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Humans in Public Health

Latest episodes

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Dec 10, 2024 • 13min

Harnessing AI for Smarter Health Policy Research

Professor Alyssa Bilinski set out to answer a seemingly simple question: how often are pregnant people included in medical trials? Finding the answer, however, was anything but simple. With 90,000 records to analyze, she turned to AI for help—but ensuring the accuracy of the results required a creative approach. Discover how Bilinski tested and refined AI algorithms to deliver reliable insights and advance health policy research.Mentioned in this episode:Tell someone you know!And one last thing! If you enjoyed today’s episode, text a friend and let them know about the show.
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Nov 12, 2024 • 14min

How Rwanda's Health System Stopped Marburg in Its Tracks

The East African country of Rwanda is currently in the midst of a Marburg virus disease outbreak, but the picture is far from bleak. Global health expert Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola in 2014, joined us to discuss the current situation in Rwanda, how the country has managed its “unprecedented” response, and what more developed nations can learn about global health security from their success.
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Oct 15, 2024 • 12min

Counting Coal’s Casualties

Picture a coal power plant: a building with tall smoke stacks with big plumes of gasses coming out of them. By now, we know that those gasses aren’t great for our health or the environment. But how bad are they? That’s where Professor Cory Zigler comes in. He worked with a team of researchers to figure out where those gasses go and who they affect. Their approach was so specific, the team could point to a single power plant and say how many people it killed. Explore the ResearchScience: Mortality risk from United States coal electricity generationInteractive Map
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Sep 10, 2024 • 13min

Guns, Ammo and Lead Exposure

The dangers of firearms are well understood, but their ammunition is the source of a little-known health threat: toxic lead. Brown doctoral student Christian Hoover studies the connection between guns and elevated blood lead levels in America’s children and adults. Host Megan Hall speaks with him about the results of the first national study of this problem, and his advice for gun owners on the healthiest way to minimize lead exposure.
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Aug 13, 2024 • 16min

Unwinding Anxiety (Rerun)

In this summer replay of a previous episode, host Megan Hall speaks with Dr. Jud Brewer, associate professor of psychiatry at the Brown Medical School about anxiety. In uncertain times, how do we address fear and worry that grips us? How do we help our kids do the same?
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Jul 11, 2024 • 14min

A psychedelic pathway toward PTSD recovery

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common conditions facing U.S. Veterans, and there is currently no effective cure—what’s more, many Veterans use alcohol in an effort to alleviate their trauma, making their medical treatment even more complex. For these high risk patients, two professors at Brown are thinking outside the box: Could a treatment involving psychedelic drugs potentially save Veteran lives?In this episode, Megan speaks to Professors Christy Capone and Carolina Haass-Koffler, part of a team at Brown running the first study of a promising new treatment that combines therapy with MDMA (aka the party drug molly, or ecstasy) for Veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder. The researchers explain the science guiding their study, why they believe this treatment could be a game-changer and the upcoming FDA decision regarding MDMA’s role in medicine.
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Jun 11, 2024 • 14min

Rebuilding Information Trust

How do we receive the information that shapes our beliefs, and how do we know if we can trust our sources? Stefanie Friedhoff directs the Information Futures Lab at the Brown University School of Public Health, a group committed to understanding the contemporary information landscape and how mis- and dis-information impacts people's health outcomes. She joined Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, community leader and founder of We Are Más, to pilot a project in Southern Florida that collaborated with 25 leaders in Hispanic diaspora communities to capture and respond to evolving questions and concerns of community members. Mentioned in this episode:Tell someone you know!And one last thing! If you enjoyed today’s episode, text a friend and let them know about the show.
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May 21, 2024 • 35min

BONUS: Trending Globally

Today we’re sharing an episode of the show Trending Globally, from our friends at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. In our last episode we talked about the new safe injection site coming to Rhode Island this summer. Trending Globally released an episode earlier this month about the new safe injection site as well, and we wanted to share it with you. In this episode, Trending Globally’s host Dan Richards talks to Colleen Daley Ndoye, the executive director of Project Weber/RENEW, the organization running the new site, and to Brandon Marshall, a School of Public Health faculty member researching substance use and harm reduction. If you like Trending Globally, you can find more episode of their show at trending-globally.captivate.fm or by searching "Trending Globally" wherever you get your podcasts.
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May 14, 2024 • 15min

To Protect and Serve

Brandon del Pozo, a former police officer turned professor, discusses the impact of safe injection sites on public health. He explores the collaboration between police and public services, the benefits of safe injection sites, and the role of police in linking individuals to treatment services.
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May 9, 2024 • 13min

BONUS: H5N1 Bird Flu

Professor Jennifer Nuzzo, epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, joins host Megan Hall for a timely update on the recent outbreaks of H5N1 Bird Flu.

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