Welcome to Season 4 of Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

I'm Josh Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, and a former Commissioner of Health in Baltimore City.

Our goal is to bring

scientific evidence and experience to current topics in public health through engaging interviews

with scientists, community leaders, policy experts, public health officials, clinicians, and more.

If you have ideas or questions for us to cover, please email us at public health question at jhhhu.edu.

That's public health question at jhhhu.edu for future podcast episodes.

Today, a podcast inspired by recent headlines. I speak to Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the recently

fired medical director for immunization programs in the Tennessee Department of Health.

We talk about her background in public health, but precipitated her firing, and its aftermath.

Let's listen.

Dr. Michelle Fiskees, thank you so much for coming to public health on call.

I know you've been in the news a lot lately, but I want to start with a question that allows

you to introduce yourself to the audience here.

Tell me why you became interested in pediatrics and your pediatrician?

You know, I became interested in medicine, I think, when I was in high school, and they're just, I don't remember there ever really being another thing for me. I mean, I was

interested in biology and chemistry and all that stuff.

And in going to college, I knew I was going to go to medical school.

And I don't know.

There's just something about pediatric medicine.

You know, stuff happens to kids, you know, usually not of their own making.

And they're incredibly resilient.

...