Patt Morrison for Monday 5/31/2010 - Memorial Day - SHOW ON TAPE

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Monday, May 31, 2010

1-3 p.m.

 

1:00 – 1:40

Female veterans: America’s forgotten daughters

Approximately 11% of the United States military is female and as that number increases, so does the need for tailored services for women returning from battle.  President Obama recently signed the Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act but will that expand the Office of Veterans Affairs (VA) enough to handle the growing cases of Military Sexual Trauma (MST), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the challenges of a diagnosis for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), as well as the other host of issues a soldier faces when reintegrating to a society with a harrowing jobless rate?  Today we discuss the unique problems that face female veterans and what the government is and is not doing to help them.

 

Guests:

Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth, Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs

 

Jennifer Hunt, two-tour Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and Project Coordinator for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America

• During her tour of Iraq she received a Purple Heart for sustaining shrapnel wounds and electrical burns when a roadside bomb struck her vehicle. In Afghanistan she earned her Combat Action Badge during enemy activities against the Zabol Provincial Reconstruction Team.
• Jennifer testified in front of the House Veterans Affairs Committee at the Military Sexual Trauma hearing last week “Healing the Wounds: Evaluating Military Sexual Trauma”

 

Diane West, ADVANCE Women’s Project Coordinator at the U.S. VETS Long Beach site

• ADVANCE Women’s Program is a 50 bed residential program for female veterans offering a comprehensive program for unemployed homeless women, and specialized sexual trauma treatment
• Nearly 100 women are provided housing, employment assistance and sexual trauma counseling in the ADVANCE women’s program

 

1:40 – 2:00

Tim O’Brien’s – The Things They Carried

Twenty years ago, years after returning home from his tour in Viet Nam, Tim O’Brien authored a book of short stories about a drastically unpopular war. Considered by many, to be the fiction counterpart to Michael Herr’s Dispatches O’Brien’s fictional account of Viet Nam serves as essential reading on the Viet Nam experience. As America finds itself deep into two wars Tim O’Brien joins us to discuss the “story truth” and “happening truth” of what his book says about where we were then and were we find ourselves now. 

Guest:

 

Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried

 

 

2:00 – 2:30

Could the once unthinkable be possible? Progress in the prevention & treatment of cancer

It’s been 40 years since President Richard Nixon declared a war on cancer.  And yet, 40 years later, cancer remains with us.   The goal is still the same—to transform the disease into a curable or at least manageable chronic disease, but the methods of treatment are rapidly changing.  From a possible vaccine to various immunotherapies, the treatments are radically different and ever-changing, as an unprecedented new wave of candidates show real promise against cancer.  And it’s not just a cure for cancer that is close but the very prevention of a disease that takes on so many forms.  Patt checks in for the latest developments with two leaders in the field.

 

Panelists:

Suzanne Topalian, processor of Surgery and Oncology, Johns Hopkins University; Director, Melanoma Program, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center; Chief Science Officer, Melanoma Research Alliance

 

Andrew von Eschenbach, Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives, Center for Health Transformation; former Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

 

 

2:30 – 2:40

The quest to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease

Can’t remember where you put your keys, forgot to take your morning vitamin, could it be early on-set Alzheimer’s? Maybe, the disease affects 13 percent of people over the age of 64, and 40 percent of those over the age of 85 in the United States. The cost to treat it is more than $148 billion each year. The Alzheimer Association is calling for a “Man on the Moon” plan--a national program to address the disease and its detrimental affects on society, including the increasing financial burden on Medicare and Medicaid.  So, will the U.S devise a plan now to prevent a disease that affects so many families and crippled a former President, or pay more later?

 

Guest:
Greg Simon, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Policy at Pfizer Inc. He also served as chief domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore.

- Simon leads a global team of professionals in worldwide government, science, economic policy and research, and international policy.
Previously, Simon was president of FasterCures / The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, a center of the Milken Institute.
-Following his government service, Simon was CEO of Simon Strategies, a consulting firm focusing on clients in biotechnology, health care, technology and information technology. He serves as a trustee of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the Leadership Council of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Montage Group.

-He chairs the Policy and Ethics Advisory Board for Navigenics and is a founding board member of SmartBrief, a news and information company. Simon received a B.A. from the University of Arkansas and a law degree from the University of Washington.

 

2:40 – 3:00

Africa—possibilities and promise, with U.S. Ambassador Michael Battle

The influence of China in the African continent; energy needs and political unrest of South Africa; elections in Nigeria—with 53 nations and a myriad of cultures and political identities, economic development and political progress remain constant challenges for the African Union.  U.S. Ambassador Michael Battle is at the fore-front of America’s efforts to help develop agriculture (that now employs 70% of working Africans directly or indirectly), infrastructure, technology, and investment partnerships.  He talks with Patt about the obstacle and successes of the African Union.

 

Guest:

Michael A. Battle, U.S. Ambassador to the African Union