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Great conversation with the one and only Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, AKA Your Local Epidemiologist, about the power of showing up, the experience with members of the Make America Healthy Again movement on the Why Should I Trust You podcast, the work of distinguishing public health from the industrial complexes of food and pharma and insurance and also acknowledging that the status quo of public health needs to change and taking that first step no matter how small because it matters.  Such a rich conversation and we were so honored to have her!

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is an epidemiologist and scientific communicator. She is the co-founder of the non-profit Health Trust Initiative, an adjunct professor at Yale School of Public Health, and former Senior Scientific Advisor to the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, Dr. Jetelina is the publisher of Your Local Epidemiologist- a public health newsletter that “translates” ever-evolving science to the public, reaching over 500 million views in over 133 countries. Dr. Jetelina has received numerous national awards, including recently being named a TIME100 Most Influential Person in Health. 

Check out her newsletter https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/what-would-making-america-healthy

Check out our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@helpmakeitmakesense6769/about

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Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for our themesong!

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Today we chat with Edward Nirenberg, an immunology science communicator who found his calling working with vaccine hesitant parents on facebook and expanding his reach through a blog on substack called Deplatform Disease, and had a fun convo about what inspired him to get into science communication, the times we are currently in, figuring out new ways to reach those groups of folks who are genuinely lost in the confusion of misinformation and disinformation that have been weaponized by those who oppose vaccines in particular.  

We shout out the work of Katelyn Jetelina who was recently on the podcast Why Should I Trust You? with other leaders in public health who sat down with a group from the Make America Healthy Again movement.  https://www.whyshoulditrustyou.net/

And we discuss the moment of individualism that we are in instead of the moment of community.

Aimee and Toni duke it out again about Vicks vapor rub again LOL. 

See the references below for Ed's blog and the unbiased science podcast work on building brides not divides

https://deplatformdisease.substack.com/?utm_source=homepage_recommendations&utm_campaign=4168390

https://theunbiasedscipod.substack.com/p/building-bridges-not-divides

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Today we sit down with Dr. James Alwine who is a virologist, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy for Microbiology and a member of the coordinating committee of the public health movement Defend Public Health.  We discuss his oped ed Trump is Killing Life Saving Health Research where he highlights the need for our scientific, medical and public health communities to fight back at this moment of our current administration and the impact of federal decisions on local day to day experiences.  We need to be loud.  We need to get out of our labs and clinics and from behind our desks and let our communities know how important this work is to their day to day lives, their babies, their spouses, their neighbors.  It is a short but powerful discussion about the magic of science and how scientists dont have secrets we will talk you to death about our love of the work and how we actually cured cancer!

Please see the link to his oped here https://progressive.org/op-eds/trump-is-killing-life-saving-health-research-alwine-20250416/

Please see the link to the oped from Elizabeth Jacobs 

https://tucson.com/opinion/column/local-opinion-robert-f-kennedy-jr-is-dangerous-for-the-health-and-economy-of-arizona/article_6bc1d020-e2f9-11ef-b359-6732f13f6300.html

Please see link to Dr. Aimee's oped The Critical Need for Science Funding https://frontporchne.com/opinion-the-critical-need-for-science-funding/

Join Defend Public Health by emailing [email protected]

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Today we have a very special guest, Taryn Chapman also known as "The Vaccine Mom" on instagram, to talk about the power of social media as an advocacy tool.  She has a master’s in molecular medicine from the University of South Florida. Before becoming a mother, she worked in vaccines and virology for USF’s College of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. Currently, she’s a science and vaccine communicator for vaccine- and health-related organizations nationwide and her content can also be found on her website https://www.thevaccinemom.com/

Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for providing our music!

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We sit down today with Dr. Torian Easterling to talk about the challenges of working in health equity and care delivery for the most vulnerable in these uncertain times, the importance of checking in, being steady and steadfast in our goals, understanding that while it is important to promote justice and preserve the progress, the status quo wasn't completely working for those that are the most vulnerable and that it is important to rebuild our programs with true equity at the forefront and not performative DEI by building relationships and collaborations with non science or non health entities (law, community organizations, laundromats!) to get everyone to live the lives that we all deserve to live. We cannot go back and NYC is leading the way through the work of NYC Commission on Racial Equity.

Dr. Easterling is a distinguished physician and public health leader, currently serving as the Senior Vice President for Population and Community Health and Chief Strategic and Innovation Officer for One Brooklyn Health (Brookdale, Interfaith and Kingsbrook- Jewish). In this senior leadership role, Dr. Easterling spearheads the Office of Community Health and Health Equity- with a mission to strengthen the system's capacity to address health inequities and improve the health and well-being of the communities served.

Prior to his tenure at One Brooklyn Health, Dr. Easterling held the positions of First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). In these roles, he led New York City’s equity response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensured equitable distribution of vaccines to vulnerable populations and communities.

Dr. Easterling is a member of several boards and commissions, including the NYC Commission on Racial Equity (NYC CORE). He continues to drive local policy and planning efforts to improve community health. Dr. Easterling is the Co-Founder and Director of Education for the Young Doctors Project, intergenerational mentoring program for high school boys of color.

Book Recommendation:

We Are The Leaders We Have Been Looking For By: Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Health Insurance 101
Medicare And Commercial Health Insurance: The Fundamental Difference", Health Affairs Blog, February 15, 2012

Cindy Mann and Adam Striar, “How Differences in Medicaid, Medicare, and Commercial Health Insurance Payment Rates Impact Access, Health Equity, and Cost,” To the Point (blog), Commonwealth Fund, Aug. 17, 2022

NYC Racial Equity Legislation and Infrastructure
NYC City Charter Section on Racial Equity
Mayor's Office of Racial Equity
NYC CORE

NY 1. Commission calls on city to release Racial Equity Plan by March 21

Link to Charter Preamble
https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCcharter/0-0-0-4

Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for providing the music!

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We are here today with Dr. Gregg Gonsalves to discuss ways forward to defend public health.  

Dr. Gonsalves is an epidemiologist focused on substance use and infectious diseases. He is also an expert in policy modeling on infectious disease and substance use, as well as the intersection of public policy and health equity.  In the past he worked in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for 25+ years, in HIV/AIDS, global health and human rights, in the US and Southern Africa.  He started a grassroots coalition - Defending Public Health - on LinkedIn in November 2024 in response to the nomination of RFK Jr. to lead HHS.

We discuss the tragic battle of the billionaires, the strength of people power, what we can learn from the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, the way doctors and scientists can reach the communities they care for and translate our work in ways that communities can digest, and advocate for policy changes that can strengthen the health of the public in the current political climate and beyond.  The persistence of a few people is enough!!

The article he mentioned below:

How Public Health Took Part of its Own Downfall.  Ed Yong

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/10/how-public-health-took-part-its-own-downfall/620457/

Dr. Aimee's favorite podcast besides ours LOL:

Unbiased Science

And learn more about the movement to defend public health by reaching out to the below!

EMAIL: [email protected]

WEBSITE: coming soon!

GOOGLE GROUP: need to 'ask to join' - go to Google Groups, search for defendpublichealth (lowercase, no spaces) and request to join

Thanks as always to Jeff Jeudy for providing our music!  And don't forget to check out our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4BNZEI5dk.

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We are back to wrap up the year after an accidental hiatus!!  We wanted to stop by before the end of the year to discuss what our work looks like in the near future under leadership changes in the US, our worries about the increase in misinformation and confusion as we all just try and survive this life and do what is right for ourselves and our families, and valuing science education and science communication so we can bring people along in confidence instead of fear. Science and medicine have done great things for the health of our populations AND we are not speaking in words and terms that non-science people understand nor are we patient enough to explain during encounters and that stokes conspiracy.  We must do better!  

Dr. Aimee recommends 3 resources of science information that can help you understand the world of health:

Your Local Epidemiologist https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/
Unbiased science podcast https://www.unbiasedscipod.com/
Immunologic https://news.immunologic.org/

Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for providing our music and see you all in 2025!!

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Dr. Toni and Dr. Aimee yuck it up about allergies after getting tons of questions that were really great!   We discuss why allergies exist, how annoying they are, why antibiotics dont work, why immunotherapy might or might now work, why pollen won't kill you but shellfish could, the peanut allergy saga,  how to be careful with that benadryl and so much more!  

Send us your questions and comments to [email protected].

Thanks Jeff Jeudy for rocking us out!

Check out our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@helpmakeitmakesense6769

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Yay we get a chance to talk to Dr. Aimee about her career journey!  

She hilariously explains why she decided not to be a doctor, Dr. Toni is still laughing.

She takes us through how she evolved into the amazing scientist-teacher that she is despite her high school biology teacher giving her some discouraging advice and how she fell in love, like literally fell in love with immunology.

Shout out to being stubborn and John Lammert from Gustavus Adolphus University.

She takes us through the challenges of her PhD experience, her two post docs, some not so fun teaching and landing her dream job of teaching all the students including  medical, dental, pharmacy, and physician assistants.

Shout out to URMC where our friendship budded over offering chocolate and motrin to Dr. Toni's dysfunctional PCR machine!

Shout out from us both to Tim Bushnell who carried both of us through our PhDs!!

It is so important to get more than one mentor and to surround yourself with people who promote you and help you grow, not bring you down and say that you can't.  You may not be able to do it now but gosh darn it if there is a will there is a way!  And just because it looks different doesn't mean you haven't achieved success.  Maybe it will take longer than you thought.  So what?  Find your people. Ask for help.  Be patient.  Don't lose sight of the goal. And keep on swimming.  There were so many humans that took the time to mentor and inspire Dr. Aimee that we couldn't list them all and the story is likely incomplete.  No one has achieved anything without some form of support.  If it is not your family, then it is a teacher or a group of teachers.  If it is not your teachers then it is your social circle or someone you connected to through your social circle.  And if it is nothing like that then it is a book or a song, a presenter or a poem,  a portrait or a character.  You can be inspired and supported no matter the dream, it just depends on your perspective.   Find your people and open your heart and you will get where you want to go no matter how long it takes.

Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for providing the music!

Send us your questions and comments to [email protected]

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Due to some requests, we are dedicating the next two podcasts to our career journeys and Dr. Toni goes first.

Shout out to Dr. Toni's mom who got her a subscription to some animal cards as a child to influence her learning.

Shout out to Dr. Toni's dad who believed she could do more than take care of animals, may he Rest in Peace.

Shout out to the Minority Access to Research Careers program which saved Dr. Toni from dropping out of College (now known as Maximizing Access to Research Careers)

https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/695
https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/MARC/Pages/USTARAwards.aspx

Shout out to Klaus Grohmann from Hunter College Organic Chemistry who took an interest in mentoring Dr. Toni (the internet has failed in trying to find him)

Shout out to Peter Lipke, another mentor and leader of the MARC program at Hunter College who the internet says is in Brooklyn College who believed in all his students and encouraged applications to SURF programs (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) 
https://www.nist.gov/surf

Shout out to Wayne Bowen who led a lab at the NIH (National Institute of Digestive and Kidney Diseases) in Bethesda Maryland who was Dr. Toni's mentor for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship ( the internet helped  find him!  The internet says he is at Brown University y'all are lucky)

Shout out to Dean Johnston, another mentor and leader of the Medical Laboratory Science Program at Hunter College who is retired and Dr. Toni is still connected to!

Shout out to Antonia Bernard who just gave philosophies in life.

Dr. Toni takes you through her windy path through Medical and Graduate school and then through residency training and her work in  Haiti.

If you are interested in donating to the pediatric residency program in Haiti that is still going despite the the difficulties because while some people can leave many can't and the work continues, please donate at this link and specify Pediatrics Residency Program.

https://donate.projectmedishare.org/give/85297/#!/donation/checkout

It is so important to get more than one mentor and to surround yourself with people who promote you and help you grow, not bring you down and say that you can't.  You may not be able to do it now but gosh darn it if there is a will there is a way!  And just because it looks different doesn't mean you haven't achieved success.  Maybe it will take longer than you thought.  So what?  Find your people. Ask for help.  Be patient.  Don't lose sight of the goal. And keep on swimming.  There were so many humans that took the time to mentor and inspire Dr. Toni that we couldn't list them all and the story is likely incomplete.  No one has achieved anything without some form of support.  If it is not your family, then it is a teacher or a group of teachers.  If it is not your teachers then it is your social circle or someone you connected to through your social circle.  And if it is nothing like that then it is a book or a song, a presenter or a poem,  a portrait or a character.  You can be inspired and supported no matter the dream, it just depends on your perspective.   Find your people and open your heart and you will get where you want to go no matter how long it takes.

Thanks to Jeff Jeudy for providing the music!!

Dr. Aimee is next!