COVIDCalls

EP #256 - 04.07.2021 - Return to Cancer Alley and the Pandemic

Today is a discussion of COVID-19 in the “Cancer Alley” region of southern Louisiana with Wesley James and Kimberly Terrell.

Wesley James currently serves as Associate Professor of Sociology and Executive Director of the Center for Community Research and Evaluation (CCRE) at the University of Memphis. He received his Ph.D. from Mississippi State University in 2009.

Dr. James' primary research interests are medical sociology, demography, and rural health. He has been involved in several externally supported research projects exploring a variety of health-related issues. Currently, his research agenda is focused in three areas: (1) U.S. mortality disparities across time and place, (2) social determinants of health and mortality in rural America, and (3) evaluating health and educational interventions in the Mississippi Delta.

Dr. James has been published in American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine Population Health, Demographic Research, N-IUSSP, Population Research and Policy Review, Journal of Rural Health, and many others.

Kimberly Terrell earned a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology (a field of biology focused on protecting nature) from the University of New Orleans in 2011 and dual bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Political Science from Tulane University in 2005. Dr. Terrell’s graduate research was conducted at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (Washington, DC) and focused on endangered cat species. Throughout her experience as a scientist, Dr. Terrell has always felt strongly connected to the culture and environment of the Gulf Coast. Inspired by this connection, Dr. Terrell joined the Environmental Law Clinic in 2018 as the Director of Community Outreach. With her knowledge of environmental issues and experience working with diverse communities, Dr. Terrell helps concerned citizens engage in environmental decision-making and access the legal resources of the Environmental Law Clinic. Dr. Terrell considers herself a native of the Mississippi River Basin, having lived most of her life in New Orleans, Chicago, and Memphis.

EP #254 - 04.06.2021 - On the Frontline: Follow up w/Dr. Peter Chin-Hong

Today is my second #COVIDCalls discussion with Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.

Peter Chin-Hong is Associate Dean for Regional Campuses of the UCSF school of medicine. He is a medical educator who specializes in treating infectious diseases, particularly infections that develop in patients who have suppressed immune systems, such as solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients and HIV+ organ transplant recipients. He directs the immunocompromised host infectious diseases program at UCSF. His research focuses on donor derived infections in transplant recipients and molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases in patients with suppressed immune systems.

He earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University, before completing an internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship at UCSF, where he is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Yearlong Inquiry Program in the School of Medicine. He was the inaugural holder of the Academy of Medical Educators Endowed Chair for Innovation in Teaching.

EP #253 - 04.05.2021 - Teletherapy and the Pandemic

Today is a discussion with Hannah Zeavin, author of the new book The Distance Cure

Hannah Zeavin  is a Lecturer in the Departments of English and History at UC Berkeley, and a faculty affiliate of the University of California at Berkeley Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society.  Her research focuses on the coordinated histories of technology and medicine. Zeavin is the author of  The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy  (MIT Press, August 2021)   and at work on her second book,  Mother’s Little Helpers: Technology in the American Family  (MIT Press, 2023) .  Other work has appeared or is forthcoming   in   differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, Logic Magazine,  the  Los Angeles Review of Books, Slate,  and elsewhere.

EP #252 - 04.01.2021 - One Year of Faces of COVID w/ Alex Goldenstein

Welcome to a special episode in recognition of ONE YEAR of the FACES of COVID project with Alex J. Goldstein.

Alex was my guest on November 12, 2021 and on that day there were 242,310 deaths—today 552,073.

Alex Goldstein created FacesOfCOVID in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a means of lifting up the stories behind the statistics of those lost to COVID and affirming their dignity, and holding our government leaders accountable for our failures to adequately respond to the pandemic. 

Goldstein is currently CEO of the strategic communications firm 90 West, which he founded in 2016 to better serve companies, organizations, and leaders that are making a positive impact on the world -- with a focus on equity, economic mobility, and the climate crisis. 

Prior to founding 90 West, Alex served for eight years in numerous key leadership roles with former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, including as senior advisor and executive director of Governor Patrick’s political committee, as press secretary and spokesman for the Patrick-Murray administration from 2011-2012, and as press secretary on Governor Patrick’s successful 2010 reelection campaign.

Most recently, Alex served as the senior communications advisor and spokesman for Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley’s historic and successful campaign for Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District.

EP #251 - 04.01.2021 - Anabaptist Communities in the Pandemic Year

Today is a discussion with Jason Kauffmann & Jean Kilheffer Hess, creators of the Anabaptist History Today project—the project captures Anabaptist experiences (including Mennonite and Amish communities) throughout the pandemic.

Jason Kauffman is the Director of Archives and Records Management for Mennonite Church USA in Elkhart, Indiana. Along with managing and providing access to the recorded history of the church, he also interprets and raises awareness about Mennonite history for the broader denomination. A graduate of Goshen College (a Mennonite college in northern Indiana), he has a M.A. in Latin American History from the University of New Mexico and a Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He is also a Certified Archivist and has a Digital Archives Specialist Certificate from the Society of American Archivists. He has a growing interest in oral history and directed his first oral history project in 2019.

Jean Kilheffer Hess is Executive Director of Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. With a staff of 18, three museums, and a historic site hosting a home built in 1719 and a Native longhouse replica, the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society interprets Mennonite life and early Pennsylvania history. Jean is a graduate of Messiah University and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. She is especially energized by collaborative efforts that help people value their own and others' stories: both historical and "history in the making."

EP #250 - 03.31.2021 - Emergency Management

Today is a discussion of emergency management in the COVOD-19 pandemic with Jeff Schlegelmilch and Samantha Montano.

Samantha Montano is an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Her forthcoming book DISASTEROLOGY: Dispatches from The Front Lines of The Climate Crisis comes out this August. She is also author of recent essay: Not All Disasters Are Disasters: Pandemic Categorization and Its Consequences with Amanda Savitt on SSRC Disaster Studies.

Jeff Schlegelmilch is a Research Scholar and the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.  He oversees projects related to the practice and policy of disaster preparedness, including the multi-award winning Resilient Children / Resilient Communities Initiative. Prior to his work at Columbia, he was the Manager for the International and Non-Healthcare Business Sector for the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response. He was also previously an epidemiologist and emergency planner for the Boston Public Health Commission.

He is the author Rethinking Readiness: A brief guide to twenty-first-century megadisasters published by Columbia University Press.

EP #249 - 03.30.2021- COVID-19 in Puerto Rico w/ Daniel Colon-Ramos

Today is a discussion of Puerto Rico in the pandemic with neuroscientist and science policy advisor Daniel Colon-Ramos.

Daniel Alfonso Colón-Ramos is the McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine, where his lab studies the cell biology of the synapse during development and learning. Daniel was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He completed his B.A. at Harvard University, his PhD in the lab of Dr. Sally Kornbluth at Duke University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Kang Shen at Stanford University. He is also the founder of the nonprofit organization Ciencia Puerto Rico (CienciaPR), a collaborative network for people interested in science and Puerto Rico. In 2020, he was named to the National Academy of Medicine.

EP #248 - 03.29.2021 - Congressional Calls: Nikema Williams (GA-5)

You can hear COVIDCalls anytime recorded as podcasts on Spotify, iTunes, Podbean or anywhere you get podcasts.

Congresswoman Nikema Williams represents Georgia’s 5^th congressional district in the US House of Representatives.

The Fifth Congressional District is a historic district, a seat formerly held by Congresswoman Williams’ friend and mentor, civil rights icon the late Congressman John Lewis. Congressman Lewis represented the Fifth District for over 30 years, until his passing in 2020. Congresswoman Williams contributed to history by being elected as the first Black woman to represent Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District. 

Congresswoman Williams was elected as the Freshman Class President for the 117th Congress. As President, she organizes and advances the interests of her Freshmen Democratic colleagues to fulfill their oath to work for the people. 

Before her congressional election, Congresswoman Williams served in the Georgia State Senate.  As a State Senator, Williams got in the “Good Trouble” Congressman John Lewis spoke about. In the wake of the disastrous 2018 Georgia elections, marked with rampant voter suppression, she was arrested at the Georgia State Capitol while peacefully protesting with her constituents that every vote be counted.  

Congresswoman Williams was born in Columbus, GA and raised by her grandparents in Smiths Station, Alabama. She attended Talladega College – a liberal arts Historically Black College in Talladega, Alabama.

EP #247 - 03.26.2021 - Historically Black Colleges: Universities and Public Health in Nashville

Today is a discussion of Historically Black Colleges/Universities and Public Health in Nashville with Andrea Ringer, Learotha

Williams, and A. Hannibal Leach.

Dr. A. Hannibal Leach is the Interim Assistant Dean of the School of Humanities and Behavioral Social Sciences of Fisk University. He is also an Assistant Professor of Political Science and director of the African American Studies program.  He is the author of The Social Context of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, which explores the role social identity plays in shaping mass attitudes toward U.S. foreign policy. His current research uses computational methods to understand how critical race theory helps to explain political phenomena in the context of international politics and amongst American political leadership. Dr. Leach also authors a tri-monthly publication known as the Leach Political Report. The publication provides an informed Black perspective on political issues concerning the American South.

Andrea Ringer is an Atlantic World scholar at TSU, with a focus on the history of transnational workers. Her current project asks questions about the circus as a workplace and the history of its migrant laborers.  Using more than a dozen archives from across the country, interviews, trade journals, and hundreds of local newspapers, her work explores how the relevancy of the circus depended on the blurred lines between worker and performer.  Her previous publications explore punitive justice and prison privatization, and she currently has two articles on circus workers currently in revision.  “’Because it is cheaper and better’: 1980s Corrections Policies and Prison Privatization in Tennessee,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Summer 2018.

Learotha Williams, Jr., PhD. is a scholar of African American, Civil War and Reconstruction, and Public History at Tennessee State University.  

Dr. Williams has worked as a Historic Sites Specialist for the State of Florida, acted as coordinator of the African American Studies Program at Armstrong Atlantic State University, and served as a trustee of the Historic Savannah Foundation in Savannah, Georgia.

At TSU, he coordinates the North Nashville Heritage Project, an effort that seeks to encourage a greater understanding of the history of North Nashville, including but not limited to Jefferson Street and its historic relationship to the greater Nashville community.

His most recent publication is a work he coedited with Amie Thurber entitled, I'll Take You There: Exploring Nashville's Sites of Social Justice which will be published by Vanderbilt University Press in April 2021.

EP #246 - 03.25.2021 - The COVID Crisis in Elder Care

Today is a discussion of THE COVID CRISIS IN ELDER CARE with Lori Smetanka and Jasmine Travers.

Lori Smetanka is the Executive Director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, the leading national nonprofit advocacy organization representing consumers receiving long-term care and services in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home and community based settings. Lori has testified before Congress and served on federal task forces, technical expert panels, and working groups on long-term care issues.

From 2004 – 2016 she served as the Director of the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center, providing technical assistance, training, and support to the 53 State and more than 570 local long-term care ombudsman programs across the country. She received a B.A. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law.

Dr. Jasmine Travers is an Assistant Professor at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Her career is dedicated to designing and conducting research to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities in vulnerable older adult groups using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. As a health services researcher, she has leveraged many datasets to investigate these issues and has published widely on the topics of aging, long-term care, health disparities, workforce issues, and infections. Prior to joining the faculty at NYU, Dr. Travers completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the National Clinician Scholars Program at Yale University and a T32 funded postdoctoral fellowship at the New Courtland Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She completed her doctoral training in health services research with a specialization in gerontology at Columbia University School of Nursing.