Breaking the Code

As new technologies emerge with the promise of personalization, safety, or constant connection, some are beginning to feel surveilled, watched in the moments where they don’t want to be seen. In this episode we discuss the growing value of anonymity, allowing people to engage at a distance at first and building trust over time. This is a great listen for any brands looking to thoughtfully integrate themselves into their audience’s community or way of life. Follow us on LinkedIn

This Rare Disease Month, the team is shifting its focus to the caregivers. Caregiving is often seen as the ultimate display of love. It's a role that needs more recognition, but when we start thinking about caregivers as heroes, we risk no longer seeing them as people who could need support from others. In this episode, Sonika and Gabe are joined by Raregivers' founder Cristol Barrett O'Loughlin, Havas Health's Global Rare Disease Lead Afshan Rizvi Hussain, and Social Strategist Binaka...

In this episode, Sonika and Gabe explore how pain is experienced differently across bodies and interpreted differently in conversations, with a focus on people living with Sickle Cell Disease. This conversation dips into acute and chronic pain, highlighting the challenge health communicators face in bringing the unseen aspects of someone's pain to light. This episode was recorded in October 2025. Follow us on LinkedIn

"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! Follow us ...

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. Follow us on LinkedIn

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. &nb...

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-provokin...

In this episode, recorded right before the Labor Day weekend, Brad and Gabe have one thing on their minds... barbecuing! More specifically, they're thinking about barbecuing as a ritual, a set of behaviors with rules, inversions of norms, specific settings and a meaning that goes beyond its function. In health, rituals are overlooked, but they're are a desired part of the human experience, even if patients and consumers don't articulate it. Think about where you'd be comfortable getting a sho...

A cancer diagnosis is a "moment of truth" that brings an undeniable shift to someone's identity. Faced with one's own mortality, a concerted effort may be required to overcome the dissonance between "who I was" and "who I am now". When communicating to patients diagnosed with cancer, we often attempt to address this new-found perspective by creating "hero" tropes or by relying on aspirational calls to action, invoking tropes that fail to clarify the practical struggle people with cancer face ...

In this episode, Brad and Gabe delve into the US Surgeon General's proposal to introduce warning labels on social media platforms, aimed at highlighting their impact on young people's mental health. In the US, the surgeon general is seen as a moral authority who looks at social issues through a health-first lens from the dangers of social media to gun violence. There's a lot to discuss here from the complexities of communicating risk to teenagers and Murthy's strategic choice to liken t...

In a world of ubiquitous marketing, figuring out what supports a "healthy lifestyle" can be challenging. Marketers have picked up on the cultural trend towards wellness branding, and are enthusiastically, if somewhat disingenuously, leaning into claims that are technically true but not very helpful--"no added sugar", for example, is true, but irrelevant, for a product that has a high glycemic index (like fruit juices). This "healthwashing" has been seen across the spectrum of brands, from the...

In honor of Parkinson's awareness month, we're joined by Howard Lenn, EVP, Executive Creative Director at Havas Health Plus, to discuss his team's approach to the work on the "The Kama Sutra of Parkinson's", ParkinSex. Couples that include someone with Parkinson's are more likely to separate than couples that don't. Howard talks about the massive strain Parkinson's puts on intimacy, prior to any touching, where one is feeling performance-related shame and/or struggling to communicate wants an...

Too often in our industry, when we say "healthcare professional" what we really mean is ONE healthcare profession, the prescribing Medical Doctor. However, nursing is and always has been a part of the healthcare professional team, and today more than ever the roles nurses play in providing care are exactly those we cannot do without. Nursing is impossible to do remotely; they are the hands-on heartbeat of any hospital, clinic, or practice. It is important that we recognize them as a unique pr...