Episode 39

Engaging with Different Perspectives: A Dialogue w/ Nuclear Disarmament Experts Joe Hodgkin & Molly McGinty

Becca Joe and Molly in the Dialogue Studio

In this episode, our 2026 summer program intern Becca Faber talks with nuclear disarmament experts Joe Hodgkin and Molly McGinty about how they found their way into the field, what has sustained their involvement over the years, and how they engage with those who come from different perspectives. They also explore some common assumptions and opinions about nuclear weapons and how they approach conversations around those widely held beliefs. 

Dr. Joe Hodgkin is an attending hospitalist physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.  He is on the national board of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and is the co-chair of its Greater Boston chapter.  In his work with these organizations, as well as with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Back from the Brink, he is involved in medical and peer education about the health effects of nuclear weapons, youth and medical trainee engagement, lobbying for disarmament and de-escalatory nuclear policy, and physician “Track II” diplomacy to promote peace in the medical and scientific communities across borders. He is committed to a world without nuclear weapons.

Molly McGinty joined the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in 2019 as a Quaker Voluntary Service Fellow and has remained on staff since the completion of the program. She graduated from Salisbury University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work and Gender & Sexuality Studies, where she engaged in advocacy on police demilitarization and anti-human trafficking policy. It was through these positions that she came to understand the power of grassroots organizing and youth-led movements. As Program Director, Molly coordinates IPPNW’s work on educating the public and decision-makers on the medical and humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, promoting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and supporting our medical student movement and youth partners. She is on the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the Board of the Nuclear Truth Project, and was previously on the Steering Committee of Youth for TPNW.

 

Music attribution: Podcast Music

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