Social Medicine On Air

Curious about the hosts of the show? First, listen to Howard Waitzkin's episode from last week, then catch him here turning the tables on the hosts. We discuss our backgrounds, imposter syndrome, our paths to medicine, class, priviledge, accompaniment, spirituality, liberation theology, and the roots of social medicine in South America. 

Resources relating to this episode:

Howard Waitzkin speaks with us today about reimagining life and medicine after capitalism. A humble giant in the field of social medicine, Howard helps to unpack how capitalism is destructive for the earth, for healthcare systems, and for social life. How can individuals and communities work towards non-violent, "rinky-dink" action against the systems which are destroying us? 

Howard Waitzkin MD PhD is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology and former director of community medicine at the University of New Mexico, a prolific scholar and practitioner of social medicine, and a tireless activist across North and South America for universal and accessible healthcare. His own family background of poverty led him to life-long questions on inequality, public health, oppression, capitalism, and medicine. 

Resources written by Howard:

Today we hear from Leena Yumeen and Maria Pennella, and discuss the importance of accountability in global health funding. They explain the importance of advocacy in influencing these systems and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of not backsliding on the fight against global killers like tuberculosis.

Leena Yumeen is an Advocacy Fellow with the Fund for Global Health, an organization focused on increasing the effectiveness of global health programs and international health aid through research and lobbying. She is pursuing a Bachelors in Political Science at Columbia University, and has also worked with Partners in Health on congressional lobbying and citizen outreach.

Maria Pennella received her bachelors in health sciences from the University of Central Florida. Since graduating in 2018, she has worked for a cultural exchange program in Tanzania and become involved as an Advocacy Fellow with the Fund for Global Health. “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally”, is her guiding quote that pushed her to get involved in lobbying for equitable global health funding and policies within US Congress.

Their recommended resources:

Tanvi Avasthi (@tanvicious) speaks with us today about narrative therapy, loss and trauma, and the power of asking "what do you want?" to recenter our patients as protagonists of their own lives. She explains how we can avoid pathologizing our patients and ourselves, and how we can resist the forces of white supremacy and capitalism which are attempting to destroy us and make us hate ourselves. She shows us a way of beautifully holding the humanity, justice, and poetry of healing together.

SMOA producer Raghav Goyal joins this conversation as cohost.

Her recommended resources:

Harleen Marwah (@ThereGoesHarMar) dives into the conversation on the links between health, healing, and the climate crisis - and how people in healthcare can work for a healthier world. Recorded in the midst of the record-setting 2020 California fires, we discuss the health effects of a climate in crisis, climate grief, connecting clinical work with a larger ecological consciousness, and how she has organized healthcare students for change.

Harleen Marwah is the Founder and Chair of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF),  a community of over 260 medical students from around the world, and she has collaborated with the United Nations on the Paris Agreement. She is currently a current fourth year medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, and looks forward to working towards a healthier, more just and equitable future as a pediatrician. 

Extinction Rebellion "Heading for Extinction" talk (27" video): bit.ly/2ILFeUQ

Harleen Marwah's recommended resources:

Sasheenie Moodley (@SasheenieM) discusses the complexities of teenage motherhood, HIV, family dynamics, and navigating poverty in the townships of her native South Africa. She explains dynamics of familial expectation and young mothers being "hidden away," how one reveals HIV or pregnancy status, dreams of future success, and her experience doing research as an insider-outsider.

Sasheenie Moodley MPH was born and grew up in South Africa and pursued her PhD at the University of Oxford, where she works with pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers in Botshabelo, South Africa. This research explores what life is like - during and after teenage pregnancy – through the lens of HIV. Sasheenie is currently a medical student at the University of Virginia.

Her recommended resources: 

Tim Lahey (@TimLaheyMD) joins us today to discuss medical ethics during a pandemic and states of emergency, and questions of allocation, ventilator scarcity, and systemic injustice. We also talk about medical education, justice, power and privilege, collaboration towards institutional change, vocation, and the temptations of pride and righteous anger in this work. 

This special episode also features SMOA producer Raghav Goyal as a co-host! 

Tim Lahey, MD, MMSc, is an infectious diseases physician, ethicist, and professor of medicine who has conducted research on vaccine immunology, Tb, and HIV. He directs ethics at the University of Vermont Medical Center and has participated in ethics and social justice education with medical students for over a decade. Beyond his academic publications, you can read Tim’s stories for the New York Times, Washington Post and other popular outlets here.

His recommended resources include: 

Andrew Goldstein discusses his experience of activism and medicine. We discuss how he first stepped into activism, the challenges of non-profit work, how healthcare workers can get involved in organizing, leader-full movements, the temptations of professional "success," and the dangers of waiting until the "right moment" to begin this work.

Andrew Goldstein MD, MPH (@AndrewMakeTweet) is an assistant professor at NYU who practices primary care at Bellevue, especially for those with high medical need and experiencing homelessness. His medical activism has focused on healthcare, immigration, climate, and gun violence. He also focuses on civic habit building, election action, narrative shifting, escalated tactics like civil disobedience and protest, and health worker organizing.

His recommended resources:

Laura Mkumba discusses the colonial history of the field of global health and the necessity of decolonizing global health. We consider how proximity to whiteness, maternal-fetal outcomes, global health work and education, privilege, and our thoughts all reflect histories of coloniality.  

Laura Mkumba (@laura_mkumba) is a native of Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania by way of Atlanta, GA. She received her Master of Science in Global Health from Duke University, where she co-founded the Duke Decolonizing Global Health Working Group in 2018. She has spent the last decade working in international and domestic HIV/AIDS research as well as mental health, health equity, adolescent health, and sexual/reproductive health of sexual and gender minorities. 

Laura Mkumba's recommended resources:

Ruth Staus discusses the necessity of the social sciences in the medical field, the "scientific" foundations of race, teaching, trauma, and her clinical work with her unhoused patients.   

Dr. Ruth Staus DNP, APRN, ANP-BC is a professor of nursing, global health and social medicine who has been practicing community-based primary care as a nurse practitioner for 25 years. Her scholarly work is focused on the effects of racism on health and she is currently involved in social activism related to structural racism, housing and health.

Her recommended resources: