Big Pharma’s big fraud with Dr. Aaron Kesselheim
Abdul dissects the FDA’s disastrous decision to approve the new Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab despite the evidence that it fails to improve symptoms—and its aftermath and implications for the future of Big Pharma. He speaks with Professor Aaron Kesselheim, a prescription drug policy expert and a former member of the FDA Advisory Panel, who resigned at the FDA ignored the panel’s overwhelming opposition to approve it the drug. Take Crooked's listener survey: crooked.com/survey For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.
27 Juli 202136min
Pandemic Olympics with Peter Vanderkaay
Abdul breaks down the risks--and rewards--inherent in holding an international athletic competition in the middle of a pandemic. He speaks with four-time US Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Peter Vanderkaay about the Olympic experience and how this summer’s Olympics might be different.
20 Juli 202127min
Whose problem is it anyway? with Wayne Brady
Abdul dissects why our society makes it so hard for people with mental illness to get care. Then he interviews comedian and performer Wayne Brady about his experience with mental health and what he thinks it will take to end the stigma around mental illness. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.
13 Juli 202137min
Mental health is a social justice issue with Dr. Ashwin Vasan
Abdul dissects the various ways that people with mental illness are stigmatized, marginalized, and oppressed in our society. Then he talks to Dr. Ashwin Vasan, President and CEO of Fountain House, a nonprofit organization focused on creating safe and welcoming spaces for people with serious mental illness, about their work to make mental health the next social justice issue. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.
6 Juli 202138min
A Tale of Two Crises: Opiates vs. Crack (from Season 1)
We bring back an episode from Season 1 that remains relevant today: The Opioid Crisis has wreaked havoc across America, taking lives and devastating families, neighborhoods, and communities. But this isn’t the first time we’ve suffered a deadly drug crisis. In today’s episode, Abdul tells the tale of two crises: the opioid epidemic of today and the crack epidemic of the 1980s, contrasting the government’s and media’s responses to these crises—and what they tell us about the nature of drug use and structural racism in America. For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.
22 Juni 202126min
Preventable with Andy Slavitt
Abdul dissects the critical role of trust in public health--and how the pandemic challenged it. He interviews Andy Slavitt, a former Obama health official and former member of the Biden COVID-19 Task Force on going from an outside commentator on the pandemic to the White House and what he learned about COVID-19 from inside the belly of the beast.
15 Juni 202136min
A Global Vaccine for a Global Pandemic?
Abdul dissects the incentives that drive Big Pharma and how they tend to get in the way of getting medications to those who need them most. Then he interviews Priti Krishtel and Tahir Amin of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge about their work to take on the pharmaceutical industry and deliver vaccines to the world. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.
8 Juni 202141min
Pro-politics but anti-life in Texas with Nancy Northup
Abdul dissects the politics underneath Texas’s new anti-choice bill. Then he speaks with Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights about the wave of anti-abortion legislation sweeping the states, and what they mean for the fight over Reproductive Rights in the US. For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/americadissected.
1 Juni 202139min
