air pollutants, water contamination and more. Find PHI tools, resources and examples to help communities take action and promote climate safety, equity and resiliency.

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