At the Community Level
How a Student-Led Podcast is Reimagining Public Health Education and Communication
In an era where misinformation and disinformation can spread faster than facts, the need for engaging, science-backed public health communication has never been more urgent. Kelechi Ibe-Lamberts, PhD, MCHES, and a group of passionate students are tackling this challenge head-on, one podcast episode at a time.
Launched in 2024, Community Level is a student-produced podcast born out of a unique course designed and led Ibe-Lamberts. The podcast has become much more than a class project, however. It is a platform for community storytelling, a training ground for future public health communicators, and an example of bridging the gap between academia and the communities it serves.
From Independent Study to Innovation Hub
The idea for Community Level was sparked by Ibe-Lamberts’ own experience as a podcaster. His long-running show, My Black Is Transnational, explores the intersection of identity, migration, and culture. “That was one of the ways in which I felt that I could translate my research…for everyday people,” he explained.
“I’ve always been very big on really advocating for non-traditional ways to disseminate information,” said Ibe-Lamberts, a Clinical Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at UIC SPH. “We need to make sure that the content we create is digestible… The way people consume content is completely different than how it used to be five or ten years ago.”
The podcast’s mission is simple yet powerful: to “level the playing field” by making public health information accessible and relatable.
Initially launched as an independent study with six students, the podcast quickly gained traction. The course, now a two-semester offering, blends foundational health communication theory with hands-on podcast production. Students form production teams–taking on roles like host, producer, and outreach coordinator–and create episodes that feature conversations with community health champions.
The podcast’s format is intentionally flexible, allowing students to experiment with different storytelling styles from traditional interviews to narrative-driven episodes. Ibe-Lamberts envisions each season as a reflection of the students behind it and where each story stands on its own.
A Platform for Community Champions
Julianna “Julie” Davis, MPH ‘25, recently graduated from SPH’s Maternal and Child Health program. She was among the first cohort of students to help launch Community Level. For her, the opportunity was a perfect blend of passion and purpose.
“I’ve always wanted to do a podcast,” Davis shared. “It was public health-related, and we could actually also get credit for it. I was like, this is all the things I’m interested in and want to do.”
Davis took on the role of outreach coordinator, leveraging her sprawling connections in Chicago’s public health scene to bring in guests who might otherwise go unheard. “I just think it’s really important that their work gets lifted up, so we know that it’s happening,” she said. “There are so many people and organizations in Chicago that do work to keep people safe and supported.”
One of the podcast’s first guests was Martine Caverl, director of Ujimaa Medics, a Black health collective that trains community members in emergency response techniques. Other episodes have featured Camesha L. Jones-Brandon, Founder and Executive Director of Sista Afya, a Black women-led mental health organization, and Jeanine Valrie Logan, Founder, Lead Steward and a midwife from the Chicago South Side Birth Center, a new initiative to provide culturally competent maternal care.
Even when the microphones turned off, students continued to stay connected with their podcast guests. Davis, who is also a board member for the birth center, attended the annual Latch and Stroll event at the Chicago South Side Birth Center to raise breastfeeding awareness and support families. As Davis deepened these community connections, she was able to secure Community Level’s most well-known guest to date: Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner, Olusimbo Ige, MD, MPH.
Recognizing the local leader, Davis quickly crossed the room to approach Ige.
“I’m a student at UIC! We’re doing a public health podcast. Can we interview you?” Davis remembers. “And she was super nice, very down-to-earth, as she said ‘yes, whatever I can do to help.’”
By amplifying trusted voices from within the community, Davis found the podcast offered a way to counteract misinformation. “People who come to us for care rightfully don’t always trust what’s happening, and that’s completely understandable,” she noted. “But it’s also frustrating… trying to get the information out there without all of this other extra information that they are consuming.”
She pointed to the challenges of discussing vaccines with patients in her work as a case manager at a community health center. “There’s already skepticism about immunizations, especially in the Black community,” she explained. “Just trying to figure out the best way to talk to them about it is really, really difficult.”
But by highlighting relatable public health leaders who live and work in the same communities helps listeners trust the advice. “You don’t have to go outside your community or your neighborhood to get assistance,” Davis concluded.
Reimagining Public Health Communication
At its core, Community Level is a response to a growing crisis in public trust. In an age where skepticism toward public health institutions is rising, the podcast offers a refreshing alternative: authentic, community-rooted voices.
“Public health is for the public,” Ibe-Lamberts emphasized. “The way we tailor the information has to be easily intelligible and digestible by the folks that we say we serve.”
Davis echoed this sentiment. “Everyday people need to understand what public health is and what public health practitioners do, so you can’t quote a bunch of research all the time and expect everybody to understand that,” Davis emphasized. “The principles of public health should stay the same, but the way that ideas are communicated needs to pivot.”
For both Ibe-Lamberts and Davis, podcasting offers a way to meet people where they are. “You can have your eyes closed and still consume the information,” Ibe-Lamberts said. “It’s on-demand, listen at your own convenience… I want our content to be shared and gossiped about. I want it to circulate.”
Through storytelling and shared experience, the podcast reclaims public health as something personal, relatable, and worth talking about.
Community as a Classroom
The impact of Community Level extends beyond the classroom. Students gain hands-on experience in media production, storytelling, and community engagement—skills that are increasingly vital in the field of public health.
“I want students to be able to look at this class and be like, ‘This is fun,’” said Ibe-Lamberts. “And I want them to be able to learn how to podcast while also infusing their passion for public health.”
Looking ahead, Ibe-Lamberts hopes to see the podcast become a self-sustaining platform, with each new cohort of students building on the work of those before them. He even envisions a health communication certificate program that incorporates podcasting as a core component.
For Davis, the experience was transformative. “Even though I was involved with the podcast and helped produce it, I learned so much from the actual interviews,” she shared. “It was just an amazing experience. I wish it had been longer.”
As Community Level continues to grow, its mission remains clear: to amplify the voices of those doing the work, and to make public health personal, accessible, and real.
“I want the audience to feel like they’re on the same level,” Ibe-Lamberts emphasized. “Not necessarily that they’re experts, but that they get it. And they want to know more.”
In a time when public health is being tested like never before, Community Level offers a hopeful blueprint for how to rebuild trust—one conversation at a time.