Special Session - COVID-19 and the Impact on the Health Care Team

Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.

Join us for this special session on COVID-19 where we will explore the pandemic’s impact on physicians, public health officials and other health care professionals. The session will feature several high-profile speakers including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Patrice Harris, a psychiatrist and immediate past president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Amalia Del Riego Abreu, Chief of the Health Services and Access unit at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and Dr. Rachel Levine, Secretary of Health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). 

Moderated by our own Dr. Lisa Kachnic, chair of Radiation Oncology at Columbia University and chair of the ASTRO Annual Meeting Scientific Committee, the session will include an update from Dr. Fauci on the current status of the virus and vaccine timeline, a presentation from Dr. Harris addressing the sense of fear and loss that health professionals may have experienced as well as suggestions on coping mechanisms as we move forward through this pandemic. Dr. Del Riego and Dr. Levine will discuss public health officials and healthcare workers and the challenges they have experienced during the pandemic with global and domestic perspectives. The session will end with a panel discussion between the speakers and live chat Q&A with the audience.

Schedule