Election Day Special: Public Health Needs to Get Off the Mat & Join the Political Fight. A Conversation w Dr. Craig Spencer

It’s Election Day in parts of the country, so we thought it was time to talk politics.

Dr. Craig Spencer, from Brown University’s School of Public Health, penned a Substack last week that stopped us cold. In it, he makes a bold case that public health needs to get more political—not partisan, but political in the sense of organizing, mobilizing, and demanding what people say they value: cleaner air, safer food, prevention that actually gets funded.

It’s a striking call at a moment of profound change — what some call a reimagining, others a dismantling — of public health itself. But if you look at the polling across Republicans, Democrats, and the MAHA “curious,” there’s surprising common ground right in public health’s wheelhouse.

It’s time, Spencer argues, for public health to step into the political arena to fight for change or watch the system unravel.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off today)

Guest:

Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician; Associate Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown University School of Public Health.

Craig's Substack article referenced:
https://craigaspencer.substack.com/p/when-public-health-forgot-how-to

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