America Dissected

Where We Go From Here

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To close out this season of the pod, Abdul and Katelyn record from the American Public Health Association’s annual convention. They discuss the curr...

Put Up Or Shutdown

09 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In our penultimate episode, Abdul and Katelyn discuss the week’s public health news, which includes: Why Democrats are demanding Republicans exte...

On The Ground In Gaza

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest news in public health, which includes: Trump’s $100,000 H1-B visa fee, which is could significantly hurt sta...

Tylenol Needs A Tylenol

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul begins the show with a major announcement about America Dissected. Then, he and Katelyn discuss: RFK Jr’s Autism report, which points to a...

What Really Happened at the CDC

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the week in public health, which includes: Former CDC Director Susan Monarez’s Senate testimony, where she revealed a s...

About That MAHA Report…

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the week in public health, which includes: RFK Jr’s MAHA Report, and why it fails to deliver meaningful change The ...

Exodus at the CDC

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss another inundating week in public health, which includes: The sudden departure of the CDC Director, Susan Monarez, just w...

Public Health Punched Back

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn are energized by the first meeting of the Vaccine Integrity Project, which was founded to serve as an alternative to RFK Jr’s ACIP...

Bullets at CDC

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn condemn the violence at the CDC headquarters last week, and the startlingly weak response from lawmakers. Then they unpack Trump’s...

New Casualties on RFK Jr’s Chopping Block

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul unpacks the week in public health, which includes: Vinay Prasad’s exit from FDA Susan Monarez’s confirmation to lead CDC New childhoo...

Another Day, Another RFK Headline

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn unpack the latest headlines on RFK Jr and HHS, followed by some optimistic news on the spread of measles and Covid. Then Abdul talks...

Sugar Daddies and Budget Baddies

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest in public health including: Congress’ vote to reinstate $400 million in funding for global AIDS treatment ...

Stall Tactics and Scare Tactics

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest in public health news, including: Why the cancellation of a key federal health meeting could spell trouble for...

A Big Brutal Bill

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn catch up on a harrowing week in public health, after Republicans passed Trump’s mega bill. They discuss: New work requirements...

MAHA Comes for Vaccine

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss a busy week in health news including: The most troubling aspects of this week's ACIP meeting, after RFK Jr's appointees c...

A quick note about this week's episode

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul shares a scheduling note, as we closely track this week's ACIP meeting.

RFK Jr Euthanizes ACIP

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss a rocky week in public health including: RFK Jr gutting ACIP to replace every member with his own appointees. The L...

Boos, Boosters and BooBoos

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest in science and health including: Senator Joni Ernst’s “we’re all going to die” townhall moment The C...

US COVID Vaccine Policy by Vibes

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest in public health including: The FDA’s new rules on Covid boosters RFK’s claim that Americans shouldn’...

Democrats Confront RFK Jr.

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Katelyn and Abdul break down the latest news in public health and policy, including: RFK’s appearance at the House Appropriations Committee and ...

The Problem with “Do Your Own Research”

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn break down the latest in public health, including: RFK’s Jr’s push to test all future vaccines against placebos Why the ...

Baby Boom or Bust?

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest news in health and policy, including: Trump’s proposal to increase the birth rate by giving women $5000 baby...

RFK Jr’s Autism Registry

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest in health policy this week including: RFK Jr’s plan to form a national registry of Americans with autism The sh...

A message from Abdul

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

RFK’s September Surprise

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn cover this week’s health news, which includes: RFK’s bizarre promise to reveal the cause of Autism by September The latest in th...

How Trump’s Tariffs Will Hit Healthcare

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest news in health and policy, including: The third measles death this year - an 8-year-old girl in Texas RFK Jr’s ...

A Bull-DOGE-er to HHS

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn contend with a devastating week at HHS, including: The loss of 20,000 workers A massive restructuring at HHS Senior leaders leaving ...

Bird Flu, Baby Formula and The Bully Pulpit

27 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the latest in the world of public health including: RFK Jr’s problematic new strategy on avian influenza A new report show...

We Still Don’t Have a CDC Director. Measles Doesn’t Care.

20 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn round up all the latest health news, including: The growing measles outbreak out of Texas RFK Jr’s false claim that the measles va...

Measles Spreads. So Does Disinformation.

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn talk about the current measles outbreak, the danger of relitigating the MMR vaccine again, and the latest round of DOGE cuts to publ...

RFK Jr’s Measles Doublespeak

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week Abdul is joined by physician and writer Dr. Dhruv Khullar, who is subbing in for Dr. Katelyn Jetelina this week. Abdul and Dhruv discuss a ...

A Conversation with the Former FDA Director

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss some worrisome changes at HHS, including RFK’s decision to postpone a key immunization committee’s scheduled meeting and...

RFK at HHS

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn talk about RFK Jr.’s first actions at HHS, including his first meeting with employees, where he promised to investigate the pediat...

Knee-capping the NIH

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn explain how Trump’s cuts to NIH will hobble U.S. research labs and their surrounding economies. They also speculate on RFK Jr’s ...

“America First,” Global Health Last

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn discuss the RFK confirmation hearings, the gutting of USAID, and the erasure of CDC data. Then Abdul sits down with the NFL’s Chie...

Who’s Afraid of a Scientist with a Microphone?

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn pose questions for RFK’s Senate Confirmation hearings. Then they discuss the fallout from Trump’s sledgehammer on our governme...

The WHO, What, and Why of Trump’s first Health Executive Orders

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this supersized episode, Abdul and Katelyn break down Donald Trump’s first executive orders targeting public health and healthcare. Then they dis...

Imagining a Disease Free World, from the new podcast One Big Shot

18 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sharing an episode of the podcast Our Big Shot. It asks the question: What if we could build a disease free world? Well, we almost have. We are at a p...

LA Fires. Bird Flu Updates. And Ultra-Processed Foods.

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn break down the latest public health headlines, including the devastating fires in Los Angeles, how urban fires impact human health, ...

Fluoride & IQ. An H5N1 death. Jimmy Carter. And our annual mailbag!

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn take your questions after catching up on some of the most pressing health headlines over the holidays–including a new fluoride stu...

Big Pharma. A miracle HIV prevention drug (and its price-tag). Blue States vs. RFK.

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn talk about a promising bipartisan bill that could disrupt Pharmacy Benefit Managers, a miracle drug that prevents HIV--at a serious ...

Health Insurance CEOs. Raw Milk. Our Skincare Routines.

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn break down the latest news, including the murder of UnitedHealth’s CEO and new raw milk testing guidelines. Then Abdul sits down w...

RFK’s Band of Bros. H5N1 drives Egg Prices. A Big Conversation about Smallpox

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn break down the latest in appointments to the new administration. They also discuss the latest news about H5N1 (hint, it’s still ba...

Thanksgiving Greetings and a special announcement!

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Happy Thanksgiving friends!We are dark this week, but we are excited to share that America Dissected merch is back!We have t-shirts, hoodies and mugs ...

RFK to HHS. H5N1 in Canada. And why you should be #Resistance Training

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul and Katelyn break down the week’s top headlines, including what Trump’s troubling cabinet picks say about his priorities, the latest H5N1 ca...

The Lifeblood of the Navajo Nation, from Reclaimed

16 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sharing an episode of the podcast Reclaimed. It centers on a group of Americans who’ve been denied a basic human right: water. I’m talking about t...

Public Health under RFK Jr. and Trump (and we welcome a new co-host!)

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul introduces America Dissected’s new co-host: Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. He and Katelyn break down “Make America Healthy Again,” Project 2025, an...

What Tuesday’s Result Means for Health

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Abdul reflects on the meaning of a second Trump term.

Trouble sleeping? This can help.

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a … stressful … couple of months. And if past elections are any indication, that anxiety may not go away any time soon. Though we all ...

Trauma, Trust, and Why We Still Haven't Processed the Pandemic

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to "trust" in public health, there was a "before the pandemic" and an "after the pandemic." Rebuilding that trust will require us to dea...

Project 2025 is Bad for Your Health

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve probably heard all about Project 2025, the conservative plan to remake America … for 1950. Abdul reflects on the power of the federal gover...

An Enlightening Conversation about Breast Density

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The FDA recently issued a rule that requires all mammography reports include information about breast density. Abdul talks to Dr. Elise Desperito, the...

A Community Fight in Wisconsin, From To See Each Other

12 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sharing an episode of To See Each Other, a show that complicates the narrative about small town Americans in our most misunderstood, and often abandon...

Pink October

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s October–which if the ubiquitous pink ribbons didn’t make it clear–is breast cancer awareness month. Breast cancer is a terrible disease, ...

Will Medical Debt get a Blue Waive

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past several years, cities, counties, and states have elected to relieve their residents’ medical debt. That’s cascaded into a national m...

Factory Farming Fails

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You are what you eat…right? Or maybe, we are what we eat. And together, most of the meat we consume is raised on factory farms that degrade our envi...

If childbirth isn’t an illness, why does it happen in hospitals?

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is a hospital the best place for childbirth? That question is driving a revolution in birthing, focused on creating outpatient birth centers. This Nat...

Are Annual Pelvic Exams Still Necessary?

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For more than half of the adults alive, pelvic exams are among the most dreaded parts of getting healthcare. That’s not to mention the troublesome h...

A Family Physician on meeting “fear with feelings”

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s back-to-school season — and that means back-to-school vaccines. Abdul reflects on the roles that ritual and trust play in shaping vaccination...

What a life-changing cystic fibrosis drug teaches us about translating science into health

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You’ve probably never heard of Trikafta — unless you or someone you love lives with cystic fibrosis. The drug has fundamentally changed cystic fib...

Just Air

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Environmental injustice leaves too many Americans, mainly Black and brown, breathing air that has been poisoned by smokestacks too close to their home...

Public Health Across the Divide

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Public health is universal–or at least it should be. But since the pandemic, it’s been politicized in ways that threaten critical work in conserva...

This made-up medical diagnosis has been used to justify police violence for decades

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The concept of “excited delirium” has been used to justify extreme force from law enforcement and to cover up police violence. Coined by a medical...

Fat Joe thinks you should know how much your healthcare costs

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hospitals can charge you however much they want for healthcare — without telling you. Rapper turned healthcare advocate Fat Joe thinks they need to ...

How Big Was the Hammer SCOTUS Just Took to Government as We Know It?

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Supreme Court is an unelected body–there was a time when the justices understood that. Not this court. In their most recent set of rulings, they...

Scientists Argue that this Genetic Test’s Results are “no better than a coin flip.” The FDA approved it anyway.

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Recently, the FDA approved a genetic test for opioid use disorder despite clear opposition from scientists and the FDA advisory panel that had reviewe...

Public health 🤝 Healthcare

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To the untrained eye, public health and healthcare are–if not the same thing–then two sides of the same coin. But to those of us who work in publi...

Our Institutions Have Long Covid with David Wallace-Wells

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic didn’t change everything–it just made everything weird. From declining trust in institutions to the growing power of Big Tech on our ...

When Racism goes “Systemic”

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Racism is among this country’s most persistent original sins. Not only does it pattern access to everything from education to housing to jobs — bu...

Our Mental Health System is Broken

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We talk a lot more about mental health than we used to — and that’s served to destigmatize it and promote opportunities to improve it. But that co...

Bernie Sanders on a 32-hour workweek, the Long COVID moonshot, and Ozempic

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Too many politicians are too beholden to the healthcare industry to propose any meaningful change. That’s not true of the Chairman of the Senate Hea...

Trauma can lead to…Growth?

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trauma is all around us–and the word has come to dominate so much of our conversation about mental health. The common perception of trauma is that i...

America’s NoFundMe Healthcare System

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of Americans go without healthcare every year. Many of them turn to crowdfunding to support their needs. Abdul reflects on what that says abo...

A Veterinarian’s Take on Bird Flu in Cows

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The H5N1 Bird Flu has been circulating in cows for 5 months, spreading faster and farther than we had previously expected. Abdul reflects on the wake-...

How Big Food Tries to Co-Opt the Anti-Diet Movement

07 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Anti-Diet movement has helped us understand some of the downsides of a perpetual diet culture driven by influencers and advertisers selling us thi...

The Public (Health) Lives of Pets

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

How to build a resilient public health workforce.

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Public health professionals are people, too. Too often, though, we don’t think about them that way — their needs, their hopes, and aspirations, th...

The Other Side of Oppenheimer

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last summer’s blockbuster “Oppenheimer” took home best picture for a stirring portrayal of the man behind the world’s most dangerous weapon. B...

Could Medical Tech be “Coded to Kill”? This Medical School Dean Has Thoughts.

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 w...

Getting Practical About Saving Black Moms and Babies

02 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 syste...

A Bionic Breast

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ma...

Talkin’ Nerdy about Gettin’ Dirty

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Cash as Medicine in Flint, Michigan.

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 re...

No, IVF Embryos Aren’t Kids.

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Invisible Kingdom of Chronic Illness

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 —...

Defunding Public Health? One County Tried. It Didn’t Go Well.

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 pu...

How Cars Got More Deadly

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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. Deb...

Sickle Cell and All the Diseases We Choose to Ignore

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sickle Cell Disease is a debilitating genetic disease that almost exclusively affects Black folks. While genetic breakthroughs have made a cure possib...

A Public Health Catastrophe in Gaza

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 devasta...

Has Public Health Lost Its Way? This Public Health Dean Thinks So.

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

America’s Drug Policy Czar Breaks Down the Fentanyl Crisis

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the past decade, Fentanyl, a cheap, hyper-potent, and synthetic opiate has accelerated the opioid pandemic already ravaging the country. Abdul re...

New Year, New You?

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Words Matter. Especially in Public Health.

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 Illick-Frank talks to ...

Nasal Congestion is More Complicated Than You Think.

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 cold...

It’s Cold & Flu Season. Here’s How to Protect Yourself.

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

Reaching Back into the America Dissected Archive to Remember Ady Barkan

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

Food Contamination is On the Rise. Here’s What History Can Teach Us About How to Stop It.

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Public Health vs. The Internet: LIVE from the American Public Health Association Annual Conference in Atlanta

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

America Dissected comes to you LIVE from Atlanta at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. Abdul reflects on the ways that the interne...

Mexico Tried to Regulate Tony the Tiger. Here’s what Happened Next.

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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. An...

Is Ultra-Processed Food…Even Food?

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...