If I Could Change One Thing: Brynn Carrigan on Public Health Leadership and Valley Fever
Release Date: 10/09/2025
If I Could Change One Thing: Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan on Responding to the Tijuana River Crisis
If I Could Change One Thing
Welcome to the 12th season of the SDSU School of Public Health Podcast! On this episode, Dr. Brittnie Bloom and Karrignton Smith, MPH student, speak with Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan, MD, MPH, Public Health Officer, about the Tijuana River Sewage Crisis impacting San Diego communities. Is this just an environmental and infrastructure issue, or a full public health crisis affecting individuals on both sides of the border? Listen and find out on this episode of If I Could Change One Thing!
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If I Could Change One Thing: Tomás Aragón on Leadership and Decision-Making in Public Health
If I Could Change One Thing
On this episode of If I Could Change One Thing, our host Dr. Brittnie Bloom and student co-hosts Yucef Bouzina and Sophia Valdez welcome Dr. Tomás Aragón to discuss leadership and innovation in the field of public health. Dr. Aragón reflects on his experience serving as the Director of the California Department of Public Health and his efforts in transforming the department into a learning and impactful organization. This conversation centers on his idea of Decision Intelligence, a model designed to improve strategic decisions and balance human values. Dr. Aragón explains the integration...
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If I Could Change One Thing: SDSU MPH / MS Students on the Future of Public Health
If I Could Change One Thing
On this episode of If I Could Change One Thing, our host Dr. Brittnie Bloom takes a step back and lets the students take over! Our talented co-hosts are Lesly Lopez and Katherine Campion, graduating undergraduates in SDSU's School of Public Health who are joined by SDSU Masters of Public Health and Masters of Science students Kitiara Cox, Chris Cellini, and Olivia Pugsley. Our panel of public health peers discuss their various academic paths and what led them to public health. We get their insight into applying to masters programs, how they selected their public health concentration, and their...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Dr. Amanda Miller on Human First Global Health
If I Could Change One Thing
In this episode of If I Could Change One Thing, Dr. Brittnie Bloom and co-host Grana Safi speak with Dr. Amanda Miller, a tenure-track professor at San Diego State University and recipient of a prestigious NIH career development award, to explore what it really means to do global health research with integrity and intention. Dr. Miller reflects on a career that didn’t follow a straight path. From studying anthropology and nannying in San Francisco to earning her doctorate and leading community based research in Uganda and South Africa, Dr. Miller makes a compelling case that the “messy”...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Cara Mears and Ending Homelessness One Name at a Time
If I Could Change One Thing
In this episode of If I Could Change One Thing, Dr. Brittnie Bloom and podcast team member Alexis Greenfield sit down with Cara Mears, Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations at the San Diego Rescue Mission (SDRM), to explore innovative and compassionate approaches to addressing homelessness. Cara shares her powerful career journey, from decades in sales to answering a personal calling sparked by a life-changing encounter with a man experiencing homelessness. She explains the SDRM’s holistic model, which prioritizes rehabilitation, mental health, sobriety, job training, and...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Robert Browning and Sheva Carr on The Heart of Healing
If I Could Change One Thing
If I Could Change One Thing host Dr. Brittnie Bloom and co-host Lesley Lopez welcome Robert Browning and Sheva Carr to the podcast for a conversation on heart intelligence, healing, and human caring. As Co-Directors of Healthcare and Senior Master Trainers at HeartMath, Robert and Sheva bring more than three decades of experience working in healthcare, education, public policy, and global peacebuilding. Their work spans major health systems including Kaiser Permanente, Stanford, and the VA, as well as global initiatives with the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Together, they...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Chrissy Cmorik on Sex Ed, Advocacy, and Reproductive Justice
If I Could Change One Thing
If I Could Change One Thing host Dr. Brittnie Bloom and co-host Yucef Bouzina speak with Chrissy Cmorik, Senior Director of Education for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, SDSU Adjunct Professor, and SART Advocate with the Center for Community Solutions, about sexual health, education, and reproductive justice. Chrissy takes us from her start as a SART advocate, sitting with survivors in their most vulnerable hours, to her work creating Planned Parenthood’s free online platform Sex Ed To Go. We grapple with how to reach people when politics and stigma get in the way and why...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Darbi Berry on the Climate Connection and Public Health Resilience
If I Could Change One Thing
On this episode of the If I Could Change One Thing Podcast, Dr. Brittnie Bloom and student co-host Karsen Caroll welcome Darbi Berry, Director of the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative Nonprofit and Professor at San Diego State University. In this episode, we learn how social structures within our environmental systems can perpetuate climate change and environmental vulnerability. Darbi offers us ways to adapt and create an “equity first” approach to learning how climate change impacts our planet and how we can be mindful about our contributions to climate change. Darbi has worked on...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Dr. Megan Ebor on Storytelling and Sexual Health (Season 11 Episode 3)
If I Could Change One Thing
In this episode of the If I Could Change One Thing podcast, Dr. Brittnie Bloom and her cohost Sophia Valdez speak with scholar, filmmaker, and public health advocate Dr. Megan Ebor to explore her work in the intersection of race, aging, and sexual health. Dr. Ebor shares her own creative journey from her beginnings in the music industry to academia and filmmaking as a tool for advocacy and change. Together, they discuss taboos around sexual health and aging, the power of storytelling, and the importance of leading with compassion and humanity in both research and teaching. En este episodio del...
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If I Could Change One Thing: Dr. Shunling Tsang on Blue Zones and Rethinking How We Build (Healthier) Communities
If I Could Change One Thing
On this episode of If I Could Change One Thing, host Dr. Brittnie Bloom welcomes Dr. Shunling Tsang—Family Medicine Chair and Deputy Public Health Officer for Riverside County—to explore how upstream, community-driven strategies can power better health. Dr. Tsang shares her winding path from event planning to public health and medicine, and why blending clinical care with prevention matters. We dive into Riverside County’s Blue Zones Project—from “Power 9” habits that we all can benefit from to local policies that help make “the healthy choice the easy choice”, like increasing...
info_outlineIn this episode, Dr. Brittnie Bloom speaks with Brynn Carrigan, Director of Public Health for Kern County, California. Carrigan, who stepped into the Director role in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has spearheaded community-driven initiatives to address Kern County’s most pressing health challenges, which include education attainment, diabetes and other chronic health conditions, and access to care. Tune in to hear how her unique personal and professional experiences have shaped her mission to build a healthier future for all – only on If I Could Change One Thing, San Diego State University’s School of Public Health Podcast.
La Dra. Brittnie Bloom habla con Brynn Carrigan, Directora de Salud Pública del Condado de Kern, California. Carrigan, quien asumió el cargo de directora en 2021 durante el auge de la pandemia de COVID-19, ha liderado iniciativas impulsadas por la comunidad para abordar los desafíos de salud más apremiantes del Condado de Kern, que incluyen la educación, la diabetes y otras enfermedades crónicas, y el acceso a la atención médica. Sintonice para escuchar cómo sus experiencias personales y profesionales únicas han moldeado su misión de construir un futuro más saludable para todos, solo en 'If I Could Change One Thing', el podcast de la Escuela de Salud Pública de la Universidad Estatal de San Diego.