The Stoop Storytelling Series and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health partnered last fall to present a night of storytelling by scientists, activists, and community members sharing personal stories about urgent public health issues. In part 2, we hear from Cleo Hirsch, the executive director of COVID Response at Baltimore City Public Schools about creating “learning pods” for some of the most vulnerable kids in the city, and Tyde-Courtney Edwards, founding director of Ballet After Dark on surviving trauma through dance. These stories were recorded on September 22, 2022 at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

A devastating CDC report on youth risk behavior paints a grim picture of how today’s adolescents are faring mentally. Dr. Kathleen Ethier, director of the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, joins Stephanie Desmon to discuss the large increase in depression, suicidal ideation and sexual violence being seen among teenage girls and LGBTQ kids. They talk about what schools and parents can do to help.

Johns Hopkins veterinarian Meghan Davis joins Stephanie Desmon to discuss the avian flu outbreak. They discuss the influenza that has been raging since 2021, with no signs of abating, and what the impacts are on the food supply, the cost of eggs and products that contain them, and on human and animal health.

Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, joins Dr. Josh Sharfstein to talk about her shift during the pandemic. She began supporting community coalitions that came together to fight COVID-19. In July 2021, she became the city's leading health official, focused on creating new connections with community organizations—for the pandemic and beyond.

Guest host Shelley Hearne, director of the Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy, speaks with Jaime Madrigano, Visiting Associate Professor, with the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Bloomberg School, whose research examines the health impacts of environmental air pollution and weather. Together they discuss how health and cost implications must be tied to climate change policies, communications, and real community engagement.

For decades, improvement in diagnostic tools for cancer have led to a movement of early screening from mammograms to colonoscopies. Today, Dr. Otis Brawley, a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, tells Stephanie Desmon that many people think screening is better than it actually is. While early screening can save lives, they discuss the how to be sure you’re getting high-quality screening when you need it, and about some of the harm of over-screening in certain cases.

Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings joins Dr. Josh Sharfstein to talk about her late husband, the Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, who represented Baltimore for more than 35 years in the Maryland General Assembly and in Congress. Dr. Rockeymoore Cummings explains the origins of the Congressman's successful efforts to expand access to dental care, reduce prescription drug prices, and tackle addiction. She also tells some amazing behind the scenes stories, including the moment when Congressman Cummings met with President Trump.

Today, guest host Shelley Hearne, director of the Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy, talks with Natalia Linos, a social epidemiologist and executive director of Harvard’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, and 2020 Congressional candidate. Linos talks with Hearne about why “all public health is political,” how to approach politics as a public health professional, and the importance of not only naming climate change problems, but getting involved with them “at every level” to advance change.

In this bonus episode, Johns Hopkins Professor Thomas Burke joins Dr. Sharfstein to talk about  the risk to residents following the train derailment and toxic release of chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio— the knowns, the unknowns, and where to go from here. Dr. Burke is a former environmental official for the state of New Jersey and a former science adviser of the Environmental Protection Agency

Mark Miller, the executive vice president of health care at Arnold Ventures joins Dr. Josh Sharfstein to talk about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act for Medicare patients this year, as well as two areas of future work to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. They discuss patent reform and opportunities to increase transparency for pharmaceutical benefit managers.