Editorial Staff

Untangling Variants & Outbreaks: Can Vaccines & Natural Immunity Outrun Delta?

/in , , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with author, surgeon, and public health expert Dr. Marty Makary about the COVID-19 Delta Variant, the durability of natural and vaccinated immunity, the benefits of booster shots, and the health risks for children as we move into the fall.

Guest:

Dr. Martin Makary is a surgical oncologist and chief of the Johns Hopkins Islet Transplant Center. He is a clinical lead for the Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub and serves as Executive Director of Improving Wisely, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project to lower health care costs in the U.S. by creating measures of appropriateness in health care. Dr. Makary’s research focuses on the creation and evaluation of new health care innovations. He is the creator of the Surgery Checklist, publishing its first description and later served on the W.H.O. Safe Surgery Saves Lives committee. He led the W.H.O. workgroup to create global measures of surgical quality. Dr. Makary has published over 200 scientific articles, including the first description of “frailty” impacting surgical outcomes, the original studies on safety culture measurement in hospitals, and an evaluation of the Orphan Drug Act. He is a leading voice for physicians, writing in The Wall Street Journal, and is the author of The New York Times best-selling book, Unaccountable, about patient safety and physician-led transparency efforts in health care. Dr. Makary is the founder of the Johns Hopkins Center For Surgical Outcomes Research and Clinical Trials and is the recipient of numerous grants to evaluate the effectiveness of new surgical technology and new interventions in health care. He serves jointly as a professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a professor of health policy & management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has pioneered new pancreas operations at Johns Hopkins, including the laparoscopic Whipple procedure. He performed the first series of laparoscopic islet auto-transplantation and other laparoscopic operations in field of surgery. Dr. Makary is among the few highest-volume laparoscopic pancreas surgeons in the United States. He is the recipient of the National Pancreas Foundation Nobility in Science Award. Dr. Makary is a graduate of Bucknell, Thomas Jefferson and Harvard University. He completed his surgical training at Georgetown University and his fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Get new episodes of Hubwonk in your inbox!

Recent Episodes:

Curing Medicaid’s Cold: Unwinding Pandemic Expansion Before Federal Funds End

Joe Selvaggi talks with healthcare policy expert Dr. Brian Blase about Medicaid expansion during the COVID-19 healthcare emergency and how states can efficiently reexamine eligibility criteria so as to protect the vulnerable before federal support expires.

Climate Change Reset: Catastrophic Consensus Cools As New Models Emerge

Joe Selvaggi talks with climate expert Dr. Judith Curry about the insights contained in her newly released book, Climate Uncertainty and Risk: Rethinking our Response, in which she tracks the evolution of climate science from model development, to political weapon, to an emerging view that the best response to a changing climate is to build resiliency.

Dodging Debt Default: Who Won Congressional Cage Match Compromise

Joe Selvaggi talks with CATO Institute budget expert Chris Edwards about the details of the newly passed Fiscal Responsibility Act, which avoids crossing the debt ceiling in exchange for slowing spending growth.

Tilting Offshore Windmills: Speaking Truth to Ratepayers

Joe Selvaggi talks with energy economist Dr. Jonathan Lesser about the chasm between the promises and realities of offshore wind projects, including the likely increased costs passed to electricity consumers and taxpayers.

Picking Patients’ Pockets: Exposing Insurance Schemes Targeting Orphan Diseases

Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s senior Health Care Fellows Dr. Bill Smith and Dr. Robert Popovian about their white paper "Out-of-Pocket Pirates: Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and the Confiscation of Out-of-Pocket Assistance Programs." This episode explores what consumers and regulators can do to ensure those with rare diseases are not left without assistance.

Erec Smith on the Rhetoric of Anti-racist Activism

Joe Selvaggi talks with York College of Pennsylvania Associate Professor Eric Smith about the disempowering effects of modern anti-racism movement and the challenges for thought leaders who espouse more constructive narratives.

Bank of Big Brother: Exploring a National Digital Currency Future

Joe Selvaggi talks with financial privacy and digital currency expert Nicholas Anthony of CATO Institute Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives about the potential benefits and risks were the U.S. to adopt a national digital currency.

Transparency, Please! MBTA Resists Disclosure of Arbitration Award

Joe Selvaggi talks with attorney for Pioneer Public Interest Law Center (PPILC) John La Liberte, about the work he did to successfully gain access to the MBTA retirement fund’s arbitration agreement after a seven-month legal struggle.

Losing Talent and Treasure: Uncompetitive Tax Regime Drives Upper-Income Exodus

Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute's Economic Research Associate Aidan Enright about his new paper "Debunking Migration Myths." With this research, Aidan examines the link between Massachusetts' tax regime and the outflow of high earners to states with more competitive rates.

Rationing Vital Therapies: Should Healthcare Experts Decide Who Lives?

Joe Selvaggi talks with senior health care fellow Dr. William Smith about his new book Rationing Medicine: Threats From European Cost Effectiveness Models to Seniors and Other Vulnerable Populations, and the book’s cautionary warning against embracing European standards for valuing life saving therapies.