Healthcare Leadership
Superbugs
Antibiotic Resistance
Brad Spellberg, MD
Scientist
Immunotherapy Research
Author
Healthcare Policy Expert
Brad Spellberg, MD
Dr. Spellberg is Chief Medical Officer at the Los Angeles General Medical Center.
Recent Media for Dr. Spellberg
Watch PBS Frontline 5/18/21: The Healthcare Divide
Listen to NPR 5/18/21 (8 min story--if you've never heard of hard-to-place patients, your mind will be blown!): Hospitals Serving The Poor Struggled During COVID. Wealthy Hospitals Made Millions
Listen to Author Hour with Nikki Van Noy on Broken, Bankrupt, and Dying: How to Solve the Great American Healthcare Rip-Off
Watch the powerful documentary movie, Resistance, at www.resistancethefilm.com
Watch PBS Frontline Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and companion interview with Dr. Spellberg
May 5th, 2023: LA Times story on LA General Med Center's Safer At Home program. Instead of a hospital stay, he was given a cellphone with medical staff on speed dial
January 20th, 2023: Healio. ‘Shorter is better’ mantra begins to change antibiotic prescribing
January 18th, 2023: David Hoffman. Washington Post. Congress should not wait around for the end of the antibiotic era
December 7th, 2022: Frank Diamond. Fierce Healthcare. Bill that puts more antibiotics on market no sure thing
October 4th, 2022: The Conversastion. Medical guidelines that embrace the humility of uncertainty could help doctors choose treatments with more research evidence behind them
January 7th, 2022: LA Times: L.A. County sees a record 44,000 new coronavirus cases as staff shortages strain hospitals
January 6th, 2022: ABC 7 News: LA County reports 37,215 new COVID-19 cases, shattering previous record for daily infections
December 28th, 2021: LAist: Plenty Of Vaccines, But Few Nurses: How This COVID Surge Compares To Last Winter
August 11th, 2021: KCRW/NPR: Vaccine mandate for health care workers will save lives, according to those on the front lines
August 7th, 2021: KNX 1070 News: Some good news amid the Delta COVID misery: vaccination rates are slowly but surely on the rise
July 15th, 2021: KNX 1070 News: LA's unvaccinated 'going to get infected' amid Delta variant surge, says doctor
May 18th, 2021: PBS Frontline: Why Safety Net Hospitals May Be "On the Brink of a Precipe"
May 18th, 2021: NPR: Hospitals serving the poor struggled during COVID. Wealthy hospitals made millions
May 12th, 2021: LA Times: People are still dying from COVID in California despite huge progress. Here’s who they are
March 22th, 2021: CBS 2/KCAL 9 News: COVID-19 Update
March 16th, 2021: CBS Evening News: Moderna begins coronavirus vaccine trials in children under 12
January 12th, 2021: CBS Evening News: U.S. reports deadliest week yet in fight against COVID-19
January 11th, 2021: NPR KCRW: So Cal’s hospital system will hit ‘crisis care’ if extra post-December surge happens, says LA doctor
January 7th, 2021: NBC Today Show: A doctor says hospital is ‘dangerously’ close to crisis standards of care
January 3rd, 2021: CNN: 'For more than a month, US hospitals have had more than 100,000 coronovairus patients every day'
January 2nd, 2021: CNN: 'This is about total collapse of the health care system if we have another spike' of Covid-19
December 30th, 2020: MS NBC: 'You can't just snap your fingers and will these people into existence’: CA Dr. on lack of ICU staff
December 30th, 2020: CA Hospitals Hard Hit by COVID Turn Away Ambulances
December 24th, 2020: NPR: 'It's So Much Worse Than Before.' Dread And Despair Haunt Nurses Inside LA's ICUs
December 22nd, 2020: Doctor Says It’s A ‘Very Dangerous Strategy’ To Use Negative COVID-19 Test As Excuse To Gather
December 18th, 2020: Los Angeles Covid-19 Update: “I’m Not Going To Sugarcoat This. We Are Getting Crushed,” Says County-USC Hospital Chief
December 15th, 2020: CBS/KCAL-9: LA County Reports 7,344 New COVID-19 Cases, 48 Deaths
December 12th, 2020: CBS/KCAL-9: ‘We Are Not Through This’: Medical Professionals Urge Public To Heed Stay-At-Home Order
December 10th, 2020: CBS LA: FDA Panel Recommends Authorization Of Pfizer Vaccine
December 7th, 2020: KCRW Press Play with Madeleine Brand: Frustrated hospital staff, ICU beds running low, and possibly rough January: LA doctor on COVID
December 4th, 2020: ‘We’re inundated’ says chief medical officer at L.A. County’s busiest hospital
November 4th, 2020: Fortune Magazine: A blueprint for whoever wins the presidential election to fix America’s health care mess
October 26th, 2020: L.A. County reaches 7,000 deaths, more than 300,000 coronavirus cases
Public health experts say the county is at a dangerous precipice of surge or recovery
September 30th, 2020: COVID-19 Public Health Messaging Needs to Improve
September 22nd, 2020: The Business of Healthcare Podcast, Episode 70: Fee-For-Service — The Accidental Healthcare System
August 25th, 2020: What Harmed the Value of Infectious Disease Specialists?
August 13th, 2020: ‘That’s The Job’: Military Medical Professionals Join County/USC Staff To Treat Surge Of COVID-19 Patients
August 8th, 2020: Victor Blackwell CNN COVID Report: Doctor explains why you don't want to be in his ICU bed
August 4th, 2020: NBC Nightly News: U.S. hospitals see growing wave of coronavirus patients
August 4th, 2020: NBC Today Show: Inside a busy LA hospital’s battle to save poorest patients from coronavirus
July 28, 2020: NPR/KCRW Steve Chiotakis: Air Force medics come to LA County’s biggest public hospitals to help with COVID-19
July 28, 2020: When Science Speaks Podcast with Mike Grandinetti and Mark Bayer: How to Cure the U.S. Health Care System with Brad Spellberg, MD
July 28, 2020: The Hollywood Doc Show with Dr. Rahman
July 17, 2020: NPR/KCRW Madeleine Brand Press Play: How one of the US' busiest trauma centers is handling 'daunting' COVID patients
July 7, 2020: Experts Warn Masks Can Give Some False Sense Of Security, Encourage People To Socially Distance
July 3, 2020: CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper: COVID-19 update for California
July 1, 2020: Dr. Travis Stork Podcast: COVID-19, Where Do We Go From Here (with Discussion of Broken, Bankrupt, and Dying)
May 14, 2020: Spectrum News 1: Angelenos Must Find Ways to Coexist with the Coronavirus
May 8, 2020: The Doctors: COVID-19 update (and introducing Broken, Bankrupt, and Dying)
April 24, 2020: NPR News: Why The Warning That Coronavirus Was On The Move In U.S. Cities Came So Late
April 10, 2020: How far has coronavirus spread? This test is a first step in trying to get back to normal life
March 23, 2020: Was coronavirus in LA in February? Researchers say probably yes
March 19, 2020: Coronavirus Solutions and Lessons with Dr. Brad Spellberg on The Doctors Podcast with Dr. Travis Stork
November 5, 2019: Annals On Call - Shorter-Duration Antibiotics for Community Acquired Pneumonia
October 11, 2019: Q&A: New model could improve antibiotic development
October 8, 2019: Papers highlight challenges, solutions in developing antibioticst
August 22, 2019: Nonprofit drug maker produces TB antibiotic after private companies wouldn’t
July 8, 2019: More Evidence That Shorter Pneumonia Tx Is Better
July 2, 2019: Nonprofit model for antibiotic development ‘overdue’
May 7, 2019: CBS News: LAPD Officers Contracted Staph Infection After Homeless Person Came Into Station
December 5, 2018: ‘Expected practice’ intervention reduces antibiotic prescriptions
November 8, 2018: The Fight Against Resistance: Shorter is Better
October 18, 2018: L.A. typhus outbreak adds fuel to the debates over homelessness and housing
July 19, 2018: Antibiotics Overused for Osteomyelitis in Sacral Pressure Ulcers
April 9, 2018: The Lean Antibiotic Mantra
August 2, 2017: The Common Wisdom on Antibiotics Is Wrong
March 21, 2017: Radio Health Journal interview
March 18, 2017: Check out wonderful new book by Mike Osterholm and Mark Olshaker--excerpt focusing on Abx resistance "Peer Into the Post-Apocalyptic Future of Antimicrobial Resistance"
February 28, 2017: ATTN: Health: What You Need to Know About 'Superbugs' Right Now
February 28, 2017: Medscape. Clinicians: Beware the Claim of Cost-Effectiveness
October 20, 2016: Medscape. Antibiotics: 5 Myths Debunked
October 18, 2016: BBC The Inquiry: "How Did We Mess Up Antibiotics"
September 28, 2016: National Webinar: The Future of Antibiotics and Resistance
September 20, 2016: NPR To the Point, on Antibiotic Resistance
September 16, 2016: CIDRAP Podcast on Antibiotic Stewardship and Resistance
September 7, 2016: Scientific American article on antibiotic resistance
July 2, 2016: NPR Science Friday interview on antibiotic resistance
June 21, 2016: Medscape Stopping Antibiotic Overprescribing: What Works?
June 3, 2016: Interview on NPR Science Friday, Fighting Antibiotic Resistance
May 27, 2016: New York Times, Short Answers to Hard Questions About Antibiotic Resistance
March 14, 2016: Interview with The Guardian, How antibiotic resistance could wreak havoc on health, food and travel, by Alison Moodie
February 7, 2016: Interview in Newsweek, TO FIGHT SUPERBUGS, SCIENTISTS ARE TURNING TOWARD ANTIBODIES by Laura Colarusso
October 19, 2015: Interview in US News and World Report, The New War on Bugs: Crafting an Effective Antibiotic Stewardship Program, by Kimberly Leonard (photo of Dr. Spellberg with Dr. Srinivasan from CDC)
