Public Health Insight

A choice between pursuing a career in diplomacy and taking a chance on journalism sent Will Fitzgibbon to London with little job security. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, he traces the decisions and chance encounters that led him to the Panama Papers, a massive global scandal involving offshore finance. He reflects on what those leaked records revealed about the rules available to the rich and powerful, why those discoveries stayed with him, and how following money and corporate decisions eventually brought his reporting into public health. References for Our Discussion ◼️ Will Fitzgibbon: Reporter Profile ◼️ Recycling lead for U.S. car batteries is poisoning people ◼️ How we linked the auto industry to lead poisoning in Nigeria ◼️ Lead poisoning: WHO fact sheet ◼️ Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lead ◼️ CDC Updates Blood Lead Reference Value ◼️ Nigerian battery recyclers pay for lead cleanup after Examination investigation ◼️ The Panama Papers: Exposing the Rogue Offshore Finance Industry ◼️ Planté Battery — 1859 ◼️ The auto industry was warned: Battery recycling was poisoning people ◼️ Video: How the U.S. automotive industry fuels lead poisoning in Nigeria Guest ◼️ Will Fitzgibbon Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

What can we actually do about childhood trauma? In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, Dr. Frank Putnam, author of Old Before Their Time, turns from the science to the solutions. He explains why simply talking about child sexual abuse can protect the next generation, what clinicians and foster families should watch for, and how supportive relationships with older women help girls. He also describes a home visiting program for new mothers, and why he still sees reasons for hope despite renewed pushback. References for Our Discussion ◼️New Book: Old Before Their Time: A Scientific Life Investigating How Maltreatment Harms Children and the Adults They Become **Participate in the book giveaway. Contest rules at the end of the description** Guest ◼️ Dr. Frank Putnam Host ◼️ Purva Mehta, BMSc, MSc Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

One in five women and one in eight men report a history of child sexual abuse. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, Dr. Frank Putnam, author of Old Before Their Time, explains what 35 years of the Female Growth and Development Study found. He describes how childhood trauma shows up in the body as early autoimmune activity, inflammation, and epigenetic aging. He also covers how adverse experiences compound, how trauma crosses generations, and why a child protection system with outdated, inconsistent data struggles to respond. References for Our Discussion ◼️New Book: Old Before Their Time: A Scientific Life Investigating How Maltreatment Harms Children and the Adults They Become **Participate in the book giveaway. Contest rules at the end of the description** Guest ◼️ Dr. Frank Putnam Host ◼️ Purva Mehta, BMSc, MSc Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

In the early 1980s, Dr. Frank Putnam noticed that the children referred to him had very different symptoms but one thing in common: a history of abuse. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, Dr. Putnam, author of Old Before Their Time, walks us through the path that led him from adult psychiatry to child protection. He also explains how he launched a study that followed abused girls for decades, at a time when many dismissed the work as a social problem rather than a scientific one. References for Our Discussion ◼️ New Book: Old Before Their Time: A Scientific Life Investigating How Maltreatment Harms Children and the Adults They Become **Participate in the book giveaway. Contest rules at the end of the description** Guest ◼️ Dr. Frank Putnam Host ◼️ Purva Mehta, BMSc, MSc Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

A tobacco company promises jobs, investment and a factory, but only if a government makes health warnings smaller. Investigative journalist Matthew Chapman joins the Public Health Insight Podcast to examine how tobacco companies adapt their products and influence the rules governing them. Drawing on investigations in Kenya, Israel and the United Kingdom, he reveals undisclosed payments to experts, pressure on policymakers and efforts to weaken or delay regulation. The conversation explores Britain’s generational tobacco ban, the immense death toll linked to China Tobacco, and the limits of personal choice for addictive substances. Guest ◼️ Matthew Chapman References for Our Discussion ◼️ Lawmaker with family tie to British American Tobacco attempts to stop UK smoking ban ◼️ British American Tobacco undermines Kenyan health laws in bid for Gen Z ◼️ What to know about the global tobacco control treaty Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

When a disaster is prevented, it doesn't make the news and most don't hear about it; and that's exactly the problem. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast with Dr. Barry Davis, biostatistician and author of The Preventioneers, we explore why prevention's biggest successes stay invisible. We discuss why climate warnings have gone unheeded for 170 years, why treatment beats prevention for the "popular vote," and how to rebuild trust with a public that distrusts experts. The answer isn't more data, but humility, storytelling, and trusted messengers. References for Our Discussion ◼️ [NEW BOOK] The Preventioneers: Diseases, Disasters, and the Discoveries That Changed Our World ◼️ An Ounce of Prevention: A Substack by Barry R. Davis Host ◼️ Purva Mehta, BMSc, MSc Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

A doctor proves handwashing saves lives and gets destroyed for it. A president dies of a preventable stroke. Scientists spend decades proving smoking kills while the industry fights back. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, Dr. Barry Davis, author of The Preventioneers , introduces us to people in history who saw catastrophe coming, built the evidence, and ran straight into resistance from industries, institutions, and a public that didn't want to hear it. If prevention saves lives, protects health, and saves money, why do we keep ignoring it until it's too late? This episode digs into that question. References for Our Discussion ◼️ [NEW BOOK] The Preventioneers: Diseases, Disasters, and the Discoveries That Changed Our World ◼️ An Ounce of Prevention: A Substack by Barry R. Davis Host ◼️ Purva Mehta, BMSc, MSc Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

We often have the evidence to prevent harm long before we actually do something about it, and that delay costs lives. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, we sit down with a physician and mathematician whose career spans early machine learning research in the 1980s, landmark hypertension trials, and over 150 data monitoring committees. Dr. Davis reflects on the experiences that shaped his thinking and how resistance to change repeats throughout history. References for Our Discussion ◼️ [NEW BOOK] The Preventioneers: Diseases, Disasters, and the Discoveries That Changed Our World ◼️ An Ounce of Prevention: A Substack by Barry R. Davis Host ◼️ Purva Mehta, BMSc, MSc Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

Daniella wanted to make a podcast for years, but she waited for the right idea. Then she noticed no one had made a public health show this honest and this bold, especially from a Black perspective. So she made it herself. In this episode, Daniella shares how she started Public Health Is Dead, built on years of teaching herself to record and edit on her own. It grew out of a frustration she kept running into: public health is known for holding the world accountable, but can fall short when it comes to turning that same honesty on itself. Check Out ◼️ Public Health Is Dead Guest ◼️Daniella Barreto Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

A cannabis conference. A front-row seat she wasn't supposed to have. A question to Snoop Dogg about racial justice in cannabis legislation that she absolutely was not going to leave unasked. In this episode of a 4-part series in collaboration between Public Health Insight Podcast and Public Health Is Dead, Gordon Thane rewinds to the early beginnings of Daniella Barreto's story, which includes a childhood in Zimbabwe, a mother who made immunology a dinner-table subject, immigration to Vancouver, HIV research, and the discovery that audio storytelling was her medium, inspired by a Big Brother-style experience. References for Our Discussion ◼️ Public Health Is Dead Guest ◼️Daniella Barreto Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

Ever wonder why people ignore free health services, conveniently placed in their community, even when their life could depend on it? Looking back to the 1950s gives us some clues, and what researchers discovered led to the creation of one of public health's most enduring frameworks for understanding human behavior. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, host Gordon Thane unpacks the Health Belief Model and why it still shapes health promotion practice today. Source Material ◼️ Theory at a Glance: A Guide For Health Promotion Practice Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

An MPH can cost two years, tens of thousands of dollars, the salary you would have earned if you continued to work instead, and the promise of the other degree that you decided not to pursue. So is it worth it? In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, host Gordon Thane breaks down how to think through the real return on investment of a Master of Public Health, from tuition and debt to opportunity cost and the alternatives most people never seriously compare. Whether you are about to start a program, still weighing the decision, or already graduated and figuring out what comes next, this one is for you. Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

Health isn't created only in hospitals. It's achieved in housing, food systems, workplaces, and political decisions. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, host Gordon Thane traces the arc of health promotion through its defining milestones, from the Ottawa Charter to the Geneva Charter, revealing how each global conference pushed the field to see further: beyond behavior, beyond healthcare, beyond borders. Yet the gap between what we know and what we do remains wide. This episode asks the question the field still wrestles with: what would it take to build a world where health is created, not just treated? Source Material A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion Focus On: Foundations of Health Promotion Seventh Global Conference on Health Promotion: Promoting Health and Development — Closing the Implementation Gap The Geneva Charter for Well-being Shaping Global Health Promotion: A Comprehensive Analysis of the 10 Global Conferences on Health Promotion Conferences, 1986–2021 Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

Could hantavirus become the next pandemic? After a deadly outbreak on a cruise ship, that question is on everyone's mind. And "don't panic" isn't a real answer. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, host Gordon Thane explores what we know about hantaviruses so far, how Andes virus compares to COVID-19, and what the early science suggests about its potential to spread. He examines the key biological and ecological factors shaping the risk picture, and offers a way of thinking through the uncertainty for yourself as the story continues to develop. Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Resources ◼️ NBCNews: Hantavirus cruise ship docks after seven weeks at sea ◼️ KOMO News: What exactly is hantavirus and how concerned should Washington residents be? ◼️ Firstpost: What is Hantavirus? Deadly Virus on Cruise Ship Kills 3 | Vantage on Firstpost | 4K ◼️ WHO chief provides timeline around cruise-ship hantavirus cases Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

How did sanitation become one of public health's greatest triumphs, while being its oldest unfinished problem? In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, host Gordon Thane traces the story from Victorian Britain's overcrowded streets to Edwin Chadwick's groundbreaking 1842 report, which reframed disease as a product of "removable circumstances" rather than individual fate. We revisit the Great Stink of 1858, when London's sewage crisis finally reached Parliament, where swift action followed. Then we confront a sobering reality: 3.4 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation today. Sources for Content Chadwick, Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain UK Parliament — 1842 Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population UK Parliament — The 1848 Public Health Act London Museum — The Great Stink of 1858 Science Museum — Flushed Away: Sewers Through History Royal Museums Greenwich — Dickens and The Great Stink of 1858 WHO/UNICEF JMP — Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2024 UNICEF — Fast Facts: 1 in 4 People Globally Still Lack Access to Safe Drinking Water WHO — Sanitation Fact Sheet Britannica — Sir Edwin Chadwick EBSCO — Edwin Chadwick Vaishali — Edwin Chadwick: A Pioneer of Public Health Reform and His Relevance to Modern Public Health Practice Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

Teaching is one of the most underrated ways to advance public health. In this episode, Gordon reflects on his first semester teaching Health Promotion in Western University's MPH program and what the experience revealed about the field itself. From designing a course to classroom moments that genuinely surprised him, Gordon shares the thinking behind his approach and the lessons that stayed with him. Because public health advances not only through programs and policy but through the people we prepare to do the work. The challenges of tomorrow aren't waiting. Neither should the classroom. Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

What really happens when a reviewer opens your MPH application? Host Gordon Thane has been on the other side of the table and what he saw might surprise you. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, he breaks down the most common mistakes applicants make: ignoring instructions, leaning on weak references, writing generic statements that sound like everyone else, and confusing healthcare with public health. More importantly, he shares what actually makes a file stand out. If you're applying, reapplying, or just curious how admissions really works — this one's essential listening. Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

By the end of your practicum, you'll land in one of three boxes — and you don't get to pick which one.. or do you? In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, host Gordon Thane draws on his own journey to show why the students who thrive aren't the ones who wait for direction. From an unpaid MPH practicum placement to now being on the advisory board of that same organization member; he explores: how to tailor your practicum experience to the next job opportunity you’d like to pursue, and why the learning contract you signed may be out of date by the time you start day one, and how to build three references who'd hire you again tomorrow. Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

You can disagree on policy. You can't disagree on facts. In this episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast, Dr. Brian Castucci unpacks what it really means when science bends to political power, whether silencing dangerous voices is ever justified, why public health is losing the war it should be winning - culminating in an uncomfortable truth: if you can't stand the people you're trying to reach, you've already lost. References for Our Discussion ◼️ About Brian C. Castrucci ◼️ A New AI Platform to Strengthen Health Communication and Combat False Narratives ◼️ Science to People: VeriSci Guest ◼️ Dr. Brian Castrucci, DrPH Host & Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.

How often do public health organizations decide what a community needs — without actually asking them? This episode of the Public Health Insight Podcast sees Gordon sit down with Alexandra Piatkowski, epidemiologist and founder & CEO of Piat Public Health, to unpack one of public health's most foundational — and often misused — tools: the community needs assessment. They explore why existing quantitative data is never enough on its own, how health equity moves from buzzword to practice, and what it really takes to do a needs assessment well when budgets are tight and funders want results fast. References for Our Discussion ◼️ Piat Public Health Guest ◼️ Alexandra Piatkowski , MPH, PMP Host & Executive Producer ◼️ Gordon Thane, BMSc, MPH, PMP® Production Notes ◼️ Music from Johnny Harris x Tom Fox: The Music Room Leave Us Some Feedback If you enjoy our podcasts, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating on Apple Podcast or Spotify, and spread the word to your friends to help us get discovered by more people. You can also interact directly with the podcast episodes on Spotify using the new “comment” feature! We’d love to hear what you think. Send us a Text Message to let us know what you think.