Public Health Podcast and Media Network aims to be a podcast and public health network for equitable public health that will "address community and global challenges through creative public health perspectives."
“We need a lot more done with the pandemic. So, as a public health professional that's not working for an agency, I have the ability to be a little bit more vocal and to really see what the limitations have been, in terms of what federal and state, and local regional public health measures have been.”
Those are the words of Dr. April Moreno, a Sand Diego-based Ph.D. in public health and informatics who started a podcast network to support those in the industry in need of opportunities to skill build and connect. That project, Public Health Podcast Network, was started in 2021 and is partially a result of what Moreno says are limitations placed on public health professionals once they are part of federal, state, or regional systems that become affected by politics and funding decisions.
“But that's why I started the Public Health Podcast Network, in part because we can find ways to create more impact and more creative partnerships to improve public health. And really, if we don't do something now literally, like in the next what, 50 to 100 years, we really don't know what humanity is going to be looking like.”
Part of the foundation of the work the network does, offering mentorship opportunities, a membership program, a listing of podcasts – including their in-house offering, The Public Health Networker – and a blog; is rooted in Moreno’s experience with chronic illness via an autoimmune condition. In 2016, during the third year of her Ph.D. at California’s Claremont Graduate University, Moreno says her vision became affected and she developed extreme fatigue. This came after a negative experience during a fellowship that forced her to re-evaluate what her career could and would look like. Now, in addition to the network, she’s started a non-profit called the Autoimmune Community Institute. The stated mission on the group’s website is to back community-centered research, community support, and advocacy.
“It was just a really scary time. And then from there, I just realized that I have to be more proactive. I have to find environments that are supportive and that's not always going to happen in a public health agency, unfortunately.”
Podcasts in the network’s directory include programs from academics like the Health Promotion Practice (HPP) Journal and the School of Public Health at San Diego State University, The Sex Wrap and Embarrassed to Ask – two sexual health podcasts – and MCH Bridges, which focuses on maternal and child health.
Dr. Moreno says that while there’s a new and renewed focus on public health communication, she feels that public health professionals – many of whom don’t get the amount of practical advice they need in academic settings – are well-positioned to succeed in podcasting.
“It's really interesting because I am seeing this trend toward media and communications and public health as an aspect of marketing. It has an aspect of health communications [...] and I think that podcasting is an important part of that, because podcasting is so versatile.”
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