MSNBC Special To Examine State of Health Care
MSNBC will air a live two-hour special, "Summit for a Cure," on June 23 featuring a panel of lawmakers, medical experts and advocates who will discuss progress in treating and curing "crippling or fatal" conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, Parkinson's disease and HIV/AIDS (MSNBC, 6/20). The program also will examine concerns about rising health care costs, access to care, the politics of medical delivery, related environmental issues and how poor diet and lack of exercise can "subvert" medical advances. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams will host the special, which will be telecast from the Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Play House (Cleveland Clinic release, 6/20). The program also will include a live open heart surgery performed by Dr. Toby Cosgrove, department chairman for thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Guests on the program will include:
- Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.);
- Fran Drescher, actor and cancer survivor;
- Dr. Ron Krall, senior vice president of U.S. drug development at AstraZeneca;
- Dr. Glenn McGee, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania;
- Dr. Larry Norton, an oncologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center;
- Dr. Mehmet Oz, a heart surgeon at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center;
- Christopher Reeve, actor and head of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation;
- Dr. Eve Slater, assistant secretary for health at HHS;
- Dr. Eric Topol, department chairman for cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic; and
- Dr. Huntington Willard, director of the Center for Human Genetics at the University Hospitals of Cleveland.
