Humans in Public Health: Recent Episodes
Brown University School of Public Health
In this episode, we sit down with Professor Meredith Niles to explore how climate-friendly agriculture—from methane-reducing rice irrigation to no-till farming—is actually a quiet powerhouse for public health. While traditional environmental messaging has hit a wall, shifting the narrative to human health benefits (like keeping heavy metals out of baby food and clearing our air) might be the key to finally getting farmers, consumers and policymakers on board. It’s time to take off the carbon goggles and look at the health potential of sustainable farming.
More than 6.5 million people are expected to attend the World Cup this summer at stadiums across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. One of the largest sporting events in world history, the tournament is presenting unique infectious disease challenges for public health officials. To help, spatial epidemiologist Professor Will Goedel has developed an interactive map to track the movements of World Cup teams and their fans. He explains how his live-updated tracking map is helping health departments, and how it might be able to prevent a disease outbreak before one starts.
In this special commencement-season episode of Humans in Public Health, host Megan Hall welcomes Campbell Loi and Graham Huntington, two freshly minted graduates of Brown University’s intensive 5-year combined undergraduate/MPH program.
As they transition from the classroom to professional practice in 2026, they reflect on the academic experiences and practical training that have shaped their careers — including Graham's background as an EMT— and that have shaped their commitment to global health.
Meat is on the top, grains are at the bottom, scientists are concerned. Nutrition expert Jennifer Sacheck deconstructs the controversial new food pyramid, what it means for your health—and your wallet. She breaks down the new dietary guidelines, how much protein Americans actually need and how the beef lobby may be reshaping everything from SNAP benefits to cafeteria trays.
When you check the weather on your phone, you're getting a "best guess" based on the nearest airport—but your actual neighborhood could be much hotter. And in high-risk communities, this invisible temperature spike or major air quality issue transforms a daily forecast into a serious medical emergency.
In this special episode in honor of Brown’s first-ever Climate Week, environmental epidemiologist Allan Just explains how his team uses NASA satellite data to measure hyper-local temperatures and air pollution. Discover why these precise measurements are vital for public health, especially for those on common medications that can unexpectedly increase vulnerability to extreme heat.
What does it take to lead a top-tier School of Public Health? For Dr. Francesca Beaudoin, the journey started in the chaos of the ER.
In this episode of Humans in Public Health, we sit down with Interim Dean Beaudoin to trace an incredible trajectory. She has experienced Brown from every possible angle: first as a medical resident, then a doctoral student, then as member of the faculty, a department chair and administrative leader.
Now she steps into the role of Interim Dean, prepared to propel the school forward with momentum. Host Megan Hall sits down with Dr. Beaudoin to discuss how 20 years in academia and on the medical frontlines—from treating acute trauma to staffing mobile opioid recovery units—prepared her to lead during a time of transition.
In this episode, host Megan Hall sits down with the co-directors of Brown University’s new AIM Lab, emergency physician Dara Kass and legal expert Liz Tobin-Tyler, to discuss the chaotic intersection of medicine and law three years after the Dobbs decision. As state abortion bans create a "chilling effect" that leaves clinicians paralyzed by legal fear, the AIM Lab is stepping in to provide a practical roadmap for emergency care and maternal health. Kass and Tobin-Tyler share how they are moving past the political noise to solve the public health crises on the ground, offering a harm reduction approach that protects both doctors and patients while training a new generation of advocates to value the lives of pregnant people in every state.
A quarter of young adults are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for mental health advice, highlighting a massive shift in how people seek support. Dr. Ateev Mehrotra discusses his research and the urgent need to balance AI's capacity for providing accessible, cost-effective care with its potential to unwittingly cause harm.
In a world teeming with health data—from smart watch accelerometry to millions of hospital system electronic records—how do researchers find out which medical treatments truly work? Biostatistician Rebecca Hubbard discusses the messiness of real-world data, the limits of randomized control trials and how both of these powerful—but imperfect—methods are essential for building trustworthy evidence in public health.
Measles has been declared eliminated in the U.S. for 25 years, but a surge in cases is threatening that status. Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, joined Humans in Public Health to break down the outbreak, the chaotic federal response and how her team's tracker is stepping in to provide reliable, life-saving data.
We all understand the power a song can have to recall vivid memories, seemingly sending us back in time. Professor Ellen McCreedy is a musician whose gerontology research harnesses music’s power to recall memories. She’s testing an intervention that brings personalized music playlists to nursing homes in order to help ease dementia symptoms for patients, without using medication. Driven to give dementia sufferers—and their caregivers—moments of having themselves back again, McCreedy joined Humans in Public Health to discuss her work, its challenges and the grandmother who originally inspired her.
Since the 1980s, the U.S. has experimented with various forms of managed health care. But none of them has managed to control costs or improve health outcomes, argues Senior Fellow Hayden Rooke-Ley. In this episode of Humans in Public Health, he explains a radical new idea from CAHPR researchers for delivering lower health care costs that is actually quite old-fashioned: a return to fee-for-service.
Read the JAMA article here.
A special live Commencement & Reunion Weekend episode of Humans in Public Health brings experts from epidemiology together with the director of Urban Studies at Brown for a discussion on cities: How they collect public health problems and the ways they might help us to address those same issues.
This episode of Humans in Public Health features Professor Alex Macmadu, an epidemiologist who has spent her career studying the opioid and overdose crisis. She shares insights on Rhode Island’s bold step in opening the first state-approved overdose prevention center in the U.S. and what her research reveals about community attitudes toward harm reduction. Listen in to learn how evidence, advocacy and compassion are shaping the future of public health responses to drug use.
What happens when private equity firms buy hospitals and doctor’s offices? In this episode of Humans in Public Health, host Megan Hall sits down with health care economist Yashaswini Singh to unpack how private equity is reshaping the American health care system—often behind the scenes. From rising costs to shifting priorities in patient care, Singh explains why the recent collapse of Steward Health Care is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether you’ve heard the term “private equity” or not, this conversation will change the way you think about your next doctor’s visit.
March 2020—life as we knew it changed overnight. In this special episode of Humans in Public Health, we take you back to the early days of the pandemic, when uncertainty loomed, fear spread and the world held its breath. Through personal stories and firsthand accounts from public health experts, we revisit the emotions, decisions and pivotal moments that shaped those first weeks. How did people react? And what have we learned since? Tune in for a compelling look at the moment everything changed.
Sound Effects in this episode from Freesound.org, courtesy of the following users:
Isaacburkevideo, Shaunhillyard, Wjoojoo, Charlie72203, Univ_lyon3, Richwise, Hardance, Kyles, Takimeko, nixeno, Humanoide9000, pblzr, Felixblume, Voxhumanamusicurators.
They’re not just in your nail polish. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals are everywhere—in our homes, clothing, the personal care products we use, and in our bodies. Postdoctoral researcher Amber Hall explains the dangers PFAS pose, especially to developing humans, and helps us learn how to avoid them. The burden of protecting our children’s health from toxic chemicals, she argues in the latest episode of Humans in Public Health, shouldn’t be borne by individuals. Regulation, Hall says, is needed to push through product-level change and protect the public’s health.
Sound Effects in this episode from Freesound.org, courtesy of:
- TRP
- Atks_
- Ingeos
- DeVern
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Host Megan Hall sits down with Jared Perkins, director of health policy strategy at Brown University's Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research. They discuss how academic research makes its way from dense journals to policymakers on Capitol Hill, bridging the gap between science and legislation. Jared offers insights into the challenges of health policy under a shifting political landscape and explains how researchers can play a vital role in shaping decisions that impact healthcare nationwide.
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.
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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.
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 generation
Interactive Map
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.
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?
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.
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.
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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.
Providence, Rhode Island is set to become the location of the first state-sanctioned safe injection site in the country. Professor Brandon del Pozo, who spent over two decades serving as a police officer, has researched the impact these sites have had on the neighborhoods in New York City where two centers opened in 2021. He discusses what he found and how he envisions police and public services can work in coordination to improve public health.
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.
Different countries around the world have very different ways of providing health care. In order to learn from these varied systems—each with its own unique goals and priorities—and to compare their outcomes, researchers must devise new methodologies of working with highly sensitive data to overcome not only language differences, but vast organizational, operational and infrastructure differences between countries.
Brown’s new Center for Health System Sustainability (CHeSS), led by Professor Irene Papanicolas, aims to standardize data from across global health systems, then compare them in order to inform policy choices and improve health care value and patient care.
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MPH student Rosemelly Jimenez Medal comes from a family of truckers—her father has worked as a short-haul trucker for over 25 years. The cab of a commercial truck can be a noisy place, and she noticed that her father was having trouble hearing conversations at the family dinner table. Could there be a link between his job and his hearing loss?
To find the answer, Jimenez Medal teamed up with her father and noise researcher Erica Walker, RGSS Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Brown University, to conduct hearing screenings on short-term truckers in her home state of California.
Host Megan Hall interviews Jimenez Medal and Walker to discuss their project and their findings.
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Join host Dan Richards as he talks with experts about some of the world’s most pressing public policy challenges, and how to fix them .Subscribe to Trending Globally wherever you get your podcasts.
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Liz Tobin-Tyler is a public health lawyer. She works on reproductive rights, maternal and child health, domestic violence and poverty—and the health policies around those issues—from a legal point of view. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether or not firearms should be restricted for people convicted of domestic abuse. Professor Tobin-Tyler talks us through the public health implications of this decision, and those leading up to it. She also explains why there should be a lawyer in every hospital, and discusses the important role of storytelling, in the courts and in public health.
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When humanitarian catastrophes erupt around the world, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of suffering. How do aid workers navigate the immense challenges in order to jump into action—juggling safety, equipment and logistics? Emergency doctors Craig Spencer and Adam Levine, veterans of public health disasters across the globe, join host Megan Hall to explain how this kind of aid works, and to demystify the humanitarian response in Gaza today.
We all understand the dangers of smoking—but the debate over vapes, nicotine pouches and other tobacco alternatives rages on: Can vaping really save lives? Or are nicotine alternatives a slippery slope: a dangerous gateway to lifelong substance use? Professors Jasjit Ahluwalia and Jennifer Tidey have spent their careers researching and fighting theglobal scourge of tobacco-related diseases and fatalities. The two public health professionals discuss their takes on a harm reduction and how it applies to the modern nicotine landscape.
Professor Eric Loucks, director of Brown's Mindfulness Center, joins host Megan Hall to discuss how practicing mindfulness can have measurable, positive health outcomes. His recent paper in JAMA Network Open looks at how an eight-week mindfulness course, focusing on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, moved the needle on cardiovascular health.
How do we avoid total societal shutdown during a pandemic? Professor Mark Lurie believes the key lies in understanding how social mixing and human mobility impact pathogen spread.
Using Brown's School of Public Health building as a sandbox, his newest NSF-funded project, MAPPS (Mobility Analysis for Pandemic Prevention Strategies) uses the bluetooth beacons to better understand mobility and person-to-person proximity to predict disease exposure. In this episode, Lurie joins host Megan Hall to discuss the aims and the parameters of his study—happening November 6 - November 17, 2023.
Work or study at Brown's School of Public Health? Consider signing up to participate in the study.
To kick off the School of Public Health’s ten year anniversary celebration, Megan sits down with Dean Ashish Jha to hear more about his time spent serving as White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator. Dr. Jha talks about his eye-opening experience in Washington, his plans for public health education and research now that he’s back in Providence, and even what he tells his own mother when she tests positive for COVID-19.
Behavioral economics is a field that combines psychology and economics. It acknowledges that humans are not rational decision makers and may need “nudges” to incentivize improvements in their health behaviors. Professor Omar Galárraga uses tools from behavioral economics to nudge those at highest risk of HIV infection toward healthier behaviors, like safer sex and the use of antiviral medication PrEP. Hear about his successful work in Mexico and his advocacy for national programs aimed at stopping the spread of HIV.
Parents know how difficult it can be to navigate healthy eating with their kids — in a world of delicious options, how can we encourage our children to build nutritious habits? Professor Alison Tovar investigates children's food environments and the factors that shape our eating behaviors early in life. Hear about her community-based work developing engaging interventions to improve children's eating habits, and get tips for encouraging healthier food habits for your kids, too!
Epidemiologist Will Goedel and clinician Philip Chan were at the forefront of the mpox response in RI in 2022. These Brown professors worked to vaccinate, educate and protect the state's most vulnerable populations. Chan and Goedel join host Megan Hall to discuss the 2022 mpox response, its impact on the LGBTQ+ community and the current landscape surrounding mpox immunization.
Professors Andy Ryan and David Meyers study the cost and value of Medicare plans across the country, including controversial and rapidly expanding Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Learn the upsides, downsides and incentives that guide these MA plans, and how reforming them could save billions of dollars every year.
Francesca Beaudoin, emergency physician and epidemiologist, explains Rhode Island's newest harm reduction tool: the Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) van. By bringing treatment out into the community it serves, CODAC Behavioral Healthcare's mobile unit aims to move the needle on America's overdose crisis.
In honor of National Public Health Week, we're speaking with four of our students about their research and the path that brought them to the field of public health. Meet Youri Benadjaoud, Shaw Hubbard, Sophia Petrillo, and Darlene Tat, all currently enrolled in our Master of Public Health program. Get to know them as they share their stories and their research interests.
Host Megan Hall sits down with emergency physician and epidemiologist Dr. Craig Spencer to discuss his work in Africa treating Ebola in 2014, and how it prepared him to serve on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020. They delve into Spencer’s life-threatening case of Ebola, and how it shifted his perspective on pandemic preparedness and response.
Join host Megan Hall every month as she explores the variety of public health topics making waves in 2023, from pandemics to noise pollution.
New professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice, Claire Wardle, is not a health professional. She is, however, considered one of the leading experts on misinformation. Co-founder of First Draft, a non-profit dedicated to supporting organizations fighting misinformation, Wardle talks to Megan Hall MPH'15, about her plans for collaborative work at Brown that aims not only to understand mis- and disinformation, but to create tools for more effective public health communication.
Erica Walker, new assistant professor of epidemiology, studies noise pollution and its effects on health. The founder of the Community Noise Lab says that sound, which has been shown to impact cardiovascular health, is a proxy for power. Walker’s particular interest is in helping communities with less power address their noise issues to improve population health and well being.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t really over, and this won’t be the last pandemic of our lifetimes. Megan Hall speaks to Jennifer Nuzzo, new professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health, about Brown’s new Center for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and what its approach will be to creating whole-of-society solutions that address the current emergency, and preparations that help mitigate future pandemics.
Rhode Island is the only state that connects its incarcerated population with proven treatments for opioid use disorder. Megan Hall (MPH'15) speaks to Rosemarie Martin, associate professor of behavioral and social sciences, and others about the MAT program's life-saving impact.
Host Megan Hall discusses race and genetics with Lorin Crawford, assistant professor of Biostatistics at the Brown School of Public Health.
Humans in Public Health is a special podcast series for National Public Health Week. Hosted by Megan Hall and brought to you by Brown University’s School of Public Health.
You can read a transcript of this episode here:[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sk6SgJCKc4z978x0Kv-C1CvO95XJo157XNUNkhKZv54/edit?usp=sharing]
Host Megan Hall speaks with Dr. Jud Brewer, associate professor of psychiatry at the Brown Medical School about anxiety. How do we address the fear and worry that grips us, especially during times of uncertainty? How do we help our kids do the same thing?
Humans in Public Health is a special podcast series for National Public Health Week. Hosted by Megan Hall and brought to you by Brown University’s School of Public Health.
You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FpoFVoEY6cDgbRyNB1lpFFvOdp-Hz9EN77J2LeXl-ss/edit?usp=sharing]
Host Megan Hall speaks with Sara Caniglia, a second-year Master of Public Health student at Brown University. Caniglia is investigating how public health interventions during the pandemic have impacted people experiencing homelessness.
Humans in Public Health is a special podcast series for National Public Health Week. Hosted by Megan Hall and brought to you by Brown University’s School of Public Health.
You can read a transcript of this episode here: [docs.google.com/document/d/1UEDx7…/edit?usp=sharing]
Host Megan Hall speaks with associate professor of epidemiology Joe Braun about plastics and how everyday exposure impacts our health.
Humans in Public Health is a special podcast series for National Public Health Week. Hosted by Megan Hall and brought to you by Brown University’s School of Public Health.
You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zjpewE-i_exgRlmP7ijacTEqjUqra1jYyv1hB9o0uI0/edit?usp=sharing]
Host Megan Hall interviews Dr. Amy Nunn, whose work in public health is at the intersection of outreach and education. Nunn has worked with hundreds of Black churches in Mississippi to develop health and wellness programs related to fighting HIV. She discusses lessons learned and her experience with COVID-19 public health outreach.
Humans in Public Health is a special podcast series for National Public Health Week. Hosted by Megan Hall and brought to you by Brown University’s School of Public Health.
You can read a transcript of this episode here: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xdcqpI41YVBDH_wugRenxCdFFt6g8CMJMmZPkafkuoA/edit?usp=sharing]