On December 3, the Bloomberg American Health Initiative held its annual summit. This year, the theme really marked the moment: Advancing Public Health in Uncertain Political Times. In today’s episode, you’ll hear three conversations from the Summit about how public health can provide a roadmap for making needed progress. First: how public health data and evidence provide context for judicial decisions. Then, how a public health lens is helping to address the issue of gun violence. And finally, how to find common ground on mental health and addiction.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• 2024 Bloomberg American Health Summit—YouTube

• Public Health At Work in Uncertain Times: A Recap of the 2024 Bloomberg American Health Summit

• Hopkins Judicial Health Notes

• What The White House Office of Gun Violence Has Accomplished In Its First Year—Everytown For Gun Safety

• Bipartisan Mental Health In Schools Excellence Act

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For decades, regular mammograms to detect breast cancer have been recommended for women ages 50-75. In 2024, the age range dropped to include women 40-49 as well. But what do we really know about mammography as a tool to save lives? Are all scans created equal? What is the risk/benefit analysis to upping the number of screenings a woman is recommended to receive in her lifetime? In today’s episode: a deep dive into the evidence around mammography, and a look at the new guidelines—including the controversy around them.

Dr. Otis Brawley is a globally-recognized expert in cancer prevention and control whose work focuses on developing cancer screening strategies and ensuring their effectiveness. He is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in epidemiology with a joint appointment in oncology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. He was the former Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society.

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

• Final Recommendation Statement: Breast Cancer Screening—U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

• The Rise of Colorectal Cancer Among Younger People—Public Health On Call (June 2024)

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The day after the 2024 presidential election, Joe Amon—the brand new director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights—was set to give a speech for a panel about health discrimination. But the one he’d prepared wasn’t going to cut it for a moment suddenly marked by uncertainty and change. He pivoted to a different message: one that acknowledges that public health doesn’t have everything figured out, and that it works best when it’s viewed as a social movement. In this episode: a moment of reflection for the field, considerations of some of the challenges that lay ahead, and the critical importance of thinking about public health as a human right. Note: You can read an adaptation of the speech in the link below.

Joe Amon is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• Post-Election Public Health Needs to Keep On Keeping On—Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine

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Well into the respiratory illness season, there’s been a rise in cases of walking pneumonia compared to recent years, particularly among children. In this episode: an overview of walking pneumonia; how it’s tested, treated, and prevented; and what parents and caregivers should look out for in children.

Dr. Anna Sick-Samuels is an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of medicine and a pediatric infectious disease epidemiologist for Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Infections Have Been Increasing—CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases

• Walking pneunomia cases are rising among kids. Here’s what to know.—The Washington Post

• All About Parvovirus—Public Health On Call (September, 2024)

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Ten years ago, Flint, Michigan was in the headlines for its catastrophic water crisis. Now, it’s on the map for a very different public health story: the success of the country’s first unconditional cash program for expecting mothers and babies in their first year of life. The concept is not new, however—it’s rooted in decades of evidence that cash programs help address root causes of poverty and can truly give kids a better start in life. Note: This episode was recorded in late October, prior to the 2024 presidential election. Note: Donations to Rx Kids can be made via GiveDirectly.

Dr. Mona Hanna is a pediatrician, the associate dean for public health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and the director of Rx Kids.

Dr. Miriam Laker-Oketta is the global director of research for GiveDirectly—the program that administers Rx Kids.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• Rx Kids—Flint, Michigan’s Cash Allowances for New Parents—Public Health On Call (September, 2023)

• Results from the Rx Kids Participant Survey & Maternal Wellbeing Research Study (pdf)

• Every new mom in this U.S. city is now getting cash aid for a year—NPR

• A New Kind of Disaster Aid: Pay People Cash, Before Disaster Strikes—NY Times

• Protecting the health of children with universal child cash benefits—ScienceDirect

• As federal aid shrinks, communities try new ways to tackle child poverty on their own—NPR

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Lingering environmental policy legacies from Trump’s last administration may be harbingers for what’s to come in 2025. Concerns include widespread deregulation leading to increased use of fossil fuels and a lack of vigilance around protecting drinking water and air quality. But it isn’t just the EPA itself that’s in peril: Major shift towards the politicization of climate change, and the disempowering of scientists and agencies in the court system could create lasting—and even irreversible—impacts to human health. In this episode: a look at what Trump’s second term may mean for environmental health, and why it will be crucial for policymakers and scientists to galvanize around innovation and local action.

Dr. Tom Burke is an emeritus professor at Johns Hopkins and a former top official with the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration.

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

• New poll indicates that voters support the EPA—NM Political Report

• SCOTUS—Not The EPA—Is Now Regulating Environmental Protection—Public Health On Call (August, 2024)

• Why The Supreme Court Ruling on The EPA Isn’t The End of Fighting Climate Change (2022)—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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Outbreaks of H5N1 continue to rise in dairy cattle and poultry, and human cases are also starting to creep up including a Canadian teen who was hospitalized in critical condition. In this episode: the latest on viral sequencing and patterns of spread, the potential for economic impacts and interruptions in the food supply, risks to the general public, and concerns about how an administration change in January may impact public health’s ability to mount a sufficient response.

Dr. Meghan Davis is a veterinarian and public health researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment at the School of Medicine.

Dr. Andy Pekosz is a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with appointments in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and Environmental Health and Engineering.

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

• Why a teenager’s bird flu infection is ringing alarm bells for scientists—Nature

• ‘We are not testing enough’: new US bird flu cases stoke fears over poor response—The Guardian

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Baltimore’s iconic Inner Harbor is like a highway for massive ships. It’s also been a dumping ground for chemicals and pollutants, and every time it rains, stormwater runoff brings sewage and trash from miles inland. But in 2010, a coalition announced the Healthy Harbor initiative—a plan to make Baltimore’s famous waterfront swimmable and fishable by 2020. In June 2024, the city held its first public swim in the harbor in more than 40 years. It took nearly a decade and a half to pull it off—and some say, it’s only the beginning. In this special episode of Public Health On Call, we look at four ways Baltimore activists, coalitions, agencies, scientists, and residents came together to fight for a swimmable and fishable harbor: getting people’s attention, collecting data, mitigating sewage, and battling against trash.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• The Fight For A Swimmable Harbor in Baltimore City—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Episode transcript

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Water fluoridation is considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th Century. Yet for as long as there has been fluoride in the water, some have raised concerns about its safety. In this episode: the history of water fluoridation, its enormous benefits for preventing tooth decay, and the recent wave of interest in whether fluoridation policies should change.

Dr. Charlotte Lewis is a pediatrician at Seattle Children’s, a professor at UW Medicine, and an expert on infant and child nutrition and oral health.

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

• Skeletal Fluorosis Due to Excessive Tea Drinking—The New England Journal of Medicine

• Fluoride Exposure: Neurodevelopment and Cognition—National Toxicology Program

• AAP stands by recommendations for low fluoride levels to prevent caries—American Academy of Pediatrics

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For nearly 30 years, Judge David Tatel served on the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. But his rising legal career corresponded with his declining vision–a fact he tried to hide. Now, Tatel credits his blindness (and his guide dog Vixen) for helping him evolve as a judge and a person. In this episode: a look at Judge Tatel’s astonishing career, his take on how SCOTUS is blurring the lines between judging and policymaking, what science and the legal system have in common, and his experience learning to live with blindness.

Judge David Tatel served nearly 30 years as a Clinton appointee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. His recent book is “Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice.”

Dr. Josh Sharfstein is vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a faculty member in health policy, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland’s Health Department.

• A Supreme Court Case That’s a “Big Deal” For Public Health—Public Health On Call (January, 2023)

• This Judge Is Blind. He Wishes Our Justice System Were, Too—The New York Times

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