Hosted by Salma Abdalla · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 28 episodes
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In this podcast, hosted by Dr. Salma Abdalla—Assistant Professor and Director of the Healthier Futures Lab at Washington University in St. Louis—we provide rigorous, evidence-based analysis of complex population health challenges. In a time of social, economic, and political upheaval—marked by eroding public trust, polarized narratives, and growing uncertainty—this podcast aims to challenge oversimplified narratives about the forces that shape the health of populations.Salma engages guests from across disciplines in rigorous, evidence-based conversations that challenge conventional wisdom. The conversations sometimes pose uncomfortable questions, seek nuanced perspectives, and question not just what we think, but how we arrive at our conclusions in public health.We explore the inherent complexities, real-world tradeoffs, and unintended consequences of public health interventions. Our goal is to empower listeners with nuanced understanding, helping them navigate these multifaceted iss
Salma Abdalla hosts Complicating The Narrative, a science show with 28 episodes published.
What does it take to shift a public health narrative and are researchers ready when the moment comes? Whitney and Salma start their conversation discussing Whitney’s move from obesity to gynecologic research, highlightin
Katherine Keyes joins Salma to discuss the strengths and limitations of epidemiology, beginning with the gap between what averages tell us about populations and what they fail to predict about individuals. They explore h
How can you engage in healthy and fruitful conversation with people who think differently? Brinda Adhikari joins Salma to discuss the importance of healthy disagreement and unpack how conversations between people who thi
What does it take to close the gap between evidence and action in public health? As part of the first episode of the Building Better Ways of Knowing mini-series, Alonzo Plough joins Salma to reflect on the inaugural conv
What would it take to build a public health knowledge system that is more pluralistic, reflexive, and oriented toward action? The Building Better Ways of Knowing initiative was created by the Healthier Futures Lab at Was
When and how, if ever, can public health compromise individual autonomy to prioritize the population’s health? Professor Justin Bernstein joins Salma to discuss the different types of autonomy and liberty, from an ethica
Why should we all be concerned about sea-level rise and its health impacts today, despite it seeming like a problem of the future? Dr. Kathryn Bowen and Dr. Jemilah Mahmood join Salma to discuss the recently launched Lan
What happens when the global health architecture built over 80 years is changed drastically in 16 months and what should replace it? Dr. Gbenga Ogedegbe is the Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Medicine and Popul
How do public health institutions experiencing declining public trust go about becoming trustworthy again? Erin O'Malley is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Trust in Health and Science, a coalition of more tha
By some estimates, hundreds of thousands of Americans die each year who would still be alive if the United States had the mortality rates of other wealthy countries. What makes this even more unsettling is that it wasn't
This is a Purple Public Health Project episode. Dr. Itai Bavli is a Research Associate and lecturer at the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia, as well as the author of the Su
Why does the US spend more on healthcare than other high-income countries and still have lower life expectancy? Dr. Jose Francisco Figueroa is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Ch
This is a revisit of an episode originally published in September 2025. How can we capture complex social phenomena impacting health in research? Dr. Maria Glymour, Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology a
How can we support people age safely and with dignity in their own homes? Dr. Susy Stark, is a Professor at the Washington University in St Louis School of Public Health. As an occupational therapist and community-based
How does research actually shape policy and when is evidence "good enough" to act on? In this episode, Salma Abdalla is joined by Dr Kathryn Backholer, Professor of Public Health Policy and co-director of the Global Cent
Does public health belong to people with a specific perspective, or is it—as the term implies—for the public at large? Today’s episode is different. Dean Sandro Galea, Dean and Distinguished Professor at WashU School of
In global health, evidence, authority, and distance are often deeply entangled. Dr. Seye Abimbola is Professor of Health Systems at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. He is a leading voice in debates on d
Will superbugs take over the world, as increasing media articles suggest? Dr. Sabiha Essack is Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), where she established the Antimicrobial Resea
When tribunals like the International Criminal Court prosecutes gender-based violence in conflict, what evidence do they need? And who gathers it? Kim Thuy Seelinger is a Professor of Practice at Washington University Sc
What is global health—and who gets to define it? For decades, the field has claimed universality while being shaped largely by specific institutions, priorities, and assumptions. But what happens when we center the place
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Complicating The Narrative is hosted by Salma Abdalla. The show is categorised under science and has published 28 episodes.
Complicating The Narrative has published 28 episodes.
Complicating The Narrative regularly covers science. It sits in the science category.
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Episodes of Complicating The Narrative average 44 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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