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Dr. Rick Brennan: “This is not good for the American soul.” Nov 07, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Rick Brennan, an acclaimed Australian humanitarian leader who led WHO and NGO crisis response in multiple conflicts over several decades, walks us through his personal story. He then unpacks the scale and gravity of what is now unfolding in Darfar—featuring the “F word” (famine), the “G word”( genocide, affirmed by the US Senate), and the “C word” (cholera). The crisis requires political action from the UAE—and President Trump’s attention. “There is an obligation to act.” And yet it occurs as global humanitarian needs have soared while humanitarian funding has dropped by half—the US by over 80%. It is a wake-up call, a rude awakening.

Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity Oct 31, 2025

Show notes

Listen to the recent CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security book launch of Fair Doses: An Insider’s Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity by Seth Berkley. As the gravity and magnitude of the Covid-19 pandemic became apparent in the first half of 2020, how did the vision for a mechanism to ensure equitable access to new vaccines come together and what role did organizations including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Center for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI); and the World Health Organization (WHO) play in enabling the COVAX Facility to distribute nearly two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to people in 146 countries, the majority of which were low-income countries, by the end of 2022?

This event featured conversation between Katherine Bliss, Senior Fellow and Director of Immunizations and Health Systems Resilience, CSIS Global Health Policy Center, and Dr. Seth Berkley, author of Fair Doses and CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, from 2011 to 2023 regarding the challenges of vaccine equity and the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic that can inform preparations for inevitable future health crises.

This event is made possible through the generous support of the Gates Foundation.

Keizo Takemi, recent Japan Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare: "I am quite lucky." Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

Keizo Takemi, recent Japan Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (September 2023-October 2024), shares his personal story that took him to Taiwan, CNN/Japan, the Diet, Harvard, back to the Diet, and recently into the cabinet of then Prime Minister Kishida. Along the way he became a leading force in charting Japan's approach to global health. As Minister he put a spotlight on the thousands of single, isolated elderly who die alone in Japan, unnoticed for days. Though expensive, wearable digital technologies can help connect the elderly better to community health services. Covid-19 exposed the lack of digitalized data and the need for a national mechanism to integrate patient and hospital data. That became a priority for him as Minister, as well as the creation of the Japan Institute of Health Security, a merger that promises far greater capabilities in preparing for and responding to dangerous outbreaks. By 2035, Japan will have 10 million citizens above 85 years of age. "Speedy aging" is raising demands for different care, at considerable expense. Achieving a stable number of skilled caregivers requires better wages and work conditions, and the entry of far more migrants into the workforce. Japan's biopharmaceutical industry requires a wholistic industrial policy. That sector is hollowing out, as Takeda and Astellas locate their operations in the United States.

Dr. Debra Houry, former Chief Medical Officer and Dep. Director, CDC: “He’s becoming dangerous to the health of our nation.” Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Debra Houry joined the podcast, following her resignation from CDC on August 25, upon the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, and shortly after her September 17 testimony before the Senate HELP Committee. What does she make of President Trump’s September 22 press conference on Tylenol, its alleged connection to autism, and the potential use of leucovorin? While serving as CDC’s senior most leader, how did she navigate the period from President Trump’s inauguration on January 20 until the arrival of Susan Monarez as the new CDC Director on July 31? How was the armed attack upon CDC on August 8 experienced? What are the downstream impacts? How did she plan and carry out her resignation in league with other CDC leaders? What did the September 17 Senate HELP Committee meeting accomplish? What is the state now of CDC? “I have grave concerns about what is coming out of that agency.” How to stabilize CDC? It needs permanent scientific leadership, a stable budget, more truth and oversight of advisory committees, better trust in CDC staff, and more voice by CDC staff and scientists in partnership with communities.

Peter Piot, LSHTM: “A brilliant coalition” essential to success Sep 18, 2025

Show notes

The renowned global health leader, Peter Piot, LSHTM, opens this conversation with reflections on what drove the historic global health successes, including “a brilliant coalition” and U.S. bipartisan leadership grounded in statecraft and strategic thinking. That “twenty-five years of historical anomaly” has however now ended. In Europe, that shift has resulted from populism combined with intense migratory pressures, the costs of battling the threat of Russia, and the high costs of providing a social safety net for a rising elderly population. Global Health 2.0 will be built on health sovereignty in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The shock scarcities of the Covid pandemic had already awakened the need for greater self-reliance; the sudden and abrupt decline in donor funding for global health is the latest shock. We will see “sunset clauses” and “mergers and acquisitions” across many familiar international institutions. AI promises innovations in R&D and delivery, aided by philanthropies. Centers of excellence are now in place “everywhere.” It is “no longer a one-way street.”

The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics Sep 11, 2025

Show notes

Listen to the recent CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Health Security book launch of The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics. As bad as Covid-19 was, the next pandemic could be worse. While the world learns to live with Covid-19 and continues to recover from its worst effects, how do we prepare for the next pandemic lurking around the corner?

The event includes a panel moderated by CSIS Senior Vice President and Director J. Stephen Morrison, featuring co-authors Michael T. Osterholm, Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota, and Mark Olshaker, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and New York Times #1 bestselling author.

Dr. Celine Gounder, KFF Health News: "Silence was paralysis" Sep 11, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Celine Gounder, Editor-at-Large, KFF Health News, explains how the U.S. vaccine enterprise could be damaged so swiftly by the Trump administration, with so little apparent resistance: it was a "shock and awe" blitz, while hesitation and fear dominated. "Silence was paralysis." It is too early to estimate the true scope of damage. The middle tier of professionals in government and scientific research has certainly paid a high price. While Secretary Kennedy's firing of CDC Director Monarez was a thunderclap, it remains to be seen if or when President Trump changes his view of the Secretary's performance. What lies ahead? Regional alliances of states setting policy on vaccines will be "the laboratories of public health." The Supreme Court may be called upon to revisit the balance between individual liberty versus public health. If pediatric hospitals are overrun with children suffering from dangerous vaccine-preventable illnesses, public outcry could escalate.

CommonHealth Live! with PAHO’s Dr. Jarbas Barbosa Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

In the fifteenth episode of the Common Health Live!, Katherine E. Bliss talks with Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), about challenges related to health security in the Americas, the importance of regional cooperation in building resilient health systems and strengthening preparedness for future health emergencies, and opportunities for advancing efforts to improve the health of the region’s population through the upcoming UN High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and the 10th Summit of the Americas, scheduled to take place in the Dominican Republic in December. 

Dr. Andriy Klepikov, Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine): "We are still standing." Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Andriy Klepikov, the founder and executive director of the Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine), reflects on the Alliance's remarkable evolution over the past 25 years into a major Ukrainian—and regional—non-governmental force in HIV, TB, and harm reduction programs. Foundational to its early success was the exemplary partnership with the Global Fund and PEPFAR. Ukraine, in the midst of war, cannot at present soon transition to self-reliance. In the past three and a half years of war following the Russian invasion, the Alliance has become a provider of mass emergency humanitarian relief to the most vulnerable in Ukraine. It now serves five times the numbers it served before the war. Recovery will draw on telemedicine and mobile clinics, and prioritize mental health, war veterans who are blinded, have lost limbs, and struggle with long-term trauma. The United States remains indispensable to Ukraine's future—for peace and social justice.

Dr. Heidi Larson, LSHTM: “People are struggling to make sense of it.” Aug 07, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Heidi Larson, the acclaimed expert on vaccine confidence at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine – and CSIS Senior Associate – speaks to how the external world is reacting to the changes in the United States in vaccine policy, the scientific R&D biomedical enterprise, and public health. “What has shocked people is the abruptness of these measures with little consideration of the implications.” An abrupt drop in trust has followed. The United States has for decades been seen as the most stable and trusted collaborator, based in scientific evidence. People are now turning inward and to other countries. For those scientists whose U.S. grants have been disrupted, “You can’t turn your lab off for six months.” We are seeing the outmigration of US-based scientists to Europe and elsewhere. The multilevel siege of American universities is fundamentally a matter of values. It has raised the question of whether it will be possible to sustain transatlantic scientific partnerships. How to break out of a liberal bubble? Finding a common space is most critical. Sometimes you just have to keep your head down and keep moving forward …. keep our center.

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