Event Details

To Be Fair or To Scare: Medicine and the Media

Named a "pop culture icon" by USA Today, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is perhaps the most media-savvy physician working today. Gupta is a broadcaster, writer, podcaster, and web-contributor -- all of which places him in a unique position to examine why certain health-related stories make the headlines and others don't. In this presentation, he takes a hard look at the media's role in conveying sometimes frightening information, such as the H1N1 global pandemic and the post-9/11 incidents involving anthrax.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is chief medical correspondent for the health and medical unit at CNN. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon and an assistant professor of neurosurgery, plays an integral role in the network's medical coverage, which includes lead reporting on breaking medical news, regular health and medical updates for American Morning, anchoring the half-hour weekend medical affairs program House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and reporting for CNN documentaries.

Gupta joined CNN in the summer of 2001 and became part of the network team covering the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City. In 2003, Gupta reported from Iraq and Kuwait as an embedded correspondent with the U.S. Navy's medical unit. In December 2004, he was sent to Sri Lanka to cover the disaster and aftermath of the tsunami that took more than 155,000 lives in South Asia. That coverage contributed to an Alfred I. duPont Award awarded to CNN.