Podcast: Beyond the White Coat Series
VaccineVoices Series: Building Confidence in the COVID-19 Vaccines
On this season of “Beyond the White Coat,” health care providers and experts weigh in on how we can stem the tide of the pandemic through vaccination. In May 2021, it was reported that nearly 130 million people age 18 and older have completed their vaccine regimens since the first doses were administered to the public in December; however, many individuals remain unconvinced and unvaccinated. Episodes will cover issues such as building trust and promoting confidence in the vaccines in health care personnel, debunking the most common myths surrounding the vaccines, and accessing the vaccines in communities hit hardest by the pandemic.
VaccineVoices: Talking to Health Care Personnel About Getting Vaccinated
Science is the only way out of the pandemic. And while health care personnel were the first group in the United States to be offered the vaccines, many of these individuals remain unconvinced and unprotected. In this episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” AAMC Chief Health Care Officer Janis Orlowski, MD, talks with Houston Methodist President and CEO Marc Boom, MD, and Memorial Hermann Health System President and CEO David Callender, MD, about the challenges health care systems are experiencing in trying to ensure their staff are vaccinated and what can be done to build vaccine confidence.
VaccineVoices: COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Debunked
Concerns around the speed with which the COVID-19 vaccines were developed, along with questions on the potential risks for pregnant women and skepticism about the vaccines’ effectiveness against the coronavirus variants, have increased public hesitancy on getting vaccinated. Herein lies the challenge for health care personnel trying to convince those who are wary on the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. On this episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” Rosha McCoy, MD, AAMC senior director for advancing clinical leadership and quality, talks with health care providers and experts to debunk common myths and share accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccines as part of the nation’s efforts to increase vaccinations and end the pandemic.
VaccineVoices: Promoting Equity in Vaccine Access
While some sources are quick to point to vaccine hesitancy as the main cause for the vaccination rate gap between racial and ethnic groups due to a history of mistrust of the medical community, others point to issues affecting how easily people can access the vaccines, such as a lack of access to accurate information and barriers to technology, time, and transportation. On this episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” Karey Sutton, PhD, AAMC director of health equity research workforce and director of research for the AAMC Center for Health Justice, talks with experts Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, and Aaron Gerstenmaier, MD, about the racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates and explores strategies to promote equity in vaccine access.
Racism and Public Health
Academic medicine is being confronted with the problem of institutional and systemic racism that has impacted Black Americans for more than a century. The conversation around bias and discrimination in health care has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also has drawn into sharp focus the role and responsibility health providers have in driving change. This season, we delve into critical conversations on how the health care community landed in this place and what is being done to improve relationships with the Black community. Access current episodes below and stay tuned for updates to this page as we add episodes throughout the season.
Diagnosing Our National Disease
David J. Skorton, MD, talks with Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, about how the history of racism in medical schools, clinical care, and research has impacted academic medicine’s relationship with the Black community.
Racism and Medical Education: Telling the Full Story
David J. Skorton, MD, speaks with AAMC Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer David A. Acosta, MD, about the history of structural racism in U.S. medical education and how that history informs today’s learning environment.
Future MD: A Prescription for Addressing Racism in Medical Education
In this episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” Geoffrey Young, PhD, AAMC senior director of student affairs and programs, speaks with Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako, a fourth-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine, on his experience as a learner and as an advocate for racial equity and equality in medical education and health care. Nguemeni Tiako gives his perspective on racism in medical education and his work writing the “White Coat and a Hoodie” column and producing the “Flip the Script” podcast on health disparities.
Do No Harm: Racism in Patient Care
Examples of bias in the delivery of health care are rampant. In this episode of “Beyond the White Coat,” AAMC Senior Director of Health Equity Partnerships and Programs Malika Fair, MD, MPH, speaks with Laura Guidry-Grimes, PhD; Brian Gittens, EdD; Carol Major, MD; and Charles Vega, MD, to explore how academic medicine can move toward more equitable care for all and to dive deeper into how we prepare and train the physicians of tomorrow to be allies for everyone.
Racism Under the Microscope
We’ve known for a long time that systemic racism influences the social determinants of health — affecting, quite literally, who in this country survives and who suffers. People who live in poorer neighborhoods often receive lower quality and less care from health care providers. And long-standing discrimination against all marginalized communities has created dramatic health inequities. David J. Skorton, MD, looks back at some of the conversations we had about these very difficult and persistent issues this past season on “Beyond the White Coat.”
Academic Medicine on the Front-lines of COVID-19
Health care professionals in academic medicine are on the front lines of the coronavirus, besieged with an influx of patients, personal protective equipment shortages, and shifting care guidance. In this inaugural season, listeners will hear from providers, researchers, and industry experts about how they are responding to the crisis while examining the ongoing, difficult conversations around clinical care, education, policy, and research. Access all episodes below.
Who Gets That Ventilator? Bioethics in the Era of COVID
Guests Arthur Derse, MD, JD, and Ross McKinney Jr., MD, join David Skorton, MD, to explore the emerging clinical guidelines that inform the rationing of care and equipment and the inherent challenges of balancing bioethics with health equity.
Accelerating Transformation in Times of Crisis
David Skorton, MD, talks with Mark Laret, president and CEO of UCSF Health, about how we can take advantage of the disruption the pandemic has caused, not only to dispose of old thinking but also to accelerate this innovation and create lasting change.
A Pivotal Moment for Science: A Conversation with Dr. Francis Collins
David Skorton, MD, talks with Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, to discuss how the nation can push ahead with the most critical research projects in a time when so much is constrained by unusual circumstances.
Preserving Well-being in a Pandemic
What’s being done to ensure well-being for those serving on the front-lines of this pandemic? David Skorton, MD, talks with Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH, about how we can care for ourselves, and others, in the era of COVID-19.
Exploring the Future of Health Care Policy After COVID-19
In this two-part episode, David Skorton, MD, talks with Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) about how health care policy will change for patients, the research community, and the workforce in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Racial Health Disparities: How COVID-19 Magnified a Public Health Emergency
In the season finale, David Skorton, MD, and Malika Fair, MD, MPH, discuss the forces driving disparities in health care access, and what the academic medicine community can do to address institutional and systemic racism.