Season 14 • Episode 1121

Public Health and… Anesthesiology?

Episode Description

About this episode:

We promise this episode won't put you to sleep. Adam Milam is a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist with a PhD in public health who leverages this unique background to improve the quality of care for his patients inside the operating room and beyond. In this episode: Dr. Milam shares how his public health training has allowed him to probe at larger questions about ethics and care as a clinician, and how his time in the operating room has given him a sense of urgency in solving population-level challenges.

Guest:

Dr. Adam Milam, PhD, MHS, is a professor of anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and he serves as vice chair for health outcomes in the department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine.

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:

Equity and Quality—Improving Health Care Delivery Requires Both—JAMA
Advancing Health Equity Research in Perioperative Medicine—Anesthesiology & Analgesia
Social drivers of health and perioperative outcomes: Identifying domains and barriers with significant impact—The American Journal of Surgery

Transcript information:

Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. You can also email PublicHealthQuestion@jhu.edu to request a transcript.

AI disclosure (as of September 2026):

The conversations you hear on the podcast are happening between real humans, and real humans are developing and researching episodes behind the scenes. In addition to real human audio engineers, Public Health On Call uses AI production tools to assist with the removal of filler words and improve audio quality. If you have any questions about our use of AI, please reach out to PublicHealthQuestion@jhu.edu.

Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. You can also leave us a voicemail at ‪(667) 217-6214‬ for the chance to hear your voice on the podcast.