Public Health On Call

Suicide is a significant public health problem. News coverage, and how we talk about it with each other, can actually help prevent suicide and connect those who are vulnerable with lifesaving resources. Journalist and MPH suicide expert Aneri Pattani talks with Stephanie Desmon about a free Coursera course she helped develop, Responsible Reporting on Suicide for Journalists, and what we can all learn to help reframe the conversation around hope and resilience. Learn more about the course here.

Melanoma is the riskiest, most lethal skin cancer and it's completely preventable. Dr. Sancy Leachman, the chair of dermatology at the Oregon Health and Science University, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about Oregon's "War on Melanoma," an all-fronts effort to educate people on early identification, diagnosis, and prevention of melanoma. They also discuss the role of tattoo parlors in this campaign.

Kicking off our third pandemic summer looks a lot different than the last two….or does it? With more than five times as many COVID cases as this time last year, have we given up on trying to protect ourselves? What should we be focusing on, and does this mean we're truly learning to live with COVID? Experts Keri Althoff and Elizabeth Stuart return to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about where we are this pandemic summer, what's changed, what hasn't, and where we might be headed.

Dr. Joe Sakran is a Hopkins trauma surgeon and a survivor of gun violence, giving him a unique perspective on this heavy moment in history. He talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what needs to be done to effectively tackle the complex public health problem of gun violence, and how it will require moral and political courage to finally turn the tide on senseless tragedies.

The CDC is investigating reported clusters of children with acute severe hepatitis that have no known cause. Johns Hopkins pediatric hepatologist Dr. Kathryn Smith talks with Stephanie Desmon about hepatitis in children and what we know and don't know about this particular phenomenon. Ultimately, she says, it's a question of whether this really is something new or if we're just now noticing patterns that already existed.

The US has a complex and underfunded approach to food safety that has recently experienced some high profile failures to keep the food supply safe. Former FDA official and legal expert Howard Sklamberg talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the challenges facing FDA and some potential solutions. At the end of the episode is an extra conversation between the two on the recent infant formula recall.

Many parents of kids ages 5 and under have been anxiously awaiting FDA authorization for vaccines for the youngest age group. Dr. Ruth Karron, one of the world's leading experts in the development of children's vaccines, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about why it's taken so long to authorize vaccines for young children, the evidence behind the safety and efficacy of vaccinating this age group, and what's likely to happen in the next few weeks.

For the first time in history, a working draft of an opinion by justices of the Supreme Court was leaked to the media and the public. Legal and public health expert Joanne Rosen talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what the opinion expressly says, why it would upend precedent, and what may happen at the state level. They also discuss the immediate and long-term consequences if it's passed, including for public health.

Dr. Cass Crifasi, director of research and policy at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the deadly misperception that there's nothing to be done about gun violence. They discuss what could have prevented this senseless tragedy—and what must be done to prevent further loss of life.

In June 2020, amid #BlackLivesMatter protests across the country, law professor and philosopher Ekow Yankah of Yeshiva University talked with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the crisis of legitimacy in policing and opportunities for reform based on public health approaches. Two years later, Yankah returns to the podcast to discuss how and why the optimism of the protests has receded.