Humans in Public Health

Apr 10 2025 20 ep. 15 mins 92
Humans in Public Health Podcast artwork

How should we prepare for the next pandemic? How is noise pollution affecting my neighborhood? And how can we prevent opioid overdose from a public parking lot? From epidemiology to behavioral science, Megan Hall covers it all as she interviews public health researchers about their work and what brought them to the field of public health in this award-winning podcast.

  Science  Health & Fitness
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Who Employs Your Doctor?

Apr 10 2025 15 mins  
What happens when private equity firms buy hospitals and doctor’s offices? In this episode of Humans in Public Health, host Megan Hall sits down with health care economist Yashaswini Singh to unpack how private equity is reshaping the American health care system—often behind the scenes. From rising costs to shifting priorities in patient care, Singh explains why the recent coll

The Moment Everything Changed: Voices from the Start of the Pandemic

Mar 11 2025 30 mins  
March 2020—life as we knew it changed overnight. In this special episode of Humans in Public Health, we take you back to the early days of the pandemic, when uncertainty loomed, fear spread and the world held its breath. Through personal stories and firsthand accounts from public health experts, we revisit the emotions, decisions and pivotal moments that shaped those first weeks.

Forever Chemicals: Hidden Dangers in Everyday Beauty

Feb 11 2025 13 mins  
They’re not just in your nail polish. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals are everywhere—in our homes, clothing, the personal care products we use, and in our bodies. Postdoctoral researcher Amber Hall explains the dangers PFAS pose, especially to developing humans, and helps us learn how to avoid them. The burden of protecting our children’s health from toxic chemicals, she a

How Research Shapes Health Policy on Capitol Hill

Jan 14 2025 12 mins  
Host Megan Hall sits down with Jared Perkins, director of health policy strategy at Brown University's Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research. They discuss how academic research makes its way from dense journals to policymakers on Capitol Hill, bridging the gap between science and legislation. Jared offers insights into the challenges of health policy under a shifting

Harnessing AI for Smarter Health Policy Research

Dec 10 2024 13 mins  
Professor Alyssa Bilinski set out to answer a seemingly simple question: how often are pregnant people included in medical trials? Finding the answer, however, was anything but simple. With 90,000 records to analyze, she turned to AI for help—but ensuring the accuracy of the results required a creative approach. Discover how Bilinski tested and refined AI algorithms to deliver re

How Rwanda's Health System Stopped Marburg in Its Tracks

Nov 12 2024 14 mins  
The East African country of Rwanda is currently in the midst of a Marburg virus disease outbreak, but the picture is far from bleak. Global health expert Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola in 2014, joined us to discuss the current situation in Rwanda, how the country has managed its “unprecedented” response, and what more developed nations can learn about global health secur

Counting Coal’s Casualties

Oct 15 2024 12 mins  
Picture a coal power plant: a building with tall smoke stacks with big plumes of gasses coming out of them. By now, we know that those gasses aren’t great for our health or the environment. But how bad are they? That’s where Professor Cory Zigler comes in. He worked with a team of researchers to figure out where those gasses go and who they affect. Their approach was so sp

Guns, Ammo and Lead Exposure

Sep 10 2024 12 mins  
The dangers of firearms are well understood, but their ammunition is the source of a little-known health threat: toxic lead. Brown doctoral student Christian Hoover studies the connection between guns and elevated blood lead levels in America’s children and adults. Host Megan Hall speaks with him about the results of the first national study of this problem, and his advice for gu

Unwinding Anxiety (Rerun)

Aug 13 2024 16 mins  
In this summer replay of a previous episode, host Megan Hall speaks with Dr. Jud Brewer, associate professor of psychiatry at the Brown Medical School about anxiety. In uncertain times, how do we address fear and worry that grips us? How do we help our kids do the same?

A psychedelic pathway toward PTSD recovery

Jul 11 2024 14 mins  
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common conditions facing U.S. Veterans, and there is currently no effective cure—what’s more, many Veterans use alcohol in an effort to alleviate their trauma, making their medical treatment even more complex. For these high risk patients, two professors at Brown are thinking outside the box: Could a treatment involving p