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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
Episode #1 of 545

CMS Administrator Seema Verma Talks Expansion of Telehealth, Development of COVID-19 Vaccine and Answers Recent Allegations

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome Seema Verma, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Trump administration, a trillion dollar-a-year agency providing health coverage for 130 million vulnerable Americans on Medicaid and Seniors on Medicare. She discusses the agency’s dramatic transformation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including hundreds of waivers lifting restrictions for providers across the country, a swift expansion of telehealth adoption, and Operation Warp Speed’s quest to provide a safe and efficacious vaccine for widespread distribution, once it is approved. She also addresses recent allegations around agency spending questions.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2020
Episode #2 of 545

Guns, America and the “Violence Inside Us”: US Senator Chris Murphy Explores Origins of the Nation’s Gun Culture and His Own Odyssey for Reform

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with US Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, whose critically acclaimed new book examines America’s long, unique history of violence and its embedded gun culture. His book, “The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy”, examines the birth and growth of America’s gun culture, the conditions that perpetuated it, and his quest to pass sane gun laws in response to the Sandy Hook School shooting.
MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2020
Episode #3 of 545

National Pediatric Leader Talks About Returning To School In Pandemic

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Sara Goza, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the largest organization dedicated to advancing the physical, mental and social health of the nation’s infants, children and young adults. Dr. Goza discusses how pediatricians can help inform the tough decisions families are making to keep kids safe while sending them back to school, the vital importance of continued well-visits and vaccinations for kids, and the policy agenda being promoted by the Academy to insure the health and safety of all children, including gun violence, poverty and social determinants of health.

MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2020
Episode #4 of 545

Pandemic XPrize Competition: Dr. Daniel Kraft on Quest to Leverage Tech and AI For Solutions to Address COVID-19

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Daniel Kraft, physician-scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and Chair of the XPrize Pandemic Alliance Task Force, which is holding competitions to develop better tools for addressing COVID-19. Dr. Kraft, who is also founder and Executive Director of Exponential Medicine, looks at emerging developments that will lead to better rapid tests, masks as well as tech and AI-enabled interventions that will offer earlier diagnosis of infection, and better treatment and management of diseases like coronavirus in the future.
MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020
Episode #5 of 545

Should I Send My Kids Back To School? Renowned Scientist Dr. William Haseltine Has Advice for Families

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. William Haseltine, President of ACCESS Health International, a global health think tank. He is also a renowned scientist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and founder of Harvard Medical School’s HIV/AIDS and cancer research centers. He discusses his two new books: A Family Guide to COVID: Questions and Answers for Parents, Grandparents and Children, and A COVID Back To School Guide which are continually-updating ‘living e-books’ offering answers to the many questions families have about how to navigate their way through the pandemic.

MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2020
Episode #6 of 545

New York Times Science Reporter Apoorva Mandavilli On The Challenges of Covering COVID 19

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with New York Times Science and Global Health Reporter Apoorva Mandavilli, who has been covering emerging discoveries around the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses the rapidly-evolving science on how this novel pathogen spreads, the guidelines for sending kids and teachers back into schools, and the rapid development of therapeutics and vaccines to treat and prevent infection.

MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020
Episode #7 of 545

COVID-19 Vaccines: When Will They Be Ready? Will They Work? Listen to Leading Expert Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Naor Bar-Zeev, Deputy Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He examines the scientific guidelines governing COVID-19 vaccine phase 3 clinical trials, including a broad demographic representation to ensure vaccine safety across multiple populations, and the need to address vaccine hesitancy as well as the global supply chain needed to distribute billions of doses.
MONDAY, JULY 27, 2020
Episode #8 of 545

Dr. Eric Topol: What Lies Between Now and COVID-19 Vaccine

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Eric Topol, Founder and Director of the Scripps Translational Institute, and author of “The Creative Destruction of Medicine”. Dr. Topol is a renowned cardiologist and health data champion, and shares a harsh assessment of federal handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US. He’s heartened by the many collaborations yielding significant scientific discovery around rapid testing technology and vaccines. He’s concerned the anti-science movement will undermine deployment of an effective vaccination program, once one makes it to the public.

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020
Episode #9 of 545

Pandemic: Dr. Zeke Emanuel on the Timeline for America Returning to ‘Normal’

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Zeke Emanuel, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. A former advisor to the Obama Administration, he predicts the pandemic won’t be fully brought under control until late next year, when an approved vaccine can be successfully deployed across hundreds of millions of Americans. He discusses his new book, “Which Country Has the Best Healthcare” addressing the failure of America’s leadership to adequately address the pandemic.

MONDAY, JULY 13, 2020
Episode #10 of 545

COVID-19’s Deadly Grip: Former CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt on America’s Next Right Steps

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Andy Slavitt, former Acting Administrator of CMS under President Obama. He is founder of United States of Care and Town Hall Ventures, two entities committed to advancing health coverage and health reform in the US through bipartisan coalitions. Mr. Slavitt analyzes the failed national response to COVID-19 here in the US, the need for a more unified and robust strategy to protect the public, and his recommendations for fixing America’s flawed health care system.
MONDAY, JULY 6, 2020
Episode #11 of 545

COVID-19 and American Indians: Dr. Donald Warne on the Devastating Toll of the Pandemic on Native American Populations

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Donald Warne, Director of Indians Into Medicine (INMED) at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. A renowned expert on American Indian health policies, Dr. Warne talks about the devastating toll COVID-19 is exacting on communities of color, particularly American Indians, who already suffer the effects of long term poverty, health disparities and Congress’ repeated failure to fully fund Indian Health Services which has led to a huge burden of chronic disease.
MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020
Episode #12 of 545

Front Line Warriors in Pandemic and Care Delivery: Dr. Susan Hassmiller on Impact of Nursing in American Health Care

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome Dr. Susan Hassmiller, Senior Advisor for Nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Advisor to the President for Nursing at the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Hassmiller talks about the dramatic role America’s 3.8 million nurses are playing in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, how the nursing profession is playing a critical role in meeting challenges in primary care and health disparities, as well as her work crafting the Future of Nursing goals at RWJF and the National Academies.
MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020
Episode #13 of 545

Inflection Point: US House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Race, Police, and the Pandemic

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with House Majority Whip, US Congressman James Clyburn who says we have reached an inflection point in American history in addressing the high cost to communities of color from health disparities, policing injustices and economic inequality. Congressman Clyburn examines important legislation aimed at stemming racially motivated police brutality, as well as improving health care access for vulnerable Americans through expansion of community health centers and telehealth.

MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020
Episode #14 of 545

COVID 19: We’re in the Second Inning - According to Noted Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Michael Osterholm, world-renowned epidemiologist, pandemic expert and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease, Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. The author of The Deadliest Enemy: Our War with Killer Germs, Dr Osterholm has warned for years of the likelihood of a pandemic such as COVID-19.He extols the need for ongoing measures to protect the public health and front line health care workers through mask use, social distancing and tests, and the herculean scientific efforts to produce treatments and a vaccine.

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2020
Episode #15 of 545

NAACP Health Director Dr. Marjorie Innocent Talks About Racism in America

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Marjorie Innocent, Senior Director of Health Programs at the NAACP. Dr. Innocent speaks on the current climate of protest against entrenched racism in America, the NAACP’s call to action to address police brutality, economic and health disparities, and the need to foster a culture of collaboration to address racism’s toll on people of color in this country.

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2020
Episode #16 of 545

How the US Pandemic Preparedness Failed: Harvard’s Dr. Ashish Jha on the Best Way Forward Through Covid-19

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Ashish Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, who is advising state, federal and international governments on Covid-19. He laments the delayed and inadequate response by the federal government to the threat of Covid-19, how failure to deploy a cohesive testing strategy has cost lives, and how an aggressive national approach is needed to safely navigate the way through this pandemic. He predicts the coronavirus will change training of future health professionals, as well as the way the American health care system is run.

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2020
Episode #17 of 545

Telehealth, Testing and Contact Tracing: Dr. John Halamka on COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. John Halamka, President of the Mayo Clinic Platform, a partnership with Google and multiple entities to improve healthcare through better data. He recently launched the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition, with more than 800 private sector and academic partners collaborating on multiple fronts to combat COVID-19. They discuss the “five phases” to a “new normal” including isolation, infection and antibody testing, contact tracing and vaccine development as precursors fully reopening society.
MONDAY, MAY 4, 2020
Episode #18 of 545

America’s Loneliness Epidemic Amid COVID-19: Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on the Toll of Isolation on America’s Health

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome US Surgeon General under President Obama, Dr. Vivek Murthy, whose new book “Together: The Healing Power of Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World” examines the causes and harmful effects of the epidemic of loneliness in America and its impact on health. Dr. Murthy examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is amplifying this crisis, and how we, as a society, must address this issue.

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020
Episode #19 of 545

Testing, Contact Tracing, Quarantines and Physical Distancing: Tomas Pueyo on What U.S. and Others Must Do to Beat Coronavirus

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome engineer, data analyst and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tomas Pueyo, whose recent collection of articles in the online publication Medium outline what must be done to contain COVID-19, and minimize the harm to health and economies. He analyzes global data on actions taken by countries and their impact on outcomes, recommending that widespread testing, contract tracing, physical distancing, hand hygiene and widespread use of masks will help contain the pandemic.
MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2020
Episode #20 of 545

Coronavirus Pandemic and Congressional Action: Representative Rosa DeLauro on Protecting Families and Businesses Through Crisis

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, on the passage of the Families First and the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Act, two bills passed in Congress to address the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Congresswoman Delauro discusses the need for more resources for testing and for health systems support, the need for paid sick leave and family leave, the rise of telehealth to meet demand and the need for the public to heed the warnings to stay home through the worst of the crisis.