A Shot in the Arm Podcast

The reversal of Roe vs Wade has sent shockwaves around the world. In this second “Sharing the Mic” with Frontline AIDS, we explore the impacts on global health - sexual and reproductive health services, the response to HIV, and, above all, the rights, hopes and futures of girls and women. Joining Ben Plumley, are panelists Yumnah Hattas, Senior Adviser, Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health &...

International efforts are concentrated on securing funding to tackle one of the greatest challenges facing global security today - the fight against AIDS, TB and Malaria. Of course all eyes are turned towards Ukraine and mitigating the impact of Russia’s invasion, but COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have transformed our understanding of global security, with health – particularly pandemic r...

In the first of a short series of special podcasts, we “Share The Mic” with Frontline AIDS to highlight the critical role communities themselves have to play in defeating AIDS and other pandemics. We head to Ukraine, and learn more about how Frontline AIDS’ national partner, the Alliance for Public Health is delivering HIV medications and health services, despite desperately difficult circumstance...

In this episode we meet internationally renowned infectious disease specialist, Dr. Julie Gerberding, and profile her life from young HIV doc in San Francisco, to the head of the CDC, and onto the pharmaceutical company Merck, where she most recently Chief Patient Officer. Another new chapter of her life begins as she was recently announced as the new CEO of the Foundation for the National Institu...

In California, the public sector accounts for 75% of the state’s healthcare funding - with a wide diversity of needs, priories, cultures and access to healthcare. In this episode, we meet Sandra R. Hernández, MD, President and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation to explore innovations in healthcare delivery to expand access for all, particularly low income and marginalized communities - a...

Internationally respected epidemiologist Jonna Mazet returns to A Shot in the Arm Podcast after being recently appointed Vice Provost of the Grand Challenges initiative at University of California, Davis —  a program aimed at responding to the world’s biggest problems. She joins Ben to discuss the need for a multidisciplinary approach to building trust in science, as well as the biggest lessons sc...

Hazell Dean rose to Hi-NRG fame across the UK at the dawn of the global HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s, embraced by loyal LGBTQ fans as a dance-pop queen whose hits fueled nightclub beats and her personal advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS and the transgender community. In our special World AIDS Day episode, Hazell speaks with host Ben Plumley about her career, the re-release of her greatest h...

Former UNAIDS staffer Martina Clark chats with Ben about her new memoir, My Unexpected Life: An International Memoir of Two Pandemics, HIV and COVID-19. The first openly HIV-positive person hired to work at UNAIDS, she shares insights gained throughout her 20-year career with the United Nations and the lessons she has applied to her own personal fight against COVID-19. This episode was made in par...

Legendary activist Peter Staley joins us for a conversation on lessons learned from the fight against AIDS that have informed today’s global battle with COVID-19. We also discuss the evolution of Peter’s decades-long friendship with NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, the lives that have been saved as a result, as well as Peter’s recently published memoir "Never Silent" which chronicles his activism...

In this recording of a live policy briefing, Ben chats with Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, the new President and CEO of Global Health Council, who shares policy and funding updates on Capitol Hill. It is a busy fall, with UN General Assembly meeting and the subsequent Biden COVID-19 summit just behind us, and the global climate summit about to take place in Glasgow, Scotland. The Global Health Council, the...

To coincide with the 20210 UN General Assembly, PSI pulled together a panel to explore how social media campaigns, often a key approach to building COVID-19 vaccine confidence among connected consumers at scale, can combat vaccine misinformation and hesitancy.  The Panel looks at the impact of multi-sectoral partnerships (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #17) with Facebook, PSI, CARE &...

Ben catches up with Jeanne Bell, Nonprofit leader and consultant, on the challenges facing nonprofit organizations in the 2020s, from attracting funding from the new generation of philanthropies, to stepping aside to invest in the leadership of communities for whom non-profit services were designed to support in the first place. For more information:Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decis...

This is a recording of a networking session organized by the American Society for Microbiology at the World Microbe Forum in June 2021. Ben met Professor Jonna Mazet, UC Davis,  Professor Simon Frost, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Principal Data Scientist at Microsoft and Dr Jay Wohlgemuth, CMO of Quest Diagnostics. Opening remarks were made by ASM's Past President, Professor...

Ben is joined by Micheal Ighodaro, a Nigerian-born human rights activist, who is profiled in the new HBO documentary, "The Legend of the Underground," a film about the struggle against rampant LGBTQ discrimination in Nigeria, as experienced by several young men who fight for the right to live their truth. You can find this episode and past episodes of A Shot in the Arm Podcast with Ben Plumley on...

This is a recording of webinar discussion, facilitated by Ben, about the importance of digital infrastructure, the role of collaboration to strengthen these systems and empower digital innovation, and the future of digital health. Brought to you by the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, with Co-creation Hub, Mastercard and Zenysis Technologies, as part of Resonance's Inclusive Innovation Exchange. I...

Ben chats with Emily Bass, journalist, AIDS activist and author of To End A Plague -  a new review of PEPFAR - President George W Bush's multibillion investment in life-saving HIV treatment in Africa, and why this was the US's first moonshot of the 21st century.  You can find this episode and past episodes of A Shot in the Arm Podcast with Ben Plumley on this (and other) podcast platforms. Please...

In this recently recorded live web event, we explore what private strategies ideas can be adopted by the global health community to develop, distribute, and market products for those most in need in low and middle income countries. With the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, Medicines 360, PSI and Resonance. Joining Ben are:Andrée Sosler, Senior Director, Impact and Global Access, Medicines360Margot...

This is a zoom recording of a lovely and fascinating conversation between two global health leaders, Purnima Mane and Geeta Rao Gupta, as they reflect on how India’s cultural and structural barriers - particularly towards girls and women - have enabled SARS CoV2 to spread so widely. While the headlines may have faded away, the huge damage done by this pandemic are far from over. This episode was m...

Ben chats with Nancye Green, co-founder of Donovan/Green and pioneer of the use of design to improve public health communications & engagement with communities. They discuss the CDC’s latest COVID-19 masks guidance, pharma TV ads, and their shared passion for one health. This episode was made in partnership with the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, a network of academic institutions, nonprofits, a...

This special episode is a recording of a webinar organized by international and India-based organizations, with San Francisco Bay Area groups to find out how the pandemic is impacting India’s LGBTQI communities, and how we can help. It is part of a special series organized by the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, and the other cohosts of this episode are Parivar, Save Indian Trans ALL INDIA Lives (...

Ben catches up with leading physician, Dr. Huma Abbasi, General Manager Global Health and Medical and Chief Medical Officer at Chevron, to explore how the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the emotional wellbeing of employees around the world, what we have learned from HIV workplace strategies, and what employers can do to support their workers and families, especially in environmen...

Ben meets Krista Donaldson, CEO of Equalize Health to make sense of the evolving global health innovation financing landscape, and how young social entrepreneurs can attract investment - a special podcast for students participating in the Bay Area Global Health Innovation Challenge. http://www.bayareaglobalhealthchallenge.comThis episode was made in partnership with the Bay Area Global Health Alli...

Ben catches up with Tom Peters, internationally respected business management leader and author, who has turned his attention to the impact of COVID-19 and the urgent need for extreme humanism - a dramatic scale up of leadership at the individual, company and societal level to address COVID 19 and prepare for future pandemics. This episode was made in partnership with the Bay Area Global Health Al...

In this short clip, Ben chats with Lance Toma about San Francisco Community Health Center's televised fundraising event to raise funds for and awareness of the Center's comprehensive primary care, dental, behavioral health, trans health HIV and COVID services for marginalized communities in San Francisco's Tenderloin district and beyond.  For more information:www.sfcommunityhealth.org#SFCHC #SFCom...

In this week's episode, Ben talks with Mark S. King, blogger, author, speaker, and HIV/AIDS activist, about discrimination and stigma that accompany global viral pandemics, and the messy aspects of human behaviors that help spread infection, misinformation and prejudice. This episode was made in partnership with the Bay Area Global Health Alliance, a network of academic institutions, nonprofits, a...