Podcast: People. Power. Perspectives.
The podcast where CA4Health talks to people working to overcome systemic inequities to achieve just outcomes
People.Power.Perspectives. is a podcast series created by PHI’s CA4Health featuring in-depth discussions with leaders who are advancing health, justice and racial equity—helping to build agency, inclusiveness and power to drive change and create more just and equitable outcomes. Find out more about the podcast and explore additional materials, resources and more.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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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PHI Experts on “High Truths on Drugs and Addiction” Podcast
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.
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
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.”
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: 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.
S5 Ep 11 - Will Harris Regenerates An Entire Community Through White Oak Pastures
After decades of economic decline around the Harris family’s farm, Will experienced an epiphany that led to a journey to what we now call regenerative agriculture. His story is about a pioneer’s
perseverance, love for animals, the land and a community. His example could transform rural America.
S5 Ep 10 - Filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell Share Their Story of the Making of Common Ground and Why Regenerative Agriculture Must Become the Norm
Josh and Rebecca Tickell produced and directed the newly released film, Common Ground. It is a compelling look at the expanding acceptance of regenerative agriculture as an antidote to many of the challenges faced by farmers, ranchers, consumers and policy makers. Josh and Rebecca share about why they included a powerful diversity of voices and perspectives to compelling convey their hopes for regenerative agriculture. They describe it as a love letter to all our children as well as a call to the nation’s farmers to embrace regenerative agriculture as the future.
S5 Ep 9 - The Long Strange Trip of Loren Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch
Hear how Loren Poncia, a former Monsanto sales rep, became a model
regenerative rancher. He and his wife faced the omnivore’s dilemma to transform the family dairy into a multimillion dollar iconic grassfed organic meat brand.
S5 Ep 8 - The Good Food Movement Is Advancing More Quickly Each Year
For the 100th Episode of Flipping the Table, Michael shares his perception of the advances being made by those seeking a healthier, resilient and just food system. He makes the case for remaining optimistic about our future.
S5 Ep7 - What does Grassfed Meat Really Mean
Grassfed, grass finished, pasture raised are all terms you see on meat and dairy packages these days. But what do they actually mean? Can they be trusted? Michael Dimock dives into this question with Carrie Balkcom the executive director of the American Grassfed Association. AGA is the nation’s singular independent certification program that confirms livestock are fed only their natural diet for their entire lives.
S5 Ep6 - Deep Connections: Healthy Soil Leads to Healthy Plants, Animals and Humans
Spencer Smith is a self-described soil nerd who has raised livestock his whole life. He believes California is a great place to produce grass-fed beef. His goal as a consultant is to help livestock producers optimize the health of their land in order to ecologically, humanely and profitably manage businesses that deliver healthy food for humans.
S5 Ep5 - Will California’s Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) live on?
Since 2016, California has provided $30 million in matching funds to attract nearly the same amount from the USDA in order to provide SNAP families with matching dollars to support their purchase of healthy fresh and organic produce. Minni Forman, Valeria Velazques Duenas and Shawn Harrison, who manage nutrition incentive programs in their communities, share their work and the impact of both CNIP and the Market Match promotion of incentives offered at over 200 farmers markets and farms stands in California.
S5 Ep 4 - Providing the Missing Middle Link in Creation of West Coast Regional Regenerative Meat Supply Chains
In the national effort to reanimate local and regional meat supply chains serving primarily organic and regenerative ranchers, the key is a what is known as a “cut and wrap facility.” These are where animal carcasses are skillfully cut into steaks, chops and roasts and ground into burger and hot dogs sought by shoppers, restaurants and cafeteria food providers. Cream Co, founded by Cliff Pollard, fills this vital niche on the nation’s west coast.
S5 Ep 3 - Jacob Katz, Senior Scientist for the Nonprofit California Trout, Describes how Flexible Farmers are a Solution to Major Endangered Species Problems.
California has declared that species diversity is a major environmental goal. After 150 years of intensive agriculture, achieving that goal is a challenge, but there is a great example underway on the Sacramento River where endangered salmon are being saved by proactive rice farmers. Learn about the Nigiri Project to see an approach that has implications for crop and livestock operations across the state and the nation.
S5 Ep2 – Leonard Diggs and the Regenerator Project on cultivating the next generation of women and BIPOC farmers and ranchers
We need more farmers and many of them must be women, Black, Indigenous and other people of color in order to sustain the nation’s food abundance and heal the wounds of the nation’s persistent racism. After a 35-year farming career, Leonard Diggs, a Black farmer from California’s Great Central Valley, is fully engaged in supporting the emergence of that healing generation of new farmers.
S5 Ep 1 – Food Recovery at Scale: Rick Nahmias on the Birth and Growth of Food Forward
Food justice and climate change demand an end to good waste. Food Forward in Los Angeles is the most impressive food recovery program we’ve ever seen. Founder Rick Nahmias shares the story of how he and his team have delivered over 1 billion servings of food to 150,000 people per day.
S4 Ep 12 - A Look Back at the Roots of Change story in its 20th year of existence
Hear PHI's Michael Dimock's conversation with four individuals who have been instrumental in the formation and evolution of ROC. It is a reflection on why the organization was created, what has worked, what has not and what the organization hopes might transpire with ROC and the larger movement to transform the food system into an engine for solving a host of challenges faced in this century.
S4 Ep 11 - Update on the Achieving of Resilient Communities project and more with Maureen McGuire, CEO of Ventura County Farm Bureau
After talking about the day’s farm tour on the Oxnard plain of Ventura County to educate CalPolySLO engineering students working to keep drinking water cool for farmer workers in hot fields, Maureen and Michael explore how to solve the many complex challenges faced by farmers in a time of intense political polarization, climate change and escalating prices.
S4 Ep 10 - How Siskiyou County might save good ranches and healthy meat in the age of industrial concentration and climate change
You have probably heard how challenging it is to keep a farm or ranch alive in today’s industrial food system. Low prices, high barriers to market entry and climate impacts are killing off the family ranches that are the primary sources of meat. Big corporations are capturing the vast majority of the wealth and impoverishing rural communities. Hear about one attempt to turn the tide in one of the most rural regions of California, which is home to many good people and beautiful ranches seeking more direct relationship to urban eaters.
S4 Ep 9 - Woody Tasch, Slow Money and a Call to Farms
Perhaps no one has spoken so clearly about the problem of capitalism and its impact on our food system as Woody Tasch. He is the founder of the Slow Money Institute and the movement it supports. Hear about his latest written statement, A Call to Farms and the Beet Coin initiative launching on September 11, 2022.
S4 Ep 8 - Carmen Snyder on the nation’s first Farm Trails map and promotor of local small family farms
Resilience requires access to local food. One model of how to sustain and promote local farms is Sonoma County Farm Trails. Launched in 1973, it is the nation’s first community-based organization with such a mission. Carmen Snyder, executive director, shares its story and about its upcoming event: the Gravenstein Apple Fair.
S4 Ep 7 – Regenerative farmer Craig McNamara, son of Robert S McNamara, architect of the Vietnam War
Craig shares his dramatic life journey from the JFK White House to a farm near UC Davis, the challenge of loving a complex father and how his farm brought healing inside and with the Vietnamese people.
S4 Ep 6 – Dr. Steven Chen on food as medicine and the future
The healing power of food has long been recognized by indigenous cultures and through much of human history. Yet only recently has modern western medicine begun to return to food as healing agent. Diet related disease and other factors ignited this change. Dr. Steven Chen from Alameda County's health system describes how produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals are moving front and center in the effort to heal our communities and create health equity.
S4 Ep 5 – Two Young Regenerative Meat Producers Share Their Challenges and Solutions
Guido Frosini and Sarah Silva, members of the Bay Area Ranchers Cooperative, tell us what production and processing challenges they face and how they are solving these challenges even amidst global warming.
S4 Ep 4 – Three social justice leaders share their views on the struggle for Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund
Community food projects and much more would be funded if we can place the Health Equity and Social Justice Fund in the California Budget. Mar Velez, Rod Lew and Ron Coleman, three veteran policy campaigners leading the charge, describe the fund, its uses and how we plan to win the Governor’s support.
S4 Ep 3 – Let’s Feed LA County team reveals the power of community based organizations in our challenging age
Pandemic, heat waves, fires and storms demand robust public health infrastructure that includes networks of well resourced community based organizations (CBOs). The Let’s Feed LA County program that included 19 local organizations, Roots of Change, Center for Wellness and Nutrition and Wholesome Wave makes clear the need to permanently invest in CBOs on the frontline so they are ready when things get tough.
S4 Ep 2 – Protecting Farmworkers by Achieving Resilient Communities. Part II with John Krist
Michael talks with John Krist, retired CEO of Ventura County Farm Bureau, about the need and challenge of protecting farmworkers.
S4 Ep 1 – The ARC (Achieving Resilient Communities) project. Part I with Maricela Morales of CAUSE. January 18, 2022.
A conversation with Maricela about the Achieving Resilient Communities project and her work with Central Coast Alliance for Sustainable Economy. Maricela is a social justice warrior and the project is a core initiative of Roots of Change and its partners at the Public Health Institute.
About the Podcast
PHI’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.
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.
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 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
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Influencing Public Policy and Regulations
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Using Science for Good
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About the Podcast:
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 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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PHI’s Experts Discuss Building Resilience and Well-Being in Communities Through Equity
Julia Caplan and Holly Nickel from PHI’s State of Equity joined the NACDD Board President’s Challenge Podcast, “Resilience at the Community Level” to discuss how to build resilience and well-being in communities through equity.
Building resilience is foundational to promoting healthy communities, but you can’t promote healthy communities without promoting equity. Julia Caplan and Holly Nickel, from PHI’s State of Equity, sat down with the National Association of Chronic Disease Director (NACDD) Board President’s Challenge Podcast to discuss the Health in All Policies (HiAP) model, the Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity (CCORE) program, and how resilience and wellbeing are centered in all of their work.
In part one, they share how the differences in access to resources and opportunities that communities have, in addition to the experience of being targeted by racism, have significant health and physiological impacts on the individual and community levels. Caplan and Nickel also detail how their work is honoring the longstanding community-based efforts to promote equitable and healthy communities.
In part two, Caplan and Nickel dive deeper into how State of Equity is breaking down silos and leveraging a network of state-government entities to increase awareness of how institutional racism is being created and maintained systemically, and what strategies are needed in policy and practice to advance equity as both a process and an outcome.
Podcast: PHI’s Linda Rudolph on Climate Change-Driven Health Impacts and Solutions
In this Healthy Living Healthy Planet Radio podcast interview, PHI’s Linda Rudolph discusses the health implications that come with climate change and how public health leaders are promoting equitable solutions to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Climate change is a global public health crisis. To help communities prepare, public health experts are working alongside local leaders to find new and creative ways to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.
In this episode of Healthy Living Healthy Planet Radio, host Bernice Butler speaks with Sam Calisch with Rewiring America; Debbie Ley with the Energy and Natural Resources Unit of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Dr. Linda Rudolph, program director of PHI’s Center for Climate Change and Health. Dr. Rudolph shares insights on how climate change is already creating a negative environment and health impacts—especially for our most vulnerable populations including seniors, children, pregnant women, communities of color, farmworkers and low-income communities.
Listen to the full podcast or watch the YouTube recording below to learn more about how public health leaders are working to find climate solutions that promote health and health equity.
Also available on Spotify, Google Play, Anchor, Radio Public, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.
Doctors and public health leaders across the country are advocating for the policies that we know are going to make a difference for our health and for the climate and that's at a local level and a state level and at a federal level… trying to make sure that our climate solutions are also the solutions that promote health and health equity.Linda Rudolph, MD, MPH
Program Director, PHI’s Center for Climate Change and Health
Climate change really is a health emergency… we're seeing heat illness and deaths from extreme heat, lung and park impacts from wildfire smoke, increases in vectorborne diseases, like Lyme disease or West Nile virus, injuries and displacement from people's homes from extreme storms and flooding, more challenges with access to clean drinking water, failing crops that are making food prices rise and we're seeing more and more people, especially young people who are experiencing mental health impacts like anxiety and depression because of concerns about climate change and the future. We're seeing these effects, especially in our most vulnerable populations, seniors, children, pregnant people, communities of color and low-income communities.Linda Rudolph, MD, MPH, program director of PHI’s Center for Climate Change and Health
Podcast: Innovating to Meet Reproductive Health Needs with Multipurpose Prevention Technologies
On this episode of “One World, One Health” podcast, Dr. Bethany Young Holt of PHI’s CAMI Health discusses Multipurpose Prevention Technologies (MPTs)—products that combine contraceptives with sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention.
Do women get STIs as often as men? Why do women need MPTs? Aren’t condoms enough? What do these technologies look like?
On this episode of the “One World, One Health” podcast, Dr. Bethany Young Holt of PHI’s CAMI Health discusses Multipurpose Prevention Technologies (MPTs)—products that provide not just contraception, but protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections for people around the world.
Multipurpose Prevention Technologies — Innovating to Meet Women's Needs
Dr. Bethany Young Holt is the Founder and Director of PHI's CAMI Health, an organization dedicated to advancing the health of women and girls worldwide. She is also the Co-Founder and Director of the Initiative for MPTs (IMPT), and a Principal Investigator (PI) at the Public Health Institute. She is a lecturer in the Department of Public Health at California State University, Sacramento. She has over 25 years of experience working on health prevention programs and research projects in the United States, Africa, and South Pacific. Bethany holds a PhD in Epidemiology, an MPH in Maternal and Child Health from University of California, Berkeley, and a BS in Biology from the College of Wooster.
When you empower women to protect themselves around their health—when and if they want to have children—that improves not only the woman’s life, but the economic well-being of her family and the whole community. So when women are protecting themselves from HIV and unintended pregnancy, they’re protecting their children that are living and the ones that are to come.Dr. Bethany Young Holt
Founder & Director, PHI’s CAMI Health
Podcast: Understanding Extreme Heat’s Causes and Symptoms
Dr. Linda Rudolph, of PHI’s Center on Climate Change and Health, discusses the impact extreme heat has on our communities and older adults.
Dr. Thyonne Gordon speaks with Dr. Linda Rudolph, a public health physician and Director of the Center for Climate Change and Health at the Public Health Institute, and Enrique Huerta, Legislative Director at Climate Resolve. Together the trio discuss the impact extreme heat has on communities and older adults, as well as what actions can be taken to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
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See a clip from the podcast, with tips from Dr. Rudolph on staying safe and cool during heat events:
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