HMS Lends Expertise to Spanish-Language Health Podcast

Collaboration aimed at improving access to medical and health information for Latino communities

By DENNIS NEALON Education

2 min read

A recording booth microphone with the words "ON AIR" projected on the wall of a studio
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The Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership (DICP) at Harvard Medical School is working with public media outlet GBH News and the Spanish-language media organization El Planeta on a pathbreaking podcast series created specifically for Spanish-speaking individuals.

The goal is to address health and medical topics of interest to Latino communities in the United States and, more locally, in Massachusetts. DICP will advise on content and identify experts for the new program, Salud.

A team of journalists at El Planeta, publisher of the largest circulating Spanish-Language newspaper in Massachusetts, and its national counterpart, El Tiempo Latino, will produce the programming. GBH News will lend its production facilities and distribution channels to the effort, with the Boston Public Health Commission sponsoring the broadcasts.

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“What distinguishes this effort, and makes this collaboration so exciting, is that Salud is one of the first health care podcasts to serve Latino listeners directly by addressing topics of interest to them,” said Joan Reede, HMS dean for diversity and community partnership. Salud means “health” in Spanish.

Reede said the public service nature of the podcast dovetails with HMS’ overarching mission to broaden understanding of health, science, and medicine across multiple communities by sharing the latest knowledge, research, and best practices in those fields.

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Tibisay Zea, a bilingual journalist and public media reporter with The World, will host the podcast. Zea, who regularly weaves diverse voices and perspectives into her work, has extensive experience covering stories about the Latino communities in the United States and Latin America.

“In every episode we’ll include real stories of Latino immigrants and the health challenges they have faced in this country,” Zea said.

For Salud, experts from HMS and other Harvard-affiliated institutions will answer questions about disease prevention and treatment, focusing on the big-picture view of how a range of health issues affect Latinos, according to Frinny Polanco Walters, faculty assistant director at DICP and HMS instructor in medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“Aligning with our collaborators at El Planeta and Harvard Medical School allows us to super-serve our diverse audiences in Spanish with important, in-depth stories,” said Pam Johnston, general manager for news at GBH.

During an initial eight-week run beginning Oct. 22, the program’s 30-minute segments will air on Saturdays on GBH 89.7 FM at 9:30 a.m. The broadcasts will be available at gbhnews.org/salud and on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

The podcast is also supported in part through a grant from the International Center for Journalists.