1053 - Health Commissioner Michelle Taylor is Betting on Baltimore
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
About this episode:
Not even a year into her job as the Baltimore City Commissioner of Health, Dr. Michelle Taylor is balancing leading a diverse team with tackling major public health issues. In this episode: She speaks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein, who served as commissioner from 2005 to 2009, about what drew her to Baltimore, her early priority initiatives, and how she applies her public health training to her new role.
Guest:
Dr. Michelle Taylor, DrPH, MPA, is the Baltimore City Commissioner of Health. She also serves in the Tennessee Air National Guard, and she previously led operations at the Shelby County Health Department.
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former Baltimore health commissioner and secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
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The Commissioner: A Q&A With Michelle Taylor—Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine
-
Baltimore's Record Low in Homicides—Public Health On Call (November 2025)
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Healing City Baltimore: How A City Is Responding to A Mental Health Crisis—Public Health On Call (February 2024)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Lindsay Smith Rogers, producer and co-host of Public Health On Call. |
| 0:03.7 | Thank you for joining us for this season of the podcast. |
| 0:06.7 | We'll be taking a break the week of May 25th, returning for season 14 on Monday, June 1st. |
| 0:12.1 | As always, please keep sending your ideas and questions to public health question at jhhhue.edu, and thanks for listening. |
| 0:19.5 | Welcome to Public Health on Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:25.2 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:35.5 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:43.1 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:50.6 | Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith-Rogers. |
| 0:52.8 | Today, a very special conversation with the Baltimore City Commissioner of Health and 2026 Bloomberg School of Public Health Convocation Speaker, Dr. Michelle Taylor. Dr. Taylor talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what her first months on the job have been like, what energizes her about serving the city of Baltimore, and how |
| 1:11.2 | she balances leading a team with tackling some big public health issues. Let's listen. |
| 1:17.4 | Dr. Taylor, it is great to see you. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you? |
| 1:23.3 | It is always a great day when I get to talk to the Baltimore City Health Commissioner. Now, how long have you been on the job? |
| 1:29.0 | I have officially been on the job for seven months now. |
| 1:32.8 | It has gone quickly? |
| 1:34.7 | It has gone very quickly. |
| 1:36.4 | And that means that I've been staying busy, and it's been a good busy. |
| 1:40.3 | So where are you spending your time now? |
| 1:43.0 | What I'm spending my time on is just making sure that the employees and staff at Baltimore |
| 1:50.0 | City Health Department had everything that they need to do their jobs well. |
| 1:54.6 | Of course, as you know, we're about to enter budget season. |
| 1:58.5 | And so that means that as we were talking before we got on this |
... |
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