Shows
COVIDCallsEP #500 - 3.19.2022 - RESTORING MEMORY: What is COVIDCalls?Today in this 500th episode I discuss COVIDCalls: how it started, what I’ve attempted to do with the project, and some of the ways I hope people will use it in the future. Thanks for tuning in!
2022-04-172h 13COVIDCallsEP #487 - Restoring Memory: The COVIDCalls TeamToday I talk with the core COVIDCalls team!
Eleanor Mayes is completing a Master of Design at the University of California, Berkeley. She is interested in accessibility, sustainability, and fostering equity within design and engineering. She manages the transcription of COVIDCalls, and assists with the roll-out of the COVIDCalls archive and website.
Shivani Patel is a 3rd year undergraduate student at Drexel University studying Finance and Economics with a minor in Philadelphia. For the past two years, she has been working at COVID-Calls as a production assistant helping with scheduling guests and keeping the calendar o...
2022-03-2953 minCOVIDCallsEP #473 - 3.15.2022 - Restoring Memory: Premonitions and OriginsFor The Conversation TODAY I have three experts—return guests to COVIDCalls—to talk about Premonitions and Origins of COVID-19.
Monica H. Green is a historian of medicine, currently serving as SOO-PEES Suppes Visiting Professor of the History of Science at Stanford University. She specializes in the premodern period and global infectious diseases. She is writing a book on the Black Death that draws on evidence from genetics, archaeology, and historical sources to document the early origin and broad geographic extent of the 2nd Plague Pandemic.
Christos Lynteris is Professor of Medical Anthropology at the Univ...
2022-03-201h 06COVIDCallsEP #421 - 2.21.2022 - Danya Glabau Returns to COVIDCallsToday I welcome medical anthropologist Danya Glabau, author of the forthcoming book Food Allergy Advocacy: Parenting and the Politics of Care back to COVIDCalls.
Danya Glabau is an STS scholar and medical anthropologist, and Industry Assistant Professor and Director of the Science and Technology Studies program in the department of Technology, Culture, and Society at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Her research examines health activism, the political economy of biomedicine, and how human bodies become valuable data.
Her book Food Allergy Advocacy: Parenting and the Politics of Care (University of Minnesota Press 2022), examines the reproductive...
2022-02-231h 03COVIDCallsEP #323 - 08.17.2021 - Public Health Update w/Esther ChernakToday I get a COVID and public health update with longtime friend of COVIDCalls, Esther Chernak.
Dr. Esther Chernak. Esther is a professor in the Department of Environmental Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, and has a position in the Drexel University College of Medicine. She is the director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel. Prior to joining the Drexel faculty in 2010, Dr. Chernak worked at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health for over 25 years. She is a regular contributor to COVIDCalls.
2021-08-1951 minCOVIDCallsEP #321 - 08.16.2021 - The Medical Ethics Surronding COVID-19 w/Art CaplanI’m glad to return to the COVIDCalls microphone after a much-needed break. It was one that, quite honestly, I really needed—but it’s nothing compared to the break that nurses and docs and teachers and other essential workers across the USA and around the world need. The stories coming from full emergency departments and overcrowded, unvaccinated, classrooms in the United States are so distressing—I wish everyone could find some time and some peace in the midst of all this.
I want to offer my sincere gratitude to guest hosts Kim Fortun, James Adams, and Jacob Stee...
2021-08-1858 minCOVIDCallsEP #312 - 07.20.2021 - LGBTQ Community Health w/ Co-Host Eleanor MayesWelcome to the 312th of the COVIDCalls, a daily discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic with a diverse collection of disaster experts. My name is Eleanor Mayes, my pronouns are she/her. you may remember me from previously co-hosting episode 301. I currently serve as a production assistant and transcription director for COVIDCalls. As always, host Scott Gabriel Knowles is here,
Shor Salkas (they/them) is one of the two LGBTQIA Community Liaisons to the COVID-19 Response at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic Shor has been working with their colleagues to g...
2021-07-211h 07COVIDCallsEP #301 - 06.30.2021 - COVID and the LGBTQ Community w/co-host Eleanor MayesToday I am joined by a co-host, Eleanor Mayes—and let me introduce Eleanor!
Hi I’m Eleanor Mayes, I currently serve as a production assistant and transcription director for COVIDCalls. I recently completed my masters in materials science and engineering at the University of Minnesota this past semester, and previously attended the university of Chicago for my undergraduate degree. I will attend UC Berkeley this fall, in their new Master’s of Design program. In my spare time I enjoy reading about typography, disability studies, LGBTQ+ activism, and the history of science.
You can hear CO...
2021-07-011h 12COVIDCallsEP #300 - 06.29.2021 - Controlling COVID-19 in South Korea w/special guest Kiheung KimToday I welcome medical sociologist Kiheung Kim to talk about the many different aspects of COVID in South Korea.
Before I get started with Kiheung Kim, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that today marks the 300th episode of COVIDCalls. When I started doing COVIDCalls in March of 2020 it was a resource for daily discussion when information about how to react to the pandemic was literally evolving minute by minute. To me the urgency of the daily calls was about getting disaster experts into conversation about their research, and getting their expertise into the news cy...
2021-06-301h 16COVIDCallsEP #278 - 05.18.2021 - New COVID Testing InsightsToday I welcome public health researcher Steph Tan, and epidemiologist Anne Wyllie to COVIDCalls to discuss COVID-19 saliva tests.
Orchid Allicock is a postdoctoral research associate at Yale School of Public Health with Drs. Nathan Grubaugh and Daniel Weinberger. Previously she received postdoctoral training at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, where she gained an interest in translational science and diagnostic development. Currently she works on development and optimization of saliva-based diagnostics with SalivaDirect.
Steph Tan is a Research Assistant and an incoming Master of Public Health student at the Yale School of...
2021-05-191h 14COVIDCallsEP #273 - 05.06.2021 - Climate Change and the Pandemic w/ David Wallace-WellsToday I welcome David Wallace-Wells, journalist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming to COVIDCalls.
David Wallace-Wells is editor at large of New York magazine and the author of the international best-seller The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, which the New York Times called both "brilliant" and "the scariest book I've ever read," the Guardian called "an epoch-defining book," and the Washington Post called "this generation's Silent Spring." He is a national fellow at the New America Foundation and writes frequently about the near future of science and technology.
2021-05-071h 05COVIDCallsEP #270 - 05.04.2021 - CoronaLag: Time and the Virus with Malka OlderToday I welcome disaster researcher and novelist Malka Older back to COVIDCalls to continue our discussions about disasters and time, language, governance, and disaster justice.
Malka Older is a writer, aid worker, and academic. Named Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for 2015, she has more a decade of experience in humanitarian aid and development.
Her research interests include intra-governmental relations in crises; the paradox of well-funded disaster responses; measurement and evaluation of disaster responses; and the effects of competition among actors in humanitarian aid.
...
2021-05-041h 09COVIDCallsEP #259 - 04.14.2021 - Coping with Disaster w/Jon MooallemToday I am glad to bring writer Jon to #COVIDcalls for a discussion of his new book
This Is Chance!: The Shaking of An American City, A Voice that Held it Together
Jon Mooallem is a longtime writer at large with The New York Times Magazine and a contributor to numerous other radio shows and magazines, including This American Life, The Daily, 99% Invisible, California Sunday and Wired. He's frequently talked about his reporting on radio and television shows (like Fresh Air, Radiolab, and The Colbert Report) and at the TED conference in Vancouver. Occasionally, he collabora...
2021-04-161h 14COVIDCallsEP #254 - 04.06.2021 - On the Frontline: Follow up w/Dr. Peter Chin-HongToday is my second #COVIDCalls discussion with Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.
Peter Chin-Hong is Associate Dean for Regional Campuses of the UCSF school of medicine. He is a medical educator who specializes in treating infectious diseases, particularly infections that develop in patients who have suppressed immune systems, such as solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients and HIV+ organ transplant recipients. He directs the immunocompromised host infectious diseases program at UCSF. His research focuses on donor derived infections in transplant recipients and molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases in patients with suppressed immune systems.
He earned...
2021-04-071h 00COVIDCallsEP #248 - 03.29.2021 - Congressional Calls: Nikema Williams (GA-5)You can hear COVIDCalls anytime recorded as podcasts on Spotify, iTunes, Podbean or anywhere you get podcasts.
Congresswoman Nikema Williams represents Georgia’s 5th congressional district in the US House of Representatives.
The Fifth Congressional District is a historic district, a seat formerly held by Congresswoman Williams’ friend and mentor, civil rights icon the late Congressman John Lewis. Congressman Lewis represented the Fifth District for over 30 years, until his passing in 2020. Congresswoman Williams contributed to history by being elected as the first Black woman to represent Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District.
Congresswoman Williams was elected as the...
2021-03-3033 minCOVIDCallsEP #219 - 02.12.2021 - Disinformation, Conspiracy, PandemicToday is a discussion of Disinformation in the Pandemicwith returning COVIDCalls guest Kate Starbird.
Kate Starbird is an Associate Professor at the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington (UW). Kate’s research is situated within human-computer interaction and the emerging field of crisis informatics—the study of the how social media and other information-communication technologies are used during crisis events. Currently, her work focuses on the production and spread of online rumors, misinformation, and disinformation in the context of crisis events. Starbird is a co-founder of the UW Center for an Info...
2021-02-1357 minCOVIDCallsEP #216 - 02.05.2021 - Researching Healthcare During a Pandemic with Nicole Schroeder and Andrew SeatonToday is the third of three COVIDCalls special episodes in partnership with two great research libraries: the American Philosophical Society and the Linda Hall Library. These episodes will explore challenges and new approaches for research libraries and the patrons that use them in the time of COVID. Today I welcome Nicole Schroeder and Andrew Seaton.
Nicole Schroeder is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia and a current Dolores Liebmann Fund Fellow. In 2018-19 she held the Friends of the APS Predoctoral Fellowship in Early American History (to 1840) at the American Philosophical Society and from 2019-2...
2021-02-061h 13COVIDCallsEP #215 - 02.04.2021 - Biomedicine in the Archive with Joanna Radin & Robin Wolfe SchefflerToday is the second of three COVIDCalls special episodes in partnership with two great research libraries: the American Philosophical Society and the Linda Hall Library. These episodes will explore challenges and new approaches for research libraries and the patrons that use them in the time of COVID. Today I welcome Joanna Radin and Robin Wolfe Scheffler to the discussion.
Joanna Radin is a historian of life and human sciences at Yale University, where she is Associate Professor of History of Medicine and a core member of the Program in History of Science & Medicine. There, she is also af...
2021-02-051h 11COVIDCallsEP #214 - 02.03.2021 - Research Libraries& COVID-19 with Lisa Browar & Patrick SperoToday is the first of three COVIDCalls special episodes in partnership with two great research libraries: the American Philosophical Society and the Linda Hall Library. These episodes will explore challenges and changes for research libraries and the scholars that use them in the time of COVID. We will be especially interested to think about the ways that library and archival materials in the history of science, technology, and medicine can teach us about COVID-19.
Adrianna Link is the Head of Scholarly Programs at the American Philosophical Society. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of History of...
2021-02-041h 01COVIDCallsEP #213 - 02.02.2021 - COVID-19 Vaccines, Law, and SocietyToday is a COVIDCalls discussion of COVID-19 vaccines, law, nationalism, and politics with Ana Santos Rutschman.
Ana Santos Rutschman has been assistant professor at Saint Louis University School of Law since 2018. She focuses on topics related to health law, innovation in the life sciences, intellectual property, and law and technology. At SLU, she teaches FDA Law and Policy, the seminar Emerging Health Technologies: Vaccine Law and Policy, Patent Law and Property.
Her legal scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in UCLA Law Review, Emory Law Journal, Yale Law Journal Forum, Michigan Law Review Online among other venu...
2021-02-031h 12COVIDCallsEP #212 - 01.29.2021 - Congressional Calls: Brendan Boyle (PA-2) + Media and the PandemicToday is a COVIDCalls Congressional discussion w/Representative Brendan Boyle of the PA-2. Following my discussion with Brendan Boyle I will talk with pandemic media expert Dr. Katie Foss.
Dr. Katie Foss is a Media Studies professor in the School of Journalism & Strategic Media at Middle Tennessee University, where she teaches courses in media literacy, health communication, and gender studies.
She is the author of Constructing the Outbreak: Epidemics in Media and Collective Memory, Breastfeeding and Media: Exploring Conflicting Discourses That Threaten Public Health, and Television and Health Responsibility in an Age of Individualism. Foss ed...
2021-01-301h 04COVIDCallsEP #211 - 01.28.2021 - COVID-19 in the U.K. Public Health Update with Esther ChernakToday is a COVIDCalls Public Health Discussion with COVIDCalls alumni guests James Dodd and Esther Chernak.
Dr. Esther Chernak. Esther is a professor in the Department of Environmental Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, and has a position in the Drexel University College of Medicine. She is the director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel. Prior to joining the Drexel faculty in 2010, Dr. Chernak worked at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health for over 25 years.
James Dodd is a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at the Academic Respiratory Uni...
2021-01-291h 14COVIDCallsEP #209 - 01.26.2021 - Historian Roundtable on COVID-19Today is a COVIDCalls historians’ roundtable with Sandra Eder, Cindy Ermus, and Tiago Saraiva.
Sandra Eder is an assistant professor in the history department at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches U.S. gender history and the history of medicine. Her research focuses on gender, sexuality, and race in medicine and science, clinical practices and patient records, and the science of happiness. She has a book forthcoming on the emergence of the sex/gender binary in mid-twentieth-century American medicine. She is co-editor (with Elena Conis and Aimee Medeiros) of “Pink and Blue: Gender, Culture, and the...
2021-01-271h 17COVIDCallsEP #208 - 01.25.2021 - The Pandemic and the History of MedicineToday is a COVIDCalls history of public health and medicine session with Deborah Levine and Jacob Steere-Williams.
Deborah Levine is a scholar in the areas of the history of medicine, health, patient experience, health insurance, and disease at Providence College. She regularly presents at national and international conferences. In addition, her work often appears in scholarly journals, and her expertise has been sought by media outlets that include The Washington Post, The New York Times, and CBS Evening News.
Jacob Steere-Williams is a historian of epidemic disease and public health, and an Associate Professor at t...
2021-01-261h 14COVIDCallsEP #206 - 01.20.2021 -Inauguration Day Memorial EpisodeToday is a special Inauguration Day Memorial Episode.
TODAY AT NOON Joseph R. Biden became the 46th President of the United States. COVID-19 is certainly a global pandemic, with a story to be told of every nation, and across/beyond nations--but in the United States the suffering and loss of life is bound up with the failures of the Trump Administration, failures of Donald Trump himself, personally—failure to plan for disaster, react seriously, tell the truth, not spread lies and disinformation, not divide the public along lines of ideology/age/race/region—the manifest failure of now f...
2021-01-211h 41COVIDCallsEP #203 - 01.15.2021 - Congressional Calls: Jake Auchincloss (MA-4th District)Today we continue the Congressional COVIDCalls with my guest, US Representative from THE MA-4, Jake Auchincloss.
Jake Auchincloss represents the 4th district of MA in the US House of Representatives. He was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a surgeon and scientist. From the moment he could read, Jake loved American history.
After graduating from Harvard College, Rep. Auchincloss joined the Marines. He commanded infantry in Afghanistan and special operations in Panama. He's now a major in the reserves.
He won election to the Newton City Council in 2015 and topped t...
2021-01-1639 minCOVIDCallsEP #202 - 01.14.2021 -Congressional Calls: Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)Today we continue the Congressional COVIDCalls with my guest, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey.
U.S. Senator Bob Casey fights every day for Pennsylvania families. He is a strong advocate for policies that improve the health care and early learning of children and policies that will raise wages for the middle class. Senator Casey serves on four committees including the Senate Finance Committee and Senate HELP Committee. He is also the highest ranking Democrat on the Special Committee on Aging, where his agenda is focused on policies that support seniors and individuals with disabilities. Senator Casey and his...
2021-01-1545 minCOVIDCallsEP #200 - 01.12.2021 - Congressional Call: Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA 6th District)Today we start the CONGRESSIONAL COVIDCalls discussions with my guest United States House Representative Chrissy Houlahan.
Chrissy Houlahan is an Air Force veteran, an engineer, a serial entrepreneur, an educator, and a nonprofit leader. She’s in her second term representing Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, which encompasses Chester County and southern Berks County. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Small Business Committee.
2021-01-1333 minCOVIDCallsEP #195 - 1.04.2021 - Father and Son Discuss the PandemicHappy new year and welcome to the first COVIDCalls of 2021!
Today I have on my father Steve Knowles, a fourth generation Texan, who was born and raised in Odessa, Texas, which is the hub of the oil industry in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Steve received his BBA degree in marketing from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the University of Texas at Permian Basin. He earned his Professional in Human Resources Management certification and was an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the...
2021-01-091h 20COVIDCallsEP #164 -11.06.2020 - Loss & Hope: The COVID-19 ElectionToday we have a special COVIDCalls discussion about the pandemic, the election, and the path ahead with some very special guests: Sharrelle Barber, Billy Fleming, Cynthia Rivas, Olivia Troye, Fiana Tulip, & Kristin Urquiza.
2020-11-071h 21COVIDCallsEP #161 - 11.02.2020 - Election PreviewToday we have an election eve COVIDCalls discussion with Darien Williams, Rich Frankel, and Colleen Hagerty.
Richard E. Frankel is currently Associate Professor of modern German history and the Sagrera Family Memorial/BORSF Endowed Professor in History at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His research interests center on nationalism, antisemitism, immigration, and political culture. His first book was Bismarck’s Shadow: The Crisis of German Leadership and the Transformation of the German Right, 1898-1945 with Berg Publishers. His latest book, States of Exclusion: A New Wave of Fascism uses German history—particularly the period of the Thir...
2020-11-031h 13COVIDCallsEP #155 - 10.23.2020 - High School Students and the PandemicToday we will talk about the experience of high school students living in the midst of a pandemic with Jazmil Castillo, Andrea Velez Padilla, Sydney Reid, Shoshi Satran, and Tess Wolf.
I have a co-host today, one listeners of COVIDCalls know well: Shivani Patel. She is a second-year student at Drexel University studying Finance and Economics. She is also a production assistant here at COVIDCalls, helping with auditing transcripts and connecting with guests. She is also a representative on Drexel’s Student Government, working to voice the concerns of the student body to administration. Thanks Shivani!
My...
2020-10-241h 30COVIDCallsEP #145 - 10.9.2020 - Week of Mourning Memorial EpisodeToday we will discuss lives cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the Week of Mourning. This was inspired by my COVIDCalls discussion with Kristin Urquiza and her Marked by COVID, with Christine Keeves.
2020-10-101h 03COVIDCallsEP - #136 - COVIDCalls 9.28.2020 - COVID-19, Diplomacy and Disaster with Ilan KelmanToday I speak with disaster research polymath Ilan Kelman about COVID-19 and disaster diplomacy.
Ilan Kelman is Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a Professor II at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, including the integration of climate change into disaster research and health research. That covers three main areas: (i) disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy; (ii) island sustainability involving safe and healthy communities in isolated locations and (iii) risk education for health and disasters
2020-09-291h 12COVIDCallsEP #121 - 9.7.2020 Labor Day & COVID-19 with Terril Haigler @yafavtrashmanToday we will talk with Terrill Haigler, Philadelphia sanitation worker and creator of the Instagram account yafavtrashman.
Terrill Haigler aka yafavtrashman on instagram, from North Philadelphia—and started on December 30, 2019. Before that he was a personal trainer. Creative and Performing Arts HS in Philadelphia. Attended in Baltimore at Coppin State. welcome to COVIDCalls!
https://www.instagram.com/_yafavtrashman/?hl=en
2020-09-081h 06COVIDCallsEP #111 - 8.24.2020 - The COVID-19 Schoolyear - Student PerspectivesToday we start a series of COVIDCalls on various aspects of education at this time—today a discussion of the upcoming school year from the perspective of high school and college students with Madeline Ladd, Afrah Howlader, and Shivani Patel.
Madeline Ladd is a rising high school senior at Villa Maria Academy in Malvern, PA. She has been a competitive swimmer for most of her life and is supposed to be a captain this year for Villa’s swim team. Madeline is also the editor for the school newspaper, the Vice President of the National Honor Society, and...
2020-08-251h 11COVIDCallsEP# 77 - Academy of Natural Science Part V - Museums in a Pandemic - Scott Cooper & Julian SiggersToday, we have the fifth of the ACADEMY of Natural Sciences +COVIDCalls discussions, and my guests are Julian Siggers president of the Penn Museum and Scott Cooper the ceo of the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Scott Cooper, PhD, is the president and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences. An international museum professional and heritage preservation scholar, Cooper has spent more than two decades protecting, transforming and promoting cultural sites and institutions around the world. Cooper studied engineering at the University of Manchester and architectural conservation at Edinburgh College of Art. He was awarded a UNESCO scholarship...
2020-07-081h 07COVIDCallsEP #72 - Academy of Natural Sciences Part IV - Environmental JusticeToday, we have a discussion of environmental justice as part of the ongoing COVIDCalls-Academy partnership.
Mariangeles H. Arce (Ar-say) is the ichthyology collection manager in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and an adjunct professor in the Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) Department where she teaches Global Warming, Biodiversity, and your Future. Dr. Arce obtained her PhD in Zoology from the Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil in 2012. Her current research involves several neotropical catfish families and she is starting to work with environmental DNA as a tool to understand...
2020-06-251h 17COVIDCallsEP #62 - Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University - Collections & Engagement in PandemicToday, we have the second of our Academy of Natural Sciences COVIDCalls—today we talk about the collections of this amazing institution and how they’ve fared in this extraordinary time of COVID-19.
Mark Sabaj began studying fishes as an undergrad at the University of Richmond, Virginia. After completing his Masters degree there, he moved to the University of Illinois where he earned a Ph.D. He joined The Academy as a Collections Manager in 2000 and is now the Interim Curator. He has collected fishes throughout the US and on 43 expeditions to 12 countries on four continents. He has...
2020-06-111h 07COVIDCalls#60 COVIDCalls 6.5.2020 - COVID-19 and the Tech EconomySocial media and tech platforms are somehow even more relevant to the world than they were before the pandemic. Zoom is how businesses and students communicate; social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram are how information about COVID-19 and racial injustices are communicated. Join us in this conversation with Margaret O’Mara, a Howard and Frances Keller endowed professor of History at the University of Washington, to learn more about how tech relates to urban environments, higher education, and more. You can find O’Mara’s information here: https://www.margaretomara.com/bio.
2020-06-101h 08COVIDCalls#48 COVIDCalls 5.20.2020 - Climate Change & COVID-19
With more people teleworking than ever, the decreased use of vehicular transportation has caused several observable changes regarding the environment. The skies look bluer, there are more ducks in the pond, there seems to be less air pollution. However, it is important to note that this temporary pause in the economy should not be confused with the structural changes needed to avoid the effects of climate change. Let’s take a deeper look into this topic with Billy Fleming, a research coordinator for UPenn's Stuart Weitzman School of Design, Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute fo...
2020-06-091h 11COVIDCalls#50 COVIDCalls 5.22.2020 - Lungs, Breathing, & COVID-19There is a distinction between normal breathlessness and pathological breathlessness. What does it really mean to be out of breath? Let’s talk about the tobacco industry’s supposedly philanthropic response to COVID-19, ventilators and oxygen, lung-related diseases, and breathlessness with James Dodd, a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Bristol, Havi Carel, the leader of the Life of Breath project, and Sarah Milov, a historian based in the University of Virginia. More information can be found here: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/james-dodd, http://www.bristol.ac.uk/school-of-arts/people/havi-h-carel/, and https...
2020-06-091h 06COVIDCalls#59 COVIDCalls 6.4.2020 - Emergency Management & Disaster GovernanceCivil disorder, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires – these are all concurrent crises occurring alongside the pandemic. How should governments and institutions lay out disaster and recovery planning? Tune in to this conversation with Dr. Stephen Flynn, the Founding Director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University, and Dr. Arnold Howitt, the Co-Director of the Program on Crisis Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School to get a deeper understanding of recovery planning and disaster response planning during concurrent crises. You can find their information here: https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/bio/stephen-flynn/ and https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/arnold-howitt.
2020-06-0959 minCOVIDCalls#47 COVIDCalls 5.19.2020 - Maintaining Dignity for the Dead During COVID-19
Due to the pandemic’s social distancing guidelines and lack of resources to manage the influx of dead bodies, many funeral homes are having to turn away requests for funeral services. How will society adapt cultural rituals to maintain dignity for the dead whilst staying in compliance with social distancing guidelines? Join us in this conversation with Maggie Jones, a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, to learn more about how a five generation, family-run funeral home is managing during the pandemic. You can find more information about Maggie Jones here: https://bymaggiejones.com/.
2020-06-091h 04COVIDCalls#58 COVIDCalls 6.3.2020 - The Pandemic & WildfireHow has COVID-19 shaped wildfire preparedness and disaster recovery from previous wildfires? How will California deal with the pandemic and wildfire season? Let’s sit down with Max Moritz, a Wildfire Specialist and Director of the Moritz Lab at U.C. Santa Barbara to discuss the environmental lessons of the shelter-in-place, compound disturbances in ecology, long-term planning for the state, and more. You can find Moritz’s information here: https://nature.berkeley.edu/moritzlab/.
2020-06-0958 minCOVIDCalls#57 COVIDCalls 6.2.2020 - Academy of Natural Sciences Episode I: Biodiversity in the PandemicWith the abrupt stop to the world due to social distancing mandates, people have been experiencing biodiversity revelations. More and more people are reporting instances of fox sighting, urban birding, and more wildlife. Let’s talk biodiversity with the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Mariangeles Arce, Jason Weckstein, and Richard McCourt to learn about the biodiversity disasters being obscured by the pandemic, the positives that come from increased awareness of biodiversity, and more. You can find their information here: https://ansp.org/research/systematics-evolution/ichthyology/ichthyology-staff/, https://drexel.edu/coas/faculty-research/faculty-directory/weckstein-jason/, and https://drexel.edu/coas/faculty-research/faculty-directory/Rich...
2020-06-091h 05COVIDCalls#56 COVIDCalls 6.1.2020 - Mutual Aid in Compound DisastersToday is June 1st, or the first day of the hurricane season. In the coming months, many areas around the world will deal with concurrent disasters. Emergency response in natural disasters oftentimes requires the gathering of people, so how will these communities comply with pandemic guidelines while responding to natural disasters? Tune in to this conversation with Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, of the RAND corporation, and Miriam Belblidia, of Imagine Waterworks, to gain a better understanding of how different populations experience disasters in different ways and how resilience planning and hazard mitigation play a huge role in concurrent disasters. Their information...
2020-06-091h 11COVIDCalls#51 COVIDCalls 5.25.2020 - State Violence, Discrimination, and Humanitarian Aid in the PandemicHow is the pandemic opening the way for state violence or discrimination within states? And how do these situations compare with the situations in previous disasters? Join us in this discussion with Malka Older, who is a writer, aid worker, and academic, and Vivian Choi, who is an assistant professor of Anthropology and Sociology at St. Olaf College to learn more about how immigrants and migrant workers are being treated, the anti-Muslim sentiments in Sri Lanka, and what international human rights watchers should and should not do. More information can be found here: https://malkaolder.wordpress.com/ and https...
2020-06-061h 04COVIDCalls#54 COVIDCalls 5.28.2020 - Public Health Update + Disaster Research w/ Tricia WachtendorfPeople make plans for disasters so that they can be prepared for what is to come. However, if plans worked every time, then you might as well say that unicorns are real. What is disaster improvisation, and where are we seeing that right now during the pandemic? Let’s sit down with Tricia Wachtendorf, the co-director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, to hear about examples of disaster improvisations that have gone well and failed and some of the emerging issues with the pandemic. Also, listen as public health expert Esther Chernak provides and update on...
2020-06-061h 13COVIDCalls#53 COVIDCalls 5.27.2020 - Graduating in a Pandemic YearThe last semester for seniors in high school and college often means bittersweet last’s--last time with peers, last time on campus, last time as a student where you spent the past few years studying in. So, what has the abrupt switch to online school been for our seniors? Let’s sit down with Olivia VanBuskik, a recent graduate from Central Michigan University, Apoorva Selvaraj, a senior at Drexel University, and Elizabeth Whiteside, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas to take a deeper look into how COVID-19 has impacted the Class of 2020. More information about Class of 2...
2020-06-061h 07COVIDCalls#52 COVIDCalls 5.26.2020 - High School Students in the Pandemic: PhiladelphiaCOVID-19 has caused schools across the country to change their teaching styles in a matter of days. What is it like being a high school student, especially a high school senior during remote instruction? What obstacles do teachers face? How will the pandemic change teaching and learning as we know it? Sit down with Science Leadership Academy’s founding principal Chris Lehmann, teacher John Henkel, and high school senior Serenity Baruzzini to hear how the pandemic has impacted school. Their information can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislehmann/, https://scienceleadership.org/people/jhenkel, and https://www.li...
2020-06-061h 04COVIDCalls#49 COVIDCalls 5.21.2020 - COVID-19 in Singapore w/ Sulfikar Amir
Today, let’s tune into a conversation with Sulfikar Amir, of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, to talk about his experience in creating three documentary films about disasters and to take a deeper look into how he “pictures” this pandemic. Along with this, learn about the COVID-19 situation in Singapore, the media and the public’s reaction, and the responses of neighboring countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. More information about Sulfikar Amir can be found here: http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=SULFIKAR.
2020-06-0353 minCOVIDCalls#55 COVIDCalls 5.29.2020 - Two Pandemics: Racism & COVID-19 + Chile UpdateSince the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, many people, businesses, and institutions have denounced systemic racism and police brutality. However, the property damage and looting that have co-existed with the peaceful protests have left some American reluctant to support the movement. To gain a better understanding of the current unrest, join us in this discussion with Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution. His information can be found here: https://www.brookings.edu/experts/rashawn-ray/. We will also be getting an update on the pandemic situation in Chile from Gonzalo Bacigalupe, who leads the...
2020-06-021h 10
COVIDCalls#46 COVIDCalls 5.18.2020 - Information Infrastructures in Disaster
The pandemic has brought about a renewed appreciation for workers who are considered to be essential to core functions of society. Among these, have been postal service workers who serve the important role of delivering essential objects to where they need to go, whether it be paychecks, medicines, or PPE (Protective Personal Equipment). However, does this renewed appreciation show in their workers’ benefits and protections? Along with the topic of the postal service, let’s talk about infrastructure orders and computer security professionals with Ryan Ellis, an assistant professor at Northeastern University, and Megan Finn, an assistant professor at the...
2020-06-011h 09COVIDCalls#45 COVIDCalls 5.15.2020 - Race & Face Masking in COVID-19
There is a historical notion in society that people who wear masks or face coverings always have something to hide. I mean, think about it—thieves, the Ku Klux Klan, etc. In the inherently racist America we know today, it is not uncommon for Muslim women to be seen as a threat when they wear their hijabs. Today, let’s talk about the struggles of minorities such as Black Americans and Muslim Americans that have become compounded by face mask requirements brought about by the current pandemic. Our guests are Sharrona Pearl, an associate professor of medical ethics at Drex...
2020-06-011h 09COVIDCalls#44 COVIDCalls 5.14.2020 - COVID-29 in Jefferson County, Texas
With different guidelines from the President of the United States, the Governor of Texas, and local communities, how are the communities of Southeast Texas dealing with some of the pandemic-related tensions that have risen? Join us in this discussion with Kaitlin Bain and Jacob Dick, both reporters for the Beaumont Enterprise, and with John Beard Jr, former city councilman for Port Arthur, to learn more about how COVID-19 is affecting recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey, how local governments are planning to re-open the economy, and more. Their information can be found here: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/author/kaitlin-bain/, https...
2020-06-011h 09COVIDCalls#43 COVIDCalls 5.13.2020 - Pandemics in History V
A century from now, what will historians be looking at for the COVID-19 archives? President Trump’s daily briefings? Journals of healthcare workers or other civilians? How will future generations pull lessons from what we are living through? Tune in to this conversation with Monica H. Green, an elected Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, and Jacob Steere Williams, an associate professor at the College of Charleston, to take a deeper look into pandemics throughout history. Their information can be found here: http://blogs.cofc.edu/steerewilliamsj/about-me/ and https://independentscholar.academia.edu/MonicaHGreen.
2020-06-011h 08COVIDCalls#42 COVIDCalls 5.12.2020 - Researcher’s Roundtable
Want to know what impacts COVID-19 has on transport methods, the environment, or infrastructure? Ever wonder about the national discourse about disparate impacts of COVID-19 affecting black communities in the United States? Join us in this researcher’s roundtable discussion with Rachel Chiquoine, a Civil Engineer in the U.S. Department of Transportation, Jennifer Trivedi, a Core Faculty Member at the Disaster Research Center, and Darien Alexander Williams, a PhD student at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), to learn more. Their information can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmchiquoine/, https://www.drc.udel.edu/people/faculty/jt...
2020-06-011h 14COVIDCalls#40 COVIDCalls 5.8.2020 - Disinformation, Misinformation, Conspiracy, & COVIDHow can public health officials use social media to communicate important messages about COVID-19 to the public amidst rampant misinformation and disinformation? What causes certain messages about risk to break through online while others get lost in the noise?
Dr. Jeanette Sutton, an associate professor in the Department of Communication and the Director of the Risk and Disaster Communication Center at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. Joan Donovan, the Research Director at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, both discuss misinformation, disinformation, and social media during the COVID-19...
2020-06-011h 07COVIDCalls#39 COVIDCalls 5.7.2020 - COVID & Climate ActionIs the COVID-19 pandemic a preview of the type of disruptions that will come with the climate crisis? How are cities responding to and preparing for climate change related threats in a way that promotes environmental justice?
Daniel Zarrilli, the Chief Climate Policy Advisor for the New York City Office of the Mayor, discusses how New York City is preparing for the climate crisis and working towards environmental justice. Zarrilli discusses his experience with Hurricane Sandy and how it put him on the path to dealing with climate change in municipal government. He also talks about the...
2020-06-011h 00COVIDCalls#38 COVIDCalls 5.6.2020 - COVID & the Apocalyptic w/ Chuck StrozierHow does the COVID-19 pandemic evoke fears of the apocalypse and what is the psychology of apocalyptic thinking in the United States? How does COVID-19 fit into the history of apocalyptic visions and narratives from the Book of Revelation to nuclear holocaust?
Dr. Chuck Strozier, a practicing psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of History at John Jay College, discusses COVID-19 and its connection to the history of the apocalypse, apocalyptic fears, and apocalyptic thinking in the United States. Dr. Strozier talks about the resonances between nuclear radiation and the coronavirus as invisible threats of death. He also offers...
2020-06-011h 09COVIDCalls#37 COVIDCalls 5.5.2020 - Public Health Update + Disaster Research In the Age of COVIDWhat are the challenges and opportunities COVID-19 presents for disaster researchers? What are the central problems with emergency management in the United States? What is the state of the pandemic in Philadelphia in early May 2020?
Dr. Esther Chernak, professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, rejoins to update listeners on the state of COVID-19 in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania as of May 5, 2020, focusing particularly on the data of the pandemic and how it affects modeling. Dr. James Kendra, Professor at the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and co-director of the Disaster Research Center at...
2020-06-011h 15COVIDCalls#36 COVIDCalls 5.4.2020 - The Maintainers of the World During a PandemicWho do we rely on to keep the world running during the COVID-10 pandemic? What makes a worker “essential” during a pandemic, and is there really a difference between essential work during a pandemic and during normal times?
Dr. Andrew Russell, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, and Dr. Lee Vinsel, an assistant professor of history at Virginia Tech, both discuss what makes work and workers “essential” in the pandemic. Dr. Russell and Dr. Vinsel both talk about their research on maintainers, maintenance work, and the long his...
2020-06-011h 11COVIDCalls#35 COVIDCalls 5.1.2020 - Labor, Gender, and Essential Work
Dr. Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Feminist Studies at University of California - Santa Barbara, Dr. Silvia Federici, a professor at Hofstra University, and Juliana Feliciano Reyes, a journalist for the the Philadelphia Inquirer, all discuss the intersections of labor, gender, and a pandemic that has forced many workers into new forms of precarity. Dr. Boris and Dr. Federici both talk about working from home during the pandemic, both for people who have been thrust into remote work and those who were already doing work at home and reproductive work, like mothers and domestic workers. Reyes discusses her recent...
2020-06-011h 07COVIDCalls#34 COVIDCalls 4.30.2020 - COVID-19, Disaster Governance, and FederalismHow has COVID-19 revealed and exacerbated fundamental disagreements over federalism in the United States that have been brewing for 230 years? Why does disaster reveal the broken linkages between different layers of government?
Dr. Don Kettl, the Sid Richardson Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at University of Texas-Austin, discusses the impact of federalism on disaster governance in the United States and how this dynamic has played out during the pandemic as of April 2020. Dr. Kettl gives a broad stroke history of American federalism from the founding to the present day, showing the problems presented by...
2020-06-011h 03COVIDCalls#33 COVIDCalls 4.29.2020 - The Pandemic’s Impact on Immigrant Communities
How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting immigrant communities in the United States? How are those in the Trump administration and in the immigration restrictionist movement broadly using the emergency to further their policy goals?
Dr. Carly Goodman, a visiting assistant professor of Modern American History at Lasalle University, and Camille Mackler, the Executive Director at Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, both discuss the legal, health, and economic challenges immigrants face due to the pandemic and the Trump administration. Dr. Goodman discusses how the immigration restrictionist movement is using the pandemic to further restrict legal immigration. She also talks...
2020-06-011h 05COVIDCalls#32 COVIDCalls 4.28.2020 - COVID-19 and Mental Health w/ Maiken ScottWith 57,812 confirmed COVID related deaths in the United States as of recording, how will we cope with the amount of death brought about in such a short time by COVID-19? How do we cope with trauma when our usual social connections and interactions are restricted?
Maiken Scott, a Health and Science reporter for WHYY Philadelphia and host of The Pulse a weekly Health and Science show, discusses covering mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott makes comparisons to other moments of collective trauma while pointing out the unique aspects of trauma associated with COVID-19, like loneliness brought...
2020-06-011h 01
COVIDCalls#31 COVIDCalls 4.27.2020 - Pandemics in History IVHow can we see past monolithic depictions of nations and understand the underlying differences within national borders that are shaped by demographics, geography, and historical experiences? What can we learn from the Great Sea Islands Storm of 1893 and a bubonic plague outbreak in the 19th century about how local politics and racial animus can shape responses to disaster?
Dr. Caroline Grego, an assistant professor at the Queens University of Charlotte, and Dr. Tiago Saraiva, an associate professor of History at Drexel University, both discuss the links between disaster histories, the histories of racialized politics, and our current...
2020-06-011h 14COVIDCalls#30 COVIDCalls 4.24.2020 - The Trump Pandemic w/ Virginia HeffernanWhat explains President Donald Trump’s disastrous response to COVID-19 and can he politically survive the pandemic? What do Trump and his vices say about our society and why can’t we look away?
Virginia Heffernan, a journalist for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Political and more, discusses President Donald Trump, his White House’s response to the pandemic, and the effect it might have on his re-election campaign. Heffernan also questions what Trump, and our inability to ignore him, says about our present era. Heffernan talks about how Governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York a...
2020-06-011h 14COVIDCalls#29 COVIDCalls 4.23.2020 - Pandemics in History III: PhiladelphiaWhat can public officials and public health experts learn from a series of yellow fever epidemics in the 1790s and other historical epidemics? What factor has race played in emergency management and infectious disease in American history?
Dr. David Barnes, a professor of public health and the history of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Michael Yudell, Vice Dean and Professor at College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University and former chair of the Department of Community Health and Prevention at Drexel University, both discuss historical analogues for the COVID-19 pandemic in American History...
2020-06-011h 10COVIDCalls#28 COVIDCalls 4.22.2020 - Public Health Update + COVID & the LawHow much legal power does the U.S. federal government have to regulate states during pandemic? How are various issues related to the pandemic, from shelter-in-place orders, state specific quarantines, limits on religious gatherings, and deportations being litigated? How is Philadelphia dealing with the pandemic in late-April 2020?
Dr. Esther Chernak, professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, rejoins to provide an update on the state of the pandemic in Philadelphia and the local public health response as of late-April, 2020. In particular Dr. Chernak discusses the vulnerability of elderly in nursing homes, the continued inadequacy of...
2020-06-011h 15COVIDCalls#27 COVIDCalls 4.21.2020 - What Should We Learn from COVID-19 w/ Kathleen TierneyWhat are the long term effects of disaster on society? What were the lessons of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and to what extent were they heeded?
Dr. Kathleen Tierney, Professor Emerita of Sociology and former director of the Natural Hazard Center at University of Colorado-Boulder, discusses how her long career in disaster research informs her view of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a wide ranging discussion Dr. Tierney talks about how disasters are a “never-ending kaleidoscope” of societal issues, and how vulnerability has social roots. She also talks about the capacity for prosocial response to disaster and how the curre...
2020-06-011h 06COVIDCalls#26 COVIDCalls 4.20.2020 - Governance & Disaster: COVID-19How will COVID-19 shape the way the American government operates? Where were the points of governmental failure when it came to the American policy response to COVID and how can the U.S. adjust its policy and politics to deal with future hazards better?
Dr. Rob DeLeo, an associate professor of public policy and global studies at Bentley University, Dr. Thomas Birkland, a professor of public policy at North Carolina State University, and Dr. Kristin Taylor, an associate professor of political science at Wayne University, all discuss governance and policy before, during, and after disasters. Dr. Birkland d...
2020-06-011h 13COVIDCalls#25 COVIDCalls 4.17.2020 - COVID & Environmental Justice in Louisiana IIHow does COVID-19 overlap and intertwine with the deeper histories of Louisiana, and how can we understand these connections? What effect will COVID-19 have on long-term efforts for racial and environmental justice in Louisiana?
Karen Gadbois, the co-founder of The Lens, Dr. Andy Horowitz, an assistant professor of History at Tulane University, and Dr. Beverly Wright, an environmental justice scholar/advocate and executive director at the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), all discuss how COVID-19 connects to long-term histories in Louisiana like racism, economic inequality, pollution, and even patterns of sociability. All talk about the...
2020-06-011h 10COVIDCalls#24 COVIDCalls 4.16.2020 - COVID & Environmental Justice in Louisiana IHow are the racial injustice of slavery and environmental injustice of petrochemical plants compounding to impact the health effects of COVID-19 in southern Lousiana? How are communities, especially communities of color, responding to a high COVID death rate amidst the continuing legacies of racial and environmental injustice?
Dr. Joy Banner, the Director of Media and Marketing at Whitney Plantation, Sophie Kasakove, a freelance reporter based in New Orleans, and Ashley Rogers, the Executive Director of Whitney Plantation and doctoral student at Louisiana State University, discuss the state of the pandemic in St. John the Baptist Parish and...
2020-06-011h 07COVIDCalls#23 COVIDCalls 4.15.2020 - Disaster Plans & Disaster Realities w/ Lee ClarkeWhat level of risk will we choose to accept and how do we come to accept it? Is that choice rational or irrational? How do organizations plan for worst case scenarios and to what extent are those plans works of fiction?
Dr. Lee Clarke, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, discusses his research on risk, organizations, disaster plans, and elite panic in connection with COVID-19. Dr. Lee talks about “worst case” events like Hurricane Katrina or COVID-19 and how they stretch the imagination of those witnessing them. He also talks about the difference between “probabilistic” and “possibilit...
2020-06-011h 06COVIDCalls#22 COVIDCalls 4.14.2020 - Disaster Victims & MemorialsWhat is the future of COVID-19 memory? Will there be a memorial to remember the lives lost and honor the heroes during the COVID-19 Pandemic? What would memorials to COVID-19 look like, and what role will the politics of the pandemic play in them?
Dr. Jay Aronson, professor of science, technology, and society in the department of history and founder for the Center of Human Rights Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and Dr. Adia Benton an associate professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, discuss how memorialization factors into their work on 9/11 and HIV in Sierra Leone (respectively...
2020-06-011h 06COVIDCalls#21 COVIDCalls 4.13.2020 - Public Health Update + Risk, Climate, & the PandemicHow can we effectively communicate about the risk of compound disasters during the continuing pandemic as the United States also enters hurricane, storm, and wildfire season? What is the state of the pandemic in Philadelphia?
Dr. Esther Chernak, professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, rejoins to update listeners on the state of COVID-19 cases, testing capacity, mitigation measures, and the stress on the healthcare system in Philadelphia as of April 13, 2020. Dr. Howard Kunreuther, James G. Dinan Professor Emeritus of Decision Sciences and Public Policy and co-director of the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes...
2020-06-011h 06COVIDCalls#20 COVIDCalls 4.10.2020 - Pandemics in History IIWhat can history teach us that prepares us for COVID 19? What are the issues with asking historians to provide us with concrete advice from imperfect and incomplete historical examples?
Julia Engelschalt, a doctoral candidate in history at Bielefeld University, and Dr. Jacob Remes, a professor of history at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Director of the Initiative for Critical Disaster Studies, both discuss how their own work on historical disasters informs their understanding of COVID-19. In particular Engelschalt and Dr. Remes both talk about how their work intersects with the history of pu...
2020-06-011h 12COVIDCalls#19 COVIDCalls 4.9.2020 - Disaster Research in a Time of Crisis w/ Lori PeekHow does the backlash against Asian Americans, especially those of Chinese descent, during COVID-19 parallel backlashes against other minority groups that followed events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina? What is the role of researchers during disaster events like COVID-19?
Dr. Lori Peek, professor of sociology and Director of the Natural Hazard Center at University of Colorado-Boulder, discusses patterns of post-disaster backlash violence and the importance of funding transdisciplinary disaster research. Dr. Peek talks about her work on anti-Muslim backlash following 9/11 and it it relates to current anti-Asian violence, the difficulty of researching backlash violence, and how to balance...
2020-06-011h 13COVIDCalls#18 COVIDCalls 4.8.2020 - Emergency Management Update & COVID-19 and CrimeWhat role do the police have in public health crises? How have crime patterns shifted in the wake of shelter-in place orders? What is the state of the pandemic from the point of view of emergency managers in early April 2020?
Dr. Samantha Montano, assistant professor in Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy (formerly University of Nebraska-Omaha), rejoins to discuss the lack of a coordinated response to the pandemic, the frustration felt by emergency managers, and the mixed messages from the federal government as of April 2020. Dr. Robert J. Kane, professor and head of the Department of Criminology...
2020-06-011h 16COVIDCalls#17 COVIDCalls 4.7.2020 - Disaster, Resilience, & DataWhat are the social factors that shape people’s understanding of disaster? What ties communities together and helps them remain strong, cope, and recover? What are the data that help us understand how people support each other during crisis?
Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich, full professor of political science and Director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University and Dr. Robert Soden, assistant professor of computer science at University of Toronto (formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University), each discuss their work on social capital and crisis informatics, respectively. Dr. Aldrich defines social capital as th...
2020-06-011h 03COVIDCalls#16 COVIDCalls 4.6.2020 - Disaster Researchers' RoundtableHow is the disaster of COVID-19 impacting how early career disaster researchers are approaching their own research? How will academia in general react to the crisis and how will that affect graduate students and early career researchers?
Dr. Nnenia Campbell, a research associate at the Natural Hazards Center of University of Colorado-Boulder, Dr. Ryan Hagen, a postdoctoral scholar in Sociology at Columbia University, Dr. Yeonsil Kang, a visiting assistant professor in History at Drexel University Zachary Loeb, a PhD Candidate in History and Sociology of Science at University of Pennsylvania, and Valerie Marlowe, Assistant Director of Archives...
2020-06-011h 11COVIDCalls#15 COVIDCalls 4.3.2020 - Part 2 - Pandemic Perspectives: South KoreaPart Two:
What accounts for the starkly different pictures of the pandemic in various nations and what can we learn from the example of South Korea? How was South Korea able to respond and, as of April 2, 2021, report only 174 deaths due to COVID-19?
Dr. Seung-sik Hwang, a professor of epidemiology at Seoul National University, and Dr. Chihyung Jeon, an associate professor and department head at the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), both discuss South Korea’s comparative success in responding to COVID-19 and th...
2020-06-011h 01COVIDCalls#15 COVIDCalls 4.3.2020 - Part 1: Pandemic Politics w/ Julian ZelizerPart One:
With the 2020 presidential primary season underway in the United States, how might the pandemic affect the presidential election later in the year and the longer trajectory of American politics?
Dr. Julian Zelizer, a professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University and CNN contributor, discusses the politics of COVID-19 during a presidential election year in the United States. Dr. Zelizer evaluates the Trump administration’s pandemic response and its possible political ramifications. He also discusses the still unsettled Democratic primary and the challenges the virus poses to campaigning, messaging, and voting. Talking fro...
2020-06-011h 01COVIDCalls#14 COVIDCalls 4.2.2020 - Care, Grieving, Parents, & Children in the PandemicHow is ageism influencing debates over whether or not to “re-open” the nation amidst rising infections and economic fall out? What does caring for the elderly during the pandemic look like during the early pandemic? How is COVID-19 affecting how and what we communicate with those closest to us?
Bernadette McBride, a registered nurse practitioner specializing in geriatric family practice and owner of Legacy Management and Tranquility Life Care, Dr. Sara McBride a Mendenhall Fellow at the US Geological Survey, and Dr. Yvonne Michael, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Heal...
2020-06-011h 07COVIDCalls#13 COVIDCalls 4.1.2020 - The World Health Organization and COVID-19 w/ Andrew LakoffHow has global pandemic preparedness evolved over the years, and what is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) role in managing outbreaks of infectious disease? What were the impacts of 9/11, anthrax, and Hurricane Katrina on American systems of emergency preparedness?
Dr. Andrew Lakoff, a professor of sociology at University of South California, an expert on globalization, the history of the human sciences, contemporary social theory, and risk society, discusses the historical contexts of the WHO and American governmental agencies like Health and Human Services (HHS) and Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA). Dr. Lakoff discusses the tension in th...
2020-06-0159 minCOVIDCalls#12 COVIDCalls 3.31.2020 - COVID-19 in Rural America & The Defense Production ActDoes rural America have the infrastructure and supplies to navigate through this pandemic?
Lois Parshley, a freelance investigative journalist then based at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and Dr. Peter Shulman, an associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University, discuss the challenges COVID-19 presents for rural communities and how the Defense Production Act can play a role in allocating vital resources during the current surge. Parshley draws on her reporting in Alaska to talk about hospital capacity in rural areas, the ways rural Americans are vulnerable to COVID-19, and the politics of the pandemic in rural...
2020-06-011h 01COVIDCalls#11 COVIDCalls 3.30.2020 - Pandemics in History IIs there such a thing as an unprecedented moment? What is new about the COVD-19 pandemic and what aspects have echoes in the past? What lessons do the histories of past epidemics, even those that occurred centuries ago, have to offer our present?
Dr. Cindy Ermus, a history professor at University of Texas-San Antonio, and Dr. Christienna Fryar, a lecturer in Black British history at Goldsmiths University of London, discuss how their own work on the Great Plague of Provence in 1720 and the Jamaican cholera epidemic of the mid-1800s (respectively) informs their understanding of COVID-19’s pl...
2020-06-011h 04COVIDCalls#10 COVIDCalls 3.27.2020 - Disaster & DisabilityWhy were tools of accessibility, like video conferencing and live transcription, only embraced by institutions in response to COVID-19, despite being denied to disabled people pre-pandemic? What can disability studies add to our understanding of COVID-19 and society’s response to the pandemic?
Dr. Aimi Hamraie an assistant professor of Medicine, Health, & Society and American Studies at Vanderbilt University and Dr. Amy Slaton, a professor of History at Drexel University, discuss how disaster, and COVID-19 in particular, reveals how society routinely devalues disabled people. Both experts in disability studies, Slaton and Hamraie discuss how extractive capitalism creates vi...
2020-06-011h 01COVIDCalls#9 COVIDCalls 3.26.2020 - Pandemic Perspectives: ItalyWhat can the United States learn from Italy’s disaster management performance in the first wave, and what are the cracks that lie in Italy and the United States’ systems? What are the historical analogs we can use to understand various aspects of the pandemic?
Dr. Giacomo Parrinello, an assistant professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and Dr. Luisa Cortesi, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University (now assistant professor at Erasmus University), and Paolo Cavaliere, a Ph.D. student at the University of Delaware and volunteer with the Italian Red Cross, all join to discuss the...
2020-06-011h 01COVIDCalls#8 COVIDCalls 3.25.2020 - Tests, Treatments, & Vaccines w/Adam RogersWhat is the timeline of the virus up to late March 2020, and what might the timeline to “normalcy” look like? What are the most promising treatments and what are their historical precedents?
Adam Rogers, a science journalist at WIRED Magazine, discusses the science and possibilities of serological testing to improve understanding and surveillance of the virus. Rogers explains the potentials of treatments derived from the blood of COVID-19 survivors, such as serum, convalescent plasma, and monoclonal antibodies. In addition, he helps us understand a rough timeline of the virus as of late March 2020, from its discovery in Chin...
2020-06-011h 46COVIDCalls#7 COVIDCalls 3.24.2020 - Disaster, Science, & Journalism w/ Andy RevkinWhat are the challenges for journalists to report accurate information when there is a disconnect between science and politics? How do news consumers become discerning about the information they trust in the internet age?
Andrew Revkin, a path-breaking environmental journalist and founding director of the Initiative on Communication Innovation and Impact at Columbia University's Earth Institute, discusses the role of journalists during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as how mitigation measures and virtual connectivity are reshaping the possibilities of journalism. Revkin discusses how the make-up and leadership of newsrooms can lead to everything being seen through the le...
2020-06-011h 05COVIDCalls#6 COVIDCalls 3.23.2020 - Pandemic Perspectives: Chile, Germany, European UnionWhat are the various experiences of COVID-19 across the globe and what ways can we listen to this transnational community? How is COVID-19 interacting with Chilean politics, both past and present? How are Germany and the larger European Union coping with the uneven effects of the pandemic?
Dr. Gonzalo Bacigalupe, a professor of counseling psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and leader of the Citizen, Education, and Governance Team at the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN) in Santiago, Chile discusses the state of the pandemic as of March 2020 in Chile. Dr. Bacigalupe talks...
2020-06-011h 02COVIDCalls#5 COVIDCalls 3.20.2020 - National Disaster: Emergency Management in a Pandemic
What does it mean that COVID-19 was declared a disaster/emergency by multiple levels of government across the United States? How does the structure of emergency governance affect emergency managers responding to the pandemic?
Dr. Samantha Montano, an assistant professor in Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy (formerly University of Nebraska-Omaha), and Dr. Patrick S. Roberts, an associate professor at Virginia Tech University's Center for Public Administration & Policy both discuss how government agencies in the United States respond to emergencies and the unprecedented nature of COVID-19 in terms of the field of Emergency Management. Both experts on...
2020-06-011h 05COVIDCalls#4 COVIDCalls 3.19.2020 - Public Health Update: PhiladelphiaWhen should have COVID-19 testing started in the United States and what were the barriers to testing access in the early days of the Pandemic? What did testing look like on the ground in Philadelphia, PA during this time?
Dr. Esther Chernak, professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health and director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel University, discusses various Public Health responses to COVID-19 at the international, national, and local level. In particular Dr. Chernak discusses how the American CDC has reacted to community spread in the U.S...
2020-06-011h 03COVIDCalls#3 COVIDCalls 3.18.2020 - Evacuation & Shelter Decision-Making & Coping w/ PetsWhat are the psychological factors behind how individuals and organizations make evacuation/sheltering decisions during disasters? How are pets a source of comfort and resilience?
Dr. Sarah DeYoung, an expert on applied social and community psychology and core faculty member at the Disaster Research Center at University of Delaware, discusses the connections between evacuations/shelter in place orders, decision making, and various types of vulnerability. Dr. DeYoung stresses the importance of agreement among public officials for building trust in authority during a disaster and the damage open disagreement among authorities can do to public confidence. DeYoung delves...
2020-06-0158 minCOVIDCalls#2 COVIDCalls 3.17.2020 - Journalism & Social Science in the Pandemic w/ Robinson Meyer & Kim FortunHow can we understand disaster amidst the unknowns in the beginning of a crisis? How do journalists and academics approach information, disorganization, and uncertainty to further understanding during disaster events.
Robinson Meyer, a staff writer for the Atlantic covering technology and climate change, and Dr. Kim Fortun, an anthropologist at University of California - Irvine and expert on environmental risk and disaster, discuss the difficulties of reporting on COVID Testing early in the pandemic, what that reporting reveals about the state of governmental response, and how the knowledge of academic researchers can help us approach the uncertainties...
2020-06-0158 minCOVIDCalls#1 COVIDCalls 3.16.2020 - The First Episode: Public Health & COVID-19 in the USAHow should public health systems in the U.S. respond to COVID-19, and what lessons can we draw from the past and for the future?
Dr. Gigi Kwik Gronvall, a Senior Scholar at the John Hopkins Center for Health Security, joins to discuss the early national response to COVID-19 in the U.S. An expert on synthetic biology and biosecurity, Dr. Gronvall draws on her experience advising the Department of Defense to discuss how the response to COVID-19 compares to earlier responses to SARS and Ebola. Dr. Gronvall stresses the importance of learning from earlier epidemics as w...
2020-06-0159 minCOVIDCallsCOVIDCALLS - An IntroductionHost Dr. Scott Gabriel Knowles introduces the COVIDCalls podcast.
2020-06-0121 min