The HPP Podcast

"We want to have a dialogue about developing the capacity to grapple with political dysfunction. We need to be able to win political battles in order to save lives."

In this episode, Dr. Marcus Cheatham, Dr. Heidi Hancher-Rauch, Dr. Jodi Brookins-Fisher, Dr. Alexis Blavos, and Dr. Amy Thompson help us explore how the current political landscape has led to a poor national response to the pandemic. They remind us that public health professionals have a role to play as advocates, and they help us understand the matrix used in their commentary space.

This episode references the article titled "Politics Spread COVID: Developing a Public Health Response" by Marcus Cheatham, PhD, Heidi Hancher-Rauch, PhD, Jodi Brookins-Fisher, PhD, Alexis Blavos, PhD, and Amy Thompson, PhD.

"If you ask me, the most important thing is: who is at the table and who's not, right? Because –who is at the table and who's not?– determines what's on the agenda and the values that are underlying whatever's going on. So the most important structural intervention that you could make is to involve people who have a strong interest in whatever the proceeding is or whatever the effort's going to be, to be at the decision making table."

In this episode, Arden Castle is in conversation with Dr. Camara Jones and Dr. Keon Gilbert about race, racism, and antiracism. They dissect these definitions, identify patterns in the US and UK, encourage making institutional walls porous, and discuss intergenerational bridging. Dr. Jones also offers her 4 Habits of Mind (the 4 BC's) for social justice warriors: be courageous, be curious, be collective, and build community. For a deeper dive on this topic, watch Dr. Jones's TedTalk and check out HPP's What Is Antiracism in Health Promotion Practice? special issue in Volume 24 Issue 1, January 2023.

"It's really important to have people do the work, the slow work often, of walking around a neighborhood, in this case, and really looking at what's actually on the ground, literally, like, where are the cigarette butts, where are things happening, what does the safety look like?"

In this episode, Dr. Maya Vijayaraghavan and Dr. Margaret Handley discuss clean air policies that limit indoor smoking in subsidized housing. They break down their multi-method approach which allows for a comprehensive approach to policy questions that expands past individual behaviors and recognizes the policy, environmental, and social context of behavior change and the need to intervene at each of these levels to facilitate behavior change. They remind us that ground truthing can help unpack and develop non-coercive incentive-based programs and policies with buy in from residents and staff.

This episode references the article titled "Multi-Level Influences of Smoke-Free Policies in Subsidized Housing: Applying the COM-B Model and Neighborhood Assessments to Inform Smoke-Free Policies" by Maya Vijayaraghavan, MD, MAS, Marlena Hartman-Filson, MSW, Priyanka Vyas, PhD, Toshali Katyal, BA, Tram Nguyen, BA, and Margaret A. Handley, PhD, MPH.

In this episode, Dr. Terry O’Toole, René Lavinghouze, and Dr. LaNita Wright discuss the 5 Priority Actions that states and communities can take to prevent serious chronic diseases, which are designed to improve the environments in which children, adults, and families can access healthy choices or live in places where it's easier to be healthy. They also explained the five program infrastructure themes that allowed recipients to pivot and remain nimble when COVID-19 placed pressure on the environment and implementation context. The CDC’s funding enabled many of the first-time writers to participate in writing workshops to demystify publishing, connect with subject matter experts, remove the barriers to writing resources, and battle imposter syndrome.

Check out the Reducing Chronic Disease through Physical Activity and Nutrition: Public Health Practice in the Field Supplement for free articles on the 5 Priority Actions.

"What mobility justice means to me is that people feel safe, people have access, and people have voice when accessing public resources. And it's not just a system that they use, but a system that they engage in and participate in growing based on what their needs are."

In this episode, Karishama Vahora discusses their paper on mobility justice and engaging youth of color in decision making and policy making. Their paper aimed to start conversations around how we create equitable spaces for young people to 1) share their lived experiences with social services and 2) access different resources that we should all have access to. She reminds us to get involved, mobilize our support system, and build relationships with mentors.

This paper references the paper titled "Navigating Health Equity Through Mobility Justice: Youth of Color Organizing for Transportation Equity in Our Backyards" by Karishama I. Vahora, BS, Regina M. Dove, BA, Jessica B. Par, BA, Leyila Mustefa, BA, and Brian E. Saelens, PhD.

In this episode, Dr. Robin Evans-Agnew is in conversation with Dr. Juan Aguilera, Jessica LeClair, and De-Ann Sheppard on Planetary Health and Climate Justice. They discuss the interconnectedness of the planet, as well as multidisciplinary approaches to affect change. They encourage us to take a holistic view of the planet’s health, and to generate meaningful relationships with community members most impacted by climate injustices in order to work in solidarity with them.

This episode references the article titled "Climate Justice Is Environmental Justice: System Change for Promoting Planetary Health and a Just Transition From Extractive to Regenerative Action" by Robin A. Evans-Agnew, PhD, RN and Juan Aguilera, MD, PhD, MPH. For more information, check out https://www.planetaryhealthalliance.org/ and https://envirn.org/.

“Having that local context is always important when we're trying to meet the needs of a community because their context matters. Their lives matter. What they need matters. We need to listen to them… We can't just act. We need to know what's happening and how they wanna be supported.”

In this episode, Dr. LaNita Wright is in conversation with Dr. Nandi Marshall about her personal and professional connections to public health, along with the realization of the impact of stress and access on outcomes. Dr. Marshall discusses their use of Photovoice to advocate for the community, as well as their work in pivoting the project during the pandemic. She closes the conversation by reminding us to ask, listen, and trust Black women.
This episode references the article titled Trust Black Women: Using Photovoice to Amplify the Voices of Black Women to Identify and Address Barriers to Breastfeeding in Southeast Georgia by Nandi A. Marshall, DrPH, MPH, CHES, CLC and Christina S. Cook, MPH, CHES. Check out the full special supplement: Reducing Chronic Disease through Physical Activity and Nutrition: More Public Health Practice in the Field. The supplement, Spotify playlist, and paper are open access and free to you, so please enjoy!

“I think it's important to know that you don't need, I guess, like big institutions or a lot of money or a ton of experience even sometimes to accomplish really great things. As long as you're able to really form that partnership and really utilize those around you, a lot can happen.”

In this episode, Cynthia Begay is in conversation with Dr. Anthony Fleg, Nicolette Abeyta, and Ashleigh Claw. They discuss their paths in public health, how running fits into cultural practices, and the holistic approach of the program. They walk us through the paper, along with their experiences of being first time writers and trailblazers by conducting research with the Native Health Initiative, which does not typically do research.

This article references the article titled “Impact of a Culturally Grounded Running Program on Four Components of Wellness Among Indigenous Participants: A Pilot Study of the Running Medicine Program” by Anthony Fleg, MD, MPH, Nicolette Abeyta, BS, Jonathan Houck, PhD, Kristen Baca, BS, BA, MBA, Cindy Nguyen, BS, BA, Ashleigh Claw, BS, and Jaida Shaffer, BA. For more information, you can check out the Native Health Initiative website or the Running Medicine website.

In this episode, Leo Kattari is in conversation with Dr. Hale Thompson and Reyna Ortiz regarding what they learned about transgender mental health and health inequities from running their pilot intervention. They discuss the Tips and Tools generated by TaskForce, the importance of centering community, and their multi-level approach to facing systemic inequities.

This episode references the article titled, "An Implementation of a Community-Engaged, Group-Level Mental Health Pilot for Black and Latina Transgender Women" by Hale M. Thompson, PhD, Ketzel Feasley, BA, Reyna Ortiz, Karen Reyes, BA, Amanda Seanior, MA, LCPC, and Niranjan S. Karnik, MD, PhD. Check out other open-access LGBTQ+ articles in the ⁠HPP Celebrates PRIDE 2023 Article Collection⁠ and the playlist of ⁠LGBTQ+ Voices in HPP.

In this episode, Leo Kattari is in conversation with Lauren Cikara, Daniel Martinez, and Noah Jansen about their contributions to the special PRIDE collection of Practice Notes for HPP highlighting addressing health equity among LGBTQ+ youth and communities. They remind us of the power and eagerness of youth to get involved, the roles of adults in working beside youth, and to relish queer and trans joy!

This episode references the articles “⁠The Time to Act Is Now: Investing in LGBTQIA2S+ Student Mental Health in K-12 Schools With a Youth-Centered Approach⁠” by Lauren Cikara, MSEd, Amy Gatto, MPH, Ashley Hill, MA, and Annie Hobson, MS, and “⁠Creating a Virtual Network to Support LGBTQIA+ Youth in Rural Settings: Development of Colorado’s Queer Youth Network⁠” by Daniel Martinez, MSW, Noah Jansen, Garrett Royer, BA, and Heather Kennedy, PhD, MPH. These articles join others in the ⁠HPP Celebrates PRIDE 2023 Article Collection⁠ and among the playlist of ⁠LGBTQ+ Voices in HPP.