Introducing The Extra Extra Life Conversations

An in-depth exploration of the themes of each PBS episode, featuring leading experts from the world of public health and medicine.

We hope you’ve had a chance to enjoy episode one of the PBS series, Extra Life, on the past, present and future of vaccines. A topic as complex and timely as this one inevitably warrants further conversation. And so we’re happy to present the first in a series of four video conversations—each building off a specific episode of Extra Life—produced in collaboration with the CDC Foundation.

For our first conversation, we’re joined by two guests who have been at the frontlines of vaccine programs for many years. Dr Anne Schuchat is the Principal Deputy Director of CDC. She has been CDC’s principal deputy director since September 2015. Dr. Schuchat has played key roles in CDC emergency responses including the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the 2003 SARS outbreak in Beijing, and the 2001 bioterrorist anthrax response. Globally, she has worked on meningitis, pneumonia and Ebola vaccine trials in West Africa, and conducted surveillance and prevention projects in South Africa. She is currently at the forefront of the CDC’s response to coronavirus.

We’re also joined by Dr. Bruce Gellin who is president of Global Immunisation at the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington DC. Prior to joining Sabin, Dr Gellin served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where oversaw the National Vaccine Program. Dr Gellin also served as a technical and policy advisor to the World Health Organization, focusing on influenza vaccines and global issues of vaccine hesitancy. And he’s been a long-time advisor to the Extra Life project itself.

We’ll be back with a new conversation following the second episode, on the development of medical drugs, which airs at 8PM on PBS on Tuesday, May 18th. In the meantime, you can purchase a copy of the book version of Extra Life from any of the booksellers here. Educators who are interested in integrating the Extra Life story into their classrooms can explore the extensive curriculum materials developed by the Pulitzer Center.

Thanks to the CDC Foundation, a nonprofit focused on saving and improving lives by strengthening public health protection through partnerships across the globe. Together our impact is greater.