Sam Feudo is the creator of the podcast “Understanding Healthcare,” which features a new guest each episode and touches on different topics related to healthcare in America. Credit: Sam Feudo
When he was younger, Sam Feudo collected autographs. But musicians, actors and prominent figures in pop culture were notably absent from his collection.
Elementary-aged Feudo, now a third-year in public policy analysis on a pre-med track, stowed away signatures from every doctor’s appointment he attended. Eventually, he became more drawn to the administrative side of health care, and ever since, he has been reaching out to figures in the field to learn more about his childhood-interest-turned-career-path.
“In high school, I would reach out to doctors or hospital executives and just pick their brains over the phone,” Feudo said. “And I would actually email them, and they’d actually email back like, ‘Yeah, I’d like to talk, I’d be happy to talk to you,’ so that sort of solidified my approach that, like, you never know what’s going to happen unless you reach out.”
Although he said he had casually considered starting a podcast before, Feudo decided to take the plunge in January and created “Understanding Healthcare,” a podcast available on Spotify and Apple Music. It’s designed to break down health care in the United States in a more digestible fashion.
With each episode ranging from 15-30 minutes, Feudo said he hopes he will be able to keep listeners engaged and that they will come away feeling more optimistic about health care than before.
“I try to keep it short — you know, 15-30 minutes — short, interesting, engaging, and hopefully people take away hope, optimism, but also important knowledge and insights into how to improve their health and what’s going on in health care moving forward,” he said.
He has interviewed figures such as Kristina Johnson, president of Ohio State; Nan Whaley, mayor of Dayton; Dr. Vin Gupta, global health policy expert; and Dr. Harold Paz, CEO of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.
Feudo was able to connect with Paz after running into him on the Oval on his way to Spanish, recognizing Paz from advertisements for the Wexner Medical Center around campus, he said. Feudo decided to strike up conversation and ended up with a business card — the grown-up equivalent of an autograph.
“I can’t imagine if you’re an administrator and you have a kid wearing, like, a Nike Ohio State shirt walking up to you, right, back in October or November and say, ‘Hey, are you Dr. Paz?’” Feudo said.
Paz, who spoke with Feudo about an array of topics such as the pandemic, President Biden’s visit to the Wexner Medical Center and Paz’s past experience in the field in his episode, “Conversation with Dr. Hal Paz,” said he was glad to see what a genuine interest Feudo has in health care.
“Creating a podcast with the goal to explore and explain complex but pressing issues related to the health care industry shows tremendous initiative,” Paz said in an email. “I was incredibly honored that Sam invited me to be a guest on his podcast, and it was a wonderful reminder that the future of health care is bright.”
“Understanding Healthcare” currently has 20 episodes and Feudo said it will continue to grow with each guest he can interview. On a brief hiatus since June, Feudo said he has several guests already lined up and that the podcast will start back up with the fall semester.
