The Wooden Teeth Show

This week, our host Jake Williams chatted with Edwin Ng of the University of Waterloo and Carles Muntaner of the University of Toronto. They examined the effect of female representation in government on population health. Turns out, female representation and feminism generally are good for your health. And we couldn’t have a podcast about women with only men so two ladies of the Wooden Teeth team joined to give their take on the episode. So join us as we discuss feminism and public health.

A low-income resident of New York City or San Jose, CA lives about 5 years longer on average than a low-income resident of Detroit or Indianapolis. The evidence suggests that this is due, at least in part, to the difference in social, economic and public health resources offered to residents via public policy. Today on the podcast we have the president of CityHealth, Shelley Hearne. CityHealth, an initiative of the deBeaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, advances evidence-based public health policy solutions that help people live longer, better lives in cities across America, and then ranks cities on their adoption of these policies with a gold/silver/bronze medal system.

This week: We learn that there’s an exercise Jake can’t do, find out why a gym company has a government affairs director, and learn about “unholy alliances” of less-than-savory businesses and government health agencies. We’re joined by Russ Greene, who heads up government relations for CrossFit, which now has more than 15,000 affiliate gyms around the country and we find out what it means to be a fitness company with its own political ideology. Disclosure: Jake <3s CrossFit.

Every 10 years, based on the data provided by the U.S. Census, states redraw the country's congressional and state legislative districts. It’s an intense and often contentious political process that shapes representation for the decade to follow. The rules about how redistricting works, specifically about whether districts can be drawn to expressly favor one party over another, are being considered right now by the U.S. Supreme Court. The outcome of that case could have profound impact upon the health of our democracy. We talk it over with Michael Li, Senior Counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. He is a leading national expert in the redistricting process and, as you might guess, has lots of thoughts on the topic.

Another dispatch from SXSW and a big, important conversation this week. We’re talking maternal health care and the worsening dangers of childbirth in the U.S. We’re also talking abortion and comprehensive sex education as part of the spectrum of reproductive health care and why so many American women deliver their babies via c-section. Paid family leave makes an appearance too. Join us as we sit down with three passionate experts and advocates on International Women’s Day, who were in Austin to present a session called Hysteria No More: Data, Doctors, and Women’s Health: Dr. Chitra Akileswaran, Co-Founder of Cleo and lecturer at Harvard Medical School Dr. Rashmi Kudesia, reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist at CCRM Fertility Houston Dr. Pooja Mehta, Director of Maternal and Women's Health Policy at the LSU Center Consortium for Health Transformation

In the wake of violence, some survivors appear unharmed but actually experience very real mental health injuries. Manya Chylinski, a survivor of 2013 Boston Marathon bombing who now speaks about mental trauma and resiliency & Amanda Samman, CEO of the Better Lab and trauma surgeon at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, join us on the podcast this week. We talk with Manya about her personal journey after the marathon and to Amanda about how her experience has informed how she has engaged on this issue.

This week: A little change of pace from the Wooden Teeth crew. We snagged a booth at the SXSW Wellness Expo and talked to anyone who’d lend an ear about this very show – and we also got their thoughts on tape about the products they were selling and what influences their chance to be healthy. Listen up for some of the best, most-interesting, and most-head-scratching products and ideas about our health.

President & CEO of Trust for America’s Health, John Auerbach, joins us on the podcast as we discuss effective policy proposals to improve health. We talk about the evolution of public health, the role of Trust for America's Health (TFAH), and we dive deep about specific state-level policy ideas. TFAH recently examined 1500 policies in an effort to identify the most feasible and effective ones that states can use to improve health and control costs. Their wide-ranging findings include recommendations on income, housing, syringe access, and policy to promote healthy behavior.

Harm Reduction Action Center, drug users are provided with clean needles to prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, along with other resources to help them stay healthy and avoid overdose, in addition to providing treatment referral. Last year, Denver approved a measure that would create a pilot site for a "supervised use site," a place where people could legally inject drugs under medical supervision. However, state approval would still be needed, and federal threats by the Trump Administration loom. Lisa takes us inside the world of applying a harm reduction strategy to address the needs of people who inject drugs.

Leslie Crutchfield is Executive Director of the Global Social Enterprise Initiative at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and she’s the author of "How Change Happens: Why some social movements succeed and others don't." We talk about why societal trends go where they do and the effect those trends have on the direction of the country. Like, how did we make so much progress on LGBTQ rights while the country also stockpiled guns and ammunition? Important for us, specifically, we also talk about why, after over a century of trying, America has yet to achieve universal access to health care.