Contagious Conversations

Carol Pandak is the director of PolioPlus, Rotary International's global effort to eradicate polio. Pandak has served in this role since 2000, where she leads day-to-day operations and oversees the program's administration, advocacy efforts, grants, finances and volunteer engagement. In this role she also works closely with global program partners such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the...

Dr. Rebekah Gee is the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health. Dr. Gee is an OB-GYN and brings a caregiver's perspective to the people she serves. She is also a trained policy expert who has served in numerous state and national policy roles, and in 2017, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Prior to her role as secretary, Dr. Gee served as the director for the Birth Outco...

Dr. Richard Besser is the president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, former acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and former chief health and medical editor at ABC News. At the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dr. Besser leads the largest private Foundation in the country devoted solely to improving the nation's health. The Foundation's work is focu...

Contagious Conversations features compelling interviews with people who are making the world safer and healthier for us all. In season two, we'll discuss strategies for building a more equitable culture of health with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CEO Dr. Richard Besser , the unique challenges of statewide healthcare with Louisiana's secretary of health Dr. Rebekah Gee, and the road to global pol...

Maryn McKenna is an independent journalist and author who specializes in public health, global health and food policy. She is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Human Health at Emory University, and the author of the 2017 bestseller BIG CHICKEN: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats , as well as the award-winning books Sup...

Lex Frieden, MA, LLD, is a professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and also directs the Independent Living Research Utilization program at TIRR Memorial Hermann. Best known for his contributions to the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, Frieden suffered a spinal cord injury while in college and has used a wheelchair for...

Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann is a physician, scientist and philanthropist who has devoted her career to improving the human condition. Trained as an oncologist, she spent 14 years at biotech firm  Genentech, where she led the development of Avastin and Herceptin, two of the first gene-targeted therapies for cancer. Today, as CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann leads the or...

Curious about the people who are making the world healthier and safer for us all, and what set them on that path? Get inspired as the CDC Foundation interviews experts who share their unique perspectives on today's toughest health challenges, such as antibiotic resistance, global disease outbreaks, health equality and more.