3 guests. 2 hosts. And one big question: why study food? Join Dr. Amy Rowat, Chef Julia Rhoton,  Laila Adarkar, and guest host, Kayleigh Ruller, on this  exploration. 

Food--accessing it, cooking it, gathering around it--is a powerful tool for inciting change on both an individual and community level. It’s a lens for understanding environmental, social, and political issues, near and far. How do we leverage the power of food? What does it mean to prioritize Food Studies in a large university setting? 

UCLA is exploring these very questions  through its educational programs, like the Food Studies Minor and the Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies, and the plethora of on-campus resources, the Teaching Kitchen, Bruin Dining, Community Programs Office, and beyond.

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• Food Day 2023: Food & Country Screening, December 7th 2023, 7:00-9:00 pm, James Bridges Theater
  • Register here: tinyurl.com/foodandcountryucla 
• Teaching Kitchen
• Jane b semel HCI Community Garden  
• UCLA CPO
• Food Studies Minor 
• UCLA Extension Food Studies Certificate
• Westwood Food Co-Op
• UCLA Farmers Market 
• EatWell Pod 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

This conversation with Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW'S Good Food, is a breath of fresh air, covering the practices and perspectives that sustain Evan’s regenerative, equitable, and of course, delicious approach to preparing a meal. The perspectives offered honor the transformative role that food can play in a complex social landscape, honoring each and every part of the food system. 

Resources: 

• The Teaching Kitchen
• Cook This Kit 
• UCLA Farmers Market
• The Rothman Institute for Food Studies
• KCRW Good Food (Evan's podcast!) 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

Superheroes, science fiction, and fantasy tell a much more complex story than what meets the eye. Dr. Drea Letamendi, clinical psychologist, media consultant, TEDx Speaker, and former Interim Director of UCLA’s RISE center, talks with us today about the power of storytelling in the fictional media landscape-- how storytelling accelerates empathy and helps audiences navigate their own personal experiences of joy, grief, resilience, and healing. 

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, provide feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Podcast Resources: 

• UCLA Rise Center
• Dr. Drea’s website full of resources 
• Dr. Drea’s The Arkham Sessions Podcast! 
• UCLA Caps

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

Turns out, we need more wonder in our lives, beauty is a survival tool, and mushrooms are the greatest carbon-sequester solution for climate change. Learn about this and more through the words and wisdom of our guest today, Louie Schwartzberg. Louie Schwartzberg is an environmental activist, UCLA graduate, and award-winning artist, director, cinematographer. In this episode, Louie says that the messaging of the environmental movement has failed. Why? Because instead of just laying facts on the table, you have to tell a really good story to move people. And Louie tells the story of nature by capturing its abundant beauty in his breathtaking photography and videography seen on Netflix and Disney. 

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, offer feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• Louie Channel 
• Moving Art by Louie Schwartzberg
• Louie’s Ted Talks
• NYT article about Dacher Keltner’s research on awe 
• The Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center is partnering with Louie’s Moving Art for a research project on UCLA campus. If you would like to install Moving Art in your campus building or department, please email [email protected]. 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

Why can preventive health services be covered by health insurance? Why should we be prioritizing research and screenings that close the evidence gaps in health research? And who can help shift these priorities? That’s the US Preventive Services Task Force. Today, our guest, past appointed chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and UCLA professor and physician, guides us through getting onboarded, choosing recommendations, bridging evidence to make preventive services more accessible for everyone.  

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, offer feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• US Preventive Services Task Force
• UCLA Health 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

Why can preventive health services be covered by health insurance? Why should we be prioritizing research and screenings that close the evidence gaps in health research? And who can help shift these priorities? That’s the US Preventive Services Task Force. Today, our guest, Dr. Carol Mangione, past appointed chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and UCLA professor and physician, guides us through  onboarding, choosing recommendations, and bridging evidence to make preventive services more accessible for everyone.  

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, offer feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• US Preventive Services Task Force
• UCLA Health 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

What are the little things we can do to create ritual, reflection, and reduce stress as we navigate new transitions? As we enter into this upcoming school year and a new season, this re-released episode with Dr. Brenda Bursch will walk us through resilience tools -- from setting boundaries to putting plants in your office -- to navigate change with a bit more calm. Dr. Bursch, an expert in mental health and resilience, is a professor and clinical psychologist in the UCLA Departments Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Pediatrics. This re-released episode was originally our 36th episode in September 2021. 

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, offer feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• Part 1: Finding the Path Back to Meaning and Joy
• Part 2: Finding the Path Back to Meaning and Joy
• Mindful Awareness Research Center 

Find Transcripts under each episode page on our website.  

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

Join us today for a deep dive into how social determinants of health, the non-medical influences that contribute to someone’s health outcomes, can be addressed with a preventive, population-based approach, like Geisinger’s Fresh Food Farmacy. Dr. Andrea Feinberg guides us through this topic, outlining her work as a critical care ICU doctor, a population health leader, and as the lead doctor addressing chronic diabetes and food insecurity in Pennsylvania's communities through free meal programs and food education. The subsequent diabetes control results are striking, and serve as an example for further community-based approaches to healthcare. 

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, offer feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• Harvard Business Review Article 
• Geisinger Health 
• Fresh Food Farmacy 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

Join us today for a lesson in environmental storytelling with Tamar Christensen. Everything about Tamar’s story is fascinating-- she is a writing instructor at UCLA, a Veteran, a composter, a chicken mom, and a zero-waste lifestyle icon. We hear about how she sold her car after a transformative trip to Europe, how she gave food nonprofit Nourish LA a home at UCLA, and how she structures her creative writing classes around navigating eco-anxiety and knowing one’s place in the climate crisis. 

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, provide feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• Nourish LA 
• Daily Bruin Article 
• Tamar Christensen Writing Programs 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!

In this special “Behind the Mic” episode, podcast producer Kayleigh Ruller interviews Dr. Wendy Slusser to learn more about her career, her inspirations, her mentors, and how the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center came to be. Dr. Wendy Slusser has been leading the Semel HCI center for nearly a decade to advance health research, host summits, gather leaders, and embed health equity across campus. 

Visit our website to explore other episodes, suggest guests, provide feedback, or invite Wendy to be a guest on your podcast! 

Episode Resources + Mentions: 

• Venice Family Clinic
• Eatwell Pod 
• School Salad Bar Research 

Today’s podcast was brought to you by UCLA’s Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center. It really means a lot to our team when you rate and review LiveWell on your preferred listening platform. Thank you so much for supporting our storytelling.

We also have links in the show notes on our website at healthy.ucla.edu/livewellpodcast. If you have any questions or want to suggest a guest to be interviewed, please reach out at: [email protected].

To stay up to date with our latest podcasts, make sure to follow us on Instagram @LiveWell_UCLA!