Latino Health Advocacy: Health Dame In Conversation with Jeanette (Jet) Contreras

In Conversation with Dr. Chloe Bird: Improving Women’s Health by Closing the Evidence Gap

In this episode of Health Dame, Robin Strongin speaks with Dr. Chloe Bird [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloebird/], professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and program director of the Center for Research on Women’s Health, Sex Differences and Population Health at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Bird explains why women’s health research still lags behind,  how male bodies are still often treated as the default in medicine and why clinical trials must do more than simply include women. They discuss the need to study how diseases present in women, how women respond to treatment and how gaps in the evidence base affect diagnosis, care, policy, and precision medicine. The conversation also looks at what it would take to make these gaps visible, measurable and harder to ignore. For Dr. Bird, better science on women’s health is not just about women. It is about improving healthcare for everyone.

Jarrett Brown, Brain Tumor Survivor, Completes First Year of Law School

Jarrett Brown [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrett-b-912b4427/] was diagnosed with a type-2 meningioma in August 2024.  He went into brain surgery to remove a tangerine-sized tumor on the same day he was scheduled to take the LSAT. Just 28 days after the surgery, he took the LSAT and is now a second-year law student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law. His stated reason for entering law school is that he wants to spend the rest of his life speaking for people who do not have a voice. Before attending law school, Jarrett was a longtime food processing worker. Though he never played football, he likes to say he was a Green Bay Packer because he worked in a packing plant in Green Bay, WI.  During the nearly 20 years that he worked in food processing, Jarrett was a workers' rights advocate. He worked on his own, with unions, and with political organizations to advance the causes of individual workers, groups of workers, and the public.

Lawsuit Threatens Patient Safety Ratings with Leah Binder, Shawn Gremminger and Sue Sheridan

Medical errors are estimated to be one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. So why is it still so hard for patients to know which hospitals are safest? In this episode of Health Dame, Robin Strongin talks with Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group [www.Leapfroggroup.org], Shawn Gremminger, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions [http://www.nationalalliancehealth.org/], and Sue Sheridan, president and CEO of Patients for Patient Safety US [http://www.pfps.us/]. Together, they discuss why Hospital Safety Grades [www.hospitalsafetygrade.org] matter, how patients and employers use quality data to make better decisions and what is at stake when transparency tools come under legal threat. They also discuss a recent lawsuit affecting The Leapfrog Group’s hospital safety grades and why it could limit access to information patients and families rely on. The episode looks at the human cost of medical errors, the role employers play in demanding safer care and why patients need trusted, accessible information before they are in crisis.

Dr. Karen Remley on Pediatrics, Public Health and Prevention

In this episode of Health Dame, Robin Strongin talks with Dr. Karen Remley, former CEO of the American Academy of Pediatrics, former commissioner of health for the Commonwealth of Virginia and former director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Remley reflects on a career shaped by pediatrics, public health and emergency medicine, and discusses the progress that has helped more children live safer, healthier lives. She explains why prevention still matters, from vaccines and car seats to bike helmets, pool safety and safe sleep practices, and why those gains cannot be taken for granted. The conversation also covers trust in medicine, misinformation, children with complex medical needs, the transition from pediatric to adult care, mental health, crisis communication and the role of families, communities and policymakers in protecting children’s health. At its core, this interview is about what children need to grow, thrive and be surrounded by what Dr. Remley calls “a cocoon of love.”

Latino Health Advocacy: Health Dame In Conversation with Jeanette (Jet) Contreras

What does it take to build a new voice for Latino health advocacy at a time when that voice is urgently needed? In this episode of Health Dame, Robin Strongin speaks with Jeanette “Jet” Contreras, founder and executive director of the Organization for Latino Health Advocacy (OHLA). Jet shares why she launched the organization, how Latino communities are shaping the future of healthcare and why advocacy must start with listening. The conversation covers youth mental health, community-based research, health insurance education, civic engagement, cardiovascular health and the importance of connecting policy in Washington with the people most affected by it. Jet also talks about the young leaders helping guide the organization’s work, the role of trusted community spaces and why health advocacy is also about empowerment.