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How does a medical doctor go from managing patients’ blood sugar and kidney failure to designing global health policy, and now to leading action on climate change?
Sandro Demaio joins Salma to discuss his career from working as a clinician to leading health and climate change work for the Western Pacific Region of the WHO. They explore the skills that transfer across his roles in medicine and public health—systems thinking, communication, and entrepreneurship—and examine why public health is often uncomfortable with that last word. They also discuss Sandro’s experience as a public communicator and advocate, from newspaper columns to a Netflix series to getting national vaping legislation through Parliament. Finally, they turn to climate change and discuss how to keep working on the same problems, while reframing the narrative, when the political or social environment isn’t receptive.
This episode invites you to reflect on why careers are rarely well-defined or linear, which skills transfer across roles, and how an entrepreneurial mindset can help public health keep pace with a changing world.
About the guest:
Sandro Demaio is the Director of the WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health, based in Seoul. He is a physician with a PhD in noncommunicable diseases. His experience spans the World Health Organization in Geneva, where he worked on nutrition and food systems; leading the EAT Foundation through the launch of the EAT-Lancet Commission; running Victoria’s health promotion agency through the pandemic; and co-hosting a medical series that aired on national television in Australia and on Netflix.
Notes:
Acronyms used in this episode include:
- AI: artificial intelligence
- CEO: chief executive officer
- GP: general practitioner
- MPH: Master of Public Health
- NCD / NCDs: noncommunicable disease(s)
- PhD: Doctor of Philosophy
- UN: United Nations
- VicHealth: Victorian Health Promotion Foundation
- WHO: World Health Organization
Useful resources:
- Ask The Doctor. Netflix; 2017. https://www.netflix.com/title/81003997
- Demaio S, Edwards SJ, Ji JS, Nordström A, Shinee E, Mercado S. The next five years of the WHO Asia–Pacific Centre for Environment and Health. The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific. 2026;66:101782. doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2025.101782
- Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet. 2019;393(10170):447-492. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4
If you have any questions or feedback, email us at healthierfutureslab@wustl.edu.
Host: Dr. Salma Abdalla
Producer: Catalina Melendez Contreras
Production assistant: Mateo Diaz Quiroz
Marketing and social media: Kinkini Bhaduri
Research for episode preparation: Catalina Melendez Contreras and Mateo Diaz Quiroz
Music: Eden Avery / Melting Glass from Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/2fqOXWpHab/
The views and opinions expressed by the guest in this episode do not necessarily reflect those of their institution, the funders, or the podcast team.
