This week, we welcome five new members to our student podcasting crew and get to know a little bit about them and their interests in public health.

Find our previous episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Anya Morozov:

Hello everyone, and welcome back to From the Front Row. With the new year, we are also welcoming some new podcasters to the team. Today I’m joined by Adriana Kotchkoski, Lauren Lavin, Rasika Mukkamala, Garrett Naughton, and Amy Wu, our newest members who you’ll start to hear in our weekly episodes. I’m Anya Morozov, co-hosting with Eric Ramos. And if it’s your first time with us, welcome. We’re a student-run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they’re relevant to anyone, both in and outside the field of public health.

Welcome to the show everybody. So to start out, can you each introduce yourselves, just your program, your track, maybe your year and hometown. And we’ll just start off with Adriana and go from there.

Adriana Kotchkoski:

Hi. Like Anya said before, my name is Adriana, and I’m a first-year Master of Health Administration student. And I moved around a lot growing up, but I graduated high school in Marathon, Wisconsin.

Lauren Lavin:

I’m Lauren. I am a PhD student in health services and policy. I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and it’s my first year here at the University of Iowa.

Rasika Mukkamala:

Hi everyone, I’m Rasika Mukkamala. I am from the Denver metro area. I’m from a suburb called Highlands Ranch. I’m also first year MHA student, and I’m super excited to be here with all of you today.

Garrett Naughton:

Hi, I’m Garrett Naughton. I’m one of the undergrads, and I just got into the College of Public Health and I’m really excited to be here. I am from Mount Prospect, Illinois, one of the northwest suburbs, and I’m currently a junior going into my second semester.

Amy Wu:

Hey guys, I’m Amy Wu and I’m a first year master student in biostatistics at the College of Public Health, and I’m originally from central Iowa.

Eric Ramos:

Well, welcome to the show everybody. To start, can each of you tell me something that you’ve learned about yourself and public health since the beginning of your time here in the University of Iowa?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

The main thing I’ve learned is there’s really not that much time, especially if you’re only in a two-year program. By now I’m about a quarter of the way done, and we start school this upcoming Tuesday. So really have good time management skills and try as many things as you can possibly fit in, because the time is really short, and you’ll really regret if you don’t do a lot of stuff.

Eric Ramos:

I will concur with that. I cannot believe I graduate in like four months. The two years has flown, so definitely relatable across the board. Rasika, do you want to go next?

Rasika Mukkamala:

Sure. I think something that I’ve learned is just to believe in myself. I think I thought that grad school was going to be impossible compared to undergrad, but we’ve already made it through four years of whatever we did undergrad in. So just that, to believe in yourself and to know that there are opportunities and that you can do it.

Garrett Naughton:

I’ll bring the undergrad perspective. So coming from a different major, switching over, I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do, but I fell in love with public health after taking the first fundamentals of public health with… Oh, I forget the teacher, but she was great. And it made me realize I still have so much potential and possibility to tier. It’s never too late to switch, even if you think it is. I switched halfway through my sophomore year, like second semester, and I’m still going to graduate on time. So never be afraid to switch, even if it seems scary.

Eric Ramos:

I switched like four times, so definitely don’t be afraid to switch. Amy, you want to go next?

Amy Wu:

Yeah, sure. What I’ve learned so far is that even though my field of biostatistics is typically related to data and data analysis, it’s really important for us to be sociologically informed, because public health is more of a social issue than ever before. So I’ve been really excited to learn more about that aspect of public health.

Eric Ramos:

Yeah, definitely. Lauren?

Lauren Lavin:

Everyone’s talking about how fast their time goes, and I’ve still got four and a half years left. But I think one of the things that I’ve loved since coming here is how diverse public health is, not only within the college of public health, but also everyone’s background. There are people who have been working in the industry for years. There are people like me who is in psychology and then I owned a bakery and now I’m doing a PhD in public health, or there’s people who have been doing that since undergrad. And so I think that’s something that I love about that is just that there’s a lot of diverse backgrounds, and I think that’s really important for communicating public health messages to a broader audience.

Eric Ramos:

Hey, I’m not going to let that go. You owned a bakery?

Lauren Lavin:

I did. That’s what I did for two years prior to this.

Eric Ramos:

Where at?

Lauren Lavin:

In Sioux Falls.

Eric Ramos:

Okay. What did you make? Would you make a little bit of everything or did you specialize in one thing?

Lauren Lavin:

It was everything, but I started doing wedding cakes and other special occasion cakes.

Eric Ramos:

Do you still bake?

Lauren Lavin:

I do. Just for fun, but also the price of eggs and butter, you guys, makes me not regret switching. And the Costco here is out, and they’ve been out for an entire week, so I don’t even know where to buy stuff.

Eric Ramos:

Yeah, I made rolls the other day and I went to go buy eggs and I was like, “I’m only making half as many I thought I was going to.”

Garrett Naughton:

Yeah, so you be making us like cake later.

Lauren Lavin:

We should have a celebration cake I think.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah.

Eric Ramos:

A celebration for inflation.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Anya Morozov:

Yes. If you ever want to come to a grad ambassador meeting and bring cake, that’s always welcome. And that’s extended to anyone by the way.

Lauren Lavin:

Noted.

Anya Morozov:

So yeah, Lauren, you did mention kind of the diversity in the college of public health and I think there’s a lot of diversity even in this group here, but one common thread that kind of brings us all together is doing the podcast. So can you each tell me a little bit about what made you interested in joining from the front row?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

Yeah, I just thought it’d be a really cool way to look up different health topics, especially from different lenses as we’re all coming from different backgrounds and we’re interviewing people from different perspectives. I thought that’d be a really cool way to learn about relevant public health topics from, I guess different people.

Rasika Mukkamala:

I think part of public health and public health education is being able to inform the public in a concise and clear manner. And a lot of the podcasts that I listen to aren’t necessarily public health related, they’re more just general podcasts. And so I thought that this would be a great way for me to learn how to explain different concepts even if I’m not familiar with them, to the general public and get to meet a lot of new guests and get out of my comfort zone a little bit.

Garrett Naughton:

I actually met Anya during our fun little summer internship with Johnson County Health Department driving around. That was basically the internship, but it was a great time and we talked about the podcast and I’ve always kind of been into podcasting and the idea of running or helping run a podcast. I actually have a funny little setup to have my audio be better and I just put pillows all around me so the sound doesn’t bounce around a bunch. But yeah, I love podcasts. I love running audio equipment I love. And then I also love information about public health. So I think that this was a perfect thing for me because it’s just a way for me to get engaged and also meet new people and meet people within the own the College of Public Health. So as an undergrad, it’s going to be perfect for me to make my connections and hopefully advance myself further as we move along.

Lauren Lavin:

I listen to podcasts all the time, so this is kind of selfishly I wanted to be on the other end of it and I’ve been listening to this podcast for a while. Plus, I don’t know, I like to talk, I like to meet other people and I think this is kind of a fun way to do all of those things. And yeah, that’s about it.

Amy Wu:

Kind of similar to Garrett and Lauren. I am a pretty big podcast fan and I particularly enjoy news podcasts, The Daily or This American Life, NPR, et cetera. And I think it’d be cool to be on a podcast that gets to talk about relevant public health issues that interest us, but as Rashika said, might also interest people outside of the college of public health because it’s relevant to all of us.

Eric Ramos:

I notice that a lot of you have said that you are already really into podcasts, love listening to podcasts, I’m interested to know. What are each of yours favorite podcasts or some that you listen to often?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

I’m personally interested or into Lingthusiasm, which is a linguistic podcast. I totally recommend it and I think it’s a lot of fun.

Lauren Lavin:

I love Freakonomics MD and so that’s like a health econ one. Highly recommend it if you’re interested in public health topics or health research. And then, Maintenance Phase is a really good one, also kind of a health trend one. Those are two that I really like.

Rasika Mukkamala:

So I don’t really listen to podcasts that are about healthcare directly because I prefer to learn about those in different ways. But, my favorite podcast is Just a Quick Pinch. It’s for women in healthcare, the person that runs it is Pharm D by background, but she’s actually in dental school so she and her boyfriend, they have different topics. So it’s a great way to start my Tuesday morning.

Garrett Naughton:

You guys are going to make me look bad. I don’t listen to anything healthcare related. I just listened to funny podcast because I like to laugh in the Car. No, there’s like three that I listen to, they’re all run by just dudes. Just like guys who talk I like Distractable if you know Markiplier, he runs out with two of his friends. He’s very funny. A Chuckle Sandwich, another just like three dude podcast, also really funny improvy kind of thing. And then Ear Biscuits, which is just two friends that have been friends since they were three and now they’re 40 and they just talk about life. But yeah, I don’t really, I like to relax. I’ll learn my stuff during lectures, but I’ll keep it pretty relaxed when I’m just driving around.

Amy Wu:

Yeah, I mean I mentioned some of them that are by New York Times or NPR. Those are good ones. I also recently got into Stuff You Should Know, which is also educational. And they recently did one about Enron. And I know nothing about economics or anything like that, but it was interesting and very layman friendly.

Eric Ramos:

Yeah, I’m with Garrett. Mine are not healthcare related. I like just different type podcasts. I listen to Crime Junkies, I listen to a lot, that’s a very popular one. Two Hot Takes is also really good if you guys have ever listened to that one? They just read Reddit streams and decide who’s in the right wrong. It’s pretty interesting. I’m also really, I’ve but in podcast form. Those have been really cool to listen to. There was one called The Princess of South Beach, which I listened to in Spanish. It was literally just like a de but on podcast it was so interesting. But there’s definitely so much out there. So I’m definitely in Garrett’s corner with I don’t do healthcare related. I kind of listened to other things, but props to everybody for continually growing yourself.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah, Lauren, it’s kind of interesting. I don’t listen to Freakonomics MD but I listen to Freakonomics just because they talk about just the Randomist stuff and then tie it to economics somehow.

Lauren Lavin:

You should try Freakonomics MD, I bet you’d like it.

Anya Morozov:

I bet I would too. And then the other one I do is Hidden Brain. It’s just about different kind of psychology topics.

Lauren Lavin:

I listen to that one too.

Anya Morozov:

It’s good.

Garrett Naughton:

Do you guys do audiobooks or no? Because I have an audiobook called Poison Squad. That one kind of got me into microbio actually, which eventually led me to public health, so kind of part of the reason I’m here. But, it’s about the formation of the F D A and this one guy’s crusade to during when the early twenties, I think when there was no regulation on anything food related, so the Chicago meat packing industry was just horrible. And he was just going around and basically exposing all these people and it just, it’s his story about how they were putting Lithium in Seven Up just cause and I think it was really cool. So that’s a highly recommended.

Eric Ramos:

What was it called again?

Garrett Naughton:

Poison Squad? I think it’s by Deborah Bloom, I don’t remember. She has two books that I’ve read and they’re really good. And I don’t read books. I listen to them.

Eric Ramos:

Okay.

Anya Morozov:

All right. Well we also kind of wanted to have a fun get to know You question. That’s also kind of weird, courtesy of Eric so, thank you. So our next question is, if I gave you two crayons and told you to draw a picture, what colors would you choose, and what would you draw?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

I would choose gray and lime green, and I would draw a picture of my cat, but do it Blues Clues style. Because I think that’s a really cute style and we should bring it back.

Eric Ramos:

I love Blues Clues. Blues Clues actually what taught me English, fun fact. Yeah, because my grandma raised me, so I grew up speaking Spanish, but she would put on Blues Clues and that’s how I learned English.

Adriana Kotchkoski:

Same here, Eric. But I think I learned a lot of English from Dragon Tales. And there was this one, oh my God, it was chasers and they were doing math or whatever. And there was this little robot bird thing. I don’t remember the name, but.

Rasika Mukkamala:

Cybird Chase?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

Yes, it was Cybird Chase. I learned English watching Cybird Chase. And to this day, if I ever need a refresher, put it in the background.

Garrett Naughton:

What about Backyardigans? Were you guys too old for that?

Eric Ramos:

Oh yeah, I know the Tyrone and yeah, I remember.

Garrett Naughton:

That was my jam. I loved a good Backyardigans during the summer. Oh my God.

Eric Ramos:

Classic. Rasika, colors?

Rasika Mukkamala:

I would say probably yellow and green. I am not an artist, I’m probably the worst artist you’ll ever meet. Fun fact, I got called out in our healthcare IT class because my self-portrait looked like Ben Franklin. So, the only thing I know how to draw is green grass and a yellow daisy, because that’s what I learned how to draw as a child. But yeah, so that’s what I would draw. And those are the colors I would use because that’s all I know how to use.

Eric Ramos:

Okay. Garrett?

Garrett Naughton:

I think, so, all right, I was big into dragons, but I don’t, so I like a purple blue. Maybe that would be a cool dragon. Anya’s got the cool pictures behind her right now, so I think her answer is going to be more so interesting. But I think, yeah, blue and purple. And I’d draw a dragon.

Eric Ramos:

Amy?

Amy Wu:

I would choose a bright red and a light green. And kind of similar to Rasika, I would draw a field of poppies, field of flowers.

Eric Ramos:

Okay. Lauren?

Lauren Lavin:

I think I would do green and pink and do this rose that I would put on literally every piece of paper in middle school right by my name, which is so dorky. But what middle schooler isn’t? So I think it, I’d go back to that.

Eric Ramos:

Okay.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah. My answer’s going to be less impressive than you think Garrett. I would choose brown and black and I would draw this picture of a cat that I always used to draw when I was little because I actually am not very artistic. I’m trying to learn, I have a book that’s kind of trying to teach me how to use acrylics, but it is a work in progress that I wouldn’t really say I’m great at it yet, but we’re working on it.

Eric Ramos:

Okay. I would choose I’m very indecisive with this question. Yeah, I’m the one that made it and I’m indecisive. I actually didn’t make it, this is actually a question I got asked for one of my fellowship interviews. And I was like, what? But I would say, this is not what I said in my interview, but I would say black and gray. And I would draw a donkey because that’s what I always draw in class when I’m bored and I just need something to sketch because I watched some video back in high school that taught you how to draw a donkey really easily. So that’s what I draw all the time.

Garrett Naughton:

Does anybody have a goat? I have one sketch that I did that I was really proud of and it stuck out. I just drew a hawk and it was so nice and I loved it. But does anybody else have something that stood out artistically?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

I know in middle school they taught us how to draw a horse, but you start from the bottom, you turn your paper upside down. So you start from the hooves, and you go all the way down to the face. And I’m not a really good artist, but that’s the only thing I’ve ever been able to draw that looks somewhat like what it’s supposed to be.

Eric Ramos:

Okay.

Rasika Mukkamala:

When I was in the second grade, I learned how to draw a flower from Georgia Okeefe and it’s like the fake circle. I don’t know why I’m drawing it, but it’s a circle and then all around it. And so sometimes when I’m bored, that’s what you’ll see on my paper because it’s just shapes and even I can’t mess up the shapes.

Lauren Lavin:

I’m kind of artsy in general. I mean people on the thing can’t see it, but I just finished just painting for behind my couch and it’s kind of abstract. It’s just blue with lots of squiggles and I did little flowers around it. So I actually really like painting. And when I was little, my mom used to sign me up for these Bob Ross painting classes and it’d be me and 70 year olds in the back of Hobby Lobby. And I have so many old Bob Ross paintings in my parents’ basement. So that’s how I got started painting.

Amy Wu:

That’s awesome. I also really like landscape painting and I mostly do gouache, and actually I have tried kind of limiting myself to two colors or three colors. So when I first saw this question, I was like, oh, this is kind of a good artistic question. It teaches you how to be very economical with your color choices and stuff.

Anya Morozov:

Okay. So what I’m hearing is we’re going to have a podcast-like art retreat/cake eating time at some point.

Garrett Naughton:

In like nature, I think we just go to Hubbard Park or something and just be out in the field.

Lauren Lavin:

I wouldn’t complain.

Eric Ramos:

And our last question I think is, so what’s something you’re looking forward to this year or semester?

Adriana Kotchkoski:

I’m going to visit one of my best friends in Boston who I literally just saw her last week, but I miss her endlessly. And we’re going to go around Boston, do whatever you do in Boston because I’ve never been and meet her cat because I really want to see her and little Marie.

Lauren Lavin:

My favorite cookie place is in Boston. It’s called Levin. And you must go. They have the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.

Amy Wu:

I’ve been, I did undergrad in Boston and I think the Levin bakery is kind of new, but is it the one on Newbury? Yeah, that’s very good.

Lauren Lavin:

It originated in New York. I’m pretty sure they just opened one in Chicago. And I’ve yet to go to Chicago, even though we’re like three hours away and I just need to go for the cookies.

Rasika Mukkamala:

I have the one in Washington DC and it was amazing.

Lauren Lavin:

Yep.

Rasika Mukkamala:

I’m looking forward to my summer internship. I recently accepted a position at UC Health, which was my dream internship in my hometown. So I’m really looking forward to my classes this semester and learning as much as I can so that I can make the best out of my internship this summer.

Garrett Naughton:

I think, so for me, a lot of it I’m going to be, I’m in the busy part of undergrad, so this is kind of most of what I’m looking forward to because the fun thing that I’m doing that is also beneficial for me, my future. But I got accepted to a lab. I kind of just pushed myself into this microbiology lab that actually works on antibiotic resistant microbes, which is super cool. But I mean, I’m going to be working for minimum wage and I’m just going to be cleaning petri dishes, running autoclaves, which is like whatever. But I’ll get cool experience out of it. I got a lot of fun public health classes, four, so that’s going to be fun. But yeah, I’m excited for this mostly though, because I love helping run this podcast, so far it’s been a great time.

Lauren Lavin:

I am excited, I don’t know, for some travel plans, I suppose. Theoretically we are going to London for spring break, which I’m pretty excited about. And then Hawaii after I finish prelims in June. And like I said, I want to get to Chicago and I don’t know, so that kind of stuff. Of course, maybe some of my classes. I don’t know, honestly, we’ll see once the next week gets started, but yeah, and Spring. Spring in Iowa City seems like it’s going to be a lovely thing.

Eric Ramos:

When are you going to London?

Lauren Lavin:

I think the flight is the Thursday before spring break officially starts.

Eric Ramos:

That’s so honey because I literally, I’m low key going to tell on myself here, but I’ve been multitasking. I literally have Google flights open for flights to London right now for spring break.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah, there’s a really cheap one out of O R D on Thursday.

Eric Ramos:

From Cedar Rapids to London. I think from Wednesday to Wednesday I think is $650 I think. That’s not bad.

Lauren Lavin:

Not bad.

Amy Wu:

Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting involved in the Iowa City community more and more. I am trying to get more involved at Public Space One, which is the artist community here in town, and then also just the bio stats department or anything else going on the city.

Lauren Lavin:

What is everyone’s favorite things to do in the city? Because I’m also that’s one of my goals for this semester is do things outside of school to meet more people outside of, I don’t know, school stuff.

Garrett Naughton:

Did anybody else go to undergrad here? Anya did you go to undergrad here or No? Okay.

Anya Morozov:

No, I was in Nebraska.

Garrett Naughton:

Do I the most years in Iowa City with three or does? Okay. All right. Well, I mean, from an undergrad perspective, all the bars are great, but non-bar related things, I love the, I’ll run the trails a bunch back there. That’s a fun exercise type thing. But, I mean, all the facilities are great. I love being able to study pretty much anywhere and it’s really pretty. Our building West Library overlooks that pond, that’s a great place to study. But yeah, I think you just got to get in and explore it yourself because you just never know what you’re going to find because there’s so much. I love Iowa City, I want to live there, to be honest, but I mean, maybe not, but also, I don’t know, I love Iowa City a lot.

Rasika Mukkamala:

I’m an inside person, so me and my friends on Tuesday nights we go to the Iowa Athletic Club and we play bingo. And then recently we’ve started doing trivia, there’s a lot of places in Iowa City that do trivia, so like St. Burch Tavern, Joe’s. But it’s pretty fun and it’s inside. So when it’s cold out, it’s really fun and it’s a great way to kind of be in the scene without, I’m not a meeting new people. I don’t like meeting strangers, so it’s a perfect match for me.

Eric Ramos:

I stay at home and read and watch tv, so I’m not the greatest person to ask.

Garrett Naughton:

I mean, if you’re into movies, there’s the film scene, all those film scenes. And I like artsy movies, I’m a big West Anderson guy, so I saw French dispatch at the film scene over in downtown, and that was fantastic. I got the early access too. I’m a big West Anderson guy. So yeah, if you’re an artsy, indie kind of like cool films and they’re cheap. It was like five bucks. It was lovely. I love that place.

Anya Morozov:

Yeah, there’s a lot of really nice parks around. I think Hickory Hill is really nice. There’s a Devonian Fossil Gorge and it’s just like a, I don’t know, hour long excursion maybe. But that’s a cool place to visit at least once. And Lake McBride has a lot of cool stuff you can do, and they have the little Raptor Center and it’s free to go and you can see eagles and hawks and owls that are in recovery. But yeah, it’s been great to learn more about everybody. And thank you all for coming on the show today.

And that’s it for our episode this week. Big thanks to Adriana Kotchkoski, Lauren Lavin, Rasika Mukkamala, Garrett Naughton and Amy Wu for joining the podcast team. This episode was hosted and written by Eric Ramos and Anya Morozov and edited and produced by Anya Morozov. You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook. Our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues, friends, or anyone interested in public health. Have a suggestion for our team? You can reach us at cph-gradambassador@uiowa.edu. This episode was brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Until next week, stay healthy, stay curious, and take care.