Facing Forward

After the pandemic ushered in years of digital change virtually overnight – rendering entire parts of the economy obsolete – are Zoom meetings here to stay? Margaret Brennan talks with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. His venture capital firm Seven Seven Six is making bets on the future while also looking after its employees.

Even if you’re not a parent, getting students back into classrooms is key to reviving the economy. After the nation’s pandemic-induced experiment in remote learning proved a bust — Sal Khan — a pioneer in the field talks with Margaret Brennan about why it failed — and the role digital learning can play in getting America’s students caught up.

Warning lights are flashing for America’s small businesses. A new survey finds that 70% might run out of cash by July as women and minorities are losing their jobs and businesses at an alarming rate. Margaret Brennan talks with Lexi Reese – COO of Gusto, a company that delivers paychecks for small businesses – about this uneven economic crisis.

As the Biden Administration pushes to open the majority of schools by April, how are some of the nation’s largest school districts working to keep teachers and students safe and healthy? Margaret Brennan talks with Randi Weingarten – president of the American Federation of Teachers.

How did the NFL season come together as a pandemic raged? And why was it important that the full season – including this weekend’s Super Bowl – get played? Margaret Brennan talks with the head of the NFL Players Association about that and lessons the learned from this unusual NFL season.

As new strains of COVID-19 emerge around the world, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks talks about the COVID-19 treatments his company is developing and how effective they are in treating the virus.

Former FDA Commissioner and Pfizer Board Member Dr. Scott Gottlieb talks to Margaret Brennan about new strains of COVID-19 popping up around the world. Plus, the latest on the Pfizer vaccine distribution.

Former White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx sat down with Margaret Brennan for a wide-ranging interview talking about the coronavirus pandemic and her experience working with the Trump White House.

Margaret Brennan talks with Illumina President and CEO Francis deSouza. Illumina is helping scientists around the world identify new strains of the COVID-19 virus and was part of the team that detected some of the first cases of the United Kingdom variant in the United States. deSouza tells Brennan that the United States is currently sequencing on average 0.3% of positive cases and that in order to get a good understanding of what's happening, “you really need to be sequencing about 5% of the positive cases as well as sampling the negative cases.”

Learn what makes Facing Forward the podcast that you need to help make sense of what is happening in our complex world.