Infectious Diseases

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Vernon Lee, PhD

Early on in the COVID-19 outbreak, Singapore quickly launched a robust response which included widespread testing, diligent contact tracing and quarantining, and isolation of all sick persons, even those with mild symptoms. Alumnus Dr. Vernon Lee, Director of Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health of Singapore, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how lessons from the 2003 SARS outbreak informed Singapore’s risk-based approach to staying a few steps ahead of the novel coronavirus.

Published April 7, 2020

Host: Paul Doghramji, MD

Guest: Gary Lyman, MD, MPH

Just two miles away from where the first case of COVID-19 was identified, the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research acted quickly to help protect patients. Here to walk us through the impacts, barriers faced, and strategies that have been implemented to help address those challenges is the oncology center’s Senior Lead of Health Care Quality and Policy Dr. Gary Lyman.

Published April 10, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Sabra L. Klein, PhD

Host: Stephanie Desmon

Guest: Rosemary Morgan, PhD

Globally, more men are dying from COVID-19 than women. But is this due to sex (biological differences), gender (social and contextual differences), or something else entirely? Stephanie Desmon talks to virologist Sabra Klein and social scientist Rosemary Morgan about risk factors associated with COVID-19.

Published April 6, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Tolbert G. Nyenswah, MPH

In 2014, Tolbert Nyenswah, then an assistant minister of health in Liberia, was tapped to lead the nation’s response to the Ebola epidemic. Under his leadership, an Incident Management System deployed thousands of epidemiologists, case managers, and contact tracers in a technical response that brought the outbreak under control. Nyenswah talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what the US can learn from Liberia’s experience and what needs to happen soon to get ahead of the curve.

Published April 6, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Howard Sklamberg

What does a global pandemic mean for the world’s drug supply chain? Howard Sklamberg, lawyer and former FDA deputy commissioner, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the threats that COVID-19 poses to medications for everything from cancer to diabetes to hypertension.

Published April 3, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Dr. Eric Toner, MD

The Center for Health Security is back with another round of expert answers to your most-asked COVID-19 questions. If we reopen everything back up, what is the risk that we’ll have a new surge of infections? As China considers loosening restrictions, how are they making those decisions? Why aren’t there human temperature monitors in public places like airports, hospitals, and grocery stores? Is anyone considering breast milk for antibody therapy? Can two positive people quarantine together? How many people will actually get COVID-19? What are the most important unanswered questions right now?

Published April 3, 2020

Host: Stephanie Desmon

Guest: Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH

As public health experts stress the importance of hygiene and social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, what does this mean for the 2.3 million people incarcerated in the U.S.? Johns Hopkins Infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Chris Beyrer talks to Stephanie Desmon about the difficulties of protecting people in these facilities, the low-risk/high-reward strategy of releasing those held on administrative misdemeanors, and how undocumented people may be one of our most vulnerable populations.

Published April 2, 2020

Host: Stephanie Desmon

Guest: Dr. Brian Garibaldi, MD

Caring for patients with COVID-19 requires a new playbook in many ways. Dr. Brian Garibaldi, a pulmonologist in the ICU at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the medical director of the biocontainment unit, talks to Stephanie Desmon about his observations of COVID-19 patients including new challenges, changes to protocols, and coping with fears about he and his colleagues getting sick themselves.

Published April 1, 2020

Host: Joshua Sharfstein, MD

Guest: Dr. Lisa A. Cooper, MD, MPH

Equal access to resources, care, and information is a substantial problem for at-risk groups such as older adults, ethnic minorities, or those with low incomes even in the best of times. In this pandemic, where it’s critical to “flatten the curve” among all groups, these barriers cannot be ignored. Dr. Lisa Cooper, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, talks to Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what needs to be done to address these significant, persistent challenges.

Published April 1, 2020

Host: Stephanie Desmon

Guest: Keri N. Althoff, PhD

Guest: Elizabeth A. Stuart, PhD

Like many, epidemiologist Keri Althoff and biostatistician Elizabeth Stuart are juggling different responsibilities and precautionary measures in the “new normal” of COVID-19. They talk to Stephanie Desmon not about their day jobs, but about play dates, community building while social distancing, ordering takeout, and how they’re managing COVID-19 as parents, neighbors, and friends.

Published March 31, 2020