Science is the only way out of the pandemic. And while health care personnel were the first group in the United States to be offered the vaccines, many of these individuals remain unconvinced and unprotected. In this episode, AAMC Chief Health Care Officer Janis Orlowski, MD, talks with Houston Methodist President and CEO Marc Boom, MD, and Memorial Hermann Health System President and CEO David Callender, MD, about the challenges health care systems are experiencing in trying to ensure their staff are vaccinated and what can be done to build vaccine confidence.

Episode Guests:

• David Callender, MD, is the president and CEO of the Memorial Hermann Health System. In his role, Dr. Callender is responsible for leading and overseeing the system’s network of more than 270 hospitals and diagnostic and specialty centers, with more than 28,000 employees and 6,500 affiliated physicians. An ENT surgeon with expertise in head and neck cancers, Dr. Callender has proven to be a successful health care leader over the course of his career, achieving successes in forward-thinking strategic planning, improvements in delivering high-quality and high-value health care, fostering strong leadership development, engaging employees, and enabling physician collaboration.
• Marc Boom, MD, is the president and CEO of Houston Methodist and holds the Ella Fondren and Josie Roberts presidential distinguished centennial chair. Dr. Boom holds a BS in biology with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin, an MD with high honors from Baylor College of Medicine, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed residencies in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and fellowships in geriatric medicine and general medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is board-certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Credits:

• Hosted by Janis Orlowski, MD, AAMC chief health care officer.
• Produced by Stephanie Weiner, AAMC director of digital strategy and engagement.
• Recorded and edited by Laura Zelaya, AAMC production manager.
• With special contributions from Michelle Zajac, AAMC digital copy editor; Sholape Oriola, AAMC video specialist; Mikhaila Richards, AAMC senior digital content strategist; Gabi Redford, AAMCNews managing editor; and Victoria Rivas-Vazquez, AAMC senior director of strategic communications.

You Might Also Be Interested In:

“Is It Safe? How Experts Assessed J&J’s Suspended COVID-19 Vaccine” AAMCNews, April 23, 2021

“Dollars to Doughnuts: Will Incentives Motivate COVID-19 Vaccination?” AAMCNews, April 15, 2021

New resource for media covering COVID-19 vaccination efforts: The AAMC has launched VaccineWise.org as part of its ongoing cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Our goal is to build trust and promote confidence in COVID-19 vaccines among health care personnel and communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. VaccineWise.org is a central resource for members of the media covering COVID-19 vaccination efforts across the country. The website is updated weekly to share media alerts, information, resources, and current data, as well as background on available spokespeople from the AAMC and its member medical schools and teaching hospitals.