Public Health United

For people my own age, let's loosely say somewhere in your 30's, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death in the United States! In fact, one person is dying every three minutes from injury...And it's thought to cost us around $671 billion per year! Dr. Andrea Gielen is Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Johns Hopkins and a very passionate person in general about getting the message out about how much injury is costing us each year--and all the many things we can do to help. The Center is also working on how to translate injury research into policy, and has many unique approaches worth hearing about. Check out our show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Continuing on with the science communication and politics theme, Nina chats with Dr. Jenny Carlson, medical entomologist, about her trip down to Florida last summer to talk to citizens about the benefits of releasing genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes to combat mosquito borne diseases like Zika and Dengue. Check out our show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Happy Halloween! Four scientists get together on Halloween to talk about a spooky topic: the science views of the presidential candidates! The science communication show Public Health United welcomes Dr. Bill Moss (see our previous podcast together), Dr. Katherine Fenstermacher (Hopkins), and Kenny Shatzkes (Rutgers, Eagleton Fellow) to talk about their frustration while watching the debates, the lessons they've learned in communicating science and policy, and how scientists and policymakers need to collaborate and reach compromises to form better science policies. I cannot even count the number of laughs we all have together. Truly a fun and informative episode on science policy during this election season! FYI, the title of this special edition podcast is based on Harry Frankfurt's NYT best selling book, "On Bullshit" which details the difference between liars and bullshitters...listen to hear what the difference is and how destructive the latter can be! Check out our show links at www.publichealthunited.or

We often hear about Vitamin D with words like sunshine and milk, but it may be a mystery as to how it works and what the best sources are in your diet. On the latest episode of the science communication show Public Health United, Nina chats with Johns Hopkins Vitamin D researcher Dr. Leigh Frame-Peterson on the importance of this essential nutrient, especially after bariatric surgery when your body is trying to repair itself. In case you didn't know (like Nina), bariatric surgery is surgery on the gastrointestinal tract in order to aid weight loss. There is a ton of misinformation on this--Leigh busts many of the myths out there and educates us on the public health importance of this tool to fight obesity and diabetes. On top of being very passionate about her work, she is also an active Twitter user and gave Nina some excellent tips on how to improve her Twitter engagement consistency. Check out our show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook. Leigh can be fou

Nina welcomes Dean Mike Ward on our latest podcast. Mike is the Associate Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Nina and Mike share a love of fitness and have a fantastic time discussing fitness plans, keeping motivated over the longerm, and how to start getting fit again after illness (or any long break). Mike is also a certified personal trainer and can be found on twitter at mwfitconsult. Listen in to learn more about Nina's Comeback...Check out our show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Although it doesn’t get as much attention as malaria and HIV, over 4,000 people die every day from tuberculosis (TB) according to the World Health Oganization. Our latest podcast guest, Dr. David Dowdy, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, does cool and important, highly interdisciplinery research that combines medicine, infectious disease episdemiology, and health economics to combat TB. And to coodinate those diverse fields, he of course is a science communication superstar! We talk TB, scicomm, and mentoring. Check out our show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Do you feel a sense of urgency about all of these extreme weather events and their impact on our coastal systems (and hence us)? You should! Our latest guest, Dr. Bryan Piazza, tells us about the heartbreaking flooding in Louisiana that he's witnessed and what The Nature Conservancy has been doing about it. Bryan is director of freshwater and marine science at The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana and works on protecting our water and coasts with science, science communication, and policy. Bryan is basically the one stop shop for all of your problem solving needs! Nina and Bryan met at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science Bootcamp and share of love of using science to help others. Please check out our website for show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

"My people were out there, I just hadn't found them yet." Dr. Kris Lehnhardt, our latest podcast guest, is currently applying to be one of two new astronauts accepted into the Canadian Space Association (Canada's NASA) out of thousands of applicants. Kris, besides being amazingly passionate about space, is a pioneer in the field of Space medicine (think Beverly Crusher or Leonard "Bones" McCoy). Nina and Kris discuss how a growing group of doctors are finding their own path to serve patients where they are needed most in the missions to explore farther and farther into space. Get inspired with Nina.Please check out our website for show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

On our most recent episode of Public Health United, Nina chats with Ed Yong, science writer for The Atlantic and New York Times best selling author of: "I contain multitude's: the microbes within us and a grander view of Life." Tune in to hear about this wonderful storytelling of the microbiome, the role of journalists in communicating science, and insights into what science writing is all about. Ed also gives us some helpful tips on how to identify reliable sources of science info. Please check out our website for show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Statistics is often misunderstood, according to our latest podcast guest Dr. Marie Diener-West, and is an extremely powerful tool--when used and interpreted correctly. Learn about the three biostatistics concepts that we all should know, but often don't, as Marie discusses how stats are presented in science news and answers all of the stats questions Nina has while doing her lab research. Marie is a Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with dual appointments in Biostatistics and Ophthalmology. She is also the director of the Masters of Public Health Program at JHSPH and has won numerous awards for her teaching and mentoring skills. Please check out our website for show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Nick, Nina, and guest Stephanie Porter discuss where they go for sources of information about science and health, the recent outbreak of avian influenza H7N9, West Nile Virus, and the One Health Initiative.

We travel across the globe (metaphorically speaking) to learn about HIV, malaria, and measles in our latest podcast with Bill Moss, epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins. Bill tells us about his most captivating and proud moments in his research (and medical) career spanning over Zambia, Baltimore, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and New York City. Learn about the work that ultimately lead to policy changes by the WHO based on his co-infection model of HIV and measles. Please check out our website for show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

Dr. Beth Linas, former epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins, tells us about her highly coveted AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship at the National Science Foundation. These fellowships--open to anyone with a science PhD, at any level of their career, place scientists in a wide range of policy institutions, thereby fostering closer relationships between science and policy. AAAS stands for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Please check out our website for show links at www.publichealthunited.org and follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

In this second part of a two part episode, Nina and guest Nick Wohlgemuth discuss common misperceptions about Lyme Disease, including testing, chronic lyme disease, treatment, and antibiotics. Check www.publichealthunited.org for related episode links. Please follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

In this first part of a two part episode, Nina and guest Nick Wohlgemuth discuss everything you should know about Lyme Disease: symptoms, prevalence, and prevention tips. If you live in the suburbs and or like to go hiking alot, this episode is for you! Check www.publichealthunited.org for related episode links. Please follow us on Twitter (PHUpodcast) and Facebook.

In the latest episode of the science communication show Public Health United, Nina and guest Dr. Rada Cordero discuss how difficult it can be for scientists to express the importance of their work, especially when it isn't easily definable, at first glance, in terms of health importance. We also learn about Rada's work in the lab of Dr. Arturo Casadevall at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health on how melanin-a molecule found in many different forms of life-protects organisms that live in extreme environments like in the poles or even in radioactive sites like Chernobyl. This work on melanin is particularly exciting as scientists like Rada are trying to figure out how to use the unique properties of melanin in many different biophysical applications like detecting life on other planets, biosensors, and living in extreme conditions i.e. Mars or Chernobyl. Rada's passion for working at the intersection of biology and physics is clear in our latest episide. Check www.publichealthunited.org for related episode li

Did you know that more people in the world have access to cell phones than toilets?? This startling fact shows even in the remotest parts of the world, the possession of a cell phone is becoming common place. In our latest episode, Nina interviews Dr. Alain Labrique, Director of the Global mHealth Inititive (GMI) at Johns Hopkins University and infectious disease epidemiologist. With the knowledge that so many people worldwide have access to mobile phones, the GMI has been collaborating around the globe to integrate this technology into healthcare practices to, for example, better connect patients in remote locations to medical services and reminders. We also discuss his recently published study on the use of social media in public health research...Be sure to listen to Alain's great advice for scientists who want to get involved in Twitter and other social media platforms, but are not sure where to start (and may be a little nervous to get involved in online discussions). Check www.publichealthunited.org for

Public Health United is the podcast all about improving science and public health communication. In our latest episode, Nina interviews Dr. Conor McMeniman (Johns Hopkins) who has made the news alot recently because he won a challenge grant from the United States Agency for International Development to tackle the Zika virus outbreak by discovering novel ways to prevent, detect and treat Zika and future infectious disease outbreaks. We discuss his grant proposal that won this prestigious award, the field work in Australia in the lab of Scott O'Neill that got him involved in mosquito research, and his thoughts on science communication and how scientists need to be involved in community engagement so that our interventions will be accepted, trusted and implemented. Please check our show page for related links at www.publichealthunited.org

Despite growing numbers of women in STEM, there still remains a gap between female versus male scientists in terms of pay, grants, publications, and high level positions. Nina and guest Kathy Splinder (virologist from University of Michigan and co host of This Week In Virology) discuss the current state of women in science, mentors, and science communication in Public Health United's latest podcast episode. Please visit www.publichealthunited.org for show links.

In our latest podcast, Nina chats with Dr. Geoff Steeves, Professor of Physics at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada and Outreach Coordinator for the Planetary Society’s new Victoria branch. Nina and Geoff met at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science Bootcamp last month where Nina was struck with his passion for space travel and deep knowledge of Mars, space innovations, and the imapcts of space exporlatation on public health. Count how many times Nina says “wow” in this captivating episode on the recent innovations in space exploration, the potential for humans to sustainably live in space, and the recent images of Jupiter from the June spacecraft. Visit www.publichealthunited.org to learn more about this episode including helpful links.