Gridlock Break

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Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach Answers Your Vaccine Questions Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach is president of Samaritan Health Initiatives, Inc. and an adjunct professor at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He was formerly the Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration from 2006–2009. In this episode, he will discuss COVID-19 vaccines and answer questions on their development, implementation, and impact.

Dr. von Eschenbach marvels at the speed at which COVID-19 vaccines were created. Where it could previously take 15 years to develop a vaccine, these came in less than a year. It was possible thanks to tremendous scientific advances, as well as several regulatory changes that cleared the way for these treatments to come to market faster.

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Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Former Commissioner of the FDA Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

We hear from Dr. Margaret Hamburg, an internationally recognized leader in public health and medicine. She currently serves as foreign secretary of the National Academy of Medicine and chair of the NTI | bio Advisory Group. She is a former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), having served for almost six years. In this episode, she discusses the development of COVID-19 vaccines and the distribution and access to those vaccines once they have been developed.

Dr. Hamburg explains that the real bright spot in the COVID-19 pandemic has been the mobilization of the medical research community to advance the development of vaccines in such a short time. The fastest vaccine development to date was for mumps, taking four years; in less than a year, two COVID-19 vaccines have been submitted for approval. Additionally, Dr. Hamburg notes the surprisingly high percentage of efficacy for both submissions, which was certainly not expected.

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What Should Happen in the First 100 Days of the New Congress? Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we open up the conversation to No Labels’ members to discuss what they think should be the top priorities for No Labels in the first hundred days of the new Biden Administration and the new Congress. It will be no surprise that the new president’s first task will be the containment of COVID-19, but No Labels is in a unique position to help determine what comes next.

In the next Congress No Labels’ bipartisan coalition in the House and the Senate could emerge as the pivotal swing bloc. Democrats will have an even smaller majority in the House. While party control of the Senate will not be determined until the January 5 Georgia runoffs, the majority party will have no more than between 50-52 seats. The implication of this new legislative math is clear:

In 2021, Washington will either solve problems on a bipartisan basis or they won’t solve them at all.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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Divided We Stand: Democrats and Republicans Diverge on U.S. Foreign Policy Nov 24, 2020

Show notes

Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura are both experts on public opinion and foreign policy with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. They will discuss their recent report about American views on foreign policy in the age of COVID-19.

Smeltz and Kafura say voters do not generally choose a candidate on the basis of foreign policy, but that’s starting to change amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. As indicated by the title of their report, Divided We Stand, Democrats and Republicans do not generally agree on issues of foreign policy. But Smeltz and Kafura do see a few areas of common ground between the parties, including a widespread belief that foreign trade is important to the American economy and a fear that COVID-19 will lead to the end of globalization.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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The Responsibility of State Governance with David Crane Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

David Crane is a lecturer in Public Policy at Stanford University and the founder and president of Govern for California, which is working to bring a more pragmatic approach to state government. In this episode, he discusses the work of Govern for California and the critical, but often under-appreciated, effect that local and state government has on our lives.

David Crane explains that when he began in state government advising Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was stunned by how little he knew about the state legislature, its role, and its relationship with the governorship. He goes on to note the vital need for people, companies and organizations to know the names of the state legislators who represent them on a local level. Although so many of us fixate on national politics, local politicians often have the most impact on our lives because they control and provide the social services that impact us daily.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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A Look at America's Foreign Policy with General H.R. McMaster Nov 05, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we’ll hear from General H.R. McMaster, who served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018, after which he served as President Trump’s National Security Advisor. He is now a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Today, he will discuss his recent book, Battlegrounds, which examines the most critical security and foreign policy challenges facing the US.

General McMaster explains that he wrote Battlegrounds in an attempt to bring Americans together in a time of increasing divisiveness that he thinks weakens our country. In the post-cold War era, he claims we have lost our strategic confidence. Americans falsely believed we could indefinitely maintain an era of military dominance, and over the last thirty years, we have transitioned to a pessimistic view of our position in the world. He says going forward, our leaders, at every level, will need a greater emphasis on understanding history in moving forward politically and militarily.

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Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

Challenges to Scientific Consensus on COVID-19 with Dr. Arturo Casadevall and Dr. Nigel Paneth Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Casadevall is the chair of the Molecular Microbiology & Immunology department at Johns Hopkins University. And Dr. Panth is a Professor of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Pediatrics at Michigan State University. Today, they will discuss their recent Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, in which they explore why it is often so hard for scientists to reach consensus about COVID-19.

In their Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, the doctors asked two questions: What are the standards of evidence in medicine and how do they apply in the particular case of convalescent plasma for treating COVID-19? The gold standard in medical research is of course experimentation and double blind clinical trials. But as the doctors argue, we should be more open to the benefits of medical care born of observation, especially, as in the case of COVID, where greater speed is needed to find treatments.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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A Lesson in Negotiation with William Ury Oct 29, 2020

Show notes

William Ury, a co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and one of the world’s leading experts on mediation discusses his impression of the country's current problem-solving methods and what needs to change.

William Ury notes that a key to productive problem solving is finding solutions that work for both parties, and in the case of national issues, he calls it a “win-win-win” - a win for both sides of the aisle is a win for the country as well. He believes achieving these win-win-wins requires leaders to build bridges across aisles and avoid personal anger. But it also requires the engagement of what he calls “the third side” which is born of his insight that it takes two sides to fight, but that it often takes a third side to stop the fighting.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic with Johnese Spisso, President of UCLA Health Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

Johnese Spisso is the President of UCLA Health, CEO of UCLA Hospital System, and Associate Vice Chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences. In this episode, she discusses her experiences managing a major hospital system through the COVID-19 crisis, and her outlook for the fall.

Ms. Spisso explains that successfully managing a pandemic relies on the three S’s: sufficient staffing of hospitals and healthcare facilities; the right supplies or PPE to keep patients, staff, and families safe; and a hospital’s ability for surge capacity. In the case of COVID-19, she details the stress of training staff and preparing facilities in light of changing information regarding the transmission of the disease. Now UCLA and other hospital system will have to apply these difficult lessons as America reckons with a potential resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

A Conversation with Howard University President Wayne Frederick on the Changing Landscape of Higher Education Oct 22, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Wayne Frederick was appointed president of Howard University in 2014, before which he had served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer of the university. He is also the Chair of Surgery. Today, he will discuss the role Howard University is playing in the racial climate in the country and in higher education.

Dr. Frederick discusses the unique challenges and objectives of Howard University in representing the black community and educating students who might otherwise not have access to higher education. He goes on to explain how Howard is attempting to rethink the education plan in order to minimize student debt, with an increase in the minimum credits necessary per semester and reconsidering requirements to graduate.

Go to NoLabels.org to learn more about how we are bringing together a bipartisan group of public and private leaders working to solve America’s toughest problems.

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