Telehealth on the line: What could happen this spring?
2025-03-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
As part of the American Relief Act signed by President Biden in December, certain telehealth benefits for Medicare beneficiaries were extended only until the end of March 2025 — instead of a three-year extension as proposed in a Continuing Resolution. These benefits and the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver program are now set to expire on March 31. Some areas, like in-home cardiology rehabilitation visits, were left out of this extension.

In this AHCJ webinar, Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy for the American Telemedicine Association and executive director of ATA Action — an affiliated advocacy group — will spell out what services are covered in this extension, what was omitted, and what updates we might expect to see during the next few weeks of President Trump’s second administration. You’ll walk away with story ideas and insights to inform your reporting.

Moderator

Karen Blum

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Health ITKaren Blum is an independent health and science journalist, based in the Baltimore area. She has written for publications such as the Baltimore Sun, Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Clinical Laboratory News, Cancer Today, CURE, AARP.org, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition; covered numerous medical conferences for trade magazines and news services; and written many profiles and articles on medical and science research as well as trends in health care and health IT. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and chairs its Virtual Education Committee; and a member of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and its freelance committee.

Kyle Zebley. Photo by Christopher Huang

Kyle Zebley

Senior VP of public policy, American Telemedicine Association & executive director, ATA ActionZebley works with and on behalf of the American Telemedicine Association and members of ATA Action (an affiliated advocacy organization) and like-minded organizations to eliminate barriers to the expansion of telehealth and ensure patients, providers, and payers can realize the benefits of virtual care.

Prior to joining ATA, Zebley was the chief of staff in the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He collaborated with senior leadership from HHS, the White House and other cabinet departments to develop, advise and promote U.S. global health policy, including in areas such as drug pricing, medical devices, global health security and non-communicable diseases.

He is a sought-after policy expert and frequently quoted in major media coverage of telehealth. In January 2022, Zebley was named by Politico as one of the “Four Washington players poised to shape digital health in 2022.”

Health care in court: A prep session for a big June
2025-05-21 13:00 - 14:00
Buckle up: The Supreme Court is expected to rule before the end of June in a number of cases with significant implications for health in America. With transgender health care, Planned Parenthood funding, preventive care, and several environmental cases, among others, in the balance, what’s the best way to prepare to cover these important stories?

This webinar will highlight the big cases and point you toward resources and strategies for writing solid court-related stories on deadline. You’ll hear from Chris Geidner, also known as Law Dork for his Substack newsletter on court happenings, and Alison Tanner of the National Women’s Law Center. They’ll talk about what to look for, how to find an expert to help you interpret accurately and other tricks to reporting on the legal stuff with less stress.

Moderator

Alice Miranda Ollstein

Senior health care reporter, POLITICOAlice Miranda Ollstein is a senior health care reporter for POLITICO, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health.

Her coverage of state and federal health policy developments on Capitol Hill, within government agencies, in the courts, and on the campaign trail draws connections between decisions made by elected officials and their impact on the ground. She has broken stories on the Covid-19 response, the strategies of both anti-abortion and pro-abortion-rights groups, and both the Biden and Trump transitions.

Alice graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been reporting in D.C. ever since, covering the Supreme Court, Congress and national elections for TV, radio, print, and online outlets. Her work has aired on Free Speech Radio News, All Things Considered, WAMU and WTOP, and her writing has been published by Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, and La Opinión. She was elected in 2016 as an at-large board member of the DC Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2017, she was named one of the New Media Alliance’s “Rising Stars” under 30. She is the author of a forthcoming book on the broader health care impacts of post-Roe abortion restrictions, set to be published by The New Press.

Alice grew up in Santa Monica, California and began freelancing for local newspapers in her early teens. When not working on a story, she can be found riding her bicycle around the region, attempting to grow vegetables in her backyard, and playing with her nephews.

Chris Geidner

Law DorkChris Geidner is an award-winning journalist who covers the Supreme Court, law, and politics at Law Dork. His more than two decades in journalism includes widely recognized coverage of the courts, LGBTQ issues, the criminal legal system, and other complex legal and political questions.

He previously worked as the Supreme Court correspondent and legal editor at BuzzFeed News and has written for many publications, including The New York Times and MSNBC. Among other recognition, Geidner was named Journalist of the Year by NLGJA, the LGBTQ journalists’ association, in 2014.

Before moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, Geidner was a practicing lawyer in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Ohio State Law Journal. It was in law school that Geidner originally started the Law Dork blog.

Alison Tanner

Senior litigation counsel for reproductive rights and health, National Women’s Law CenterAlison Tanner (she/her) litigates cases defending and expanding access to reproductive health care, including emergency abortion care and assisted reproductive technologies.

Previously, she was a staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the Steven Gey Constitutional Litigation Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She graduated magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law.

From big picture to local story: Reporting on the impact of the megabill
2025-08-01 14:00 - 15:00
The 2026 budget act signed into law on July 4 will impact the health of millions of Americans — especially those on Medicaid and other safety net programs including SNAP. How can journalists wrap their arms around these massive changes?

Panelists will highlight what aspects journalists should pay close attention to right now and how to use the power of storytelling to make these coming changes real for audiences.

Moderator

Lara Salahi

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Health EquityLara Salahi is AHCJ’s health beat leader on health equity. She’s an award-winning, independent health journalist based in Boston, whose work has appeared in local, national and international television and digital news outlets. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Journalism at Endicott College in Beverley, Mass.

Moderator

Joe Burns

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Health Policy and InsuranceJoseph Burns is AHCJ’s health beat leader on health policy and insurance. He’s an independent journalist based in Brewster, Mass., who has covered health care, health policy and the business of care since 1991. Burns has written for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, Fortune, Hospitals & Health Networks, and Medical Economics, among others.

Early in his journalism career, Burns worked as a reporter in Connecticut, first for The Wallingford Post (a weekly), and then The Meriden Record-Journal (a daily), and later for The Hartford Courant (the largest daily newspaper in the state and the nation’s oldest newspaper). For The Courant, he was a reporter, copy editor and regional news editor. During this time, he also taught news writing at the University of Connecticut.

Joanne Kenen

Journalist-in-Residence, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthContributing writer, Politico MagazineLong-time health reporter on and off Capitol Hill. Oversaw all the health coverage at Politico for about a decade – now I’m a contributing writer to Politico Magazine, and the Journalist-in-Residence at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where I also teach. I’m a regular on the KHN “What the Health” podcast. I was AHCJ’s first topic leader (on health reform) and the conferences are a highlight of my year. @JoanneKenen

Kristen Jordan Shamus

Health reporter, Detroit Free PressShamus’ work has taken her across the Mitten State, the U.S. and to Europe. There, she covered the stories of children who were evacuated from war-torn Ukraine to eastern Poland. She also led coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on Michiganders.

Over the past two decades, Shamus has worked as a reporter, an editor and columnist including at the Oakland Press and the News-Herald Newspapers. Shamus was among 20 journalists selected in 2019 for a National Press Foundation fellowship, was a Mayo Clinic-Cronkite Medical Journalism fellow and a finalist for three consecutive years for the Richard Milliman Michigan Journalist of the Year award from the Michigan Press Association Foundation.

Katherine Hempstead, Ph.D.

Senior policy officer, Robert Wood Johnson FoundationHempstead works on healthcare issues, mostly those related to health insurance, costs, and access to care, using data and analyses to illuminate policy discussions at the federal and state levels. She is particularly interested making new sources of data that can inform policy available to researchers and the public sector. Hempstead frequently speaks and writes about health insurance and other healthcare topics. She is also an active researcher, and has authored numerous articles in the peer reviewed literature.

Reporting on 'sweeps' and the criminalization of homelessness: How to handle the story
2025-08-19 14:00 - 15:00
The Trump administration is making clear its intention to banish, arrest or imprison people who are homeless in the nation’s capital, as well as threatening forced treatment for those struggling with substance use disorders. But front-line workers, activists and experts are expressing skepticism about this old and failed approach to homelessness.

So what is the state of affairs in D.C.? How are people who work on homelessness responding to the impending campaign, and what is the likelihood that other cities will take a similar approach? This webinar will equip reporters to cover the story in their own cities and towns with guidance from a national reporter who is covering the D.C. story, an addiction researcher, a longtime activist and a journalist who did a year-long project on homelessness.

Moderator

Katia Riddle

Health correspondent, NPRFormer AHCJ fellow

Katia Riddle is a correspondent at NPR covering mental health. She has reported extensively on the impact of events such as Hurricane Helene, Los Angeles wildfires and the loneliness epidemic.

Prior to her current role, she covered public health including reproductive rights and homelessness. She won a 2024 Gracie Award for a series on reproductive rights, and was an AHCJ U.S. Health System Reporting Fellow from 2023-2024.

Riddle lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and three kids.

Photo by Nancie Battaglia

Brian Mann

National addiction correspondent, NPRBrian Mann is NPR’s first national addiction correspondent. He also covers breaking news in the U.S. and around the world.

Mann began covering drug policy and the opioid crisis as part of a partnership between NPR and North Country Public Radio in New York. After joining NPR full time in 2020, Mann was one of the first national journalists to track the deadly spread of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, reporting from California and Washington state to West Virginia.

After losing his father and stepbrother to substance abuse, Mann’s reporting breaks down the stigma surrounding addiction and creates a factual basis for the ongoing national discussion.

Mann has also served on NPR teams covering the Beijing Winter Olympics and the war in Ukraine.

During a career in public radio that began in the 1980s, Mann has won numerous regional and national Edward R. Murrow awards. He is author of a 2006 book about small town politics called Welcome to the Homeland, described by The Atlantic as “one of the best books to date on the putative-red-blue divide.”

Mann grew up in Alaska and is now based in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. His audio postcards, broadcast on NPR, describe his backcountry trips into wild places around the world.

Keith Humphreys, OBE, Ph.D.

Esther Ting Memorial Professor, Stanford University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesCIGH fellow, Stanford Center for Innovation in Global HealthKeith Humphreys is the Esther Ting Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His research addresses addictive disorders and the translation of science into public policy. In addition to over 400 scientific publications, he has written extensively for outlets like The Washington Post and The Atlantic.

Dr. Humphreys’ public policy work includes testimonies to U.S. House and Senate Committees, to the Canadian and U.K. parliaments, and in many state legislatures. He served on the White House Commission on Drug-Free Communities during the Bush Administration and as Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Obama. He created and co-directs the Stanford Network on Addiction Policy, which brings scientists and policy makers together to improve public policies regarding addictive substances. To recognize his service to addiction-related scholarship and policy, Queen Elizabeth II made him an Honorary Officer in the Order of the British Empire in 2022.

Lisa Daugaard

Co-executive director/policy, Purpose. Dignity. Action.Lisa Daugaard is Co-Executive Director/Policy at Purpose. Dignity. Action. (PDA), formerly the Public Defender Association, based in Seattle. She joined the Defender Association in 1996 as a public defense staff attorney, later served in multiple management positions and led TDA’s Racial Disparity Project, combatting racial discrimination in, and generated by, the criminal legal system at the height of mass incarceration, from 2000-2013.

From 2001-2008, Lisa led a successful selective enforcement litigation challenge to drug arrests of Black people in Seattle. The settlement of that litigation effort resulted in an agreement by SPD and the King County Prosecutor’s Office to launch a pilot pre-booking diversion framework for drug offenses, which came into being in 2011 as the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) model. Lisa was founding Co-Chair of the Seattle Community Police Commission, & served on the CPC until 2019.

In 2019, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for work building consensus around community-based responses to illegal behavior related to unmet behavioral health needs and extreme poverty. From 2020-present, she has helped design and implement JustCARE, a response to unsheltered homelessness in the Seattle area combining low-barrier entry with non-congregate shelter, intensive case management, and aftercare, that has allowed resolution of over 40 large encampments without dispersal or displacement of individuals to other areas.

Lisa grew up in the Seattle area, attended the University of Washington, was an anti-apartheid activist at Cornell University in the mid-1980s while occasionally attending class and earning an MA, and obtained her JD from Yale Law School (class of 1992). After law school, she worked in New York City as a fellow at the ACLU National Legal Department, leading a successful challenge to the first US detention camp at Guantanamo (for HIV-positive Haitian asylum seekers); as Legal Director of the Coalition for the Homeless; and as Organizing Project Director at the Urban Justice Center.

Preparing for reporting on autism, vaccines and related science
2025-09-11 11:00 - 12:00
Join moderator Tara Haelle and an expert panel — including Paul Offit, M.D. (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia), and Jessica B. Steier, DrPH, PMP (Founder and CEO of Unbiased Science) — for a webinar that will help reporters navigate the science behind autism, vaccines, and the expected Health and Human Services report on autism causes.

Facilitated by: Jesse Goodman, M.D., MPH, Chair of the E-VAT — Expert Vaccine Analysis Team.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get the context and insights you need to report accurately and confidently.

Moderator

Tara Haelle

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases & Medical StudiesTara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.

Paul A. Offit, M.D.

Director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education CenterMaurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, University of PennsylvaniaPaul A. Offit, M.D., is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Offit is currently a voting member on the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee and has previously served on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to the CDC. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC in 2006 and by the WHO in 2013. This vaccine was estimated recently to save about 165,000 lives a year. He is also the author of 11 books written for the public about science, medicine, and vaccines.

Jessica Steier, DrPH, PMP

Founder and CEO, Unbiased ScienceAn accomplished public health expert specializing in science communication, Dr. Jessica Steier is committed to providing clients — and the general public — with accurate, unbiased, and methodologically sound information. Through her podcast and other public avenues, she strives to connect citizens with accurate evidence about the forces that affect all of our lives.

While working in both the private sector and academia, she has built a career founded on providing data-driven solutions in real-world environments and communicating the importance of “old school” scientific values in contemporary education and public discourse. At her professional core, Steier is dedicated to rigorous scientific inquiry and bettering the health and welfare of communities.

She is the CEO of Vital Statistics Consulting (VSC), which specializes in health program and policy evaluation using data science and advanced analytics. With a team of expert consultants, VSC helps its clients improve healthcare outcomes while managing the cost challenges of this demanding sector.

Steier is also the founder of “Unbiased Science.” It underpins a diverse social media platform dedicated to translating complex scientific concepts into everyday language. The essence of this endeavor is pushing back against the wave of pseudoscience and misinformation that the Internet and other social forces have recently unleashed. Its motto — “No Nonsense, Just Science” — is meant to capture Steier’s direct and impassioned approach to disseminating technical knowledge in our technologically-driven culture.

Facilitator

Jesse L. Goodman, M.D., M.P.H.

Director, Georgetown University COMPASSProfessor of medicine and infectious diseasesChair, Expert Vaccine Analysis Team (E-VAT)Jesse L. Goodman, M.D., MPH is Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases and Attending Physician at Georgetown University. He was previously Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota where his laboratory isolated the causative agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis.

From 2003-2009, he served as Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), regulating vaccines, blood and cell and gene therapies, and then as Chief Scientist of the U.S. FDA until 2014, serving in U.S. leadership for numerous public health responses. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has served on numerous WHO, CDC, NIH, NAM and other advisory committees and previously served as a member of GSK’s board, chairing its science committee.

AI chatbots and mental health: How to report responsibly on a new risk
2025-09-16 14:00 - 15:00
Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots can provide round-the-clock access to supportive “conversations,” which some people are using as a substitute for interactions with licensed mental health clinicians or friends. But users may develop dependencies on the tools and mistake these transactions for real relationships with people or true therapy. Recent news stories have discussed the dangers of chatbots’ fabricated, supportive nature. In some incidents, people developed AI-related psychosis or were supported in their plans to commit suicide.

What is it about this technology that sucks people in? Who is at risk? How can you report on these conditions sensitively? Join moderator Karen Blum and an expert panel, including psychiatrists John Torous, M.D. (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center); Keith Sakata, M.D. (UC San Francisco), and Mashable Senior Reporter Rebecca Ruiz, to learn more.

Moderator

Karen Blum

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Health ITKaren Blum is AHCJ’s health beat leader for health IT. She’s an independent health and science journalist, based in the Baltimore area. She has written for publications such as the Baltimore Sun, Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Clinical Laboratory News, Cancer Today, CURE, AARP.org, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition; covered numerous medical conferences for trade magazines and news services; and written many profiles and articles on medical and science research as well as trends in health care and health IT. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and chairs its Virtual Education Committee; and a member of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and its freelance committee.

Rebecca Ruiz

Senior reporter, MashableRebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca’s experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Keith Sakata, M.D.

Psychiatry resident, UC San FranciscoKeith Sakata, M.D., is a psychiatry resident at the University of California, San Francisco, where he founded the Mental Health Innovation and Digital Hub (MINDHub) to advance AI-enabled care delivery. He provides treatment and psychotherapy across outpatient and specialty clinics, with a focus on dual diagnosis, PTSD, OCD, pain, and addiction.

Dr. Sakata previously trained in internal medicine at Stanford Health Care and co-founded Skript, a diagnostic training platform adopted by UCSF and Stanford that improved medical education outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. He currently serves as Clinical Lead at Sunflower, an addiction recovery startup. He also helps and advises startups working to improve access in mental health: including Two Chairs, and Circuit Breaker Labs, which is providing a safety layer for AI tools in mental health care.

His professional interests bridge psychiatry, neuroscience, and digital innovation. Dr. Sakata holds a B.S. in Neurobiology from UC Irvine and earned his M.D. from UCSF.

John Torous, M.D., MBI

Director, Digital Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterJohn Torous, M.D., MBI, is director of the digital psychiatry division in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a Harvard Medical School-affiliated teaching hospital, where he also serves as a staff psychiatrist and associate professor. He has a background in electrical engineering and computer sciences and received an undergraduate degree in the field from UC Berkeley before attending medical school at UC San Diego. He completed his psychiatry residency, fellowship in clinical informatics and master’s degree in biomedical informatics at Harvard.

Torous is active in investigating the potential of mobile mental health technologies for psychiatry and his team supports mindapps.org as the largest database of mental health apps, the mindLAMP technology platform for scalable digital phenotyping and intervention, and the Digital Navigator program to promote digital equity and access. Torous has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and five book chapters on the topic. He directs the Digital Psychiatry Clinic at BIDMC, which seeks to improve access to and quality of mental health care through augmenting treatment with digital innovations.

Torous serves as editor-in-chief for the journal JMIR Mental Health, web editor for JAMA Psychiatry, and a member of various American Psychiatric Association committees.

How the budget bill will impact older adults: What journalists should know
2025-10-09 12:00 - 13:00
H.R. 1, or the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” imposes $1 trillion in funding cuts, along with sweeping reforms to Medicaid, Medicare and safety net programs like food assistance. The law adds new work requirements for Medicaid recipients under the age of 65; puts home and community-based services at risk; pauses minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes; makes it harder for seniors and those with disabilities to enroll in Medicaid or get help with Medicare premiums; and triggers future cuts to the Medicare program directly.

Our expert panel will discuss how these massive changes will harm older adults and the families who care for them, including undermining the care and support they need to remain at home and in their communities.

Moderator

Liz Seegert

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for AgingLiz Seegert is AHCJ’s health beat leader on aging. She’s an award-winning, independent health journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, who writes about caregiving, dementia, access to care, nursing homes and policy. Seegert is also a contributing writer for Fortune.com, the American Journal of Nursing, and PBS/NextAvenue.org, reporting on myriad health topics, including social determinants of health and women’s health.

She has written for TIME Health, The Wirecutter, Money.com, Medscape, Consumer Reports, The Guardian and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, The Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.

Amber Christ, J.D.

Managing director of health advocacy, Justice in AgingChrist leads Justice in Aging’s team of health attorneys and policy advocates in developing and implementing the team’s projects and initiatives to improve equitable access to health care and long-term services and supports for low-income and marginalized older adults across the country. Christ is a national Medicare and Medicaid expert with a focus on programs and policies impacting people who are dually eligible for both programs. She joined Justice in Aging in 2013 and is a 2006 graduate of Washington University of Law School in St. Louis. She serves on the boards of the Family Caregiver Alliance and Legal Aid of Western Missouri.

Rachel Werner, M.D., Ph.D.

Executive director, Leonard Davis Institute of Health EconomicsRobert D. Eilers Memorial – William Maul Measey Professorship in Health Care Management and Economics, Wharton SchoolProfessor of medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of MedicineOver the past 20 years, Dr. Werner has built a foundational research program examining the effects of health care financing, payment, and related policies on health care delivery and patient outcomes. She is a nationally recognized expert in Medicare and Medicaid policy, particularly as it related to the care of older adults. She received her medical degree and doctoral degree in Health Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Trust, public health reporting and the CDC: Insider perspectives
2025-11-19 13:00 - 14:00
A lot has happened this year at the CDC with walkouts, layoffs and the disappearance of data and reports, presenting major challenges for journalists who report on public health. Especially when reporting on infectious disease, the compromising of the CDC as a source of public health data and up-to-date information about outbreaks has huge implications for public health. But that’s not all that has been lost — not by a long shot. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has also undermined the CDC as a source of trustworthy information about drug use/harm reduction, autism, chronic disease and diet.

Although the dismantling of the CDC has cost the country its oldest, most stalwart resource for public health information, the CDC diaspora has not vanished in silence. Join us for a conversation with former CDC officials Deb Houry, Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science; Demetre Daskalakis, former Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Daniel Jernigan, former Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Moderated by AHCJ Health Beat Leader Tara Haelle, the discussion will explore:

Where journalists should turn for the reliable, evidence-based reporting resources that formerly had a home at the CDC’s web pages.

Who, if anyone, has taken over data collection and communication about infectious disease.

What is missing, now, from the national public health picture.

Their biggest worries about the potential consequences of the loss of this body of expertise and communication.

Moderator

Tara Haelle

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases & Medical StudiesTara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.

Demetre C. Daskalakis, M.D., MPH

Former Director, CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory DiseasesDr. Demetre C. Daskalakis, M.D., MPH, is a nationally recognized physician and public health leader in infectious diseases and emergency response. He received his B.A. from Columbia, M.D. from NYU, and MPH from Harvard, followed by advanced training at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess and Partners Healthcare.

Dr. Daskalakis has held major leadership roles at the New York City Department of Health, overseeing HIV, TB, STD, immunization, and laboratory programs, and managing responses to measles, Legionella, and New York City’s initial COVID-19 outbreak. At the CDC, he directed the Division of HIV Prevention and later led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, where he managed strategies for influenza, COVID-19, RSV, and the transition of the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine program to commercialization. He played a critical role in national responses to respiratory virus threats and managed high-profile outbreaks including measles and avian influenza, demonstrating trauma-informed leadership during challenging events like the August 2025 CDC shooting.

As Deputy Coordinator of the White House National Mpox Response, Dr. Daskalakis’s innovative approaches led to a dramatic reduction in daily cases. Throughout his career, he has championed health equity, LGBTQ+ health, and evidence-based policy, shaping national and global strategies in HIV prevention and vaccination.

Debra Houry, M.D., MPH

Former Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science, CDCDebra Houry M.D., MPH is a nationally recognized emergency physician and public health leader with more than two decades of experience guiding health care and public health strategy across federal government, health systems, and academia.

Most recently, Dr. Houry served as Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she oversaw nine national centers and the Office of Science with a combined budget of more than $6 billion. She also served as Acting Principal Deputy Director, the agency’s most senior leader after the CDC Director, where she co-led the Moving Forward initiative—restructuring CDC to strengthen preparedness, data, and laboratory systems.

Daniel Jernigan, M.D., MPH

Former Director, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDCDaniel B. Jernigan, M.D., MPH, recently resigned his position as Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Jernigan completed training at Duke University and Baylor College of Medicine and has completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine.

He entered the CDC in 1994 as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer, and has been studying respiratory and emerging diseases since that time. He is a retired Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and was the recipient of the 2019 Service to America Medal.

Big changes to the CDC's childhood vaccine schedule: What you need to know
2026-01-09 13:00 - 14:00
This week, the CDC changed the agency’s recommended childhood immunization schedule to nearly match that of Denmark, a country that bears little similarity to the U.S. in population, health care system, and public health approach. The move shifts six vaccines from “recommended” to “shared clinical decision-making.”

Hosted by Tara Haelle and offered in conjunction with the Expert Vaccine Analysis Team (E-VAT), this webinar will give you access to quotable experts on vaccine law, the history of the childhood immunization schedule, and the science supporting the longtime CDC schedule to help journalists report on this significant change.

Moderator

Tara Haelle

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases, Medical StudiesTara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others.

She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.

Jesse L. Goodman, M.D., MPH

Director, Georgetown COMPASSAttending physician, Georgetown UniversityJesse L. Goodman, M.D., MPH is a professor of medicine and infectious diseases and an attending physician at Georgetown University and the previous chief of infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota. From 2003-09, Goodman served as director of the federal Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), regulating vaccines, blood and cell and gene therapies, and then as Chief Scientist of the US FDA until 2014, serving in US leadership for numerous public health responses. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has served on numerous WHO, CDC, NIH, NAM and other advisory committees and previously served as a member of GlaxoSmithKline’s board, chairing its science committee.

John D. Gräbenstein, Ph.D.

President, Vaccine DynamicsRetired director, U.S. Dept. of Defense Vaccine Military AgencyJohn D. Gräbenstein, Ph.D., is a global vaccinologist, pharmacist, and public-health leader. He served 27 years in the U.S. Army Medical Department and, as a colonel, directed Department of Defense’s Military Vaccine Agency. Gräbenstein served for 13 years as Global Executive Director of Medical Affairs for Merck Vaccines. He operates Vaccine Dynamics, a consulting service on vaccinology and has no conflicts of interest. He is a Member of he National Academy of Medicine.

Sean O’Leary, M.D., MPH

Professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases, University of Colorado Denver AnschutzDirector, Colorado Pediatric Practice-Based Research NetworkSean T. O’Leary, M.D., MPH, is a professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus. He is also an investigator at Adult and Child Center for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS) and director of the Colorado Children’s Outcomes Network (COCONet), a pediatric practice-based research network.

His research focuses on prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases through understanding clinical, attitudinal, and infrastructural barriers to vaccination, and developing and testing interventions to address those barriers. O’Leary is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on School Health, serves as chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases, and served for many years as AAP liaison to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), serving on many ACIP work groups. He also serves as co-chair of the Policy Committee for Immunize Colorado and has been a speaker at the NFID Clinical Vaccinology Course since 2015.

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Ph.D.

Professor of law & James Edgar Hervey ’50 Chair of Litigation, UC San FranciscoDorit Rubinstein Reiss, Ph.D., is a professor of law and the James Edgar Hervey ’50 Chair of Litigation at UC Law in San Francisco. Now a nationally recognized expert on vaccine law, Reiss received her undergraduate degree in law and political science from the Faculty of Law in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her PhD from the Jurisprudence and Social Policy program at the University of California Berkeley. Her current research and activities focus on legal and policy issues related to vaccines. She writes about vaccines mandates, policy responses to non-vaccinating, tort issues and administrative issues related to vaccines, and the anti-vaccine movement.

Building audience with local climate-health stories
2026-01-21 13:00 - 14:00
Climate change is often covered as a vast, global crisis, defined by melting ice sheets, stalled international agreements and the persistent grip of fossil fuels. What gets far less attention are the local stories unfolding across the country: clinics adapting to wildfire, counties redesigning emergency response plans for extreme heat, public health responses to vector-borne diseases and more.

These stories reveal what’s working, who’s innovating and where communities are making progress in protecting public health. For health journalists, this gap is an opportunity — you just need to know where to look. In this webinar, we’ll explore strategies, tools and reporting pathways that can help you find compelling, community-driven stories at the intersection of climate change and public health.

Moderator

Katie Burke

AHCJ Environmental Health Beat LeaderKatie L. Burke is an award-winning editor and serves as senior contributing editor at American Scientist. Burke has a doctorate in biology and a rich background in conservation, forest history, and disease ecology, bringing a profound understanding of scientific nuances to her work.

Moderator

Joanne Kenen

Journalist-in-Residence, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthContributing writer, POLITICO MagazineLong-time health reporter on and off Capitol Hill. Oversaw all the health coverage at Politico for about a decade – now I’m a contributing writer to Politico Magazine, and the Journalist-in-Residence at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where I also teach. I’m a regular on the KHN “What the Health” podcast. I was AHCJ’s first topic leader (on health reform) and the conferences are a highlight of my year. @JoanneKenen

Jenae Barnes

Health and environment reporter, Capital B GaryJenae Barnes covers issues at the intersection of public health, environmental justice, and the lived experiences of Black communities, with a particular focus on the Midwest and national audiences. She is recognized for deeply reported, community-centered journalism, blending investigative rigor with narrative storytelling. Her reporting frequently highlights the impacts of climate change, gender and health disparities, and she has experience amplifying underrepresented voices.

Barnes was selected as a 2024 Pulitzer Center Story Reach Reporting Fellow and participated in the 2023 Wake Forest University Environmental and Epistemic Justice Fellowship. She is also a 2025 participant in the AHCJ German Health Care Study Group, where she will report on the health care experiences of Black expatriates in Germany.

Keerti Gopal

Health and justice reporter, Inside Climate NewsKeerti Gopal covers intersections between climate change, public health and environmental justice at Inside Climate News. Previously, she covered climate activism and movement repression. She is a National Geographic Explorer and has received fellowships from Fulbright, the Solutions Journalism Network, The Lever, and the National Press Foundation.

Matthew Tejada, Ph.D.

Senior vice president, environmental health, Natural Resources Defense CouncilAs the chief visionary and strategist for NRDC’s advocacy to protect human health, Matthew Tejada oversees NRDC’s clean air, water, toxics, and adaptation programs. He is also responsible for leading, scaling, and operationalizing the teams, structures, partnerships, and policy initiatives needed to tackle major health threats facing communities.

Prior to joining NRDC, Tejada served most recently as the deputy assistant administrator for environmental justice within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office for Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. In his 10 years with the EPA, Tejada led all aspects of environmental justice work throughout the agency and in coordination with other federal agencies, including the development of an array of grants and technical assistance vehicles, and the creation and deployment of a nationally consistent screening and mapping tool that highlights environmental justice issues across the United States. His work also direct community engagement, outreach and communication, and management of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

A conversation on 'The Cure for Everything': Where American public health is and where it's headed
2026-01-28 13:00 - 14:00
For the first time in a century, American life expectancy is declining, an unprecedented trend for a wealthy nation and one driven largely by preventable causes of early death. The foundations of public health reforms — sanitation, clean water, safe housing, pollution control, workplace safety, and more — doubled America’s life expectancy between the mid-1800s and today.

But the nation has now spent a century shifting money and attention away from public health and toward clinical medicine. The pandemic exposed the cost of that shift, including widening health inequities, inadequate emergency response coordination, and erosion of public trust.

In her book “The Cure for Everything: The Epic Struggle for Public Health and a Radical Vision for Human Thriving,” Michelle Williams tells the story of how the U.S. overcame a history of infectious disease, poisonous environments, and early death and how it’s still possible to rebalance clinical medicine and public health to prevent hundreds of thousands of annual avoidable premature deaths and improve all Americans’ quality of life.

In this webinar, Williams will talk about key lessons from her book that could inspire lines of investigation for journalists. Linda Marsa, a health journalist who helped Williams with the book, will briefly address how that collaboration worked and how journalists can mine the book for story ideas in their communities.

Moderator

Tara Haelle

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases, Medical StudiesTara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.

Michelle A. Williams, ScD

Professor of epidemiology and population health, Stanford University School of Medicine Michelle A. Williams, ScD, is a professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford University School of Medicine and former Dean of the Faculty at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also served as the Angelopoulos Professor in Public Health and International Development and currently holds an adjunct professorship. An internationally renowned epidemiologist and award-winning educator, Dr. Williams is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Epidemiological Society. She has authored more than 550 peer-reviewed research articles and is recognized as a leading voice in public health science and global health.

Linda Marsa

Investigative journalist and authorContributing editor, DiscoverLinda Marsa is a former Los Angeles Times reporter and a Discover contributing editor who covers medicine, health, and the environment. Her latest book, which she wrote with Dr. Michelle Williams, “The Cure for Everything: The Epic Struggle for Public Health and a Radical Vision for Human Thriving,” will be published in February 2026. Her work has been anthologized in “Best American Science Writing,” and she has previously authored two books, most recently: “Fevered: Why a Hotter Planet Will Harm Our Health and How We Can Save Ourselves.”

Vaccine injury compensation in the U.S.: Current practices and future prospects
2026-02-12 13:00 - 14:00
The U.S. has relied on the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program since 1986 to ensure that individuals who have experienced a verified injury related to a vaccine have an opportunity to receive compensation without the difficulties and legal fees of pursuing individual litigation against companies or healthcare institutions that likely would not succeed with the high burden of proof needed in such cases.

Recent announcements from the HHS and statements by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., however, suggest he may try to make substantial changes to the program that may threaten petitioners’ ability to receive appropriate compensation or threaten vaccine production and supply in ways similar to those that led to the program’s development. Hear from experts how the U.S. vaccine court came about, how the program works from both the petitioner’s and the government’s sides, how changes might affect vaccine supply and access, and what might result from different potential changes to the program.

Moderator

Tara Haelle

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases and Medical StudiesTara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.

Anna Kirkland, J.D., Ph.D.

Kim Lane Scheppele Collegiate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan

Anna Kirkland, J.D., Ph.D., is the Kim Lane Scheppele Collegiate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. She is also an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. She received her law degree (2001) and Ph.D in Jurisprudence and Social Policy (2003) from the University of California, Berkeley. She holds courtesy appointments with the School of Law, Sociology, Political Science, and Health Management and Policy at Michigan. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Prof. Kirkland is a member of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and served as a committee member on the 2018 National Academies panel charged with studying sexual harassment in the STEM fields of academia. Prof. Kirkland is the author of several books including Vaccine Court: The Law and Politics of Injury (New York University Press, 2016), along with multiple journal articles about vaccine injury compensation.

Michael Milmoe, J.D.

Partner, Law Offices of Leah V. Durant & AssociatesMichael P. Milmoe currently represents vaccine-injured petitioners at the Law Offices of Leah V. Durant, LLC, in Washington, D.C. where he has been a Senior Partner since 2017. Prior to becoming a petitioner’s attorney, he worked at the Department of Justice for 31 years, 28 of which were spent as an attorney in the Vaccine Litigation Section of the Civil Division where he defended Vaccine Program cases. Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Milmoe came to the Department of Justice as an Honors Program Attorney in 1986. He was the first attorney hired into the Civil Division’s then newly created Office of Vaccine Litigation in 1988, the same year the Vaccine Act became effective.

Walter Orenstein, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Pediatrics, Epidemiology and Global Health, Emory UniversityWalter A Orenstein, MD, DSc (Hon) is Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Pediatrics, Epidemiology, and Global Health at Emory University. He is also the Director of OrensteinVax, LLC, a consulting firm. Dr. Orenstein worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 26 years and was the Director of the United States Immunization Program for 16 years (1988-2004). He has co-edited the standard textbook in Vaccinology, Plotkin’s Vaccines for the last 6 editions. His work has focused on developing and implementing vaccination policies especially with regard to polio eradication and measles elimination.

Vaccine trends and misinformation among older adults
2026-02-26 13:00 - 14:00
Vaccine uptake for influenza, COVID-19, RSV and shingles among adults over age 60 remains low, according to data from the University of Michigan and the CDC. Older adults with multiple chronic conditions are especially vulnerable to these diseases. Meanwhile, emergency department visits and hospitalizations for some of these viruses are increasing, CDC tracking data points to high respiratory virus activity in Alabama and trending upwards in the Pacific Northwest, California, and parts of the south, including Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas. Misinformation, cost and fear of side effects are just a few of the rationales given for not staying up-to-date on these important preventive measures.

In this webinar, experts in epidemiology and infectious disease will review the latest data and immunization trends. We’ll also discuss how these vaccines may provide additional protective benefits beyond preventing severe disease and how journalists can help counter misinformation.

Moderator

Liz Seegert

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for AgingLiz Seegert is AHCJ’s health beat leader on aging. She’s an award-winning, independent health journalist based in New York’s Hudson Valley, who writes about caregiving, dementia, access to care, nursing homes and policy. Seegert is also a contributing writer for Fortune.com, the American Journal of Nursing, and PBS/NextAvenue.org, reporting on myriad health topics, including social determinants of health and women’s health.

She has written for TIME Health, The Wirecutter, Money.com, Medscape, Consumer Reports, The Guardian and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, The Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.

Jennifer Dowd, Ph.D.

Professor of demography and population health and deputy director, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of OxfordDr. Jenn Dowd has training in Demography, Economics, and Epidemiology, earning a PhD from Princeton University and a postdoctoral fellowship as a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Michigan.

Jenn’s academic work focuses on statistical analysis of large datasets to better understand population health and mortality. She is interested in how the economic and social world “gets under the skin” to impact our biology. This has included deep dives into the biology of stress, infections and immune function, and the human microbiome. In a currently funded 5-year project from the European Research Council (ERC), she explores reasons underlying stalling life expectancy in the U.S. and Europe.

Subscribe to Jenn’s Substack Newsletter: Data for Health

Preeti Malani, M.D., MSJ

Professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases, Michigan MedicineMalani’s research interests focus on at the intersection of infections and aging. She is deputy editor and director of editorial equity for JAMA and the JAMA Network and previously served as the University of Michigan’s chief health officer and as a member of Michigan’s COVID-19 Nursing Home Task Force during the height of the pandemic.

Understanding ChatGPT Health: How large language models are being used to triage care
2026-03-12 12:00 - 13:00
Earlier this year, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, a feature allowing users to incorporate data from their medical records and wellness apps to ask questions about their health and test results, and understand potential treatment options.

In this webinar, panelists will cover how it works, the potential benefits and cautions for this and other ChatGPT platforms, how patients and physicians are using large language models in health care now, and what journalists and consumers need to know.

Moderator

Karen Blum

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for AI and Patient SafetyKaren Blum is AHCJ’s health beat leader for AI and Patient Safety, guiding coverage at the intersection of emerging technology and patient protection. An independent health and science journalist based in the Baltimore area, she previously covered Health IT for AHCJ.

Blum has written for publications such as the Baltimore Sun, Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Clinical Laboratory News, Cancer Today, CURE, AARP.org, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition; has covered numerous medical conferences for trade magazines and news services; and has written many profiles and articles on medical and science research as well as trends in health care and health IT. She has been a contest judge for AHCJ’s Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. Blum also is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and chairs its Virtual Education Committee.

Henry Bair, M.D., MBA

Resident physician, Wills Eye HospitalHenry Bair M.D., MBA, is a resident physician at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Previously, he was a fellow at Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, a researcher at the Stanford Center for Policy, Outcomes, and Prevention, and curriculum director of digital health courses at Stanford Medical School. His writings on health policy and digital health have appeared in JAMA Pediatrics, NEJM AI, Digital Health, Public Health Reports, and Academic Medicine, as well as SF Chronicle, The Hill, STAT News, and MedPage Today.

Rachael Robertson

Enterprise and investigative writer, MedPage TodayRachael Robertson is a New York City-based health journalist and audio producer. She covers all things medicine as part of MedPage Today’s investigative and enterprise team, with a particular focus on pop culture, public health, and medical misinformation. Rachael is also MedPage Today’s beat leader for ob/gyn news and the creator, host, and producer of the bi-weekly health news podcast MedPod Today. In 2025, Rachael was one of AHCJ’s inaugural Uncovering Pathways to Better Health fellows. She is a proud graduate of the City University of New York’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Before pivoting careers to journalism, Rachael worked in communications for a New York City elder care organization.

ACIP meeting countdown: COVID vaccine and what else is at stake
2026-03-17 12:00 - 13:00
Don’t miss this opportunity to get up to speed before the March 18-19 CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting. This webinar, co-hosted by the Expert Vaccine Analysis Team and the Association of Health Care Journalists, will provide independent, evidence-based discussion of topics expected to come up during the meeting.

These items include vaccine safety and quality monitoring, data on COVID vaccine safety, possible recommendation votes related to COVID vaccine injuries, and other issues, such as the evidence framework the CDC uses to assess vaccine data and the risk/benefit analysis of vaccines. We will also discuss other emerging topics that may arise before the meeting.

Whether you’re a journalist covering immunization policy, a public health professional navigating a rapidly shifting vaccine landscape, or a researcher tracking the latest safety data, this webinar will help equip you with the scientific context you need to understand what’s at stake. The panel of senior vaccine scientists — including Norman Baylor, Ph.D., Miles Braun, M.D., Fiona Havers, M.D., and Paul Offit, M.D. — will cut through the noise and offer clear, unbiased analysis.

Moderator

Tara Haelle

AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases and Medical StudiesTara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others.

She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.

Norman W. Baylor, Ph.D.

President and CEO, Biologics Consulting GroupDr. Norman W. Baylor is an expert in the development and licensure of new vaccines, evaluating numerous vaccines throughout his career including vaccines for acellular pertussis, varicella, pneumococcal conjugate, human papillomavirus (HPV), influenza and shingles. He is currently the president and CEO of Biologics Consulting Group, Inc, where he is responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the company.

Prior to this, he spent 20 years at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), most recently as Director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR) in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). In this role, he oversaw all facets of the clinical and product regulatory review activity, including quality assurance and oversight of review functions in addition to planning, developing and administering CBER’s broad national and international programs and operational activities for vaccines and related products. Dr. Baylor served as FDA’s liaison to CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. He served on the board of the Infectious Disease Research Institute and continues to serve as an expert advisor to the World Health Organization on several global vaccine initiatives.

Fiona P. Havers, M.D.

Adjunct associate professor, Emory University School of MedicineFiona Havers, MD, MHS, FIDSA, is an infectious diseases physician and former medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Havers is a senior subject matter expert on vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases and vaccine policy. She was the CDC lead of the Respiratory Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RESP-NET) Team in the Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division within the U.S. CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Dr. Havers oversaw the COVID-19 and RSV platforms within RESP-NET, a population-based surveillance platform that covers ~9% of the US population and collects data on COVID-19, RSV, and influenza-associated hospitalizations. Dr. Havers left CDC in June 2025.

The author of >100 publications while at CDC, Dr. Havers’ research interests have focused on the epidemiology, prevention, treatment and vaccine policy for vaccine-preventable respiratory pathogens, including influenza, pertussis, RSV and SARS-CoV-2. She was previously the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Work Group lead for the Pertussis Vaccines Work Group and has worked extensively on COVID-19 and adult RSV vaccine policy, including as senior author on the initial adult RSV vaccine ACIP policy recommendations published in 2023.

Paul A. Offit, M.D.

Director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education CenterPaul A. Offit, M.D., is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Offit is currently a voting member on the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee and has previously served on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to the CDC. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC in 2006 and by the WHO in 2013. This vaccine was estimated recently to save about 165,000 lives a year. He is also the author of 11 books written for the public about science, medicine, and vaccines.

M. Miles Braun, M.D.

Adjunct professor, Georgetown University School of MedicineIn April 2018, M. Miles Braun MD MPH, was appointed Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Braun directs a new educational initiative to bring integrative approaches to optimize health and quality of life of adolescent and young adult cancer patients, survivors and caregivers. Integrative approaches include mind and body practices, natural products and lifestyle modifications.

Dr. Braun is board-certified in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine. He served for 20 years as a medical officer in the US Public Health Service (USPHS), including at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he was for more than 8 years Director of the Division of Epidemiology in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He has received more than 20 USPHS awards and authored or co-authored well over 100 scientfic-medical publications, including multiple studies with important clinical impact and epidemiological studies on the causes of various cancers. Dr. Braun has practiced yoga (including meditation) for 25 years, is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance (RYT200), has completed multiple trainings and has extensive personal experience with integrative approaches.
