America Dissected

Public health has never been more political than it is today — and unfortunately, that’s often made it partisan, too. Which is what makes the 1500% increase in local public health funding by the state of Indiana — a state with Republicans controlling both houses of the Indiana State Assembly and the governorship — so important. Abdul reflects on the danger of allowing public health to become a partisan issue. Then he sits down with Dr. Judy Monroe, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation, and Dr. Lindsay Weaver, health commissioner for the state of Indiana to learn how th Indiana made it happen.

How worried should you be about B.A.2.86? When is it time to get another COVID shot? Is there any future for Medicare for All? We asked for your most pressing public health questions on Twitter, Facebook, and Discord. From unique COVID situations to the future of healthcare in America, Abdul delivers answers to each and every one of your questions.

Tuberculosis is one of the worst murderers in the history of the world. It remains that way today — even though we have diagnostics and treatments that should have helped to decimate it. The challenge? The greed of the corporations that hold those technologies hostage to fees that low-income people and countries can’t afford. Abdul reflects on the disease of poverty. He interviews bestselling author and YouTuber John Green about his quest to mobilize his platform to hold those corporations accountable.

Dialysis is a medical miracle — vastly extending the lives of people with kidney disease. When it was first discovered, Congress rushed to assure that it was covered by Medicare. And then big business got involved. Abdul reflects on the way that American capitalism disembodies healthcare. Then he speaks with Tom Mueller, author of “How to Make a Killing,” about the excesses of dialysis corporations in America.

COVID was a generation-defining global trauma. Though the virus itself hit seniors hardest, the pandemic may have hit young people longest. Learning loss continues to affect young people today. Abdul reflects on the nature of learning loss and its implications for the future of public health interventions. Then he talks to economist Prof. Thomas Kane about the long term impacts of COVID on learning loss and what parents, teachers, and schools can do to catch up.

Drowning is an epidemic in America. And like so many other public health challenges, it’s what happens when we over-privatize a public good. Abdul reflects on the human right of water. Then he speaks with New York Times journalist Mara Gay, author of a recent series on drowning in America.

We’ve all lived through a pandemic now. But did you know that so much of our pre-pandemic lives was the result of … pandemics? Abdul reflects on the marvel that for so many of us, the risk of dying of an infectious disease is so low — and why we’re at risk of losing that. Then he sits down with Prof. Jon Kennedy, Co-Director of the Center for Public Health and Policy at Queen Mary University in London and author of the new book “Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues.”

Dying … is not a topic most of us like to talk about. But we probably should, considering that all of us are going to do it someday. But how do we have those conversations — and why don’t we when it matters most? Abdul reflects on our odd relationship with the one thing all of us will do. Then he speaks to Nurse Hadley Vlahos, a hospice nurse, and author of the new book “The In-Between.”

One of the biggest mistakes we make in health is to mistake healthcare for public health. More tests or treatments simply can’t make up for the ways that the air you breathe, the water you drink, or the school you went to shape your health trajectory. Abdul reflects on the powerful role of place in public health. Then he sits down with Prof. Luke Shaefer, Director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and co-author of a new book, “The Injustice of Place,” about America’s internal “colonies,” and how they shape what’s possible for too many in our country.

You can’t miss them, HOKAs — those clunky athletic shoes with the thick foamy sole — are everywhere. But why? Abdul reflects on the broader juxtaposition between fitness and health. Then he sits down with Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician and founder of “Iron Strength,” a New York City-based fitness community, to talk about fitness, why we carry so much baggage about it, and … those HOKA shoes.

Think about your favorite place. Chances are you thought about how it looks — but not necessarily how it sounds. Sound is all around us, so constant that we often ignore it. But it turns out that sound can have serious implications for our health. Abdul breaks down the ways sound can shape our health. Then he sits down with Prof. Erica Walker, an epidemiologist who studies sound and health to understand more about sound’s health implications, and the inequities that so often shape the different sounds we’re exposed to.

What is gender-affirming care — and why is the far right trying to ban it? Abdul reflects on the way misinformation intended to flatten and decontextualize gender-affirming care has been critical to driving a cycle of hatred against trans people. Then he talks to Dr. Kellan Baker, the Executive Director of Whitman-Walker Institute and an expert on gender-affirming care about what it is, the impact of bans, and what everyone who believes in freedom can do to push back.

For most of America’s medical history, the idea of a doctors’ union has been an oxymoron. Doctors were management, rather than labor. But the consolidation of healthcare over the past several decades has taken power away from doctors while forcing them into inhumane situations. The pandemic brought those challenges to a rolling boil, particularly for residents–trainee physicians who are the lifeblood of hospitals. That’s prompting resident physicians around the country to unionize for fairer wages, more humane working hours, and more say over their workplaces. Abdul sits down with Dr. Lorenzo Gonzalez, a family medicine resident and the president for one of the most powerful unions on the front line of physician organizing. Want Pod Save America ad-free? Subscribe to Friends of the Pod: crooked.com/friends

Putting a taste-less, odorless, colorless chemical in our water is among the most effective public health interventions known to humans. So why are there so many conspiracy theories about fluoride? Abdul reflects on the low-key importance of oral health. Then he sits down with Tooka Zokaie, Senior Health Policy Analyst for the California Dental Association to talk about fluoridation and its detractors.

We don’t have definitive proof of how COVID-19 emerged. But several agencies in the US Intelligence community have concluded that a leak from the Chinese government-run virology research institute just miles from where it was first discovered is the likely source. And lab leaks happen more often than you probably think. That last part is something we don’t talk about enough. Abdul reflects on scientific safety–and the governance and transparency we need to protect it. Then he interviews Allison Young, a veteran journalist and author of the new book “Pandora’s Gamble,” about the history and risks of laboratory accidents.

ChatGPT set off a flurry of excitement — and anxiety — over the impact Artificial Intelligence will have on every aspect of society. One of the most important disruptions that AI will impose is on health and healthcare. Abdul reflects on the power, promise, and peril of AI. Then he sits down with Dr. Eric Topol, one of healthcare’s foremost futurists and author of “Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare More Human,” to discuss it.

The pandemic took a major toll on the mental health of young people. But truth be told, mental illness had been rising among young people for the decade before that. Abdul reflects on the causes of mental illness in young people. Then he sits down with Leslie Campos, a youth organizer and entrepreneur and Dr. Anthony Iton, Senior Vice President at the California Endowment, to discuss the rise in teen mental illness and its causes.

Food is life. But just like lives, some foods are valued more than others — some are told they don’t belong. So what happens when the entire medical establishment becomes a part of that exclusion? That’s exactly what happened to MSG, a flavor enhancer common in many Asian cuisines. Abdul reflects on racism through food and the ways that health can be weaponized against certain kinds of foods. Then he sits down with Yasmin Tayag, staff writer at The Atlantic, to talk about how recent studies may be flipping the script on MSG.

The murder of George Floyd three years ago set off an uprising at the very core of who we are as a country over the treatment of Black folks, particularly at the hands of the police. Abdul reflects on the legacy of that uprising two years on. Then he sits down with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the man responsible for bringing Floyd’s murderers to justice and author of a new book about the trial and police violence.

Treatment-specific online companies have exploded since the pandemic. But the ethics are… complicated. What happens when you can order a little understood treatments in the mail? What happens when those treatments are habit forming? Abdul explores the explosion of treatment-specific online companies and talks to Chris Hamby, a reporter at the New York Times, about his recent reporting on online ketamine therapy.