JAMA Author Interviews

As the largest public insurance program in the US, Medicare has an outsize influence in how many people in the US access and receive health care. Recently appointed Director of Center for Medicare Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD, joins JAMA Associate Editor Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, for a discussion of equitable, patient-centered approaches to health care delivery, and how her own experiences as a physician have illuminated how she leads the program. Related Content: Center for Medicare Director Envisions Holistic Approach to Health Care Leading Medicare: Q&A With Medicare Director Meena Seshamani Health System Factors Related to Overuse of Health Services in Medicare Leveraging Medicare to Advance Health Equity

Interview with Lori Pbert, PhD, USPSTF member and coauthor of Screening for Eating Disorders in Adolescents and Adults: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement

Interview with Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH, USPSTF member and coauthor of Screening for Atrial Fibrillation: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Hosted by Gregory Curfman, MD.

Three members of President Biden's former COVID-19 Advisory Board—Luciana Borio, MD, Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, and Mike Osterholm, PhD—discuss their recent JAMA Viewpoints, providing their ideas on strategies for public health as COVID-19 transitions from pandemic to endemic. Hosted by JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD. Related Content: A National Strategy for the "New Normal" of Life With COVID A National Strategy for COVID-19—Testing, Surveillance, and Mitigation Strategies A National Strategy for COVID-19 Medical Countermeasures Former Biden-Harris Transition Advisors Propose a New National Strategy for COVID-19 Public Health in an Era of Endemic COVID-19 (video)

Former CDC Executive Secretariat of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Amanda Cohn, MD, joins JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD, for the latest on the need for vaccination and boosters, vaccine misinformation, and tackling the pandemic from a global perspective. Recorded January 6, 2022. Related Content: One Year of COVID-19 Vaccines: A Shot of Hope, a Dose of Reality COVID-19 Vaccines Have Been Available in the US for More Than a Year—What's Been Learned and What's Next? COVID-19 CDC Update – Early January 2022

Interview with Michael Cabana, MD, USPSTF member and coauthor of Screening and Interventions to Prevent Dental Caries in Children Younger Than 5 Years: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Related Content: Screening and Interventions to Prevent Dental Caries in Children Younger Than 5 Years

Infectious disease experts Adam Lauring, MD, PhD, and Carlos del Rio, MD, join JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, for a discussion of the newly emerged Omicron variant, the potential for a 2021-2022 "twindemic" with flu, and the latest COVID-19 clinical updates. Recorded December 1, 2021. Related content: Omicron Has Reached the US—Here's What Infectious Disease Experts Know About the Variant COVID-19 Update: Omicron Variant

Phil Fontanarosa, MD, MBA, interim editor in chief of JAMA, interviews Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Abraham Verghese, MD, from Stanford University School of Medicine, about diagnostic excellence and a new series on this topic in JAMA. Related Content: Diagnostic Excellence Diagnosis and the Illness Experience: Ways of Knowing

Individuals who experience systemic, structural, institutional, and social barriers within society deserve better and more convenient health care access. This idea should be central when advancing efforts to achieve health equity. JAMA Editorial Board member Raina M. Merchant, MD, speaks with Courtney R. Lyles, PhD, and Urmimala Sarkar, MD, about approaches toward improving digital health equity and with Utibe R. Essien, MD, about enhancing targeted efforts toward realizing pharmacoequity. Related Content: A Policy Prescription for Reducing Health Disparities—Achieving Pharmacoequity Focusing on Digital Health Equity

Health care expenses that arise from largely nonclinical functions, such as coding and billing and administration, cost the US health care system almost $1 trillion annually. Michael Chernew, PhD, from Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy, and David Cutler, PhD, from Harvard University Department of Economics, join JAMA Associate Editor Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH, from Washington University School of Medicine to discuss some basic fixes and simplifications that could reduce administrative spending by an estimated $265 billion. Related Content: Waste in the US Health Care System: Estimated Costs and Potential for Savings Administrative Expenses in the US Health Care System: Why So High? Administrative Simplification and the Potential for Saving a Quarter-Trillion Dollars in Health Care Economic Incentives for Administrative Simplification Waste in the US Health Care System Waste in the US Health Care System

Interview with Jason A. Abbott, and Fiona G Li, authors of Effect of Fractional Carbon Dioxide Laser vs Sham Treatment on Symptom Severity in Women With Postmenopausal Vaginal Symptoms: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Death rattle, defined as noisy breathing caused by the presence of mucus in the respiratory tract, is common among dying patients. Harriette van Esch, MD, from the Erasmus Medical Center, the Netherlands, and Jared R. Lowe, MD, from the University of North Carolina, join JAMA Associate Editor Ethan Basch, MD, to discuss evidence about use of prophylactic scopolamine butylbromide to reduce the death rattle. Related Content: Effect of Prophylactic Subcutaneous Scopolamine Butylbromide on Death Rattle Preventing Death Rattle With Prophylactic Subcutaneous Scopolamine Butylbromide

Interview with Aaron B. Caughey, MD, USPSTF member and coauthor of Aspirin Use to Prevent Preeclampsia and Related Morbidity and Mortality: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force Related Content: Low-Dose Aspirin for the Prevention of Preeclampsia USPSTF Recommendation: Aspirin Use to Prevent Preeclampsia Patient Information: Use of Aspirin During Pregnancy to Prevent Preeclampsia

Canadian law gives the country's individual provinces and territories primary responsibility for coronavirus containment and mitigation. JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, from the University of Michigan and Allan S. Detsky, MD, PhD, from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, discuss the national pandemic experience, including public health responses to infection and vaccine allocation, from fall 2020 through summer 2021. Related Content: COVID-19 in Canada: Experience and Response to Waves 2 and 3

Interview with Martha Kubik, PhD, RN, USPSTF member and coauthor of Screening for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement

While health disparities have gained growing attention in recent years, much work is still needed, as inequities continue to have a direct and measurable negative influence on patients in historically disadvantaged communities. David Satcher, MD, PhD, Francisco Cigarroa, MD, and Howard Koh, MD, MPH, join moderator Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH, to discuss the vital importance of the visibility of all races and ethnicities in research, medical schools, and health care. They propose potential solutions, including the recruitment of and support for more physicians who look like their patients, who care enough, know enough, have the courage to make a difference, and who will persevere until changes are made. Related Content: Healing and Health Equity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Populations Uplifting the Latino Population From Obscurity to the Forefront of Health Care Does Race Interfere With the Doctor-Patient Relationship? (published 1973) Race and the Patient-Physician Relationship in 2021

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) may help COVID-19 patients in respiratory failure avoid invasive mechanical ventilation but may also lead to delays in intubation with potential for worse clinical outcomes. Domenico L. Grieco, MD, of Fondazione Policlinico Agostino Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, Jesse B. Hall, MD, of the University of Chicago, and Laveena Munshi, MD, MSc, of Sinai Health System/University Health Network of the University of Toronto join JAMA's live Q&A series to discuss helmet NIV, high-flow nasal oxygen, and other NIV modalities in the management of hypoxic coronavirus patients. Recorded March 25, 2021. Related Content: Effect of Helmet Noninvasive Ventilation vs High-Flow Nasal Oxygen on Days Free of Respiratory Support in Patients With COVID-19 and Moderate to Severe Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure Respiratory Support During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Is It Time to Consider Using a Helmet? Noninvasive Ventilation of COVID-19 Patients

Interview with Kimberly Maxfield, PhD, author of Precision Dosing—A Clinical and Public Health Imperative

Interview with Chien-Wen W. Tseng, MD, USPSTF member and coauthor of USPSTF Recommendation: Screening for Hearing Loss in Older Adults

Lisa A. Cooper, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Clyde W. Yancy, MD, MSc, of Northwestern University, and David R. Williams, PhD, MPH, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, join JAMA Editor in Chief Howard Bauchner, MD, to discuss racism and structural racism in health care and medicine. Recorded March 16, 2021.

Coronavirus trends, variants, vaccines, treatment, and more. JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, also from the University of Michigan, and Emory University School of Medicine's Carlos del Rio, MD, return to JAMA's Q&A series to discuss the latest in COVID-19 medicine and public health. Recorded March 15, 2021. Related Content: COVID-19 in 2021—Continuing Uncertainty Coronavirus Update With Carlos del Rio and Preeti Malani Frequently Asked COVID Vaccine Questions

Interview with Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, author of National Initiatives to Prevent Myocardial Infarction and Stroke

Interview with Michael J. Barry, MD, author of USPSTF Recommendation—Screening for Lung Cancer

Genetic variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are emerging but so far do not seem to have caused breakthrough infections in people with previous infection or in those who have been vaccinated. John P. Moore, PhD, of Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, joins JAMA's Q&A series for an update on the latest variants and what you need to know. Recorded March 4, 2021. Related Article: Approaches for Optimal Use of Different COVID-19 Vaccines

Interview with Christopher J.L. Murray, MD, DPhil, author of The Potential Future of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Will SARS-CoV-2 Become a Recurrent Seasonal Infection?

Interview with James C. Robinson, PhD, author of Funding of Pharmaceutical Innovation During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nancy E. Messonnier, MD is director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and leads the CDC's efforts on COVID-19 vaccination. She joins JAMA's Q&A series to discuss the agency's response to emerging coronavirus variants, the FDA advisory hearings on the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and other agency activities and priorities related to COVID-19 control. Recorded February 26, 2021. Related Content: Genetic Variants of SARS-CoV-2—What Do They Mean? Coronavirus Vaccine Update From the CDC With Nancy E. Messonnier, MD SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines and the Growing Threat of Viral Variants Experts Discuss COVID-19—Vaccine Doses, Virus Variants, and More Emergence of a Novel SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Southern California SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in the United States Pregnant People Getting Mixed Messages About COVID-19 Vaccines The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine for COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Viral Variants—Tackling a Moving Target Vaccine Distribution—Equity Left Behind? Taking Vaccine to Where the Virus Is—Equity and Effectiveness in Coronavirus Vaccinations?

Interview with Richard Saitz, MD, author of Removing One Barrier to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: Is It Enough and with Yngvild Olsen, MD, author of Overcoming Barriers to Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Interview with Ik-Kyung Jang, MD, PhD, author of New Insights Into Plaque Erosion as a Mechanism of Acute Coronary Syndromes

CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, returns to JAMA's Q&A series to discuss the agency's response to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, implications for the planned vaccine mobilization strategy, the upcoming Johnson & Johnson vaccine FDA advisory hearings, strategies for reopening K-12 schools, and other agency activities and priorities related to COVID-19 control. Recorded February 17, 2021. Related Article(s): Coronavirus Update With CDC Director Rochelle Walensky - February 17, 2021 SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in the United States—Challenges and Opportunities SARS-CoV-2 Viral Variants—Tackling a Moving Target

Paul A. Offit, MD, of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia returns to JAMA's Q&A series to provide an update on the emergence of COVID-19 variants and their implications for vaccine development, including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, scheduled for a US Food and Drug Administration VRBPAC hearing on February 26, 2021. Recorded February 11, 2021. Related Article: SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines and the Growing Threat of Viral Variants

As US vaccine distribution expands to include younger healthier populations, questions about vaccine safety in women of childbearing age have become more urgent. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center's Catherine Y. Spong, MD, and Emory University School of Medicine's Denise J. Jamieson, MD, MPH, both eminent obstetrician/gynecologists, join JAMA's Q&A series to discuss the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in pregnant and nursing mothers, and in individuals trying to get pregnant. Recorded February 8, 2021. Related Article(s): Pregnancy, Postpartum Care, and COVID-19 Vaccination in 2021 COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnant and Lactating Women Involving Pregnant Individuals in Clinical Research on COVID-19 Vaccines

Interview with Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, author of Mandating COVID-19 Vaccines

2021 has brought news of emerging SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants that increase transmissibility. Will they diminish vaccine efficacy and lead us to lose pandemic control? University of Michigan's Adam Lauring, MD, PhD, a molecular virologist who uses evolutionary theory to study viral transmission and pathogenesis, joins JAMA's Q&A series to explain the variants and what they mean for public health. Recorded February 4, 2021. Related Article(s): Genetic Variants of SARS-CoV-2—What Do They Mean?

Interview with Donald Berwick, MD, author of The Triple Aim Applied to Correctional Health Systems

NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD, returns to JAMA's Q&A series to discuss Shifts in the US pandemic response under the Biden administration Emerging genetic variants and implications for vaccine efficacy Prospects for new vaccine approvals and more. Related Article: Preventing the Spread of SARS-CoV-2 With Masks and Other "Low-tech" Interventions

Interview with Philip A. Pizzo, MD, author of When Physicians Engage in Practices That Threaten the Nation's Health

Interview with Michael J. Barry, MD, USPSTF member and coauthor of USPSTF Recommendation: Carotid Artery Stenosis

Interview with Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, author of Ensuring Quality in the Era of Virtual Care and Abraham Verghese, MD, author of Virtual Care and Real Connection in the Era of COVID-19

Peter Piot, MD, PhD, director of The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is a legend in global health, having been involved in identification of HIV and Ebola virus in Africa. He was founding executive director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1995 to 2008. He joins JAMA's Q&A series to discuss the global public health response to COVID-19 past, present, and future. Recorded January 28, 2021. Related Article(s): The Challenges Ahead With Monoclonal Antibodies

Interview with Frederick P. Rivara, MD, author of Three Interventions to Address the Other Pandemic—Firearm Injury and Death

Interview with John P A Ioannidis, MD, DSC, author of Recalibrating the Use of Race in Medical Research

President Biden has released a health care plan that proposes reducing the age of eligibility for Medicare to 60 years and introducing a public option. Larry Levitt, MPP, Executive Vice President for Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, JAMA Associate Editor Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH, Co-Director of the Center for Health Economics and Policy (CHEP) at Washington University School of Medicine, and Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, from the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University discuss prospects for health care reform under the new administration. Recorded January 21, 2021. Related Article(s): Moving Patient Care Forward in the Biden Era

To get more vaccine to more people more efficiently, UCSF School of Medicine's Robert M. Wachter, MD, recently urged giving a single dose now and deferring the second dose until more vaccine is available. Paul A. Offit, MD, of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, disagrees. The two discuss the pros and the cons of the plan and alternative responses to road bumps in the US vaccine rollout, on JAMA's live Q&A series. Recorded January 19, 2021. Related Article: Developing a SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine at Warp Speed

Incoming Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, returns to JAMA's Q&A series to discuss her vision and priorities for the agency and changes in its pandemic response strategies, when she takes the reins on January 20. Recorded January 19, 2021. Related Article(s): All-Cause Excess Mortality and COVID-19–Related Mortality Among US Adults Aged 25-44 Years, March-July 2020

Interview with Raina M. Merchant, MD, author of Public Health Messaging in an Era of Social Media

Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) both improve outcomes for patients with acute ischemic stroke. Jeffrey L. Saver, MD, director of UCLA's Comprehensive Stroke and Vascular Neurology Program and a JAMA Associate Editor, discusses 2 randomized trials comparing outcomes for stroke patients treated with IVT prior to EVT vs EVT alone. Related Article: Intravenous Thrombolysis Before Endovascular Thrombectomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke

Interview with Michael Silverstein, MD, MPH, USPSTF member and coauthor of USPSTF Recommendation: Tobacco Cessation in Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted scientists to use adaptive research designs to evaluate potential treatments simultaneously and efficiently, increasing the likelihood that patients will receive treatments most likely to be effective for them. Lennie Derde, MD, of University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and JAMA Associate Editor Christopher W. Seymour, MD, of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center join JAMA's Q&A series to discuss the latest in critical care management of COVID-19 patients and emerging treatment strategies and therapies. Recorded January 13, 2021. Related Article(s): Sensible Medicine-Optimizing the Trade-off Between Learning and Doing in a Pandemic

Arnold S. Monto, MD, chaired the US Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meetings in December that led to Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. He joins JAMA's Q&A series from the University of Michigan School of Public Health to discuss experience to date with the 2 products and what's next in vaccine development. Recorded January 11, 2021. Related Article(s): Experts Discuss COVID-19: Vaccine Allocation, Placebo Groups, and More