PODCAST

The Wooden Teeth Show

Jake Williams

Government, elections, historical myths, webs of influence – they’re all affecting your health more than you think.

government & organizations non-profit

All Episodes

Why does CrossFit have a political agenda?

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/04/11

This week: We learn that there’s an exercise Jake can’t do, find out why a gym company has a government affairs director, and learn about “unholy alliances” of less-than-savory businesses and government health agencies. We’re joined by Russ Greene, who heads up government relations for CrossFit, which now has more than 15,000 affiliate gyms around the country and we find out what it means to be a fitness company with its own political ideology. Disclosure: Jake <3s CrossFit.

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Politicians can choose their own voters. Is that a...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/04/06

Every 10 years, based on the data provided by the U.S. Census, states redraw the country's congressional and state legislative districts. It’s an intense and often contentious political process that shapes representation for the decade to follow. The rules about how redistricting works, specifically about whether districts can be drawn to expressly favor one party over another, are being considered right now by the U.S. Supreme Court. The outcome of that case could have profound impact upon the

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Childbirth and reproductive health in America: Where...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/03/28

Another dispatch from SXSW and a big, important conversation this week. We’re talking maternal health care and the worsening dangers of childbirth in the U.S. We’re also talking abortion and comprehensive sex education as part of the spectrum of reproductive health care and why so many American women deliver their babies via c-section. Paid family leave makes an appearance too. Join us as we sit down with three passionate experts and advocates on International Women’s Day, who were in Austin to

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The physical and mental toll of mass violence

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/03/21

In the wake of violence, some survivors appear unharmed but actually experience very real mental health injuries. Manya Chylinski, a survivor of 2013 Boston Marathon bombing who now speaks about mental trauma and resiliency & Amanda Samman, CEO of the Better Lab and trauma surgeon at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, join us on the podcast this week. We talk with Manya about her personal journey after the marathon and to Amanda about how her experience has informed how

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We went to SXSW and heard a lot of things

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/03/13

This week: A little change of pace from the Wooden Teeth crew. We snagged a booth at the SXSW Wellness Expo and talked to anyone who’d lend an ear about this very show – and we also got their thoughts on tape about the products they were selling and what influences their chance to be healthy. Listen up for some of the best, most-interesting, and most-head-scratching products and ideas about our health.

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What are the most effective policy proposals to...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/03/06

President & CEO of Trust for America’s Health, John Auerbach, joins us on the podcast as we discuss effective policy proposals to improve health. We talk about the evolution of public health, the role of Trust for America's Health (TFAH), and we dive deep about specific state-level policy ideas. TFAH recently examined 1500 policies in an effort to identify the most feasible and effective ones that states can use to improve health and control costs. Their wide-ranging findings include

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Should people be allowed to inject illegal drugs...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/02/27

Harm Reduction Action Center, drug users are provided with clean needles to prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, along with other resources to help them stay healthy and avoid overdose, in addition to providing treatment referral. Last year, Denver approved a measure that would create a pilot site for a "supervised use site," a place where people could legally inject drugs under medical supervision. However, state approval would still be needed, and federal threats by the Trump

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What makes a movement succeed or fail?

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/02/20

Leslie Crutchfield is Executive Director of the Global Social Enterprise Initiative at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and she’s the author of "How Change Happens: Why some social movements succeed and others don't." We talk about why societal trends go where they do and the effect those trends have on the direction of the country. Like, how did we make so much progress on LGBTQ rights while the country also stockpiled guns and ammunition? Important for us, specifically, we

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Is public health under siege? And other hot topics...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/02/13

The Executive Director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Dr. Georges Benjamin joins us on the podcast today. We talk about some of the greatest public health achievements of the 21st century like maternal and infant health. We also discuss climate change and why APHA thinks it’s a public health concern. Dr. Georges Benjamin gets real as he provides a critique of Trump’s State of the Union address to eradicate HIV and AIDS. And to top it all off, we talk about APHA’s recent forum

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Getting to know SiX with Jessie Ulibarri

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/02/06

We all know shows like The West Wing and Veep accurately portray the day-to-day lives of our elected officials. WRONG! Jessie Ulibarri is the executive director at the State Innovation Exchange (Six) and unfortunately, he’s here to tell us government is nothing like what you see on TV. Especially state government. We talk with Ulibarri about how SiX supports state legislators with tools and resources to pass progressive policies like paid family leave, criminal justice reform, paid sick days, and

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News with friends: Scott Wasserman

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/01/30

We’re trying something new today! We process current events from a public policy and public health perspective with friends of the podcast. And who better to kick this off than Scott Wasserman, president of the Bell Policy Center! We talk about the 3 M’s on this episode: medicare for all, Marxism, and marijuana. Wait, is that a thing? Probably not but we might patent it. Stay tuned. We also talk about Coloradans running for president, the federal government shutdown, and teacher strikes. Check

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Science & democracy with Michael J. Thompson

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/01/23

We live in a complicated society. We’re technologically advanced and scientifically complex. And while a world of information is right at our fingertips to help us dissect these convoluted studies, there’s also an abundance of misinformation spreading like wildfire. Michael J. Thompson, editor of, Anti-Science and the Assault on Democracy, discusses “fake news” around climate change, and outlandish claims about the effects of vaccines. I mean, should we trust those fancy pants scientists? Or are

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What states can do to address gun violence with Ari...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/01/16

Ari Freilich is the staff attorney and California Legislative Affairs Director at the Giffords Center to Prevent Gun Violence and he joins us this week to talk about, well, guns, gun violence, and preventing gun violence. The Giffords Center was founded by former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords after she and 18 others were shot at a constituent event in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, AZ. And whether or not you believe guns kill people or people kill people, Freilich takes us down

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Wages and public health with J. Paul Leigh, PhD

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2019/01/09

How much you earn directly affects your chances at good health. Straightforward enough, right? Well, sorta. J. Paul Leigh, PhD, Professor of Economics within the Public Health Division at UC-Davis, clues us in this week on how it’s actually a lot more than simple cause-and-effect. He caught our eye recently when he published a piece with Juan Du on the effects of minimum wage on the population’s health. We chat about the health effects of wages, job satisfaction, and unemployment – and why it’s

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Edgar Villanueva, vicious cycles, and 'Decolonizing...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2018/12/19

Edgar Villanueva has a new book. But more than that, he has a set of solutions to the pernicious problem of white men controlling the flow of philanthropic money in our country. His solutions are rooted in Native wisdom and he’s a member of the Lumbee Tribe, hailing originally from North Carolina. We discuss how foundations are stuck in vicious cycles, often reluctant to engage in upending a system that generated their wealth in the first place. And when it comes to health, they’re often stuck on

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Marion Nestle and the politics of food, sugar,...

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2018/12/12

Author, professor, and general public health force of nature Marion Nestle joins us this week.Her newest book, Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat, examines the influence that food companies exert on the research that tags their products as healthy or not. As you might imagine, when food companies fund research, the results often come out looking prettttttttttty good for those companies.Marion also shares some fascinating anecdotes, including how the how the Russian

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Fear and its affect on public health

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2018/12/05

Three researchers are the first people to study how living in fear changes our health. How do you measure such a thing? What contributes to a person’s fears? What’s the political climate’s affect on fear, especially with constant threats of mass deportation and repeatedly stoked fears of crime?Another dispatch from the American Public Health Association’s annual conference, we join Marie-Claude Couture, Dellanira Garcia, and Erin Grinshteyn of the University of San Francisco to examine how fear is

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What Black women can teach us about health

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2018/11/28

From a giant (echoey) conference room at the American Public Health Association’s annual conference, Jake sits down with Linda Blount, President and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative. Linda explains BWHI’s mission of reducing health disparities for Black women and fills us in on what we can learn from Black women about the public’s health. She’s got fascinating thoughts as well on how we sell public health like companies sell products, that is, how we make people want better

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Taking on 'traffic violence' in New York City

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2018/11/14

Transportation Alternatives advocates for New York City’s streets to be safer for pedestrians and cyclists. They’ve got to navigate both the difficult physical and political terrain in their quest to make the city safe for residents who want to commute by walking and biking. How do you organize to move elected officials? How do you change the characterization of injuries and deaths from “accidents” into “traffic violence?” Transportation Alternatives Director of Advocacy Thomas Devito joins us to

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Rich Pelletier and what's next for Bernie Sanders

The Wooden Teeth Show ·

2018/11/07

Last night, Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives after a campaign waged on the issue of health care and as a check on President Trump. With midterm-induced change ringing in our head, we check in with Rich Pelletier, who was Bernie Sanders’s National Field Director. What’s next for Bernie? How did Bernie manage to so substantially outperform expectations? What do voters really want in the next presidential candidate?

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