Public Health On Call

Virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about shots, shots, shots! Updated COVID vaccines, how the flu vaccine might perform this year, and a new RSV vaccine are all in the mix. They discuss when each of these vaccines may roll out and how there's potential to head off another "tripledemic" winter.

After last year's "tripledemic" of flu, COVID, and RSV, we're all wary of what this coming year might bring. Infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. David Dowdy returns to the podcast to talk with Lindsay Smith Rogers lessons learned, what can be expected as of right now, and potential impacts from new vaccines and treatments, like the game-changing antibody that protects kids from RSV, are entering the mix. Tl;dr: Get vaccinated for everything as soon as you're able to and we might be in better shape for the years to come.

There's a paradox in sci-fi movies: Even in the most futuristic, technologically advanced societies depicted in film, main characters often die because of a lack of basic medical care. Two movie fans, Johns Hopkins ICU physician Dr. Jack Iwashyna and his son, Sage, talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about some scenes in the Star Wars and Aliens franchises and how they can be used to appreciate the gaps that remain in health care today.

For Disability Pride Month, Dr. Stephanie Van, a Johns Hopkins rehabilitation physician and founder of YouTube's @‌ThisAbilityClinic, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about her work as a pain management specialist and disability advocate. They discuss how she helps patients with newly acquired disabilities and what she's learned about the disability community in the process, as well as what needs to change from the individuals to industries to make the world a little more inclusive. This episode is also available as a video here: https://youtu.be/T2PUYFOBVYk Learn more about disability and accessibility with the resources recommended in this episode by Dr. Van: Hashtags to follow on social media: #Disability, #Accessibility, #DisabilityVisibility Read or listen: Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau This episode was co-produced by Aliza Rosen

In early June, a major Ukranian hydroelectric dam was destroyed. The situation is incredibly complex with widespread fallout and the potential for long-term public health risks. WHO incident manager Dr. Heather Papowitz talks with Stephanie Desmon about why the situation is so precarious, what the major concerns are, and how humanitarian efforts are coordinated and prioritized.

Over the last decade, research has established strong connections between hearing loss and cognitive decline in older people. Now, a new study presents compelling evidence that hearing aids could actually help slow that decline, especially for people at risk of dementia. Dr. Frank Lin, director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing & Public Health at Johns Hopkins, talks with Stephanie Desmon about the newest research and why the evidence bolsters the case for making sure older adults can (and should) access hearing aids and the support they need about how best to use them.

In the last decade, a record number of pedestrians were killed by cars. The problem is complex and lacking a singular cause or solution. Jeff Michael, now a researcher at the Johns Hopkin Center for Injury Research and Policy, spent 30 years with the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration. He talks with Stephanie Desmon about the rise in pedestrian deaths and some of the possible causes, looking to Sweden as a model for rethinking our roads, and why despite hundreds of deaths a day, preventing road fatalities still gets short shrift in the overall conversation of transportation safety.

Many lifetime mental health issues emerge during adolescence, but equipping youths with strategies and skills to work through trauma, anxiety, and depression can be key to preventing problems from snowballing. Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health director Dr. Tamar Mendelson talks with Stephanie Desmon about working with Baltimore City schools to develop a successful program called RAP Club (Relax, Aware, Personal rating) to teach youths mindfulness and other strategies to combat the impacts of stress and trauma. Read more here: ​​https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/rap-club-promoting-adolescent-mental-health-in-schools

With 64 million people enrolled, billions of dollars in payouts, and millions of clinicians and health systems in the mix, it's hard to see how Medicare policies translate to the doctor's office or the bedside. But Medicare director Dr. Meena Seshamani, an ear, nose, and throat surgeon and a health economist, is working to change that. Dr. Seshamani talked with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about improving Medicare on a large scale while making it more accessible and helping individual patients live better, healthier lives.

Public health has a long history of activism in social movements and new overlaps took hold in the last few years with COVID-19 and social unrest. In Vital Talks, a podcast from Vital Strategies, Shelley Hearne returns to the podcast along with former Bloomberg School deans Al Sommer and Mike Klag and colleagues to consider the challenges of the current moment and talk about how the field of public health can work differently towards a healthier world. Learn more about Vital Strategies here: https://www.vitalstrategies.org/