Midday

Last week, the Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act passed the House of Representatives. The bill, which was first introduced by the late Elijah Cummingsm in 2019, aims to boost diversity in clinical trials and address racial health disparities.

The bill is named for Henrietta Lacks, the 31-year-old woman from Turner's Station who died in 1951 and whose cells have been used in medical research ever since.

Congressman Kweisi Mfume, who sponsored the bill this year, joins Tom with details of the historic legislation.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge across the nation, with the mounting US death toll surpassing 300 thousand on Monday, even as the first COVID vaccinations were finally being administered to Americans. But getting the vaccine into hundreds of millions of arms will be a slow process, and the dark cloud of COVID is certain to hang over the United States, and countries around the world, for months to come.

Even pre-pandemic, the stresses at this time of year have long been acknowledged by mental health professionals. This year, in addition to financial, physical, and mental health stresses that millions of Americans are experiencing because of the coronavirus, we are confronting other epidemics as well, from opioid addiction and depression to a rising incidence of suicide – which is at the highest rate in 30 years, especially among adolescents.

For many, this holiday season comes at a time of grief, loss and trauma...

Today, we explore some effective strategies for coping with the unique mental health challenges of these difficult times.

Tom's guest for the hour is Dr. Michael Young. He is the service chief of The Retreat, a residential psychiatric treatment center at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore. Dr. Young’s special interests are in treating mood, anxiety, and personality disorders.

We welcome your questions or comments for Dr. Young about mental well-being and coping strategies.

If you are in active crisis or have considered harming yourself, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit Sheppard Pratt’s Crisis Walk-in Center, either in-person or virtually. For more information, visit the Walk-in center website.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today on Midday, we begin with a look at new revelations that the founder and namesake of Johns Hopkins University, long described as a passionate abolitionist, was in fact a slave-owner.

Then, we consider the question: Is America finally having a reckoning about race? Since the nationwide protests against inequity and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd, racial justice issues have been front and center in the United States. We look back at an explosive year in American civil rights.

Guests

Dr. Robbie Shilliam, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins,

Dr. Terry Anne Scott is an associate professor of History and the Director of African American Studies at Hood College. She is the author of Seattle Sports: Play, Identity, and Pursuit in the Emerald City.

Dr. Pamela Newkirk is a professor of journalism at New York University. Her latest book is called Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Industry.

Dr. Rashawn Ray is a Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland in College Park. His latest book is How Families Matter: Simply Complicated Intersections of Race, Gender, and Work.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen across the United States, as total confirmed COVID cases surpassed 15 million, and as a record 3000-plus single-day deaths and more than 230,000 daily new infections were reported for the first time since the pandemic began.

Against that increasingly grim backdrop, the first of several potentially effective vaccines neared final approval for distribution in the United States.

A US Food and Drug Administration’s advisory panel on Thursday recommended the agency approve the Pfizer company’s request for an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, meaning doses could become available to US front-line workers and nursing home residents within days. The same vaccine was approved earlier this week in Britain, where the world's first public vaccinations have begun. A similar request for another COVID vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical company Moderna, awaits FDA consideration next week. Several more promising vaccines continue in clinical trials. These developments signal a new and more hopeful phase in this historic public health emergency, but many questions remain about whether the American public has sufficient confidence in the new vaccines, and whether federal, state and local institutions will be able to manage an effective - and equitable - nationwide vaccination campaign that will need to inoculate at least 200 million Americans over the course of the next year.

Today, Tom talks with three public health experts with unique perspectives on the challenges we face as the new vaccines are rolled out. Later in this hour, we’ll discuss how health agencies can ensure equitable public access to the vaccines with Dr. Sandra Quinn, a senior associate director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health. Tom also talks with the Dean of that school, Dr. Boris Lushniak, a former deputy and acting US Surgeon General in the Obama Administration, about the logistical — and political -- challenges in launching and running a national vaccination campaign.

But Tom's first guest today is Dr. Karen Kotloff. She is a specialist in infectious diseases with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she also serves as Principal Investigator for the Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit at the School’s NIH-funded Center for Vaccine Development. Dr. Kotloff was principal investigator on the Phase 3 human trials of the Moderna company’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

An FDA advisory committee has endorsed emergency use authorization for the COVID 19 vaccine developed by Pfizer. Moderna’s drug is expected to be approved for use next week.

On today's Healthwatch, Dr. Leana Wen joins Tom to discuss the latest on the COVID-19 vaccines. How will scientists decide they are safe and effective? What are the side effects, and how will people who are reluctant to be vaccinated be convinced that it’s in their best interest, and in the best interest of the public, to receive the medication?

Dr. Leana Wen is the former Baltimore City Health Commissioner, a visiting professor at George Washington University, a columnist for the Washington Post and a medical analyst for CNN.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today on Midday: Remembering Senator Paul Sarbanes, who died Sunday night at the age of 87. The son of Greek immigrants, Paul Sarbanes rose to become one of the most respected and effective legislators in the United States Senate, where he represented Maryland for 30 years.

Tom is joined today by the late senator's son, Maryland's 3rd District Congressman John Sarbanes; Ben Cardin, who succeeded him in the Senate; his longtime Maryland congressional colleagues, Steny Hoyer and Kweisi Mfume; University of Baltimore president and former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke; former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank; and the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden. We'll also hear a portion of the tribute Sen. Chris Van Hollen offered to Paul Sarbanes yesterday on the Senate floor.

They all reflect on the life and legacy of one of Maryland’s most consequential and influential political leaders.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

In the Presidential Election, there was no shortage of polls, and no shortage of outrage after the election from both sides of the political spectrum when much of the data appeared to have been unreliable. Many polls had Joe Biden cruising to a crushing victory, with the Democrats riding a blue wave to a Senate majority and an even bigger margin in the House.

Today on Midday, a conversation about the often precarious profession of polling. It’s a complicated and somewhat risky proposition to suggest that we can know the outcome of the horse race before the race Is over, but the obsession with the horse race, from any election cycles earliest moments, is at the heart of the problem. There are other things we can and should glean from polls that are ultimately more revelatory and enlightening than who’s up and who’s down.

Guests

Dr. Mileah Kromer is the Director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College

Ariel Edwards Levy is a senior reporter and polling editor at HuffPost, where she oversees collaboration with the website YouGov.

Dr. Natalie Jackson is the Director of Research at the Public Religion Research Institute.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen across the United States, as total confirmed COVID cases surpassed 15 million, and as a record 3000-plus single-day deaths and more than 230,000 daily new infections were reported for the first time since the pandemic began.

Against that increasingly grim backdrop, the first of several potentially effective vaccines neared final approval for distribution in the United States.<--break->

A US Food and Drug Administration’s advisory panel on Thursday recommended the agency approve the Pfizer company’s request for an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, meaning doses could become available to US front-liner workers and nursing home residents within days. The same vaccine was approved earlier this week in Britain, where the world's first public vaccinations have begun. A similar request for another COVID vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical company Moderna, awaits FDA consideration next week. Several more promising vaccines continue in clinical trials. These developments signal a new and more hopeful phase in this historic public health emergency, but many questions remain about whether the American public has sufficient confidence in the new vaccines, and whether federal, state and local institutions will be able to manage an effective - and equitable - nationwide vaccination campaign that will need to inoculate at least 200 million Americans over the course of the next year.

Today, Tom talks with three public health experts with unique perspectives on the challenges we face as the new vaccines are rolled out. Later in this hour, we’ll discuss how health agencies can ensure equitable public access to the vaccines with Dr. Sandra Quinn, a senior associate director at the Maryland Center for Health Equity, at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health. Tom also talks with the Dean of that school, Dr. Boris Lushniak, a former deputy US Surgeon General in the Obama Administration, about the logistical — and political -- challenges in launching and running a national vaccination campaign.

But Tom's first guest today is Dr. Karen Kotloff. She is a specialist in infectious diseases with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she also serves as a Principal Investigator for the Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit at the School’s NIH-funded Center for Vaccine Development. Dr. Kotloff has been the principal investigator on the Phase Three human trials of the Moderna company’s COVID vaccine.

All three of our guests join us today on Zoom.

An FDA advisory committee has endorsed emergency use authorization for the COVID 19 vaccine developed by Pfizer. Moderna’s drug is expected to be approved for use next week.

On today's Healthwatch, Dr. Lean Wen joins Tom to discuss the latest on the COVID-19 vaccines. How will scientists decide they are safe and effective? What are the side effects, and how will people who are reluctant to be vaccinated be convinced that it’s in their best interest, and in the best interest of the public, to receive the medication?

Dr. Leana Wen is a former Baltimore City Health Commissioner, a visiting professor at George Washington University, a columnist for the Washington Post and a medical analyst for CNN.

Today on Midday: Remembering Senator Paul Sarbanes, who died Sunday night at the age of 87. The son of Greek immigrants, Paul Sarbanes rose to become one of the most respected and effective legislators in the United States Senate, where he represented Maryland for 30 years.

Tom is joined today by the late senator's son, Maryland's 3rd District Congressman John Sarbanes; Ben Cardin, who succeeded him in the Senate; his longtime Maryland congressional colleagues, Steny Hoyer and Kweisi Mfume; University of Baltimore president and former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke; former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank; and the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden. We'll also hear a portion of the tribute Sen. Chris Van Hollen offered to Paul Sarbanes yesterday on the Senate floor.

They all reflect on the life and legacy of one of Maryland’s most consequential and influential political leaders.