This webinar took place on Sunday, June 27th.
Thank you to everyone who participated and attended.
You can now view the webinar recording on YouTube. 

ClassACT HR79 has gathered leading experts on COVID-19—one of the US government’s top health officials, the president of Meharry Medical College, and the leader of international efforts to combat vaccine hesitancy—to discuss the current state of the pandemic, and what will come next. 

Politicians and large portions of the public in the United States have embraced a return to their pre-pandemic lives, but are we ready to declare victory? The panel will explore where we are with the pandemic, including the still uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in much of the world, the rise of variants, and how we will get enough of the US population quickly vaccinated. And we’ll ask: Can public health prevail over individual choices in a polarized country?

		James E.K. Hildreth, MD, PhD, is the President and CEO of Meharry Medical College and a world-renowned HIV/infectious disease expert. Dr. Hildreth has emerged as a respected national figure in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, he was appointed to the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee that is reviewing COVID-19 vaccine candidates for approval, and in February 2021, Dr. Hildreth was named to President Joe Biden’s Health Equity Task Force.
		Heidi J. Larson, PhD, is Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project and Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Clinical Professor in the Department of Health Metrics Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle. Her research focuses on the analysis of social and political factors that affect uptake of health interventions, with a particular interest in risk, rumors, and public trust. Prof. Larson previously headed Global Immunization Communication at UNICEF, chaired Gavi’s Advocacy Task Force, and served on the WHO SAGE Working Group on vaccine hesitancy. She is author of STUCK: How Vaccine Rumors Start—and Why They Don’t Go Away.
		Rachel L. Levine, MD, serves as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the US Department of Health and Human Services, where she focuses on overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and building a stronger foundation for a healthier future. Dr. Levine’s career—first in academic medicine and as a physician, then as Pennsylvania’s Physician General, and later as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health—has focused on the intersection between mental and physical health, often treating children, adolescents, and young adults.
		Gideon Gil, MS, is a managing editor at STAT, overseeing its investigative journalism, special projects, and science coverage. He joined STAT at its founding in 2015. He previously was The Boston Globe’s health and science editor for a decade, has had a hand in three Pulitzer Prizes, and was a 2014-15 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
		Gilad Gordon, MD, is a physician with extensive experience in developing vaccines, including ones for dengue fever and COVID-19. He is currently president of Orra Group, LLC, and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Questions? Write to us at classacthr79@gmail.com.