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.

New Pandemic Strategy Needed: Dr. Zeke Emanuel & Former Biden COVID Team Members Calling For New Approach

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Zeke Emanuel, Vice Provost at the University of Pennsylvania and former member of the Biden administration’s COVID Transition Team. He and other former Biden advisors have called for a dramatic new approach to addressing COVID-19 saying we will not eradicate the virus, so we need new strategies to live with it. They’re calling for a radical re-tooling of our public health data system to capture real-time data, and for a significant investment in community health workers to address public health challenges on the ground.

Yulun Wang, President of the American Telemedicine Association

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Yulun Wang, Ph.D, President of the American Telemedicine Association, dedicated to the full integration of telemedicine within the health care system. An engineer with over 50 patents to his name, Dr. Wang is also Chairman and CEO of InTouch Health, a global leader in telehealth technologies

Dr. William Kassler, chief medical officer for the New England region of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses today on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. William Kassler, chief medical officer for the New England region of CMS, about the Multi-payer Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration project, as well future healthcare innovations under the direction of CMS.

Dr. William Hanson, author of Smart Medicine: How the Changing Role of Doctors Will Revolutionize Health Care.

This week, Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. William Hanson about the changes the medical profession is undergoing in the U.S. and how tomorrow's primary care providers are being shaped by technology and a team-based approach to delivering health care. Dr. Hanson's new book is called Smart Medicine: How the Changing Role of Doctors Will Revolutionize Health Care.

Dr. William Hsiao, the K.T. Li Professor of Economics at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Conversations on Health Care® focuses this week on health system design both here and abroad. Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. William Hsiao, internationally recognized for his work on designing national health systems and effective ways to organize both health insurance and health care. From China to the United States, Dr. Hsiao’s work provides an interesting backdrop for health reform efforts underway around the world.

Dr. William Newsome, Co-Chair of the BRAIN Intitiative

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. William Newsome, Stanford University neurobiologist and co-chair of the President's BRAIN Initiative which is seeking to map the human brain. Similar to the Human Genome Project, the BRAIN Initiative will require significant collaboration from all varied fields within neuroscience to unravel the secrets of medical science's "final frontier" - the human brain.

Dr. William Newsome, Co-Chair of the BRAIN Intitiative

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Dr. William Newsome, Stanford University neurobiologist and co-chair of the President's BRAIN Initiative which is seeking to map the human brain. Similar to the Human Genome Project, the BRAIN Initiative will require significant collaboration from all varied fields within neuroscience to unravel the secrets of medical science's "final frontier" - the human brain.

Dr. William Dietz, Director, Sumner M. Redstone Center for Prevention and Wellness at GWU

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. William Dietz, Director of the Sumner M. Redstone Center for Prevention and Wellness at the Milken Institute of Public Health at George Washington University. Dr. Dietz is an internationally recognized expert on nutrition, prevention and obesity. He talks about the threat to health and the economy posed by the obesity epidemic and efforts to combat the problem.

Governor Bill Weld Mounts Challenge against President Trump: Discusses Health Care, Climate Change and Bipartisanship

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter kick off a series of interviews with presidential candidates. Our first interview was with Governor Bill Weld, who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination yesterday. They discuss his views on the Affordable Care Act, climate change, and his thoughts on how to bring the divided nation together.

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.

340B & Pharmaceutical Profiteers: Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on Going After Illegal Price Gouging By Big Pharma

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who recently called out pharmaceutical giants for intimidating safety net providers and Community Health Centers offering low cost drugs to vulnerable patients protected through the 340B Pricing. Tong is also leading a team of Attorneys General from 51 states and territories in a huge Antitrust suit, alleging criminal price-fixing and price gouging among multiple pharmaceutical giants operating in collusion with each other to dramatically increase their profits on generic drugs.

COVID-19 Is Shape-Shifting: Dr. William Haseltine Warns Variants & Lack of Containment May Weaken Vaccine Efficacy

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with scientist and entrepreneur Dr. William Haseltine, founder and CEO of ACCESS Health International, who warns the growing number of COVID-19 variants will help the virus evade the vaccines currently being deployed. He cautions that lack of strict public health measures, particularly in the US, will lead to more widespread infection and endemic outbreaks. Dr. Haseltine urges the pharmaceutical industry to provide more nuanced data on the long term efficacy of vaccines, along with more widespread genomic testing of COVID strains to better understand their impact on COVID-related illness.

Omicron Could Be as Deadly as Delta, Boosters’ Short Protection &‘Dangerous’ Oral COVID Pill from Merck: A Talk With William Haseltine

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with renowned virus expert Dr. William Haseltine who has ‘grave concerns’ about Merck’s oral COVID drug Malnupiravir, which recently won narrow approval from the FDA advisory panel. He says the drug unleashes ‘dangerous’ mutations that could evolve the virus beyond control. He’s also urging extreme caution as the highly infectious omicron variant is sweeping across the US, saying it could be as deadly as the delta variant and that boosters may offer only limited protection of 3 months. Dr Haseltine, who developed the Anthrax vaccine and is President of ACCESS Health International, says public health protocols of masking, rapid testing and social distancing should be put back in place during this next surge.

Dr. Wendy Everett, CEO, Network for Excellence in Health Innovation

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Wendy Everett, CEO of the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI), a non-partisan health policy institute seeking to enable innovations that improve the quality and lower the costs of health care. She discusses their target areas of interest including the improvement of care delivery systems, payment reform and telemedicine.

Waco Hoover, CEO of the Institute for Health Technology Transformation

This week, Mark and Margaret speak with Waco Hoover, co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Health Technology Transformation. They discuss the Institute's recent report, "Analytics: The Nervous System of IT Enabled Health Care" which explores the impact big data analytics is having on health care delivery, outcomes and costs.

Will Patients Listen If Health Care Providers Talk Climate Change?

Dr. Vivian Lee, an author and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School, is impressed by a study that found a large majority of patients responded in a favorable way when a pediatrician shared climate change details during well-child visits.

She joins hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter to explain why we need health care providers and health systems to step up to do more about the undeniable risks from climate change. Listen in as they discuss her perspective and her book, “ The Long Fix: Solving America's Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone.”

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.

Mandates ‘Turbocharging’ Vaccination Rates: US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Vaccine Requirements, Boosters and Vaccinating Kids

This week hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter welcome “the Nation’s Doctor,” US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Co-chair of President Biden’s White House COVID Task Force. Dr. Murthy explains the FDA’s latest approval for mixing vaccine brands for booster shots. He also addresses White House plans to roll out COVID vaccine support for the nation’s 5-11-year-olds pending FDA approval, and how vaccine requirements are ‘turbocharging’ vaccination rates. Dr. Murthy examines the growing crisis of unmet mental health needs, addiction, and overdose in this country, exacerbated by the pandemic. He also discusses an initiative he’s creating to address burnout in the health care profession.

Biology's New Frontier: The Human Cell Atlas Seeks To Create "Google Maps" for All Cells in the Body

This week, hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter speak with Dr. Aviv Regev of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Dr. Sarah Teichmann of the Wellcome Sanger Institute at Cambridge, Co-Chairs of the Human Cell Atlas project which is seeking to create a "Google Maps" for the body's 37 trillion cells. It's a global collaboration of multiple scientific disciplines, tasked with creating a comprehensive and open-source cell map, to yield a deeper understanding of the foundational elements of human health and disease.