In Breaking the Code's 50th episode, we are joined by our 2025 summer intern, Gabriel Robinson (GR), not to be confused with Gabriel Allen-Cummings (GA). This conversation began because of GR's curiosity about social media being used for self-diagnosis, and it evolved to cover HCPs on social media, generational nuances in social media use, and the emergence of AI as a comprehensive caregiver.

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"Ripped From The Headlines" is a new series for Breaking the Code, where Sonika and Gabe react to a news story with a medical anthropology lens. On this edition, they react to Anixa Biosciences' breast cancer vaccine completing phase one of clinical testing. The notion of a cancer vaccine sparked a variety of conversation topics from women's health to vaccine culture. If you love to listen to rich, fast-evolving conversations, then give this a listen and let us know what you think!

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Behavioral inertia has become a buzzword in marketing, often associated with the stubborn action (or inaction) of a target audience. As anthropologists, Sonika and Gabe are often approached with the challenge of designing interventions that break inertia; however, there's more to inertia than simply recognizing it and knowing how to overcome it. In this episode, they break down the emotional motivators of inertia, the possibility of leveraging and rewarding inert behaviors, and why it's paramount to focus first on what a target audience is doing as opposed to what they aren't.

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Thinking holistically is easy to say, but hard to do, especially when designing strategies to change behavior within a specific role like patient, HCP, or caregiver. In this episode, Sonika and Gabe unpack how they disrupt their own thinking to uncover culturally resonant insights and drive more impactful behavioral strategies.

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The biggest health story of the year has been how GLP-1s like Ozempic are reshaping everyday life. As the holidays approach, we take a closer look at an unexpected cultural shift—the shape of Santa Claus. For nearly a century, Santa has been celebrated as a holly jolly figure with a long white beard and a big round belly. But this year we've seen depictions of Santa hitting the gym, counting calories, and even taking Ozempic.

In this episode, we explore what Santa’s transformation says about society. Why are people so invested in changing Santa’s iconic image? What does it mean that even Santa cares about his weight? And what’s gained—and lost—as Santa transitions from "fat and jolly" to "Hot Santa"? We are joined by Jennifer Tsitsopoulos, Practice Lead of the Medical Anthropology team, to explore these questions through the lens of medical anthropology and holiday traditions.

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In this episode, we are joined by Eirásmin Lokpez-Cobo, EVP of Brand Strategy at República Havas Health, to dive into the insights from her team's recently published white paper, Equity in Action: Mapping the Multicultural Patient Journey for Inclusive Strategies (link below). This insightful paper sheds light on the systemic barriers and health-related behaviors that shape the experiences of diverse U.S. audiences throughout their patient journey.

This is part one of our two-part series focusing on the multicultural patient experience. We start by building a shared understanding of the barriers that prevent engagement with health systems. From there, we uncover overlooked elements of their journey, such as the unique health priorities of multicultural patients and the sources of trust they rely on. Disengagement isn’t solely rooted in mistrust, nor does the desire to achieve better health simply fade away. To truly "meet patients where they are," we must understand the where they are willing—and able—to go.

Here's the link to the team's whitepaper: 24_RHH_WHITEPAPER_2_EQUITY-IN-ACTION_MAPPING-THE-MULTICULTURAL-PATIENT-JOURNEY-FOR-INCLUSIVE-STRATEGIES_LONG.pdf

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Women's professional sports are "having a moment", but this did not happen in a vacuum nor did it happen overnight. In a highly anticipated episode (for us), we finally got a chance to sit down with Claire Knapp (CEO of Havas Lynx) and Denise Melone (Managing Director of Havas Life San Francisco) to discuss the implications of the growth of women's sports, both as a business and as an opportunity. Both of these female leaders are accomplished athletes, and we discuss the role of things like teamwork, coaching, and mental fortitude, learned on the judo mats and tennis courts, in their successes as corporate leaders at Havas.

The growing interest in the competitive aspects of women's sports has coincided with the appearance of women in a variety of hitherto-denied spaces, such as the boardroom, the judging panel, and even just full-court basketball (looking at you, Sue Atkins--my mom). While this shift is notable, both Claire and Denise express the sentiment that disparities in treatment, compensation and conversation are still as important as ever to address and overcome. What's important is how we talk about women, not as bodies but as humans, and, in the case for this episode, as fierce, aggressive, badass athletes.

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With the advent of GLP-1 drugs, it was only a matter of time before Brad and Gabriel dove into a discussion about this controversial drug class and the equally contentious disease, obesity. In this episode, they explore a range of topics—from the history of obesity and its recognition as a disease to how GLP-1s like Ozempic are influencing the conversation around the legitimacy and stigma of obesity beyond just Body Mass Index (BMI).

One of the most compelling ideas from this thought-provoking episode centers on control—how we perceive our own health and judge others, assuming people have more control over their health outcomes than they really do. This theme cuts to the heart of the obesity debate: are we excusing unhealthy habits, or are we acknowledging that the issue is far more complex than we originally thought?

The inspiration for this episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/opinion/obesity-disease-ozempic-weight-loss.html

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