Listen to the final episode of Our Stories, Our World
In the sixth and final episode of our podcast, we once again focus on public health, this time from the perspective of Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran (above, at bottom of right-most column) a community-engaged health researcher and internationally recognized leader in vascular neurology and stroke research and treatment. Prabhakaran, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to Chicago in 2006, currently serves as principal investigator of the Chicago regional coordinating center in the National Institutes of Health’s stroke trials network (NIH StrokeNet). He is also an active community-engaged health researcher who partners with neighbors and community leaders to translate and share research findings to those most impacted by them.
In this episode, Prabhakaran shared a screenshot (above) of a virtual meeting of our Chicago Community, Media & Research Partnership (CCMRP) that took place during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the partnership of community leaders, community media journalists, and community-engaged health researchers was just a few months into a two-year project dedicated to making health research more accessible through community media. Looking at this photo, Prabhakaran sees a group of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences who came together with a common goal: improving health equity. That diversity, he said, is essential to his work in public health—and to finding creative and impactful solutions to the problems we face throughout our society.
Interviewer Daniel Animashaun is a rising junior at Lindblom Math & Science Academy in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood. In addition to expertly interviewing community members, he enjoys participating in track and Real Men Talk, a leadership development program run by his school’s Dean of Students, Shohn Williams, who was featured in Our Stories, Our World’s first episode.
Click here to listen to the sixth and final episode of Our Stories, Our World.
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Our Stories, Our World is a youth-led series featuring Chicagoans' perspectives on public safety, public health and public education. This six-episode podcast is a first-ever collaboration between Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth, an Ohio-based nonprofit focused on strengths-based storytelling for community change. The series combines audio stories and photography to create a set of citizen-centered podcasts that flip the script on traditional media narratives--uplifting community perspectives rather than focusing on conflict.
Other interviewees include educator Shohn Williams, Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez, retired police officer Vanessa Westley, abolitionist Tynetta Hill-Muhammad, and adoptee and immigrant rights activist Taneka Jennings. The podcast is available on all platforms. Click here to listen, and click here to learn more about the podcast.
PODCAST TEAM:
Youth Story-gatherers: Daniel Animashaun, Kaylen Brandt and Andrea Hernandez
Audio Editor: Samantha Gattsek
Music Composer: Malci
Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios
Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo and Elissa Yancey
Thanks to our sponsors, the Chicago Foundation for Women and BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, for their support of this podcast.