SPH Plugs In: Summer Content Recommendations.
SPH Plugs In: Summer Content Recommendations
Members of the SPH community share recommendations for the books, tv shows, podcasts, and other content that resonated with them as they study, research, and practice public health.
A new round of SPH students and alumni share their recommendations for can’t-miss, public health-adjacent content, just in time for summer. Their suggestions provide a reminder that however a story is told—whether it is spoken out loud, written on a page, or played out on a screen, narrative in all forms plays an important role in health communication and education.
Fallout / Amy Ben-Arieh
Amy Ben-Arieh (LAW’07,SPH’08) is the new director of The Fenway Institute, one of the world’s preeminent LGBTQIA+ health and HIV research, education, and policy organizations. A graduate of the law and public health (JD/MPH) dual degree program at Boston University, Ben-Arieh has made research ethics the focus of her career. She has been with Fenway Health for seven years and counting, and previously served as chair of the institutional review board committee at Mass General Brigham. She describes her current position as her dream job and notes that a lot of her colleagues also have MPH degrees. “When I see that someone has intentionally studied public health, it is expressing a lot to me about their commitment to community,” she says. When asked what one piece of public health content she would recommend to the that community, Ben-Arieh suggests the series Fallout on Amazon Prime.
“It has got everything,” Ben-Arieh says. “Environmental health and justice, resource and healthcare access, consent-to-treat questions, research ethics—some seriously unethical trials going on in the ‘vaults’—and even some health policy and administration questions are raised. Also, it was super fun.”
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down / Sadie Cowan
Sadie Cowan (SPH’24) holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from BU and recently earned her MPH with concentrations in global health and health policy and law from SPH through BU’s 4+1 program. In August, Cowan will spend nine months in India conducting social epidemiology and infectious disease research on a Fulbright-Nehru Student Research grant. Among other influences at BU, Cowan credits Veronika Wirtz, professor of global health at SPH, for motivating her to apply to the program. She particularly enjoyed Wirtz’s course Foundations of Global Health (GH760) and looks forward to making her own contributions to the body of global health research with her project investigating the treatment of tuberculosis in New Delhi.
Cowan highly recommends the book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman. The story follows a young girl diagnosed with severe epilepsy and explores the clash that ensues when the care recommended by her doctors does not match her family’s culturally informed beliefs. “It is an incredible book about navigating the US healthcare system as Hmong immigrants,” says Cowan, who read the book at the recommendation of her undergraduate mentor Joseph Harris, an associate professor of sociology at BU. She says she felt so profoundly changed after reading the book that she went to Harris’s office to follow up and he recommended then that she explore a career in public health.
La Brega / Yareliz Diaz
Yareliz Diaz, a PhD student in health services and policy research, is completing her dissertation on the mental health of Puerto Rican migrants to the mainland US after Hurricane Maria. A member of the Puerto Rican diaspora, Diaz grew up in Boston speaking both English and Spanish. After attending Tufts for her undergraduate studies in anthropology and community health, she helped to translate data collected during focus groups with survivors of Hurricane Maria who moved to Florida in the storm’s aftermath. Little did she know that several years later she would be using the data to inform her own research into the effects of cascading disasters and residential instability on the mental health of affected Puerto Rican families. Diaz, who recently presented her work at a conference in Puerto Rico, recommends that the SPH community listen to the podcast La Brega, particularly Episode 7 “Vamos Pa’ Plaza” from Season 2. The season focuses on music produced on the island and uses popular songs to reflect on Puerto Rican history and culture. “Vamos Pa’ Plaza” is about a large mall in the island’s capital city of San Juan called Plaza Las Américas that has transformed into something more than just a place to shop.
“The episode talks about [how] because a lot of people are migrating from Puerto Rico, but a lot of older people have chosen to stay, they don’t have caregivers in the same way that they used to and they don’t have the same social support and community that they used to have. Plaza Las Américas has become this place where they have walking groups, they have food, air conditioning, things going on, things these people need,” says Diaz, who has extended family back in Puerto Rico herself. “I am studying the migrants who have left, but what [about] everyone who stayed behind? What is the impact of migration on them?” The podcast, which is available in both Spanish and English, discusses these questions, Diaz says.
The Retrievals / Caroline Dignard
Caroline Dignard (SPH’24), a former Public Health Post (PHP) fellow and recent MPH program graduate, recently earned a 2024 Pulitzer Reporting Fellowship to cover indigenous food sovereignty in Northern Canada. While at SPH, Dignard studied epidemiology and biostatistics and health law, policy, and management as well as amassed a significant writing portfolio, publishing articles on topics ranging from brain injuries in ice hockey to toxins in receipt paper. Dignard, who aspires to be a health journalist or work in health policy, recommends listening to the five-part podcast The Retrievals. From Serial Productions and the New York Times, The Retrievals details the experiences of patients seeking to become parents who underwent painful egg retrieval procedures as part of IVF treatment at a Yale fertility center, only to find out later that they were likely among those affected by a drug diversion scandal. Dignard appreciated that the podcast not only discussed the opioid crisis, but also acknowledged women’s pain. “[That] was fascinating to me,” says Dignard. “I thought it was so well done.”
Hijab Butch Blues / Aisha Ghorashian
Aisha Ghorashian, an MPH student studying Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation (CAPDIE), has been a member of SPH’s Queer Alliance (QA) since her first semester on campus. Together with other members of the student organization, Ghorashian helped organize nearly 20 different events promoting safe, supportive spaces for LGBTQIA+ students, faculty, and staff. While the group read and discussed several graphic novels over the course of the past year, including Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, Palestine by Joe Sacco, and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Ghorashian’s recommendation to the SPH community is a memoir called Hijab Butch Blues by Layma H. “It’s a phenomenal story written by a queer, nonbinary Muslim author that grapples with what it means to be queer and to be a devout, hijabi Muslim person,” says Ghorashian.
“Your Local Epidemiologist” / Charlotte Greenhill
Charlotte Greenhill (SPH’24) completed the 4+1 program at BU with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies and an MPH in global health and epidemiology and biostatistics. For her next adventure, she will spend eight months teaching English in Brazil through a Fulbright teaching assistantship. Greenhill, who speaks fluent Spanish and began learning Portuguese during the pandemic, looks forward to solidifying her third language. “I think languages are like a portal,” she says. “They allow for you to connect with people who have a different life experience than you and to engage with books and media from other countries, and I think that that makes me a stronger public health professional.”
In addition to learning another language, Greenhill also recommends subscribing to the email newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.” Created by epidemiologist and data scientist Katelyn Jetelina, the newsletter aims to translate emerging public health information for a broader audience. “I have found that the newsletter empowers me when I am looking at The New York Times or other standard media outlets that are publishing on measles or H5N1—I have a sense of where the field is and what kind of data is underlying those headlines,” says Greenhill. “[It] has been a good resource.”
