Episode #480 Making Public Health Make Sense
On This Episode Of The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast
How do you explain public health to someone who has never heard of it?
That is the question Dr. Huntley puts to four MPH candidates from the Medical University of South Carolina in this episode, and their answers turn into one of the most relatable conversations the show has had all year.
Each panelist works in a different corner of public health. One is building a violence intervention and gun violence research program. Another is developing an oncofertility program for cancer patients at a hospital that has never had one. A third is a certified child passenger safety technician teaching families how to properly install car seats. The fourth is studying HIV self-testing behavior in the United States and preparing to fly to Nairobi, Kenya for fieldwork, while also researching C-section rates by race before and after the pandemic.
Translating public health into everyday language
What makes this conversation stand out is not the topics themselves, it's how each guest translates them. One compares public health to routine car maintenance. Another describes it as a ball pit where everyone shares the same water no matter how deep or high they sit in it. A third builds out a spider web metaphor, with public health workers as the engineers quietly reinforcing the strands before they snap.
The cost of being invisible
The group also gets honest about something rarely said out loud: public health only gets noticed when something goes wrong. They talk about what it means to do work that is supposed to be felt and not seen, and why that invisibility can make it harder to defend the field when funding and policy are on the line.
This is a conversation about translation, representation, and why the next generation of public health professionals is determined to be louder about the work they do.
About Our Guest
Emily Burdette is a Master of Public Health candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), concentrating in health behavior and health promotion. She works with the violence intervention program at MUSC, where she is also completing her internship and capstone. Her capstone research focuses on women who have been victimized by gun violence, examining the intersection of poverty, misogyny, and race.
Keara Hagerman is also a Master of Public Health candidate at MUSC, concentrating in health behavior and health promotion. Her interests include mental health and cardiovascular disease prevention. She is interning with the Hollings Cancer Center, where she is developing an oncofertility program focused on preserving the fertility of young adult and adolescent cancer patients, and strengthening communication between providers and patient navigators.
Cania James is a Master of Public Health candidate concentrating in health promotion and health behavior. She is a certified child passenger safety technician and is interning in pediatric trauma and injury prevention, focusing on motor vehicle crashes and other mechanisms of injury. Her capstone will examine how to improve quality of care at Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital related to ATV crashes, sports injuries, and motor vehicle crashes.
Taylor Simone is a Master of Public Health candidate concentrating in epidemiology. Her internship focuses on HIV research, specifically examining why individuals do or do not follow through on confirmatory lab testing after an at-home HIV self-test. As part of this work, she will travel to Nairobi, Kenya to conduct surveys across informal settlements. Her capstone research examines C-section rates before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on racial disparities.
Listen To This Episode Of The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast
Conversation Highlights
Public health is easiest to explain through metaphor, not definition.
Rather than reciting a textbook explanation, each panelist uses an everyday comparison, from car maintenance to spider webs, to help friends and family grasp a field that can otherwise feel too broad to summarize.
The same field can be described a hundred different ways, and that's the point.
With four panelists explaining public health independently, no two explanations sounded alike. That range is exactly what makes the field powerful: it touches nearly every part of daily life.
Public health's biggest challenge is its own invisibility.
The panelists agree that public health does its job best when no one notices, but that same invisibility makes it harder for people to understand its value or defend it when funding and programs are threatened.
Small, ongoing conversations move the needle more than one big explanation.
Sharing public health concepts with family in small doses over time, rather than trying to explain everything at once, helps loved ones actually retain and repeat an accurate understanding of the field.
Understanding public health turns bystanders into advocates.
When friends and family grasp what public health actually does, they are more likely to speak up for the programs and services that support their own communities.
Representation in leadership matters as much as representation in messaging.
The panelists point out that hospital and health system leadership often lacks formal public health training, and argue that a stronger public health voice in leadership roles would strengthen how health systems function.
This next generation of public health professionals wants visibility, not just impact.
While the field has traditionally stayed behind the scenes, the panelists are clear that they intend to be vocal advocates for their work moving forward.
"Public health is at its best when it's felt but not heard, right?" - Emily Burdette
"You have to do a lot of maintenance on a car for it to continue to run, to continue to get you from A to B." - Keara Hagerman
"If that ball pit is dirty, no matter how deep you are in that pit or how high you are on that pit, you are still like somewhat in a dirty pit." - Cania James
"Public health often feels invisible when it's working, which is why I feel like we're kind of behind the scenes a lot, especially when things are running smoothly." - Taylor Simon
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Public Health Consulting
DrCHHuntley LLC is a public health consulting firm that specializes in epidemiology consulting, supporting large nonprofit organizations in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida that serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We also provide nationwide public health consulting and epidemiology consulting support to BIPOC organizations across the United States.
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