The Evidence-to-Impact Podcast · The Social Science Research Institute

Episode 20: Chronic Diseases: Underserved Communities, Prevention, and Genetic Factors

·34 min·2 clips

Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes says early childhood and the prenatal period can shape “the developmental origins of health and disease.”

Michael Donovan opens the conversation by framing Evidence & Impact as a place where academic researchers, government staff, and practitioner partners talk through research insights and real-world policy solutions in Pennsylvania and beyond. He sets the topic at the intersection of chronic disease prevention and genetics. Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes introduces herself and traces the path that brought her into research. She says she did not always expect to go into academia, but she found that she loved research in college and once thought medicine was the only way to make a difference in people's health. Amy Flaherty then moves the discussion toward implementation. Lindsay explains how limited schooling, low income, and irregular immigration status can make it harder to self-advocate, navigate work, and move forward in the United States. She describes those conditions as upstream social determinants of health that affect diet, physical activity, access, and the ability to maintain a healthy weight over time. Amy picks up that same frame. She points to transportation and child care as real barriers for diabetes prevention programming and notes that people need time and a workable schedule to participate. Before the pandemic, most of these programs were in person, and the episode notes that many shifted to virtual delivery afterward. The conversation stays centered on how genetics, environment, and public health programming fit together. Obesity and type 2 diabetes remain the long-term outcomes in view, but the real focus is on the conditions and delivery models that shape what communities can actually use. By the end, the episode ties research, public health practice, and community barriers into one practical conversation.

As heard by us

A clear public-health conversation about how prevention meets real-world barriers.

This episode treats chronic disease prevention as a public-health problem shaped as much by money, transit, and child care as by genetics. Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes and Amy Flaherty move from education and immigration status to the daily obstacles that decide whether advice can…

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Why you'd press play

A grounded look at chronic disease prevention through genetics, access, and community constraints.

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