957 - The Formula for Better Health
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
For centuries, public health has seen invisible killers, believed in the power of community interventions, and created better health outcomes across the globe. In this episode: Former CDC director Tom Frieden explains how to tackle today's biggest health challenges and previews his new book, "The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own".
Guest:
Dr. Tom Frieden, MPH, is the president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. He previously served as the director of the CDC and is the author of "The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own".
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
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The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own—Penguin Random House
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A former CDC director's guide to seeing and stopping threats to America's health—STAT
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:30.9 | It's Lindsay Smith-Rogers, and today it's a book club podcast. |
| 0:35.0 | Dr. Tom Frieden is the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| 0:39.2 | and former Health Commissioner of New York City. He speaks to Dr. Josh Sarfstein about his new book, |
| 0:44.8 | The Formula for Better Health, How to Save Millions of Lives, Including Your Own. Let's listen. |
| 0:50.7 | Dr. Tom Frieden, it is great to see you here on public health on call. How are you doing today? |
| 0:56.1 | Josh, it is great to talk with you. I'm looking forward to this conversation. I'm so excited for the |
| 1:01.4 | opportunity to share what 40 years of work and 10 years of writing may provide for others. |
| 1:07.5 | Well, I have just finished your fantastic book, The Formula for Better Health, |
| 1:11.2 | How to Save Millions of Lives, Including Your Own, 10 years of writing. What did you want |
| 1:17.1 | to accomplish with this book? What I hope to do is to show why public health is important |
| 1:24.3 | and how to succeed, not just community-wide, but also for individuals. |
| 1:30.6 | And what I came to after thinking hard about it is that there really is an approach, |
| 1:36.9 | a formula that has saved millions of lives and can save millions of lives more, including yours. |
| 1:45.3 | Well, I'm interested in that. I'm sure our listeners are too. Let me start with your big |
| 1:49.9 | picture about public health. Why is public health important in 2025? Public health is our |
| 1:56.2 | organized actions that allow us to live longer, healthier lives without having to worry about |
| 2:04.1 | getting sick or disabled or not being able to do the things that we want to do. |
| 2:10.2 | Public health is about living the lives that we want to live. |
... |
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