Public health, healthcare, and health equity advocates are racing to respond to the coronavirus crisis. At the same time, the pandemic has accentuated the importance of issues we’ve been trying to get on policymakers’ radar screens for years: deep inequities that shape people’s ability to access vital, health-promoting resources like housing, living wage jobs, and nutritious food; the value of social connection for health, safety, and wellbeing; and so much more.

Prevention Institute’s new podcast brings together women leaders from the world of health for a broad-ranging conversation about the coronavirus crisis, what it’s revealed about our society’s inequities, and what we can learn from it to ensure a healthier and more equitable society moving forward.

PI’s executive director, Rachel A. Davis, is joined on the podcast by:

Karen Remley, the former health commissioner of the Commonwealth of Virginia and former CEO of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Shari Barkin, the Chief of General Pediatrics at the Monroe Carrel Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee and a well-respected community researcher.

Dr. Jewel Mullen, the associate dean for health equity at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas in Austin and a previous public health commissioner in Connecticut.

The podcast guests share what’s on their minds as physicians, public health leaders, and health equity advocates, which ranges from questions about the term “social distancing” to ideas for turning the current media moment of reaction into a national agenda for action.

“It’s interesting to me that we use the term social distancing, because we actually mean physical distancing. … Physical distancing still allows us to care for our neighbors and care for our communities. We just need to be intentional about how we do it." -Dr. Shari Barkin

We hope you enjoy this podcast and will share it with your friends and colleagues. To learn more about Prevention Institute’s reflections on the coronavirus pandemic, read The coronavirus crisis exposes our society’s weaknesses.

We’re all in this together, and we can get through it together.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay connected.

Thank you to the de Beaumont Foundation and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation for bringing the women featured in this podcast together through the Women of Impact initiative, which was created to leverage the power of women’s leadership to improve the US healthcare system and ensure recognition of women as leaders.