For so many Americans, pets are members of the family. And our interactions with animals — in our homes, on our farms, and in the wild — shape our health in some important ways. Abdul reflects on what he’s learned about health working in animal welfare. Then he sits down with Melissa Miller, an animal care expert, disaster field responder, trainer, and county animal care and control director to talk about how pets shape our health, how to do our best for our fur babies, and what can go wrong when we fail them.

Public health professionals are people, too. Too often, though, we don’t think about them that way — their needs, their hopes, and aspirations, their individual skills and areas of passion. But if we want a functional public health system, we really should. Abdul reflects on the experience of leading public health teams. Then he speaks with Dr. Brian Castrucci, President and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation and co-author of a new book, “Building Strategic Skills for Better Health: A Primer for Public Health Professionals,” about how to build a better public health workforce.

Last summer’s blockbuster “Oppenheimer” took home best picture for a stirring portrayal of the man behind the world’s most dangerous weapon. But there’s a part the story left out: the devastation wrought by nuclear weapons testing on communities here in the US. Abdul reflects on the broader fallout of producing weapons of war. Then he talks to Tina Cordova, co-founder and Executive Director of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, and Dr. Chanese Forté, a scientist with the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists about the testing fallout — and what it spells for the future.

In a time when AI is creating new realities faster than we can make sense of them, we need to imagine possible future scenarios to prepare. Which is why a new novel by Marschall Runge, Dean of the University of Michigan Medical School, is so prescient. In his book “Coded to Kill,” Runge helps us imagine what could go wrong, even if so much can go right. Abdul reflects on the critical role of imagination in science. Then he sits down with Dean Runge to talk about what his book can teach us about how we prepare for a future of artificial intelligence in medicine.

Maternal and child health inequities by race are a blot on our national fabric. But fixing them isn’t about one silver bullet — it’s about systems coming together to do their part. Abdul reflects on the struggle for birthing equity. He interviews Dr. Natalie Hernandez, one of the authors of the “Practical Playbook” on maternal health inequities to understand how sectors can come together to save Black moms and babies.

All of us live in bodies. But what happens when those bodies change in ways that rob us of critical life experiences? That’s the question that so many people face after mastectomy. Abdul reflects on the idea of embodiment and the role that healthcare plays in shaping it. Then he interviews Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau, an obstetrician/gynecologist and scientist designing a bionic breast to help people who’ve lost their breast regain some of the critical functions that they too often lose.

For so many reasons — shame, privacy, social discomfort — we don’t talk enough about sex as a public health issue. But it's an important part of a healthy adult human life. So, we’re going to talk about sex. Abdul reflects on the forces that keep us from having a healthy, sex-positive perspective. Then he speaks with Emily Nagoski, New York Times Bestselling Author and Sex Educator about how to reframe and rebuild long term sexual relationships. If you’re interested in earning CME credit for listening to America Dissected, share more about your needs at AmericaDissectedCME.com.

For nearly a decade, Flint, Michigan has been synonymous with the lead and water crisis that put the city on the map. But Flint is resilient. Abdul reflects on the central role of poverty in all that Flint experienced. Then he speaks with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who uncovered the water crisis, and Prof. Luke Shaefer, an anti-poverty researcher, about their new “Rx Kids” program to provide cash to pregnant moms to solve poverty in Flint. If you’re interested in earning CME credit for listening to America Dissected, share more about your needs at AmericaDissectedCME.com.

A few weeks ago, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created in the IVF process had the same rights as children. The ruling was a warning of just how far the anti-abortion might go. Abdul reflects on the hypocrisy at the core of the ruling. Then he sits down with Elisabeth Smith, Director for State Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights to discuss the broader implications of the ruling and what it means for people in Alabama and beyond.

Chronic illness is debilitating. But it’s not just the pain and dysfunction it causes, but the anxiety of not really knowing when it’ll strike — or get worse. Abdul reflects on the ways that science has been diverted by the goals of the healthcare industrial complex away from answering questions at the edge of chronic illness. Then he sits down with author Megan O’Rourke, author of Invisible Kingdom, a book about the experience of living with a chronic autoimmune disorder, about her experience, how it changed her, and what she wishes more people understood about it.

Ottawa County, Michigan made national news last year after a MAGA take over of its County Commission. Their first major act? To try to defund their public health department. Abdul reflects on the impending risk of this across the country. Then he sits down with Adeline Hambley and Marcia Mansaray, the leaders of the Ottawa County Health Department to learn what happened — and what they did next. 

More pedestrians are dying in auto accidents. Abdul reflects on the public health challenges that cars pose in general. Then he sits down with Dr. Deborah Kuhls, a trauma surgeon who studies pedestrian fatalities to understand why and how to stop it.

Sickle Cell Disease is a debilitating genetic disease that almost exclusively affects Black folks. While genetic breakthroughs have made a cure possible, the high price tag may keep them away from people who need them. Abdul reflects on the way that society shapes the scientific questions we ask — and whose diseases we take seriously. Then he interviews Dr. Titilope Fasipe, a pediatric hematologist who treats sickle cell disease — and has lived with the disease her whole life. 

In less than four months, more than 25,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of devastation. Abdul reflects on how the way we talk about this will shape how the international community values human life. Then he interviews Dr. Tanya Haj-Hasan, a pediatric intensive care doctor with Doctors without Borders and creator of the social medial channel “Gaza Medic Voices.”

The COVID-19 pandemic was a crucible for America’s public health institutions. It brought out their best — and worst. And many of us didn’t like what we saw. Abdul sits down with Prof. Sandro Galea, Dean of the Boston University School of Public Health to talk about his new book, Within Reason, in which Galea argues that the pandemic uncovered an “illiberal,” even, at times, authoritarian, strain within.

Over the past decade, Fentanyl, a cheap, hyper-potent, and synthetic opiate has accelerated the opioid pandemic already ravaging the country. Abdul reflects on the way that our atomized, lonely communities left us vulnerable to opioid addiction and fentanyl and sits down with Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of National Drug Control Policy to talk through the history of the opioid epidemic, fentanyl, and how the federal government is working with local communities to solve it.

America’s most common New Year’s resolutions focus on health–weight loss, fitness, or something else. While almost all of them focus on physical health, they all run through our mental health. Abdul reflects on how essential health is to everything else we do. Then he sits down with psychiatrist and author Dr. Jud Brewer to understand the mind-body axis and how mastering it can help us nail down those resolutions.

It’s not only what you say — it’s how you say it. And that’s often where public health gets it wrong. Our producer Emma talks to a recovered anti-vaxxer about what ultimately brought him around. Then Abdul talks to Jessica Malaty Rivera, an epidemiologist and health communicator, about how far humility and accessible language can go to protecting health.

Feel that in your nose? If you’re like everyone else this time of year, you’ve probably got that dreaded nasal congestion that comes with the colds and flus this time of year. But nasal congestion is more complicated than you think. Abdul reflects on the collective burden of the annoying illnesses we fight through every year. Then he speaks with Sarah Zhang, a staff writer at the Atlantic who recently wrote about why nasal congestion is more complicated than you might think.

It’s cold and flu … and RSV, and COVID season. But vaccinations are down this year — and we haven’t made critical investments in things like air purification and ventilation that we could have and should have to protect ourselves from airborne diseases. Abdul reflects on the opportunities missed and the consequences of missing them. Then he sits down with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, author of the Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter to talk about what folks can do to protect themselves. 

Ady Barkan was a lion for healthcare justice. After his diagnosis with ALS, he spent his final years fighting for Medicare for All. Ady passed away this month at 39. We go back into the AD archives to 2019, when Abdul sat down with Ady to learn about his activism and his hopes for the America he’d leave his kids.

One of the hallmarks of living in a high-income country is that we can usually take food safety for granted. But what happens when food contamination recalls are on the rise? Food contamination was a full-blown epidemic at the turn of the 20th century. Abdul reflects on how much behind-the-scenes work goes into keeping food safe. Then he interviews Deborah Blum, a science journalist and author of two books about the history of food safety about what the history of food safety regulation should teach us about the future.

America Dissected comes to you LIVE from Atlanta at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. Abdul reflects on the ways that the internet is fundamentally reshaping the way we think about place–and its impact on public health. Then he sits down with Ian Bogost, professor, video game designer, and contributing writer at the Atlantic.

In 2019, the Mexican government instituted a new rule that took mascots like El Tigre Toño off of high-sugar foods. The food industry fought back. And now a similar fight may be coming to the United States. Abdul reflects on the role of marketing in our food environment. Then he speaks with Nick Florko, a reporter at STAT News, about Mexico’s struggle to cage the tiger. GoFundMe to support the family of Ady Barkan

You are what you eat, right? If so, then our guest has a message for us: we’re “ultra-processed people.” In this episode, Abdul reflects on just how culturally-driven our food choices are and how big corporations use that to influence those choices and feed us food that’s…barely food at all. Then he interviews Dr. Chris van Tulleken, a physician and health researcher, about his book “Ultra-Processed People.”

Episode Description: Mosquitoes are responsible for upwards of half of all deaths in human history. Beyond being a simple nuisance, the diseases they spread are a menace to humanity. A decade ago, we thought we’d had them beaten. We didn’t — and they’re winning. Abdul reflects on the simple tradeoff inherent in mosquito containment. Then he interviews New York Times Global Health Reporter Stephanie Nolen about her recent reporting on the resurgence of mosquitoes and the illnesses they spread.

Public health is really cool! Ok … maybe it’s cool to all of us who do it for a living. But to be honest, public health’s got a serious brand problem — a “rizz” gap. Abdul reflects on how the turn toward individualism left us wagging our fingers at people rather than taking on righteous fights. Then he talks to Prof. Jerel Ezell about how to address the public health swag gap.

The truth should speak for itself. The problem is that it just doesn’t speak very loudly — we have to speak for it. Which is why public health has to be a lot smarter about the process of policy change. Abdul reflects on the contrast between publishing and publicizing. Then he speaks with Dr. Shelley Hearne, a co-author on a new book on public health policy engagement about how it's done.

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 Schaefer, 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.

Menopause is the most ubiquitous experience nobody talks about. Pain, hot flashes, mental clouding — they’re a constellation of symptoms that women are routinely told are “normal.” Abdul reflects on the costs, to individuals and society. Then he sits down with Susan Dominus, a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, whose recent piece on menopause treatment has forced doctors to rethink their recommendations. 

There are two central challenges to public communication: knowing how you're perceived and knowing who you’re not hearing back from. We don’t do either well in public health. Abdul reflects on these challenges and what they mean for public health. Then he sits down with Dr. Brian Castrucci, President and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation to talk about the results of a Morning Consult poll they commissioned.

It’s World Immunization Week! Aside from basic plumbing, no public health intervention has saved more lives than vaccines. But misinformation, corporatism, and disinvestment are keeping them from those who need them most. Abdul reflects on the consequences of COVID for global vaccination efforts. Then he talks to Martha Rebour, Executive Director of Shot@Life about the effort to vaccinate the world.

Access to the abortion medication mifepristone is in question after a dubious ruling from an ideological judge in Texas. Abdul lays out the dangerous implications of the ruling. Then he talks to Ob/Gyn and family planning specialist Dr. Kristyn Brandi about the mifepristone, the case, and the implications for providers like her and their patients.

“Public health is a load of crap!” Not quite. More like, “Public health is about a load of crap!” Abdul talks about how separating the water we crap in from the water we drink is literally the foundation of public health. Then he interviews Rose George, author of “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste” about everything having to do with $hit.

“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” That’s for damn sure when it comes to vaccinations. Abdul reflects on the hypocrisy at the heart of the anti-vaxxer movement. Then he chats with Prof. Andrew Wehrman, historian and author of “The Contagion of Liberty,” about the role of smallpox inoculation in revolution-era America.

What happens when we can program our biology like we do software in a computer? Humanity’s finding out. It means we can translate a virus’s genome into a vaccine in less than a year, like we did to create the COVID mRNA vaccines. But it also means that anyone sitting in their mom’s basement can download that genome, too. Abdul reflects on the possibilities and pitfalls, then he interviews Michael Specter, Staff Writer at The New Yorker, about his new audiobook about synthetic biology’s future, “Higher Animals.”

Puberty is awkward. But that’s, in part, because we continue to feed the stigma around it. Now, puberty is happening earlier for girls, a trend accelerated by the pandemic. Abdul reflects on what that means for public health. He speaks with Jessica Winter, an editor at the New Yorker, who wrote about this trend to understand why it’s happening and how we can make the experience easier. 

Semaglutide — sold as Ozempic or Wegovy – offers nothing short of a revolution for changing body weight with a medication. With A-list celebrities racing to get their hands on them, these new treatments pose critical questions about the very nature of body weight, obesity, and their relationship to health. On the one hand, it and similar drugs offer a relatively safe, very effective way to drop body fat. On the other, to what end? Abdul sits down with Dr. Shauna Levy, an obesity medicine doctor, to talk about how semaglutide works, what it means for the patients she treats, and what it means for how we ought to think about body weight.

Across the country, healthcare chains have been buying hospitals up like properties on a Monopoly board — changing their names and shuttering hospitals in rural communities. What’s driving this? The corporate influence on healthcare. Private equity firms with no expertise in healthcare have gotten into the game of consolidation, too, buying up clinics, healthcare companies, and community hospitals and stripping them for their parts. Abdul talks about the consequences and interviews Eileen O’Grady, a researcher and organizer who’s been on the front lines of exposing it.

It’s been a long three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began. And though the pandemic isn’t over — the public health workforce feels done. Public health departments around the country are facing low morale, high vacancy, and a workload that doesn’t want to ease up. Abdul talks about the impact of public health burnout and sits down with Elizabeth Holzschuh, director of epidemiology at a local health department in Kansas to talk about what it looks like on the ground — and what needs to be done to address it. 

Becoming a doctor is hard. Becoming a doctor when you face discrimination because of your race AND gender? Twice as hard. Abdul reflects on the obstacles that hold back promising future healthcare providers. He interviews Jasmine Brown, a medical student and author of a new book, Twice as Hard, detailing the history of America’s pioneering Black women doctors. 

Caffeine is the most important drug that no one is willing to label. Across its forms–whether coffee, tea, coke, or energy drinks–93% of Americans report regular caffeine use. Abdul reflects on caffeine’s highs and lows. Then he sits down with Murray Carpenter, journalist and author of “Caffeinated: How our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us.” 

Last month, as millions watched a Monday Night Football game, Damar Hamlin, a safety on the Buffalo Bills football team, suffered a rare and potentially deadly injury while making a routine tackle. Abdul reflects on his complicated relationship with football. Then he interviews Garrett Bush, sports commentator and former college football player, who recently went viral over a rant about America’s sordid love affair with football.

The rightwing ecosystem went up in flames a couple of weeks ago over gas stoves. Beyond the fact that burning stuff into our lungs is probably bad for us, this opposition to government action in the name of health may signal something broader–that emerging out of pandemic-era opposition to lockdowns, masks, and vaccines, the rightwing culture war is taking aim at public health more broadly. Abdul sits down with Vox journalist Rebecca Leber to understand what all the hot air is about, and what it means for the broader effort to protect folks in America.

Obesity has tripled since 1970. And since, it’s spawned all sorts of trends, ostensibly to help folks eat less, exercise more, and lose weight. But what is obesity, exactly? And is all this advice actually helping — or could it be doing more harm than good? Abdul reflects on weight, weight stigma, and the weightloss industrial complex. He sits down with Prof. Harriett Brown, author of “Body of Truth,” which digs deep into the evidence about weight and health and explores the consequences of weight stigma.

People of color, and particularly Black folks, suffer higher rates of disease in America. That has less to do with anything about personal characteristics — like genetics or behaviors — and more to do with the way society treats people because of the color of their skin. In her new book “Under the Skin,” health journalist Linda Villarosa explores how racism gets under the skin. She sat down with Abdul to talk about that — and what we do about it.

Imagine setting a New Year’s Resolution — and actually achieving it! Living healthier and losing weight accounts for more than 40% of all New Year’s resolutions. But actually achieving them? That’s a different story. To be sure, “personal fortitude” and “effort” pale in comparison to the role of place and resources when it comes to our health. But for so many of us, even when all the other variables line up, our goals feel a bit too daunting. Abdul reflects on what makes setting big goals so challenging — and why so many of us struggle with our health goals. Then he sits down with Professor Katy Milkman, a behavioral science professor at Penn’s Wharton School, and author of “How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” to talk about the science of sticking to those New Year’s resolutions.

The weather outside is frightful! But the fire is so delightful! Since we’ve no place to go … Abdul’s about to nerd out on all of your health & medicine questions. Here we go, here we go, here we go.

Health insurance in America is anything but “sure.” Most Americans under Medicare age rely on their employment for their insurance — but that leaves millions of people struggling to get basic insurance, or worse, uninsured. Ellen Haun is an actor who was $804 short of what she needed to earn to be eligible for health insurance through her union. So to do just that, she decided to make a movie about … an actor trying to earn enough money to get health insurance. She sat down with Abdul to talk about her experience and what it says about America’s healthcare system. 

What would happen if you just … stopped showering? After all, we spend way more time washing than our ancestors ever did. Abdul reflects on the way the soap industry has created demand for its products by playing on our insecurities. Then he interviews Dr. James Hamblin, a preventive medicine doctor and author of the book “Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less” about what he learned by not showering. You can find a full transcript of this episode at https://crooked.com/podcast/america-dissected

Did you know that modern emergency medical services owe their origins to an all-Black paramedic team in Pittsburgh in the ‘60s? Author and former paramedic Kevin Hazzard tells the story in his new book “American Sirens.” Abdul reflects on the stories we tell — and the ones we don’t — about American healthcare. He sits down with Hazzard to learn more about the Freedom House Emergency Medical Services.To hear more about Freedom House Emergency Medical Services, check out the recent episode of Pod Save the People "Find a Book."

Public Health was on the ballot in the 2022 midterm elections — and public health won! Abdul reflects on the politics of public health. He sits down with de Beaumont Foundation President & CEO and former Georgia State Health Director Dr. Brian Castrucci to break down the biggest public health victories — and challenges — coming out of the midterms.

RSV! Flu! COVID! It’s fall, and respiratory illnesses are raging. RSV, in particular, is filling up pediatric hospitals as it infects our society’s youngest and most vulnerable. Abdul dissects why we’re facing a “tripledemic” this fall  sits down with epidemiology professor and author of the Your Local Epidemiologist substack Dr. Katelyn Jetelina to dig into what we can do to protect ourselves.

America Dissected comes to you LIVE from Boston at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. Abdul reflects on what brought him to public health. Then he sits down with Jane Coaston, host of the New York Times Podcast “The Argument” to talk about what public health gets right (and wrong) about racial justice, public communication, and politics.  You can find a full transcript of this episode at: crooked.com/podcast/america-dissected

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 wasn’t the only thing going viral. In fact, mis- and disinformation ultimately framed so much of society’s response to the virus itself. In her new book, “What the Fact?,” physician and author Dr. Seema Yasmin traces the evolution of information disorder — and what we can do to protect ourselves and society. Abdul sat down with her to talk about it, and what it means for the future of health communication and beyond.

Nobody quite represents the seedy underbelly of American medicine like Dr. Oz. His career is a living description of what happens when ego and greed get an “MD,” and then use it to pump quack treatments in search of fame and fortune. Now he’s running for Senate in Pennsylvania — despite being from New Jersey. Abdul breaks down the cautionary tale that is Mehmet Oz. Then he speaks with Trip Gabriel of the New York Times as well as Gisele Fetterman.

So much of public health revolves around collective action — that is government working on our behalf to do things like fund biomedical research, regulate polluting factories, or clean our water. But what happens when we lose trust in government? Adam Conover is a comedian and host of the podcast Factually, as well as the new Netflix series “The G Word.” He joined Abdul to talk about how he uses comedy as a tool for truthtelling, what he learned about our public health system, and what it’ll take to fix it.

Following the murder of George Floyd in the context of the pandemic, communities across the country rushed to recognize the public health scourge of racism — a clear, but long ignored public health crisis. But if we declare racism a public health crisis, what do we do about it? Abdul reflects on the consequences of hollow words and speaks to Dr. Matías Valenzuela, Director of the Office of Equity and Community Partnership at the Seattle & King County Public Health Department about their work tackling the public health crisis of racism.

More than 50% of the thinking part of the human brain is dedicated to processing visual information. We are, in a word, visual beings. And yet around the world, our vision is getting worse — and we’re not quite sure why. Abdul talks about the life-changing impact of correcting vision. Then he speaks with Sarah Zhang, staff writer at The Atlantic, about what we know about the growing burden of nearsightedness.

Green juices, skincare, yoga. We all want to keep up with our health. But what happens when corporations, influencers, and snake oil salesmen prey on our insecurities to sell us something we don't need, or worse soemthing, that could harm us? Abdul sits down with Rina Raphael, author of the newly released "The Gospel of Wellness," to break down the people, the systems, and the failures that have allowed the "Wellness Industrial Complex" to thrive in the United States.

What would have happened if, like flouride, the COVID vaccine would have just been in the water? That’s one of the questions Malcolm Gladwell asks in his latest season of Revisionist History — a season about how we know what we know, and how we implement that knowledge to help people. He joins Abdul to talk about the science and practice of public health, how the way we talk about it gets in the way, and how to fix it.

Organ transplantation is one of the miracles of modern medicine. And yet the system that we use to manage is anything but miraculous. Organs are damaged or lost, and people die because of it. Abdul talks about the logistics underneath so much of what we do in healthcare, and then he interviews Greg Segal, co-founder of Organize, an advocacy organization focused on reforming the broken organ donation system.

Traditional science-based medicine has some gaps—but what happens when grifters and scammers take advantage? Dr. Abdul El-Sayed leads us inside the underbelly of the cult of wellness. Dr. Jen Gunter, Twitter’s “Resident Gynecologist,” helps us understand modern quackery—and how we can apply scientific principles to make our best health decisions. This episode originally aired in September 2019.

The pandemic drove major increases in depression, anxiety, and ADHD. But rates of ADHD–and its treatment–have been skyrocketing even before the pandemic. Abdul reflects on how our surroundings may be driving this. He sits down with Casey Schwartz, author of “Attention, a Love Story” to learn more about the history and future of ADHD.

The anti-abortion movement notched a terrible win six weeks ago. But reasserting the right to a safe, legal abortion nationwide forces us to go back in time and understand the opposition. Abdul sits down with Prof. Karissa Haugeberg, a historian of the anti-abortion movement, to understand how it formed–and what it will take to fight back.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a lot of things…including a healthcare reform bill. Along with extending healthcare subsidies for 13 million people, it also, for the first time, allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. Abdul lays out what the Inflation Reduction Act means for prescription drug prices and sits down with Prof. Aaron Kesselheim, a physician, attorney, and prescription drug policy expert, to understand what this will mean for America.

It’s early August–it’s hot and sunny. And for many people, it’s sunburn season. But the long-term consequences of sun exposure can be a lot worse than just a sunburn. Americans have fewer and worse sunscreen options than their counterparts abroad–and those options mean fewer people will wear it. Abdul speaks with Amanda Mull, staff writer at the Atlantic, about the bureaucratic issue standing in the way.

50 years ago, it was discovered that the United States Public Health Service and the CDC–the federal government–had left nearly 400 Black men with syphilis untreated for 30 years to study the long term consequences of the disease. They told these men that they were providing them free healthcare. The consequences of this inhumane, disgusting study still echoes among Black Americans today–leaving many deeply mistrustful of the healthcare institutions that are supposed to provide treatment. Worse still, the same attitudes about Black people continue to shape medical and public health interactions. Abdul sits down with Dr. Rueben C. Warren, Director of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University and former Associate Director of Minority Health at the CDC, to talk about the history of the study and its lasting implications for health inequities.

The president of the United States has COVID. Again. Abdul reflects on what this signals in the pandemic–and our politics. Then he sits down with Dr. Megan Ranney, Emergency Medicine physician and Academic Dean of Public Health at Brown University.

The fall of Roe has opened up the risk that authorities could use data from period tracking apps or internet searches in legal proceedings in abortion ban violations. But Big Tech may already be tracking a lot more about your health than you know. Todd Feathers and Simon Fondrie-Teitler of The Markup join Abdul to share their reporting.

For most of human history, people believed that blood flow was a one-way thing. The discovery that blood flowed two ways–that there was a circulatory system–didn’t happen until the mid-1600s. And it took more than a century for that discovery to be formally adopted by most scientific institutions. Abdul goes back in history to help us understand the resistance to science in the present. He interviews Dr. Dhun Sethna, a cardiac anesthesiologist and author of “The Wine Dark Sea Within” about the discovery of the human circulatory system and it’s implications for our time. 

As HIV/AIDS ravaged the gay community in the 1980s, the federal government was slow to respond owing to anti-LGBTQ stigma. ACT UP–the “AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power”–sprang up to hold government officials, pharmaceutical companies, and society at large accountable. One offshoot of that movement was Gran Fury, which weaponized art and graphic design in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Abdul speaks with Jack Lowery, author of the “It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful,” about Gran Fury and its legacy.

Roe v. Wade — the Supreme Court Decision protecting reproductive rights in America for half a century — was dashed last week. Abdul sits down with Prof. Kate Shaw, co-host of Strict Scrutiny to answer your questions about the ruling and its implications for reproductive health. Then he interviews Attorney General Dana Nessel of Michigan — a state with a draconian abortion ban on the books — about how she and her colleagues are working to protect reproductive rights in that state.   

Another school shooting, more thoughts and prayers. But maybe this time its different. Abdul talks about the way that school shootings have shaped the lives, fears, and anxieties of a whole generation of young people. Then he sits down with John Woodrow Cox, author of “Children under Fire,” to talk about the blast radius of gun violence among children.

A global monkeypox outbreak has infected over a thousand people worldwide. Monkeypox is nowhere as transmissible as COVID, but the choices our public health system makes now could shape how many people could be infected in the long term. Abdul interviews Prof. Anne Rimoin, an infectious disease expert, about monkeypox, what it is, why it’s spreading, and how we should be thinking about in the wake of COVID-19.

It’s pride month – a moment when LGBTQ+ Americans ought to feel out and proud. And yet that is becoming harder to do in an America where politicians are attacking the community through discriminatory policies designed specifically to stigmatize and exclude. Abdul talks about the way that exclusionary policy shapes mental health and speaks with Heather Zayde, a mental health provider who specializes in LGBTQ+ mental health about the challenges the community is facing and what it will take to overcome them.

Not even two weeks since the white supremacist murder spree in Buffalo that took 10 lives at a grocery store, another gunman entered an elementary school and killed 19 kids and two teachers. It’s true, people kill people. But when they do, there’s a reason they usually use guns. It’s because they’re the most effective — particularly the ones meant for war. Abdul reflects on the back-to-back murders — and those the media doesn’t pick up. Then he talks to trauma surgeon and founder of gun reform advocacy organization This is Our Lane, Dr. Joe Sakran.

Mental health among young people is worse than it’s ever been. Millennials and Generation Z are the first generation whose financial outlook looks worse than the generations before it. But that’s not even what weighs heaviest on many young peoples’ minds — the notion that the very Earth on which we are building is in crisis causes a unique kind of existential dread. Abdul sits down with the Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement, Varshini Prakash to understand how climate anxiety may be affecting mental health among America’s young people.

Anti-abortion activists always try to depersonalize abortion, as if its some abstract issue that doesn’t involve real people. With the impending fall of Roe v. Wade, Abdul re-personalizes it. He speaks with obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Heather Irobunda about what the fall of Roe would mean for millions of people and how it would affect her practice.

America’s healthcare system is broken — not because someone broke it, but because it was built haphazardly to begin with. But why was it built that way? A recent episode of NPR’s “Throughline” podcast, which “goes back in time to understand the present” explored how a series of choices throughout the 20th century doomed us to our current system. Abdul sits down with their hosts, Ramtin Arabloui and Rund Abdelfattah to explore those choices and the system they’ve left us with now.

Millions of people with diabetes simply can’t live without insulin. Discovered over a century ago, it’s patent was sold for $1. But today, pharmaceutical corporations have arbitrarily raised insulin prices, leaving those who can’t afford it having to ration it–or worse, go without it. Abdul breaks down why insulin has become the epitome of pharmaceutical company greed. Then he talks to the leaders of T1International, a non-profit dedicated to insulin access, about how to ensure access.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected

Millions of Americans work inside our homes–as carers and cleaners–taking care of the people and places we value most. Though they do the most important work in our lives, work that we would only entrust to few others, they are some of the most marginalized workers in our economy–and the work they do continues to be undervalued and underappreciated. Abdul breaks down the consequences of that for our society. Then he speaks with Ai-Jen Poo, co-founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Millions of Americans live with chronic pain. But we have yet to fully contend with the impact pain has on people–and our ability to treat pain remains limited. In fact, our failure to engage with the complexity of pain is, in part, what led to the opioid crisis, which took over 100,000 lives last year. One of those people living with chronic pain is Dr. Haider Warraich, a physician who’s written a book exploring pain as a biological and sociocultural phenomenon. He joins Abdul to talk about pain–what it is, how it shapes our society, and how people and their providers need to have a better conversation about it.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Food insecurity affects millions of Americans — a disproportionate number of them are Black. What are the consequences of the way we produce food in our society — and how do they shape who gets healthy, accessible, affordable food, and who doesn’t? Abdul reflects on our food system and speaks with Malik Yakini, co-founder and Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Nearly four million people have left Ukraine since Putin invaded their country. They need housing, food, and work. But so do the million who’ve fled war in countries like Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Abdul breaks down the public health consequences of forced migration. He then speaks with David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee about the refugee crisis in Ukraine and what drives our double standard for refugees.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Menstruation is a fundamental part of the physiology of nearly half of the people on Earth. But we don’t talk about it that way–it’s taboo, unspoken, and ignored. Period stigma has left state governments across the country taxing period products as “luxury” items, failing to provide access to period products as the necessities they are for low-income menstruators. In this episode, Abdul talks about how period stigma leaves people without the products they need to live their lives–and speaks with Lynette Medley, an inspiring activist working to solve that problem.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Online sports betting has exploded over the past few years as 18 states have legalized it. Already a $70 Billion market, it’s projected to double in the next five years. But what does the rise of online sports betting mean for people with gambling disorder? We speak with Prof. Tim Fong, a gambling addiction expert, about the consequences of online sports betting–and how we can protect vulnerable people.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Spring forward has taken all the spring out of my step. It’s even worse from my four year old who’s super confused about why she has to wake up an hour earlier every day. But beyond the annoyance and the lack of sleep, what are the long term health consequences of Daylight Savings Time? We speak with Dr. Adeel Rishi, lead author of a position paper from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine on Daylight Savings Time. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

COVID really is over this time, right? Abdul reflects on the fact that public health is about what we do in the background when no one is paying attention–and how now is not the time for public health leaders to take a breather, but to get ahead of the next variant. Abdul sits down with Dr. Don Burke, a global infectious disease expert, to walk through various scenarios for where we go from here.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Who knew “take a hike” was really powerful health advice? Abdul reflects on the power of one of the most basic things humans can do. Then he speaks with Neuroscientist and author Shane O’Mara about his book “In Praise of Walking,” about the power of a walk, and why so many of us rediscovered it during the pandemic.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Too often, we focus on the disease that affect people rather than the people those diseases are affecting. That failure to pay attention to people lets the disease take more than their health, it lets it take their identities. But we can stop it. Prof. Celeste Watkins-Hayes studies the ways that women with HIV negotiate their illness and how it shapes their lives. She joins Abdul to talk about her work, her book “Remaking a Life,” and about what it can teach us about rethinking how we respond in times of health crises like COVID-19. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Public health requires us to believe that there is “a public” above and beyond ourselves as individuals. But who belongs to that public may matter even more for what we’re willing to do provide that public. In her book “The Sum of Us,” author and organizer Heather McGhee shows how racism has destroyed collective efforts–from swimming pools to insurance pools–in America. She joins Abdul to talk about what that means for public health and the pandemic.You can find "The Sum of Us," now in paperback, wherever you shop for books.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

One of the most galling examples of inequity in America continues to be the stunningly high rate at which Black mothers die in pregnancy and childbirth and Black babies die before during their first year of life. Abdul reflects on how structural inequity continues to take mothers’ and babies’ lives. Then he talks to Rep. Lauren Underwood, Chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus and sponsor of the “Momnibus” package to eliminate these disparities.Baby 2 Baby: https://baby2baby.org/Star Legacy Foundation: https://starlegacyfoundation.org/BabyQuest Foundation: https://babyquestfoundation.org/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Your right to swing your first ends where my face starts. That principle captures the limits of our freedoms in this country. And the Supreme Court has long held the precedent that people could be required to be vaccinated to protect the public from disease. But a recent ruling against workplace vaccine mandates may upend that. We speak with Prof. Melissa Murray, NYU Law professor and host of “Strict Scrutiny,” a podcast about the supreme court, about that, the retirement of Justice Breyer, and more.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

President Biden ran on the idea of offering Americans a “public option” for health insurance — a government managed healthcare plan that would operate in parallel to private insurance. But what if we extended “public options” beyond health insurance to, say, pharmaceuticals or increased public investment in clinics and hospitals? Dana Brown is the Director of Health and Economy at the Democracy Collaborative and has been writing about just that. She joins Abdul to talk about it.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

The CDC is the nation–perhaps the world’s–most preeminent public health agency. But it’s taken quite the beating throughout this pandemic. From flawed tests to unclear guidance to political tampering, the agency’s mistakes continue to mount. How did this happen, and how do we make sure it doesn’t happen again? Abdul talks about how public health mistakes happen and speaks with Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC Director under President Obama about the past, present, and future of the once-storied agency. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Marginalized communities–including low-income and Black and brown folks, and women and LGBT people–are less likely to have reliable healthcare access in America. But it’s not just that, they’re less likely to have treatments tailored to the health challenges they’re more likely to face. That innovation gap, that’s a function of the way we fund research and the process by which innovations go to market, namely patents. Abdul reflects on the innovation gap and speaks w/ Professor Shobita Parthasarathy, an expert on science and technology policy about how to solve it.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul and Guest Host Tre’vell Anderson answer everything you wanted to know (and maybe didn’t know you wanted to know) about public health, COVID-19, and the year ahead.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised action on President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, a sweeping package of legislation that would transform the American social experience. Along with critically important investments like universal childcare and paid family leave, the version that passed the House includes a slew of healthcare reforms. Abdul speaks to Jonathan Cohn, National Correspondent at HuffPost, and author of The Ten Year War, about the fight over protecting the Affordable Care Act, about the potential impact of the legislation.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Imagine someone could patent your arm, or your mouth. Well, for a long time, someone could patent a part of the human body, a DNA sequence. That all ended in 2013 with a landmark supreme court case. But it illustrates how science, business, and law intersect—in ways that shape our health today. Abdul speaks with Prof. Jose Contreras, Law Professor and Author of the new book, The Genome Defense.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Omicron has now made landfall in the US. We are learning more about the variant every day—good, bad, and ugly. We turn to Dr. Angie Rasmussen, America Dissected’s resident virologist to get into the nitty-gritty and help us understand what it means for us and the future of the pandemic.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Because of an accident of history, we think of our teeth as being wholly separate from the rest of our bodies. They even have different doctors. But teeth really are the entryway to the body, and the state of oral health in America says a lot about our inequities in general. Abdul talks to Mary Otto, journalist and author of Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America. Abdul also offers his perspective on the current COVID-19 surge and the new Omicron variant.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

The movement to legalize cannabis has marked some major wins, helping us better understand its benefits and addressing the way it's been used to systematically over-police and incarcerate Black and brown people. And yet cannabis is big business, as venture-backed companies have swooped in to monetize newly legal cannabis, putting their bottom line ahead of public health concerns. Abdul talks to Prof. David Jernigan, author of a new book on the public health implications of cannabis.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Our health is inevitably tied to the health of our planet. At COP26, the world’s leaders tried to save it—but did they do enough? We speak to Prof. Jisung Park, an environmental economist, about how climate change is shaping inequality, and about what we hoped for and what we got from COP26.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Were we set up to fail? And how does our failure affect the most vulnerable people in society? Abdul reflects on the nature of prevention itself. He speaks with Prof. Sandro Galea, Dean of the Boston University School of Public Health and author of the new book “The Contagion Next Time.”For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Decades of public health efforts turned America’s young people against smoking. And then JUUL made it cool again. Abdul speaks with Lauren Etter, author of “The Devil’s Playbook,” about how a tool designed to help people quit hooked a whole new generation to nicotine.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Coming to you LIVE from the American Public Health Association’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado, we’re talking about how even talk about public health. We’ll talk to Dr. John Douglas, Director of Colorado’s largest health department about what he’s learned about how we talk about public health in a polarized moment and how it’s shaped his work and the future of his health department. Then we speak with messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio about what’s working—and what’s not—in messaging around masks and vaccines.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

CRISPR is one of those bio-scientific breakthroughs that has the potential to change society. Abdul talks about what makes CRISPR so important and speaks with Carl Zimmer, science journalist at the New York Times, about how this discovery is already changing society and about his new book “Life’s Edge: The Search for What it Means to Be Alive.”For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Densely-populated with lots of turn-over, cities are perhaps the worst place to be in a pandemic. And yet in the latter half of the COVID-19 pandemic, people living in cities have been safer than their rural and suburban counterparts. Abdul explores why cities matter when it comes to public health. Then he speaks with Katrina Forrest, co-Executive Director of the CityHealth initiative and Chrissie Juliano, Executive Director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, to discuss the threats and opportunities facing health in cities.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

PrEP — or “pre-exposure prophylaxis” — has been a game changer in HIV prevention, that is, for people who can access it. But Big Pharma has, once again, put its profits over its patients. Abdul talks about the latest in HIV prevention and speaks with James Krellenstein an AIDS activist and co-founder of PrEP4All.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abortion bans don’t stop abortions, they just make them less safe. Not only does Texas’s Draconian new abortion ban violate the reproductive rights of millions of people in Texas, it empowers abortion bounty hunters to do what government should not. Abdul talks about the dangerous precedent Texas’s law sets, and speaks with Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood about what comes next. Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

The COVID-19 vaccines have put the FDA front-and-center in our national COVID-19 response. Between the lag for full COVID-19 vaccine approval, the approval of a questionable new Alzheimer’s drug, and the booster it’s worth asking where the FDA goes from here. Abdul talks to Dr. Scott Gottleib, former FDA Commissioner and author of a new book about the pandemic. Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Native American tribes were among the hardest hit by COVID-19, losing tribal elders to the virus—and with them irretrievable pieces of their culture and heritage. But no group in America has done more to assure their communities are vaccinated and protected. We speak to Rebecca Nagle, activist, journalist and host of Crooked Media’s This Land podcast about how Native American tribes took on the collective responsibility of vaccinating their communities and what our country can learn from them.Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

This week, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of September 11. The securitization at home and the “war on terror” that followed fundamentally reshaped our country and those in which our country made war. War is the antithesis of public health. We speak with Zarlasht Halaimzai, an Afghan woman who founded the Refugee Trauma Initiative, which takes on the human fallout of violence and displacement, about the lasting consequences of America’s war on terror. Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

As children head back to school, masks should be on the shopping list. But, despite CDC recommendations, in many states they won’t be. Abdul talks about the critical work of protecting children in schools and speaks with Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, one of America’s most powerful teacher’s unions about worker safety in the pandemic and in our schools.Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

As football season approaches, Abdul talks about his years on the field and his growing ambivalence to the sport in the face of new research about its health consequences.He interviews Prof. Kathleen Bachynski, author of “No Game for Boys to Play” about the public health impact of football. Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Nobody has come to represent the role of science in taking on this pandemic quite like Dr. Anthony Fauci. He joins Abdul for their second conversation about where we’ve been, where we are now, and how to face down anti-science trolls, even when they come in the shape of US Senators.Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Why is the delta variant a game-changer? Abdul dissects how the delta variant has changed our approach to COVID-19—and what could be in store. He speaks with America Dissected’s resident virologist Dr. Angie Rasmussen about why the delta variant is so transmissible and how it should change our approach to COVID-19 in general.Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

We can’t talk about infrastructure without centering climate—and we can’t talk about climate without centering structural racism. Abdul dissects the indelible link between infrastructure, climate, and health. He interviews Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Climate Policy Director at the Roosevelt Institute (and a long time friend!) about that link, and what this moment should teach us about where our public policy should go from here.Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit https://crooked.com/podcast-series/america-dissected/.

Abdul dissects the FDA’s disastrous decision to approve the new Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab despite the evidence that it fails to improve symptoms—and its aftermath and implications for the future of Big Pharma. He speaks with Professor Aaron Kesselheim, a prescription drug policy expert and a former member of the FDA Advisory Panel, who resigned at the FDA ignored the panel’s overwhelming opposition to approve it the drug. Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/surveyFor a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul breaks down the risks--and rewards--inherent in holding an international athletic competition in the middle of a pandemic. He speaks with four-time US Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Peter Vanderkaay about the Olympic experience and how this summer’s Olympics might be different.

Abdul dissects why our society makes it so hard for people with mental illness to get care. Then he interviews comedian and performer Wayne Brady about his experience with mental health and what he thinks it will take to end the stigma around mental illness.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul dissects the various ways that people with mental illness are stigmatized, marginalized, and oppressed in our society. Then he talks to Dr. Ashwin Vasan, President and CEO of Fountain House, a nonprofit organization focused on creating safe and welcoming spaces for people with serious mental illness, about their work to make mental health the next social justice issue.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

We bring back an episode from Season 1 that remains relevant today: The Opioid Crisis has wreaked havoc across America, taking lives and devastating families, neighborhoods, and communities. But this isn’t the first time we’ve suffered a deadly drug crisis. In today’s episode, Abdul tells the tale of two crises: the opioid epidemic of today and the crack epidemic of the 1980s, contrasting the government’s and media’s responses to these crises—and what they tell us about the nature of drug use and structural racism in America.For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul dissects the critical role of trust in public health--and how the pandemic challenged it. He interviews Andy Slavitt, a former Obama health official and former member of the Biden COVID-19 Task Force on going from an outside commentator on the pandemic to the White House and what he learned about COVID-19 from inside the belly of the beast.

Abdul dissects the incentives that drive Big Pharma and how they tend to get in the way of getting medications to those who need them most. Then he interviews Priti Krishtel and Tahir Amin of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge about their work to take on the pharmaceutical industry and deliver vaccines to the world.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul dissects the politics underneath Texas’s new anti-choice bill. Then he speaks with Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights about the wave of anti-abortion legislation sweeping the states, and what they mean for the fight over Reproductive Rights in the US.For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul dissects health inequities to understand why America’s focus on healthcare rather than public health is part of the problem. Then he speaks with Professor Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times Bestseller “How to be an Anti-Racist” about taking on racism in public health and healthcare.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul cuts into how the climate of misinformation and politicization forced us to change the way we talk about science. Then he sits down with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, and a 20-year veteran of medical journalism, to learn how the pandemic changed his perspective on his work.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul dissects how Black Lives Matter in healthcare. He talks to Rep. Cori Bush, the former nurse turned Black Lives Matter Activist turned Congresswoman about her journey from the bedside to the bullhorn and what the fight for health justice should look like today.A transcript of this episode can be found at crooked.com/americadissected

Abdul shares how he found his passion for public health. He lays out why we have to pay attention to the space where science, culture, and politics meet to understand what really shapes our health. And he shares what listeners can look forward to in Season 3 of America Dissected.For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

The pandemic reminds us that when it comes to health, there’s so much more out there to understand. Every week, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and former city health commissioner, is joined by leading doctors, scientists, culturemakers, and policy leaders, to dissect the trends shaping our health. New episodes out every Tuesday, starting Tuesday 5/4. Subscribe now.

Abdul reflects on the pandemic and what it’s taught us about ourselves and our societies. Then Abdul shares his own vaccine experience and talks to America Dissected listeners—including Crooked’s own Akilah Hughes—about theirs.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul salutes the frontline healthcare providers. Then he talks to Jenny Gold, Senior Correspondent at Kaiser Health News, and Dr. Paloma Marin-Nevarez, Emergency Medicine Resident at UCSF Fresno about the challenges of being a new doctor in a pandemic.You can find a transcript of this episode at crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul talks reflects on the little joys the pandemic robbed from us--and the big impact they have on the businesses that provide them. Then he talks to Corby Kummer, food critic and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Food & Society Program and Chef Amanda Cohen, Chef & Owner of Dirt Candy in New York City about their new Safety First restaurant COVID-19 safety protocols.You can find a transcript of this episode at crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul breaks down why we were so ill-prepared for COVID-19. Then he talks to John Auerbach, former Associate Director of the CDC and President and CEO of the Trust for America’s Health about their new report on the state of public health emergency preparedness—and what we need to do to fix it.You can find a full transcript of this episode at crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul reflects on how our healthcare system got here. Then he talks to Rep. Pramila Jayapal about the new Medicare for All bill in the House, and what it tells us about the lessons we have to learn from this pandemic.You can find a transcript of this episode at crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul reflects on the increase in violence against the Asian-American community. He then talks to Dr. Julie Morita, Former Chicago City Health Commissioner, Member of President Biden’s COVID-19 Transition Task Force, and Executive Vice President at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about the lessons we’ve learned and those we yet need to.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul reflects on a year of COVID-19 and discusses what’s in the COVID-19 relief package. He then talks to Dr. Joia Mukherjee, Chief Medical Officer at Partners in Health, a global health non-profit organization operating in the US and abroad, about what it will take for America to lead globally on COVID-19. You can find a full transcript of this episode at crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul reflects on how important public opinion—and its shapers—have been to the pandemic. He then talks to Chris Jackson, a pollster and Vice President at Ipsos, about their weekly pandemic public opinion poll and what it tells us about where we are and where we’re going.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul reflects on the economic consequences of COVID-19. Abdul talks to Jane Oates, President of WorkingNation and former Labor Department Official under President Obama, about the unequal burden of lost livelihoods among women.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Abdul sets expectations on how our current pandemic will end. He then poses the question to John Barry, author of the definitive book about the last great pandemic, The Great Influenza, to see what we can learn from history.For a transcript of this episode, please visit: crooked.com/americadissected

Abdul talks about how our failure to invest in public health is hurting our vaccine effort. He talks to Dr. Angie Rasmussen, America Dissected’s resident virologist to break down the new variants and what they tell us about where we go from here.For a transcript of this episode, please visit: crooked.com/americadissected

Abdul reflects on the power and responsibility of American leadership--and what it means for how the US must lead on COVID-19. He talks to Brian Beutler, Editor-in-Chief at Crooked Media and host of season 2 of the podcast Rubicon, focused on President Biden’s first 100 days. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected

Abdul explains the race between virus and vaccine. He reflects on how history’s racism is shaping the COVID-19 response today. He talks to Dr. Mary Bassett, Director of the FXB Center for Health & Human Rights at Harvard and former Health Commissioner for New York City.

Abdul dissects President Biden’s COVID19 executive orders and reflects on what COVID-19’s showed us about our healthcare system. He talks to Dr. Micah Johnson, resident physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Abdul’s co-author on the new book “Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide.”

Abdul reflects on the notion of American exceptionalism and COVID-19. He interviews Dr. Paul Farmer, renowned medical humanitarian, medical anthropologist, and author of the new book “Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History” about what the Ebola epidemic can teach us about COVID-19 today.

Abdul reflects on how the role of disinformation has shaped both the pandemic and the attempted coup at the Capitol. He talks to Dr. Seema Yasmin, a health journalist, former Epidemic Intelligence Officer, and author of a new book on how health misinformation spreads.

Abdul reflects on the lagging vaccine deployment and what it tells us about public health. He talks to Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, an immunologist and lead vaccine researcher at the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center, about the vaccine research process and why diversity in science matters so much.

Abdul and Sarah, a psychiatrist, answer your questions about mental health during a challenging time.

Abdul talks about the critical role of trust for collective action and public health. He talks to reporter Helen Branswell about the opportunities and challenges facing the forthcoming Presidential transition.

Abdul reflects on the deployment of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. He talks to virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen about the biology of the vaccine and reporter Matt Herper about the logistics and outreach challenges facing vaccine deployment.

Abdul reflects on the role that states in this pandemic have had to play in the absence of federal leadership and what the implications might be for deploying COVID-19 vaccines. He then speaks with Michael Fraser, Executive Director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials about how state health departments are shouldering the load. You can find Michael on Twitter at @mfraserdc1, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials at @ASTHO.

Abdul and Dr. Syra Madad, who leads the special pathogens unit at New York City Health & Hospitals, answer your questions about COVID-19.

Abdul reflects on Thanksgiving and the future of this surge in the pandemic. Then he interviews Fiona Lowenstein, co-founder of the Body Politic’s COVID-19 support group about her experience with “Long COVID” and COVID “long-haulers”.

Abdul reflects on the COVID-19 surge we’re experiencing. Then he interviews Kristin Urquiza, co-founder of Marked by COVID whose father passed of COVID-19, and Dr. Kathy Shear, a psychiatrist and expert on grief

Abdul reflects on the outcome of the election in the context of the COVID19 pandemic. Then he interviews Kaiser Health News Journalists Sarah Jane Tribble (host of the new podcast “No Mercy”) and Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal about America’s rural healthcare crisis and COVID19.

Abdul talks about voting as a public health intervention. Then he interviews Rep. Rashida Tlaib about the consequences of this election in Detroit and Crooked Media’s own Dan Pfeiffer about what to watch for as the returns come rolling in.

Abdul talks about how America’s precarious healthcare system isn’t ready for this next COVID-19 surge. Then he interviews Ben Wikler, Chair of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party about their preparations for the forthcoming election.

Abdul talks about the COVID19 surge we’re facing right now. Then he interviews Shaniqua McClendon, Crooked Media’s Political Director, and Stephen Pierson at Swing Left, about how the pandemic is changing the nature and tactics of campaigns, and how they’re organizing through it to Get out the Vote.

Abdul reflects on the absurdly high stakes of November’s election for the future of COVID19. Then he interviews Andrew Joseph, a reporter at STAT News who’s reported on the road ahead for COVID-19.

Abdul reflects on Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis and its implications for the fight against the pandemic. Then he interviews Bill Nye about the pandemic and its implications for America’s scientific future. 

Abdul reflects on how policy making has to center the people we’re trying to support, and how sometimes it doesn’t. He also talks to Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America about the pandemic and its role on the state of Hunger in America.

Abdul reflects on the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths to COVID19. He talks to Carmen Rojas, President & CEO of the Margarite Casey Foundation about the communities COVID-19 has hit the hardest.

Abdul reflects on the way that COVID-19 has changed so much of the fabric of our lives, especially our relationship with music. He talks to Zola Jesus, a singer/songwriter about how COVID19 has impacted her and her life, as well as Anthony Fantano, host of The Needle Drop, about how it’s shaping the industry.

Abdul reflects on the way that the Trump administration has simply ceded public health to politics. He then interviews Dr. Howard Koh, a lead public health official in the Obama administration, about what a functional Department of Health & Human Services would be doing right now.

Abdul speaks with an American who just moved to New Zealand about the different approaches to COVID19 in both countries, and then interviews Allison Carlson, managing director, and Fouad Pervez, senior quantitative and policy analyst, of Foreign Policy Analytics about their COVID19 Global Response Index.

Abdul considers the risks of going “back” to in-person learning at schools and colleges and interviews President M. Roy Wilson, of Wayne State University, and Dr. Katherine Auger, a pediatrician and author of a new study about school closings and COVID19.

Abdul talks about the challenges of doing science in real time during a pandemic and interviews Prof. Kerry Keyes, an epidemiology professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health about the scientific process, and how people should approach new findings.

Abdul walks through the state of a COVID-19 vaccine and speaks with pro-vaccine activist Ethan Lindenberger about how online anti-vaxxers are exploiting COVID19 to stoke misinformation as well as Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, about the vaccine development process and how to build public trust for COVID19 vaccinations.

Abdul talks about how COVID19 interacts with the environment and discusses Environmental Justice with Catherine Flowers, a leading environmental justice advocate in Alabama.

Abdul discusses the critical need for legislation to support a country reeling from COVID19 and sits down with Prof. Michael Osterholm, one of the world’s most respected infectious disease epidemiologists.

Abdul talks about the interplay between coronavirus and our culture and then talks to Michael Baumann, staff writer at The Ringer, about how sports leagues are reacting to COVID19 and what it can teach us about society’s response to the pandemic in general.

Abdul reflects on the challenge of public messaging in a pandemic and then talks to Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s COVID-communicator-in-chief.

Abdul reflects on how COVID19 is challenging us to meet our ideals as Americans. Then he chats with Congressman Andy Levin about his proposal for a Coronavirus Containment Corps to create a federally-funded contact-tracing force...which could have been helpful right about now.

Abdul discusses the surging cases of COVID19 in several states and nationwide, as well as the startling increase in transmission globally. He chats with Prof. Kelley Lee, a global health governance expert, about the WHO and the future of the global fight against COVID19.

Abdul discusses the odd biology of viruses. He catches up with virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen about the biology of the coronavirus, and why exactly it’s so deadly.

Abdul discusses the economic consequences of COVID. He catches up with Dr. Tara Sinclair, a macroeconomist, about the future ahead of us. 

Abdul discusses the public health consequences of the #GeorgeFloyd protests. We speak with Cary Junior II, an audio producer at the Detroit Free Press and a Fellow at WDET in Detroit who’s been covering the protests. Then we'll speak to epidemiologist Julia Marcus, a harm reduction expert who helps understand how to stay safe from COVID19 while re-engaging our lives.Activity

Abdul discusses the lynching of George Floyd in the context of COVID19 and reflects on the way that social media has changed our world--and the experience of COVID19. We hear from listeners about how they’ve consumed social media throughout. Abdul speaks with Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist who first sounded the alarm about COVID, about how social media has shaped the debate over science and public health.

Abdul reflects on what it means that 100,000 Americans have now died of COVID19. He interviews Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, Reverend Jill Zundel and Imam Mohamed Al Masmari on how faith communities are responding to the pandemic. 

Abdul breaks down the dangers of opening up too early for public health--and the economy. He talks to Commissioner Rita Nieves of the Boston Public Health Commission and Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association about what it’ll take to open up safely.

Abdul talks to Navajo National Council Delegate Carl Slater about why Navajo Nation faces one of the worst COVID19 outbreaks in America. He then talks to Rebecca Nagle, journalist and host of Crooked Media’s "This Land" podcast about the broader implications of COVID19 in Indian Country.

Abdul breaks down the similarities--and differences--between COVID19 and Ebola. He interviews Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency doctor in New York on the front lines of the coronavirus response who also battled Ebola in West Africa, and Ron Klain, President Obama’s Ebola Czar.

Abdul talks to a third-grader, who's currently attending school remotely, about what it’s like to do home school during the pandemic. Then he'll speak with Nikhil Goyal, a sociologist and education researcher about what the lasting impacts of COVID19 may be on American education.

Abdul dissects how politics is a part of public health—and how our federal political leadership has gotten in the way of every step of our public health response to COVID19. Then he speaks with Ana Maria Archila co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy about how COVID19 is impacted Undocumented Americans.

Abdul dissects how COVID19 is forcing us to deal with how interconnected our world is, whether we like it or not. Then he speaks with Oussama Mezoui with the international aid organization Penny Appeal and Merith Basey of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines.

Abdul looks at why stay home orders still matter. He'll talk with Dr. Jason Bae, who spent 10 days in the Queens at the peak of COVID19, and Zenei Cortez, co-president of the National Nurses United who’s also working on the front lines.

Listeners share what they’re doing with their $1200 checks and then Abdul dissects how a check can be a powerful anti-COVID19 public health tool and speaks with former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang about the government checks and universal basic income more broadly.

Abdul looks at recent studies on people infected with coronavirus, and then talks about people who are among those most at risk for the disease. He'll talk with Dr. Ashwin Vasan, President of Fountain House, a non-profit supporting people suffering severe mental illness, and Professor John Pfaff who studies mass incarceration to understand how this pandemic affects society’s most vulnerable--and what needs to be done to protect them.

Abdul talks with Senator Bernie Sanders about Congress’s most recent COVID19 relief package and how the country might have responded if we were covered by Medicare for All.

Recently the CDC released a study that revealed that while African Americans make up only 13% of the population of the United States, they were 30% of the patients that were dealing with COVID-19.Abdul talks to LaMar Hasbrouck, a public health physician and former director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, about racial disparities in health. Later he connects with Corey McPherson, an old friend who shares his family's experience with the virus.

Abdul dissects the scenarios we have for getting out of social distancing and why we still need COVID19 testing. Later he interviews Dr. Rishi Desai, a former CDC disease detective who recently went viral (the good kind!) for his recent appearance on Fox News.

The drug hydroxycholoroquine has been all over the news because President Trump and other claim, without scientific evidence, that its a cure for COVID-19.But hydroxycholoroquine does have a lot of practical uses, and many people depend on it. Abdul speaks with a woman that relies on the drug to live, and is worried about its depletion. Then Abdul looks at the way that medications and vaccines are researched and developed with Zain Rizvi, a Law & Policy Researcher at Public Citizen and an expert on drug pricing.

Abdul dissects the unequal burden of COVID-19 by race, chats with Dr. Sarah Jukaku, a psychiatrist, who also happens to be his wife, about what she’s hearing from her patients. Later he talks with Professor Sandro Galea, a psychiatric epidemiologist, about what COVID-19’s long-term consequences might be for our mental health.Activity

Abdul talks to a local bookstore owner about going online after COVID and dissects how this will influence the economy. And Prof. Tara Sinclair, a macroeconomist joins us to talk about the economic forecast and what COVID-19 may mean for our economic outlook.

Abdul dissects how hospitals are struggling under the surge of COVID patients, while writer Naomi Klein joins us to talk about the “shock doctrine” of disaster capitalism. We'll find out what disaster capitalism means, how it's affected past disasters and how human behavior perceives everything from toilet paper to corporate bailouts.

As doctors, nurses, and hospital staff do battle on the front lines, how is the growing pandemic affecting these people and how are they coping? Abdul will talk with Dr. Aakash Shah, an emergency room doctor in New Jersey.

This week the Senate passed a historic, $2 trillion stimulus bill aimed at easing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The legislation, which is expected to pass the House of Representatives on Friday, will grant financial assistance to individuals and businesses - especially industries affected by the crisis, airlines and manufacturers, among others. But will it be enough? We’ll talk with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who represents Washington’s 7th district, one of the hardest hit communities by COVID19. We’ll hear her perspective on what we can learn from Washington State’s experience.

Host Abdul El-Sayed dissects the claim of a possible cure for COVID-19, and then we talk to Dr. Alison Galvani, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases modeler at Yale, about how long the current outbreak could last.

Abdul dissects the news of a vaccine, the concept of “flattening the curve,” and the notion of herd immunity. Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor, joins to dissect the Global Pandemic response and what went wrong.

Abdul dissects President Trump’s State of Emergency Declaration and the true number of cases in America. And we explore how the American public health system’s organized (and what went wrong) with Jon Auerbach, a former state and local health commissioner and CDC official.

The Coronavirus is now a global pandemic. How did we get here? What went wrong? What do we do about it now? Twice a week, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and former city health commissioner, will keep you updated on what you need to know about COVID-19, what led us to this crisis in the first place, and what policies can lead us out. New episodes out every Tuesday & Friday, starting Tuesday 3/17. Subscribe now.

Do you ever go to a bakery and become utterly paralyzed by all the possibilities in the display case? A chocolate chip muffin sounds good, but so does a croissant. Are they gluten free? Made fresh daily? Unraveling the 2020 candidates’ healthcare plans can sort of feel the same way, just a whole lot more daunting. In this final episode of America Dissected (we’re crying too), Dr. Abdul El-Sayed walks us through each of the major healthcare plans, including Medicare-For-All, the public option, and Medicare-for-America to help us assess how each of these plans would have helped Lisa (or not). Finally, Dr. El-Sayed speaks with Friend of the Pod Ady Barkan, an inspiring activist who wants every American to have the right to lead a full, healthy life.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Throughout this series, we’ve considered how the straining relationship between science and government has led to a variety of public health issues, from the rise of superbugs to the epidemic of loneliness. Here, we take our scalpel to the most obvious problem of them all: the American healthcare system itself. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed talks with Lisa Cardillo whose scary brush with the healthcare system helps us deconstruct the business of American healthcare, where all of us are both the product and the consumer.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Today, many of us can take it for granted that our grandparents will live through our childhood— and that our children might get to meet them. Not that long ago, though, that wasn't so common. Not just because our grandparents didn't used to live that long, but because so many babies died before their first birthday. In most American communities, infant mortality is a thing of the past. But not in all of them. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed takes us to Detroit to dissect American life expectancy— to understand why it's declining and why it may never have been as high as it should have been in the first place.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

The Flint Water Crisis dominated national headlines when it emerged in 2016—focusing national attention on the hazards of lead poisoning. Newark, New Jersey is facing a similar crisis today. But Flint and Newark are only the tip of the iceberg of an epidemic of lead poisoning facing urban communities across the country. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed visits Flint to speak with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician and researcher who uncovered the Water Crisis to understand how Flint’s history shaped the government failures that led to the crisis—and how distrust can devastate public health for poor, marginalized communities all across the United States.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

We all spend time, money, and energy to "take care of ourselves." We exercise, eat right, and meditate. But what if we can't actually do it alone—what if being healthy is more about taking care of each other? Our world feels more connected than ever before. And yet, we feel more alone. Depression, suicide, and overdose have skyrocketed. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed addresses how disinvestment in the spaces that bring us together, like public parks, swimming pools, and libraries, has helped shape a slow-moving epidemic of loneliness. We break down the consequences of this social isolation, and consider what we can and should do about it.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

The Opioid Crisis has wreaked havoc across America, taking lives and devastating families, neighborhoods, and communities. But this isn't the first time we've suffered a deadly drug crisis. In today's episode, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed tells the tale of two crises: the opioid epidemic of today and the crack epidemic of the 1980s, contrasting the government's and media's responses to these crises - and what they tell us about the nature of drug use and structural racism in America.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Winter means snow, cuddly rom-coms...and brutal head colds. Nothing a little Z-Pak won’t fix...WRONG. That’s exactly what the superbugs want you to do. Our antibiotic misuse is contributing to the global rise of an unseen, deadly force: antibiotic-resistant superbugs. We hear from a mother and daughter with direct experience with these terrifying new strains of bacteria. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed then explains how the pharmaceutical industry’s broken incentives and the government’s failure to change them have left us without the new antibiotics we need to take them on—putting us behind in the arms-race against these highly-evolved killers.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

American scientists are on the leading edge of drug research and development—often funded by taxpayer dollars. So why are we overpaying for life-saving drugs? How did we get to this point? Dr. Abdul El-Sayed walks us through the story of the Hep-C drug Sovaldi to lay bear the inner workings of the pharmaceutical industry—and its glaring flaws.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

We almost eradicated measles in the U.S., but anti-vaxxers had to go and ruin it for everyone. WTF? Dr. Abdul El-Sayed walks us through the history and science of vaccines and the growing anti-vax movement. We meet the people affected, like Ethan Lindenberger, an 18-year-old who defied his anti-vax mom to get vaccinated.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

Traditional science-based medicine has some gaps—but what happens when grifters and scammers take advantage? Dr. Abdul El-Sayed leads us inside the underbelly of the cult of wellness. Dr. Jen Gunter, Twitter’s “Resident Gynecologist,” helps us understand modern quackery—and how we can apply scientific principles to make our best health decisions.For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.

From celebrities who hate vaccines to politicians who hate Obamacare - the mistrust, fake news, sensationalism, and social media firestorms that we see every day in politics and the media are distracting us from what really matters for our health. In America Dissected, a new podcast hosted by Abdul El-Sayed, doctor and former Detroit Health Director, we'll go beyond the headlines to dissect America’s major health problems, what connects them, and what we all can do to solve them.