Coronavirus: On the Front Lines with Daniela Lamas

Two months ago, production of Story in the Public Square was stopped when our state governor issued a stay at home order.  Like most of the rest of the country, we’ve watched the days pass.  While we stayed home, Dr. Daniela Lamas kept going to work as a pulmonary specialist on the front lines of the pandemic. 

Lamas is a pulmonary and critical-care doctor at Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.  Following graduation from Harvard College, she went on to earn her medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, where she also completed internship and residency.  She then returned to Boston for her subspecialty fellowship.  She has been a medical reporter at the Miami Herald and her essays frequently appear in the New York Times, including her most recent from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.  

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Lamas describes how the coronavirus has changed her practice of medicine.  She hopes first-hand accounts like hers can enhance and shift public understanding of our current situation. She says the stories we have are so powerful because they are so few. They are “change agents” that spark questions that lead to meaningful change.

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. A full listing of the national television distribution is available at this link. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs 8:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 4:30 a.m. & 11:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.