Dr. Wendy Johnson is the guest in this fasten-your-seat-belt episode. She’s an M.D., with a Master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins. She’s worked on health projects in Mozambique, Vietnam, the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Haiti, and several South American countries.

Currently, Wendy Johnson is the medical director for La Familia Medical Center in Santa Fe.

Wendy’s story helps illustrate the beauties and challenges of change at the public health level. Did you know that the community health center movement grew out of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, emerging out of South Africa? Melanie didn’t. But Wendy does.

She and Melanie talk about the social determinants of health, that people can’t be healthy when ecosystems aren’t well, and what sort of mindset change is needed to shift our thinking.

The place of happiness in such times as these is also discussed, along with the power of creative exploration and creative processing.

Wendy’s got a big mind, with an incredible richness of international experience in public and community health. It’s a rich show, as a result.

La Familia Medical Center website here

Melanie Harth website here