A Shot in the Arm Podcast

Emily Bass and Ben discuss a hectic week in global health, including Ben’s federal site visit at the San Francisco Community Health Center and a Wired report raising questions about DOGE/USAID operator Jeremy Lewin’s credentials and his resignation. They unpack major UNAIDS developments: the Program Coordinating Board…

Ben Plumley and Emily Bass are back, as if huddled together in a virtual conference hotel espresso bar, drinking a cocktail, snacking on peanuts, and making sense of the latest global health news that’s broken, breaking or nobody’s bothering with but they should. This week’s topics: • Why is Emily Substacking about…

At the AIDS 2026 Global AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Ben interviews Dr. mike Reed about how global health technology succeeds or fails depending less on the tools than on governance, ownership, community co-design, and alignment with ministries of health and other relevant government authorities. Reed contrasts…

Recorded at AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro at the Roche Diagnostics booth, host Ben Plumley speaks with Professor Pedro Cahn (Fundación Huésped, Argentina) and Dr. Rupa Patel (Whitman-Walker Health, Washington, DC) about why diagnostics—often overlooked in the HIV continuum—are the essential entry point to prevention and…

Recorded at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Ben and Dr. mike Reid discuss how climate disruption will exacerbate existing infectious diseases, enable emerging threats, and worsen non-infectious conditions, arguing global health must anticipate and mitigate climate-health impacts. They note health was…

In this episode of Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, Ben chats with authors mike Reid and Eric Goosby about how funding shocks become life-and-death realities, starting with a case from Zambia after the January 2025 U.S. pause and cuts to PEPFAR that left many without antiretrovirals and destabilized HIV…

This episode was made in partnership with the International AIDS Society (IAS), Young Leaders Programme. ---- Host Ben Plumley wraps up the A Shot in the Arm Podcast from AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro with Zarawu Adams, a medical scientist from Salama Clinic in Accra, Ghana, reflecting on an exhausting but valuable week…

Host Ben Plumley speaks with Solange Baptiste Simon and Othoman Mellouk of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) about their packed treatment pre-conference and concerns that treatment is being sidelined amid heavy focus on PrEP and prevention. They argue the prevention-versus-treatment framing is…

At AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, host Ben Plumley speaks with Wame Jallow, Jerop Limo, and JulieBrenda Waweru about Shuga Global’s evolution from the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and why entertainment-education remains relevant for HIV prevention and youth health. They discuss how Shuga’s storytelling reflects young…

This episode was made in partnership with the International AIDS Society (IAS), Young Leaders Programme. ---- Host Ben Plumley records from a windy Rio de Janeiro at AIDS 2026 with IAS Young Leaders guests Zarawu Adams (Ghana), Xandro Xu (USA), and returning guest Mengfei Li (Hong Kong). Adams discusses research on…

On the first full day of AIDS 2026 in Rio, the A Shot in the Arm podcast (with the International AIDS Societies Young Leaders Program) captures excitement about new HIV science alongside anxiety over PEPFAR-related funding cuts and debate about reliance on a single donor. Guests include Florence, a Botswana-Harvard…

From AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, host Ben Plumley talks with International AIDS Society Young Leaders Edmond Soko (Zambia, Grassroots Soccer) and Noah Mancuso (Atlanta, Emory/RTI) about where the HIV epidemic is heading. Edmond describes using soccer-based, play-focused curricula to deliver HIV prevention education…

Ben launches the first of six daily A Shot in the Arm Podcast episodes from AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, produced with the International AIDS Society and its Young Leaders program. He interviews two young leaders: Mengfei, a Hong Kong–based PhD researcher in health communication who studies how to translate HIV…

From AIDS 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, A Shot in the Arm Podcast hosts, Ben and Yvette, discuss why convening the global AIDS community still matters amid major financial challenges and shifts in U.S. aid. They emphasize “humanity first,” the need for African leadership, sovereignty in HIV financing, and learning how…

In this episode of AIDS 2060, Ben explores how the climate crisis may disrupt the global HIV response with diplomat, author, and podcaster Arthur Snell, marking the U.S. launch of Snell’s book Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive It. They discuss climate-driven population movements…

In this episode of “Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century,” Ben speaks with authors Dr. mike Reed and Professor Eric Goosby about how COVID exposed the geopolitical ramifications of Global Health, using Serbia’s vaccine deals with China, Russia, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca as a case study. They argue the era of a…

HIV prevention advocate Siviwe Gaika urges policymakers, governments, and donors to expand the HIV prevention “choice basket,” emphasizing long-acting injectable PrEP (cabotegravir) as WHO-recommended, safe, and highly effective, and calling for funding, youth-friendly delivery, streamlined national guidelines, and…

Host Ben Plumley welcomes Professor Heidi Larson (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) and Dr. Mark Anderson (Pattern Computer/Strategic News Service) to discuss innovation and equity in global health through the lens of “entropy” as chaos in human and data systems. Larson reflects on vaccine confidence as a…

Ben Plumley speaks with Dr. mike Reid and Eric Goosby about their new book Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, focusing on epistemology—how global health defines knowledge, evidence, and success. They argue global health has overprioritized biomedical metrics and donor-driven targets, often sidelining local…

Why does an undetectable HIV viral load sometimes flip to “detectable” — and what does that actually mean for the patient? Host Ben Plumley talks with Ben LaBrot (Professor of Global Medicine, USC; Medical Affairs Lead, Roche Molecular Diagnostics) and Daniel Griffin, MD (Chief of Infectious Disease, Island Infectious…

In this second episode of AIDS2060, Ben sits down with Dr Andrew Kambugu, Executive Director of the Infectious Disease Institute at Makere University in Kampala Uganda. They discuss the state of the clinical response to HIV in Africa, and Andrew sets out a research and implementation agenda that gives equal weight to…

A Shot in the Arm Media in partnership with UCSF Institute for Global Health launched a nine-part series to explore the future of global health built around the book Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, co-authored by Dr. mike Reid (UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences) and Ambassador Eric Goosby (former…

A Shot in the Arm Media launches a new nine-part series produced in partnership with the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences, built around the book Redefining Global Health in the 21st Century, co-authored by Dr. mike Reid (UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences) and Ambassador Eric Goosby (former U.S. Global…

Another candid update from Ben Plumley on life with stage four colorectal cancer, focusing on one of the most under appreciated challenges of treatment: the daily battle to eat. Treatment Update — Ben is continuing maintenance chemotherapy and awaiting a PET scan at the end of June. The goal is non-progression…