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

I'm Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement,

and a former health commissioner here in Baltimore.

Our goal is to bring evidence and experience to illuminate critical public health issues.

If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.h.org

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

Hi, I'm Lindsay Smith-Rogers, producer, Public Health on Call.

Today, the podcast heads to Oklahoma.

Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahoma's chief COVID officer, an interim dean of the Hudson College of Public Health, joins Dr. Sharstein.

They discussed shutting down the university in the winter of

2020, the lasting health and economic effects of the pandemic, and the particularly

severe impact on rural communities. Let's listen. Dr. Dale Bratzler, thank you so much for

joining me on Public Health on call to talk a bit about your experience on COVID in Oklahoma.

Yeah, thank you. It's my pleasure to be here.

I think it would help maybe just to introduce yourself to our listeners.

You've had quite an interesting perspective during the pandemic in a state that doesn't get a lot of attention.

Yeah, thank you. So I have had an interesting role here at the University of Oklahoma through the pandemic.

Back when the pandemic started, I was the chief quality officer of our health system, which

includes our three hospitals and our faculty practice, and I continued to hold that role.

But in June of 2020, the university president

contacted me and asked me if I would serve in the role of chief COVID officer for the entire

university. And then most recently, in February this year, I was asked to assume the role of

...