Buffalo HealthCast launches as official podcast of SPHHP

Compelled by a period of social injustice compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty, staff and students from the School of Public Health and Health Professions created the Buffalo HealthCast podcast in 2021.

Developed as part of the school’s equity, diversity and inclusion initiative, the podcast focused primarily on racism and health. Its purpose was to facilitate a discussion on campus and in the broader community about how UB could help tackle racism to improve population health, as well has how to create a more inclusive campus environment.

Buffalo HealthCast has tackled numerous topics, among them food insecurity, diversity and inclusion in academia, refugee health, abortion access and even cannabis legalization in New York State. Podcast hosts have interviewed guests from Buffalo all the way to Tanzania.

The podcast has been successful — so successful, in fact, that SPHHP became interested in collaborating with HealthCast’s creators to help expand the effort. This fall, SPHHP will launch Buffalo HealthCast as the school’s official podcast after investing resources that build upon the podcast’s already strong foundation, including hiring a graduate student assistant to aid in the production and promotion of each new episode. The result: an educational and high-quality podcast that SPHHP is proud to call its own.

Not only has the podcast been a way for undergraduate and graduate students to meaningfully engage with faculty and staff on important issues, but it also has been well received by the university and greater Buffalo community.  The Buffalo HealthCast team expects to only see the podcast grow from there.

Moving forward, Buffalo HealthCast will continue to look at topics through the lens of health equity while homing in on a theme each semester related to the work of the school’s researchers, faculty and students. The fall semester will focus on the topic of nutrition, with the help of a faculty consultant in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences. Episodes already planned will look at a cash plus program in Tanzania, food insecurity and HIV, and more.

Listeners can find Buffalo HealthCast wherever they get their podcasts. Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest episodes.