About this episode:

In the early 2000s, babies in Baltimore were dying at an alarming rate. In this episode: a look at Baltimore’s enormously successful health program to reduce infant mortality and close unacceptable disparities in infant death and how it has developed into a program that offers support and resources for individuals and families across the lifespan.

Guests:

Dr. Josh Sharfstein is the vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a former Baltimore City Health Commissioner.

Rebecca Dineen is the assistant commissioner for Maternal and Child Health at the Baltimore City Health Department.

Stacey Stephens is the director and clinical instructor of B’More For Healthy Babies at Promise Heights.

Host:

Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Show links and related content:

• B’More For Healthy Babies

• B’More for Healthy Babies Turns 15—Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

• The Public Health Strategy Behind Baltimore’s Record-Low Infant Mortality Rate—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Baltimore City Youth Data Scorecard: Babies Born Healthy Indicator Details—Baltimore’s Promise

• Babies kept dying in Baltimore. People worked together to understand why.—Maryland Matters

Transcript information:

Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel.

Contact us:

Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website.

Follow us:

• @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky

• @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Instagram

• @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook

• @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube

• Here's our RSS feed

Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.