A host of public health podcasts launched during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic are drawing large audiences today.
Photo by Mixetto, courtesy iStockphoto
For virologist Maggie Bartlett, PhD, a concern was keeping her up at night. Just a few years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, she worried the next global outbreak could already be taking shape — and that too few people were paying attention.
“I was really mystified we weren't doing more to prevent the next pandemic, especially when avian influenza was being detected in a new mammalian species,” Bartlett told The Nation's Health. “We had many of the same ingredients as SARS-CoV-2 — but here in the U.S.”
While watching “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” Bartlett learned about executive producer and showrunner Brinda Adhikari and reached out. The two began collaborating on a project focused on lessons from COVID-19 and how to better prepare for the next crisis.
“One day in November 2024, Brinda called and said, ‘If we want to tackle this, we have to start a podcast,'” Bartlett said.
That idea led to “Why Should I Trust You?” hosted by Bartlett, Adhikari, physician Mark Abdelmalek, MD, and journalist Tom Johnson. Since its launch in January 2025, the podcast has been featured on Apple Podcasts' “new and noteworthy” list five times and was ranked among the top 5% of podcasts by Buzzsprout.
The series is part of a growing trend in public health. In a moment of declining trust in public health agency leadership, some practitioners are turning to podcasts to deliver accurate, accessible information, and rebuild relationships with the public.
Podcasts have surged in popularity among listeners, becoming a main source for information. A third of U.S. adults now get some of their news from podcasts — including nearly two-thirds of young adults and more than 60% of people ages 30 to 49, according to a September survey from the Pew Research Center.
The format's conversational style contributes to its draw, making complex topics easier to follow while also fostering a sense of connection, according to Jingwen Zhang, PhD, MA, an APHA member and associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California-Davis. She described the dynamic as a “parasocial relationship,” in which listeners feel like participants in the conversation rather than passive consumers.
Journalist David Wallace-Wells, right, is interviewed during an episode of “Why Should I Trust You?” From left are hosts Tom Johnson, Brinda Adhikari and Maggie Bartlett.
Photo courtesy “Why Should I Trust You?”
Among those who are part of that conversation is Mikhail Varshavski, DO. Better known as “Doctor Mike” on social media, Varshavski launched “The Checkup with Doctor Mike” in 2022. The show now holds nearly a five-star rating from more than 5,000 reviews on Spotify and ranks among the top 50 health and fitness shows on Apple Podcasts.
“When the podcast market started exploding, I saw that there was an appetite for more nuanced, lengthy conversations,” Varshavski, told The Nation's Health. “I didn't see great examples of this in the health care space, and we thought we could fill that void.”
His goal is to reach people who may be misled by health misinformation and engage with an audience that traditional medical messaging often fails to reach. As “grifters” and “snake oil salespeople” increasingly profit off misleading and false claims, that mission has become more urgent, Varshavski said.
“It's hard to grow a podcast by sharing sound health advice,” he said. “But sensationalist guests draw bigger audiences and profits. Once that cycle starts, hosts often keep booking poorly informed guests and avoid challenging misinformation.”
Recent polling shows a major shift in who Americans trust in public health. A February survey found less than two-thirds of Americans had confidence in information from major federal health agencies and just 43% expressed confidence in agency leaders, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Both Varshavski and Bartlett say reaching broader audiences can mean engaging with controversial voices, even when disagreements are likely. For Varshavski, that approach means trusting the audience to evaluate what they hear.
“My goal is not to convince someone who disagrees with me,” he said. “It's to ask probing questions and let the audience decide whether that person is being honest and trustworthy.”
A third of U.S. adults now get some of their news from podcasts — including nearly two-thirds of young adults.
Photo by SDI Productions, courtesy iStockphoto
Breaking through to new audiences is not easy. The sheer number of podcasts can make it difficult to stand out — Spotify alone hosts more than 7 million podcast titles — and both hosts and listeners can fall into echo chambers where existing beliefs are reinforced.
Growing up in Nebraska has shaped Bartlett's approach, pushing her to bring a wider range of voices into the conversation on “Why Should I Trust You?” — including those she may not agree with.
“This gets to a core issue with scientific conferences in public health,” she said. “It's often experts talking to other experts, which has value. But there needs to be an expansion of who's in that tent to make sure that it's clear what we're doing on the public health side and how that's reaching people.”
Bartlett and Varshavski are part of a broader wave of public health voices turning to podcasting to open that tent.
Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, a content strategist in public health communications, launched Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's “Public Health on Call” with a co-host in March 2020. Originally focused on COVID-19, the podcast has switched to a range of public health topics, attracting a wide audience.
“People are listening to podcasts while they do other things…while they're cooking dinner, while they're commuting, while they're exercising,” Rogers told The Nation's Health. “Not only are you reaching a lot of people, you're reaching them in a unique way where you know they're spending a lot of time with you...that builds relationships and that builds trust.”
Early episodes drew as many as 20,000 downloads each, with many listeners tuning in from outside the public health community. The goal was to break down complex issues in ways that are accessible to a broader audience.
“We've tried to provide context for what's happening and help people understand it,” Rogers told The Nation's Health.
Faced with misinformation, podcasters are working to share accurate, accessible news.
Photo courtesy LaylaBird, iStockphoto
For Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke, who launched “This Podcast Will Kill You” in 2017, the show offered a way to talk about public health and disease education in a way that is approachable.
“We want every listener to take something away from it — whether they're an expert in public health, medicine or disease ecology — or someone who's last biology class was in high school,” Welsh, PhD, MS, told The Nation's Health.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the co-hosts produced more than 20 episodes breaking down the evolving virus. They went on to tackle timely topics that are especially vulnerable to misinformation.
“I hope that what people get out of it is this broad appreciation for the wonder that is public health and medicine — and sometimes how far we still have to go,” Allmann Updyke, MD, PhD, MPH, told The Nation's Health.
One of the longest-running public health podcasts is “The Nation's Health Podcast,” which has been sharing episodes for more than a decade. Originally launched to complement news stories from the newspaper, the podcast now shares original public health news reports each month. Recent episodes have focused on AI chatbots and teens, building vaccination confidence among parents in the face of an erosion of trust in science, and public health advocacy.
To explore more podcasts, visit The Nation's Health's public health podcast directory at www.thenationshealth.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
