Why Should I Trust You?
Bold, unfiltered, and uncompromisingly honest, Why Should I Trust You? is a weekly podcast that looks at the breakdown in trust for science and public health. It drops every Thursday, with occasional additional special episodes sprinkled in.
Hosted by Brinda Adhikari, the former executive producer of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” and a former TV news journalist; Tom Johnson, the former executive producer of “The Circus,” and also a former TV news journalist; Dr. Maggie Bartlett, a virologist and assistant research professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Dr. Mark Abdelmalek a skin cancer surgeon, a medical journalist and a dermatologist practicing in Philadelphia - each week we try to figure out what is behind this staggering collapse in trust and see if we can rebuild towards trust again.
Episodes
35 episodes
Kevin Hall Is Still Ultra Processing: On Leaving NIH, On MAHA, On Food in America
Kevin Hall is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on the impact of food on our health. A former NIH scientist, he led some of the most eye-opening studies on the connections between ultra-processed foods and overeating, obesity, and ...
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1:18:51
A Revealing Conversation btwn MAHA, Doctors & Journalists On Trust In Media, In RFK Jr & In Experts
What happens when you bring a group of MAHA advocates together with journalists and public health communicators and ask: When it comes to the media, who do you trust for your information and why? What about doctors? What about Sec. Kennedy? Thi...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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2:01:34
A Conversation w Dr. Francis Collins On Reforming NIH, Cuts to Research, MAHA, & On Trust
On today’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Francis Collins, the former head of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins has spent his career pushing the frontiers of science — from discovering genes linked to deadly diseases to leading the h...
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46:43
Lessons From the 1980s AIDS Crisis and Applying It To Today: A Conversation w Dr. Reed Tuckson
When COVID hit, public health leaders often said, “There was no playbook.” But was that really true?Decades earlier, during the AIDS crisis, America’s public health system went through a trial by fire—learning hard lessons about...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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36:59
Fired ACIP Members Speak To Us On the Future of Vaccines + Dr. Michael Mina On A 'Code Red' Moment
Why is a little-known CDC advisory committee meeting today making big headlines?Because Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just fired every single member—replacing them with his own hand-picked team.The committee in question...
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1:23:31
The Medicaid Axe is About To Fall. We Asked a Group of MAHA, MAGA & Independent Parents to Weigh In
In today’s episode, what do a group of MAHA, MAGA, and independent moms and dads of children with disabilities think about the changes Republicans in Congress are hashing out right now for Medicaid, as they push to pass President Trump’s “One B...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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1:37:26
Why Does the Phrase “mRNA” Rip Americans Apart? We Chat w Nobel-Prize Winning Scientist Drew Weissman
It’s the four letters that changed our lives: M-R-N-A.Hailed as a modern medical miracle that delivered the life-saving COVID vaccine in record time, mRNA now fuels one of the most polarizing debates in public health. Critics see it as a da...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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1:05:12
Special: MAHA Georgia & Public Health In a Spirited Discussion On the Legacy of the Covid Vaccine
On today's special episode, a raw and unflinching conversation between MAHA advocates from Georgia and a group of veterans from public health. The discussion dives straight into one of the biggest drivers of mistrust in publi...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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1:20:46
Can Nuance On Raw Milk Boost Vaccine Uptake? A Conversation On Data & Messaging w Emily Oster
We’ve heard it—and you’ve probably heard it too: critics of public health say the way health advice is delivered is a big part of why trust is plummeting. The critique goes like this: experts and institutions often take complicated, nuanced dat...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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50:53
Searching for the Causes of Autism: A Conversation with Two Moms, Alison Singer and Nancy Fuller
Few topics crystallize our current breakdown in trust more than autism. And with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s renewed push to find its cause, autism isn’t just back in the national spotlight—it’s fueling a debate that’s dividing communities.S...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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1:20:54
On Trust in Biden, Media, Politicians & On Aging: A Conversation with CNN's Jake Tapper
Today, we’re joined by CNN's Jake Tapper, who along with Axios' Alex Thompson, are authors of the new book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Their reporting is sending shockw...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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58:35
Special: MAHA Meets w Public Health, the 2nd Conversation: On RFK Jr., Vaccines, Corporate Influence, & More
In today’s episode — the second installment of our conversation between MAHA and Public Health — we bring together veteran public health leaders and grassroots activists from Ohio’s Make America Healthy Again chapter, two sides that allegedly d...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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1:34:02
Why Americans Are Turning to the Paranormal—and What That Says About Trust, w Author Matt Hongoltz-Hetling
Do you believe in ghosts? The paranormal? Hold that thought. Believe it or not, it ties directly into the themes of our show.Trust in our institutions is crumbling—from government and media to higher education, and yes, even medicine, sc...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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49:11
Special Ep: We Talk COVID.Gov, Lab Leaks & Raccoon Dogs w Paul Offit, Maciek Boni & David Wallace Wells
In this special episode, we dig into the origins of the pandemic. Has America decided it began with a lab leak? Is the debate over?The Trump administration says yes, launching a new government website asserting that Covid originated in a...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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1:21:48
Inside A Rare Conversation Between MAHA Grassroots and Public Health Leaders
In today’s episode: a conversation between two sides that don’t typically speak with each other—mainstream public health leaders and voices from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. These groups often talk about each other, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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1:45:50
Can Dems Be the Party of Health in an Age of RFK Jr.’s MAHA? A Conversation w Sen. Maggie Hassan
During RFK Jr.'s confirmation hearing back in January, many voices competed to be heard. But one cut through the noise: Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — a Democrat, a policymaker, and the mother of a son with Cerebral Palsy. Her emotion...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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45:44
How to Reach People in Today's New Media Amid a Crisis of Mistrust. A Conversation with Emily Jashinsky
We’re joined by Emily Jashinsky, co-host of Counterpoints with Ryan Grim. Formerly with The Federalist and The Hill, Emily now serves as DC correspondent for UnHerd and hosts Undercurrents TV. She’s ...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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53:43
A Writer's Journey w a Rare Disease Led Her to Champion Obamacare & Democrats. Why She Is Now a MAGA Supporter.
In today’s episode, we speak with Evan Barker, a writer, podcaster, and former Democratic staffer and fundraiser who, in 2024, voted for Donald Trump. Raised in a working-class community by her mother, Barker's family lived paycheck to paycheck...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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47:38
Special Ep: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Marks on Vaccine Safety, Trust, and the True Scope of the Measles Outbreak
Nation's Top Vaccine Regulator Just Ousted, Dr. Peter Marks: "Measles is NOT leveling off". This is in direct contrast to Secretary Kennedy's statement just yesterday that the nation's measles outbreak is under control.
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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1:10:50
Wendell Potter, A Health Insurance Exec Turned Whistleblower, On Blowing Up Our System
On today's episode, we tackle a topic that sparks more fear, frustration, and mistrust than perhaps any other: health insurance. From denied claims to endless bureaucratic red tape and the dread of sky-high out-of-pocket costs, it's no wonder s...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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57:19
What's the End Game? We Talk Massive Remaking of HHS with Gov't Reformer Jennifer Pahlka
Health and Human Services chief RFK Jr. unleashed much-anticipated cuts this week, bringing the total to 20,000 jobs slashed from our nation’s premier health institution. This follows cuts in money for state public health agencies and funding f...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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52:42
America’s Funding Cuts Chaos + Are We the Next No-Lockdown Sweden? We Chat with Anders Tegnell
Our team first takes on the drastic funding cuts shaking the medical, scientific, and public health communities before turning to a provocative question: What if, during the next pandemic, we avoided strict lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and wide...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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59:54
On Measles: Vaccines vs Vitamin A. Plus, What Marion Nestle Says Public Health Is Getting Wrong
Amid a deadly measles outbreak, a fresh battle has erupted, pitting mainstream public health against MAHA, infectious disease against chronic disease, and Vitamin A against vaccination. It's a fight that hinges on a fundamental question: Is you...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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1:03:16
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Big Pharma? We Ask a Bioethicist
"Big Pharma" — two words that Americans love to hate. When asked about the pharmaceutical industry, most of the country responds with a mix of anger and suspicion, using terms like "corporate capture," "revolving door," and "profits over people...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:11:19
Censorship vs. Science: The Fight Over Free Speech That Is Tearing Us Apart
During incoming NIH secretary Dr. Jay Bhattacharya's confirmation hearing this week, he vowed to "establish a culture of respect for free speech in science & scientific dissent at the NIH"; he went on to call dissent "the very essence of sc...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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1:23:21