It’s Election Day in parts of the country, so we thought it was time to talk politics.

Dr. Craig Spencer, from Brown University’s School of Public Health, penned a Substack last week that stopped us cold. In it, he makes a bold case that public health needs to get more political—not partisan, but political in the sense of organizing, mobilizing, and demanding what people say they value: cleaner air, safer food, prevention that actually gets funded.

It’s a striking call at a moment of profound change — what some call a reimagining, others a dismantling — of public health itself. But if you look at the polling across Republicans, Democrats, and the MAHA “curious,” there’s surprising common ground right in public health’s wheelhouse.

It’s time, Spencer argues, for public health to step into the political arena to fight for change or watch the system unravel.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off today)

Guest:

Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician; Associate Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University School of Public Health.

Craig's Substack article referenced:
https://craigaspencer.substack.com/p/when-public-health-forgot-how-to

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East Palestine, Ohio, became a national symbol of fear and mistrust after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed, resulting in a massive black plume filling the sky. Two years later, how are residents of this small community faring? Is their soil, air, and water truly safe?

In this episode, we meet two women who chose collaboration over conflict: Elizabeth Frost of MAHA, Ohio, and Dr. Nicole Deziel of the Yale School of Public Health. The pair met through our podcast and teamed up — Elizabeth working on the ground to connect with residents, and Nicole, along with partners including Ohio Valley Allies, securing an NIH grant to study East Palestine’s water as part of a larger research effort led by the University of Kentucky. Joining the conversation is Stuart Day, an area resident, member of Ohio Valley Allies, and community partner on the research team.

How are a grassroots MAHA advocate and a Yale public health scientist bridging the divides that define so much of our nation’s health debate today? And most importantly, what are researchers discovering that could help address residents’ concerns and help East Palestine move forward?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Dr. Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Elizabeth Frost: grassroots organizer for the MAHA movement in Ohio; the Ohio State director for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign;  is a co-founder of Independent Force Consulting

Dr. Nicole Deziel: Associate Professor in Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health & co-Director of the Yale Center of Perinatal, Pediatric, & Environmental Epidemiology.

Stuart Day: community partner with Ohio Valley Allies; co-creator and executive producer of Exposure Podcast, investigating environmental health issues in the region (Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exposure/id1765728709)

John Klar: a former attorney who now operates a small farm in Vermont, is a writer for The MAHA Report, a popular newsletter, and a big supporter of Secretary Kennedy’s vision

Participants in the East Palestine research:
The Yale-based proposal was led by Dr. Nicole Deziel and Professor Michelle Bell from the Yale School of the Environment, and involved a broad team of researchers and community partners. The awarded NIH grant formally includes Nicole Deziel, Michelle Bell, Dr. James Saiers, a hydrogeologist at Yale, and Ohio Valley Allies (led by Jill Hunkler and Stuart Day).

At Yale, Drs. Deziel, Bell, and Saiers will assess water quality impacts using advanced hydrological modeling in partnership with Ohio Valley Allies and other community stakeholders such as MAHA Ohio.

The work is part of the newly formed East Palestine Investigation Consortium (EPIC), which will be led by the University of Kentucky (Dr. Erin Haynes) and also includes the University of Pittsburgh.

Resources:

https://research.uky.edu/news/uk-lead-federal-research-effort-on-east-palestine-health-impacts

https://www.epa.gov/east-palestine-oh-train-derailment

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/east_palestine

https://www.ohiovalleyallies.org/campaigns 

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They’re the invisible forces steering what we see every day and shaping what we trust.
Algorithms, now supercharged by AI, don’t just feed us information. They feed us emotion — suspicion, outrage, validation — and, maybe most dangerously, only the content they think we want to see.

Today, we’re talking with an expert about how we got here and where we’re heading.

With trust in institutions, public health, and science under constant attack, how much of that is the algorithm’s fault? And how much is on us?

How are memes, ricocheting through our media ecosystems, changing the very nature of political communication?

And as user-facing AI begins to learn from these same algorithms, will it start tailoring its answers to match what it thinks we want to hear?

If that’s our future, how do we hold on to what little remains of our shared facts and shared reality?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guest:

Claire Wardle, co founder of the Information Futures Lab at Brown University as well as the non profit First Draft, meant to study and navigate what she calls “information disorder." Claire is currently an associate professor of communications at Cornell University.

Definition, from Oxford Language Dictionary

DVD: a type of compact disc able to store large amounts of data, especially high-resolution audiovisual material.

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Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Jennifer Phillips, MAHA mom, has a daughter living with autism, founder Make a Stand 4 Autism

Holden Thorp, editor in chief, Science; was diagnosed as being on the ASD spectrum as an adult

April Robinson, MAHA mom, has a son living with autism; works with Voice for Choice

Dr. Rachael Bedard, physician, journalist, works with caregivers managing serious illness 

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It’s been just over a year since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood before a raucous Arizona crowd and asked, “Don’t you want a president who’s going to make America healthy again?”-- and with that, the MAHA era began.

Now, for the first time, we have data showing how big this movement really is--and how much of America agrees with it. A brand-new national poll reveals what’s fueling MAHA’s rise: from food and fitness to vaccines, chemicals, and pesticides.

How has MAHA reshaped MAGA — and how has MAGA reshaped MAHA? Which MAHA issues resonate most with the rest of the country? And how much do vaccines really factor into the movement’s identity?

We’ll dig into the numbers with Erica Seifert of Navigator Research. Joining the convo is MAHA supporter Aaron Everitt, who is a friend of the show.

If you’ve been tempted to write MAHA off as a small, fringe movement…you're gonna want to sit down for this one.  

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Aaron Everitt, MAHA supporter, former Kennedy campaign volunteer, video journalist and writer for Besides the Revolution and for prominent MAHA influencer Jessica Reed Kraus' House InHabit newsletter. 

Erica Seifert, polling expert and senior director at Navigator Research, a progressive polling firm

Links to the Navigator Poll:

https://navigatorresearch.org/maha-americans-and-health-and-wellness/
https://navigatorresearch.org/maha-the-policies-and-messages/

Global Strategy Group conducted a public opinion survey among a sample of 1,000 registered voters from September 4-September 8, 2025. 100 additional interviews were conducted among Hispanic voters. 100 additional interviews were conducted among African American voters. 75 additional interviews were conducted among Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. 100 additional interviews were conducted among independent voters. For more on the poll, please visit www.navigatorresearch.org

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Today, we’re exploring the new world of health and science communication now that the old playbook is dead. The days of publishing a study and expecting to reach the public with it through legacy media or pointing people to health institutions and medical associations for guidance are over. Millions no longer trust the science, the guidance, or the messenger. Meanwhile, the Make America Healthy Again movement is finding new ways to communicate and harness the enthusiasm of its followers.

So what now for traditional public health? On today’s episode, we talk with Katelyn Jetelina of Your Local Epidemiologist and Jessica Steier of Unbiased Science—two innovators navigating this new communication landscape. They’re working to cut through the noise and connect evidence to people’s lives, even as traditional institutions struggle to keep up.

We’ll ask how they’re adapting, what’s working, and whether the scientific establishment is giving communicators like them the support they need in this moment of upheaval.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Katelyn Jetelina, founder, author Your Local Epidemiologist; data scientist and epidemiologist; named Time 100 Most Influential People in Health

Jessica Steier, data scientist, doctor of public health, founder and CEO of UnBiased Science site and podcast; has written recently about autism studies for  the New York Times. 

Your Local Epidemiologist: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/

UnBiased Science: https://www.unbiasedscience.com/

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Coleman Hughes is a thinker, writer, podcaster, and author. You may know him from his Conversations with Coleman podcast with The Free Press, from appearances on CNN, Joe Rogan, and The View, or from his recent book, in which he argues that America should strive toward colorblindness, treating people and designing public policy without regard to race.

In addition to that, what interests us is that he’s an independent, unorthodox voice—someone who doesn’t follow the political script his critics assume he should. That speaks to something we think about a lot here: too often, we take our cues from our “side” and stick to the script, seeking approval from our team, instead of engaging with compelling versions of an opposing view. That dynamic can be just as true among public health institutions as it is among supporters of MAHA.

So today, we ask Coleman: What has he learned from being that unorthodox voice—challenging the side that thought he was one of their own? And, ultimately, how does he think we can bridge divides and rebuild trust?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guest:

Coleman Hughes, host of Conversations with Coleman produced by the Free Press; author, The End of Race Politics: The Argument for a Colorblind America

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In our latest big conversation bringing together individuals who don’t always see eye to eye, we sit down with Gen Zers who care deeply about the nation’s health. Some are launching careers in public health, others are inspired by the MAHA movement. Together, we talk politics, race, philosophy, and shared values. What do they make of the profound changes reshaping American health today? The group of twenty-somethings explore the rise of individualism in public health, what expertise means and when it deserves deference, how to reach their generation, and whether the MAHA and MAGA era represents reform or a dismantling of America’s public health and science infrastructure. Finally, we discuss how dialogue around these issues is impacted by the tragic killing of Charlie Kirk.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off this week)

Guests: 

Rotimi Kukoyi: is a Truman Scholar, Jeopardy Champion, and the Senior Class President at UNC-Chapel Hill. He’s studying health policy and management on the premed track and wants to be a physician-policymaker at the state and national levels. 

Elizabeth Frost: Works at MAHA Ohio, ran grassroots for Sec. Kennedy's presidential campaign; runs Independent Force Consulting; has been on our pod several times!

Maesa Vicente: Maesa works with the The Touch Grass Collective as the Director of Policy Research and Strategy. She is now located in Pamplona, Spain, for a year where she is an English Teacher. 

MacKenzie Isaac: an Indianapolis-based health educator and final-year PhD candidate at the University of Oxford, where’s she’s studying the bioethical nuances of mental health treatment pathways for Black adolescents. She’s a 2022 Rhodes Scholar and the resident Health Equity Hygienist for global science communication collective, Those Nerdy Girls. 

Hunter Ryerson: a student at the University of Michigan and a journalist at Pirate Wires, a leading publication on technology, politics, and culture. He writes about the MAHA movement and the advancement of human health for Pirate Wires has written for the Michigan Daily 

Nathaniel Mamo: a Program Coordinator at NYU's Division of Medical Ethics working on issues in vaccine ethics.

Dorian Johnson: a public health communicator and board certified health and wellness coach who tackles big public health issues for little people; works to make public health topics digestible for families through storytelling. You can find him at @PHUncle

Adnan Alkhalili: Adnan Alkhalili is a young citizen scientist, student of metabolic health, and founder of the Touch Grass Together movement. A junior at Rutgers University, his work focuses on metabolic fatalism and aims to restore human connection in an era of hijacked biology, digital disconnection, and cultural division. 

Links:

• Those Nerdy Girls, creators of Dear Pandemic: https://thosenerdygirls.org/
• Touch Grass Collective - Get Outside. Get Human.: https://touchgrasstogether.com/
• Hunter Ryerson, Author at The Michigan Daily: https://www.michigandaily.com/author/hryerson/
• The PHuncle | Where Public Health Hits Different: https://thephuncle.com/
• Rotimi Kukoyi named Truman scholar | UNC-Chapel Hill: https://www.unc.edu/posts/2025/04/21/rotimi-kukoyi-named-truman-scholar/

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On today's episode, a remarkable moment in the Make America Healthy Again era. From the White House, the president urged pregnant women not to take Tylenol, saying it was linked to autism, before launching into a discourse on his personal fears and advice on autism rates, vaccine safety, and when parents should vaccinate their children. For many MAHA supporters, it was cathartic to see a president speak from instinct rather than the strict limits of a body of scientific work they do not trust. For public health veterans, the press conference was full of confusing and unfounded advice that could result in dangerous consequences. Where does that leave parents, pregnant women, and their doctors? We unpack the science, the politics, and the fallout — with voices from both sides, including a pregnant mother of a child with autism and a pediatrician on the front lines.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guest:

Brooke Blanke, mom to a 4 yo son with autism; respiratory therapist living in New Jersey

Dr. David Higgins, pediatrician, preventative medicine specialist; assistant professor of pediatrics at the Colorado School of Medicine

Resource:

CDC Vaccine Schedule: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/imz-schedules/index.html

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It’s the very first shot a newborn gets—just hours after birth. Today, Secretary Kennedy’s new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Committee is reviewing whether it should remain so. We’re talking about the Hepatitis B “birth dose,” the starting point of America’s childhood vaccine schedule since 1991.

But for some parents today, it’s the starting point of their vaccine hesitancy. They ask: “Why give a vaccine against a virus mostly spread through sex or IV drug use to a brand-new baby?” That question has fueled broader mistrust of the government’s vaccine message.

Supporters counter that childbirth itself is a major risk if the mother carries Hep B—and testing is far from foolproof. They point to the thousands of babies infected each year before the birth dose became universal, and cases plummeted.

What would delaying that first shot until later in childhood mean? Is it a way to rebuild public trust or a risky rollback that could put more kids in danger?

We explore these questions with two leading voices in vaccines, Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Michael Mina, who don’t totally see eye to eye on the "birth dose".

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Dr. Paul Offit, a leading pediatrician and infectious disease specialist, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, was on the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, director of the Vaccine Education Ctr at the Children Hospital of Philadelphia

Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist, immunologist, and physician. Former associate professor at Harvard Medical School & TH Chan School of Public Health, led America’s test-to-treat program during the pandemic; has served as a scientific advisor for health start-ups. 

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