Podcast

Reach Out and Read is On the Air

Engaging conversations with experts in childhood health and literacy.

An award-winning podcast centered on the belief that children’s books build better brains, better family relationships, and happier, healthier children and societies. Join us as host Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, a pediatrician with a children’s librarianship degree dives into a wealth of varied early childhood health and literacy topics with expert guests examining the many facets of supporting the parent-child relationship as key to early success.

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Latest Episode

“The Shock and Beauty of Early Parenthood” | August 6, 2026

“What does it mean to be ‘enough’ as a parent, caregiver, or professional?” “Where is my ‘maternal instinct’ if I don’t feel an instant bond?” “How do fathers come to feel like fathers — and what if the connection doesn’t come right away?” These are just some of the questions explored using narrative and reflection by Dr. Junlei Li and Thelma Ramirez in their new Early Relational Health project, “The Shock and Beauty of Early Parenthood.

View the transcript here.

  • Junlei Li

    Junlei Li, PhD is the Saul Zaentz Chair in Early Childhood Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His work focuses on the essentiality of centering connection, growth, and healing in relationships; and how discord can be a pathway for relational repair, growth, and healing — all within the sphere of Early Relational Health.

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  • Thelma Ramirez

    Thelma Ramirez, EdM is research manager at Harvard’s EASEL Lab where she supports the equity-focused efforts of several projects. Her research interests include family engagement in social and emotional learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, and the intersection of equity and social and emotional learning interventions.

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Research shows reading physical books together brings the strongest benefits to children. That’s why we’re happy to have Boise Paper – a responsible paper manufacturer – sponsor this podcast. Through their Paper with Purpose promise, Boise Paper looks for ways to make a difference in local communities. Thank you to Boise Paper for investing in our Reach Out and Read community.

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Award Winning
Two-time winner of an Anthem Award in the Health category.
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Meet the Host

To the best of our knowledge, there is only one pediatrician anywhere who got a master’s in library science in the middle of his medical training, all to learn more about children’s literature. That is our host, Dr. Dipesh Navsaria. A practicing pediatrician in Wisconsin, Dr. Navsaria is the Medical Director of Reach Out and Read Wisconsin, Chair of the Early Literacy Subcommittee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Early Childhood, and many other initiatives involving the psychosocial world of children, their families, and society, from policy to parenting support. A professor of pediatrics and of human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, he lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife, two children, two cats, a dog, and backyard chickens. He has a deep-seated dependence on wearing bowties, of which he owns far too many…but all of which he can tie without a mirror, in under a minute!

Listen to the trailer
Meet the host of the ROR Podcast