S2 Ep2 Speaking Frankly: Supporting youths’ choice to parent with Dr. Aisha Mays

Dr. Aisha Mays is a Family Physician who focuses on Adolescent Medicine. She is the Founder and Medical Director of the Dream Youth Clinic of Roots Community Health Center, in Oakland, California — a youth-led, youth-engaged adolescent clinic co-located within Oakland’s two youth shelters.

Dr. Mays’ work centers on adolescent reproductive health, reproductive justice for highly vulnerable youth, and the health risks associated with childhood commercial sexual exploitation. Her research focuses on exploring reproductive justice barriers and supporting sexual health for youth.

On this episode, we talk with Dr. Mays about her important work.

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S2 Ep1 Speaking Frankly: Welcoming the new CAPTC Director, Dana Cropper

Dana Cropper recently took the helm of the California Prevention Training Center as its new Director, after Alice Gandelman’s retirement. Dana previously served as Director of Education at HealthHIV.

In this debut episode of Speaking Frankly season two, we talk with Dana about her new position, why Oprah and Sojourner Truth are two of her heroes, and why she thinks to reduce stigma, we must each engage in deep and ongoing self-reflection “about how we navigate through the world”.

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S1 Ep8 Speaking Frankly: Rolling out the first injectable HIV treatment

On Jan 21, 2021, the FDA approved Cabenuva, the first once-monthly injectable HIV treatment for adults. Dr. Kelly Johnson, a fellow in infectious diseases and in sexually transmitted diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, explains the implications of this new treatment and how it affects the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV.

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S1 Ep7 Speaking Frankly: How effective are the COVID-19 vaccines? w/Dr. Monica Gandhi

Dr. Monica Gandhi is an infectious disease physician and professor of medicine at UCSF, and the Medical Director of the Ward 86 clinic. She talks about the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (that was submitted to the FDA for Emergency Use Authorization on 2/8/2021), and theorizes as to when we may return to some normalcy.

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S1 Ep6 Speaking Frankly: Fighting STIgma with humor & honesty w/Dr. Ina Park

In Dr. Ina Park’s new book, Strange Bedfellows, she helps readers understand the broad impact of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), while removing the unfair stigma. She speaks with us about the writing process, tackling sex ed with her own kids, and how stigma impacts mental and physical health.

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S1 Ep5 Speaking Frankly: What’s driving the rise in Congenital Syphilis? w/ Dr. Plotzker

Congenital syphilis (CS) is up 900% in California since 2012. UC San Francisco’s Dr. Rosalyn Plotzker speaks with us about CS prevention and treatment and about the complex issues contributing to the spike, like systemic racism.

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S1 Ep4 Speaking Frankly: COVID-19, HIV & the risk of future pandemics w/Dr. Rutherford

Dr. George Rutherford, Professor of Epidemiology at UC San Francisco, talks with us about COVID-19, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and why anti-microbial resistance is the next public health threat.

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S1 Ep3 Speaking Frankly: Sex ed has come a long way w/Lidia Carlton Pt2

We continue our discussion with Lidia Carlton, Director of Community Education at Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, about the CA Healthy Youth Act and how it’s changing sex ed. She tells us why some parents are pushing back against gender diversity discussions, and why sex ed is a natural place to teach about race and ableism.

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S1 Ep2 Speaking Frankly: Sex ed has come a long way w/Lidia Carlton Pt 1

We talk with Lidia Carlton, Director of Community Education at Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley. She walks us through the California Healthy Youth Act (AB 329) which mandates more inclusive sex ed in California’s public schools. She sheds light on the nuances of the legislation, talks about why some parents are pushing back against it, and why comprehensive sex ed is a health equity issue.

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S1 Ep1 Speaking Frankly: Behind the scenes of contact tracing w/Wanda Jackson

In early November 2020 (five weeks before the FDA approved the first COVID-19 vaccine) we talked with Wanda Jackson, an expert in disease investigation and contact tracing. Wanda explains the ins-and-outs of contact tracing and underscores the value of compassion and empathy as we face one of the greatest health challenges in history.

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