🎙️ Podcast Title: Secrets of Survival (S.O.S.)
🎧 Episode Title: The Blueprint of Wellbeing: Public Health and the Social Determinants of Health – Part I
🩺 Written and Narrated by: Dr. Susan Rashid
📍 Runtime: Approx. 45 minutes
🎓 Tone: Scholarly | Informed | Direct | Authoritative

Episode Summary:

What determines health—genes or geography, biology or infrastructure?
In this powerful and data-driven opening to The Blueprint of Wellbeing, Dr. Susan Rashid unpacks the foundational framework of public health and the social determinants of health (SDOH)—those upstream, non-medical forces that shape how long and how well we live.

Drawing from decades of public health research and field data, this episode moves beyond clinical models to examine how income, housing, education, transportation, and community conditions create measurable health outcomes. From under-resourced neighborhoods in New York City to isolated rural counties in Appalachia and long-neglected Indigenous communities across the United States, Dr. Rashid explores the systemic roots of health disparities with clarity, compassion, and scholarly precision.

Listeners will gain an in-depth understanding of the five key domains of the SDOH, learn how inequity is patterned across geography and generations, and be invited to rethink what medicine can truly achieve when it moves beyond the exam room.

This is Part I of a two-part series. Part II will focus on the clinical implications of SDOH—highlighting validated screening tools, best practices in patient-centered care, and what must change in healthcare systems and medical education to close the gap between knowledge and action.

Topics Covered:

The definition and purpose of public health

The five domains of the social determinants of health

Case studies: Urban inequality in NYC, rural isolation in Appalachia, structural neglect in Indigenous communities

Intergenerational impact of systemic disparities

The importance of reframing health through a structural and environmental lens

Quotable Insight:
"Where you live tells us more about how long you’ll live than any genetic test ever could." — Dr. Susan Rashid

Listen now to begin reshaping how we define, teach, and deliver health in the 21st century.