Exploring public health under the Trump administration with Dr. Ashish Jha
Air Dates: July 14 – July 20, 2025
Where five years ago, we were in the thick of the pandemic, with the bulk of the sickness and dying still to come, now, the U.S. federal government is poised to slash spending on public health, as well as basic research in science, healthcare and more. Dr. Ashish Jha helps us sort through competing claims and make sense of it all.
An accomplished and practicing physician, Jha is a trusted expert on major issues impacting public health, and a catalyst for new thinking and approaches. A long-time leader on pandemic preparedness and response, from directing groundbreaking research on Ebola to serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, he has analyzed key issues and advised local and federal policy makers around the world. In March 2022, he was appointed by President Biden as White House COVID-19 response coordinator and led the work that increased the development of and access to treatments and newly formulated vaccines. He has served as a professor of medicine and is currently the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Jha discusses the Trump administration’s approach to public health with a lens on pandemic preparedness, research and climate change. Jha expressed the importance of research funding at the university level and said, “I think the case has to be made that this research that is being gutted isn't just harmful to a Brown or to a Harvard, it's harmful to the health and wellbeing of the American people.”
“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Check your local public television listings for air times near you! An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 2:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. and Mondays at 4:30 a.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a project of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.