UA News

The public is encouraged to call in with questions during the program, which will air on May 8.

A special edition of Arizona Illustrated's Community Conversation will focus on the immediate impacts of the current H1N1 swine flu and how officials are making plans now for future mutations of the illness that may gain momentum in the fall flu season.

The show, "Community Conversation: Pandemic Preparedness," will air at 8:30 p.m. on May 8. Bill Buckmaster will host the program with Pam White reporting.

The show will include an interview with the 17th U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona and other health care experts.

Carmona served in a number of capacities as a health care official in Pima County before his 2002 to 2006 term with the federal government. Carmona is currently a distinguished professor of public health at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and president of the Canyon Ranch Institute. He also a professor at the UA Department of Surgery.

Donna M. Wolk division chief of clinical microbiology and molecular microbiology at the Arizona Health Science Center, with appointments in the UA Departments of Pathology and Medicine will serve as a healthcare panel expert during the show. Wolk is a principle investigator in the BIO5 Institute, where she directs the Infectious Disease Research Core Laboratory specializing in clinical and translational research.

Other health care experts will also be interviewed during the program, which will air on KUAT digital television Channel 6.1; Cox cable, Comcast cable and DirecTV Channel 6; Dish Satellite 8956. The program will also stream live on the On Demand section under Live Events on the Arizona Public Media Web site.

The public is encouraged to call 520-621-1600 or 1-800-223-7192 during the program to ask questions, which will also be taken via e-mail at questions@AZpublicmedia.org. E-mail questions can be submitted until the end of the program at 9 p.m.

"Community Conversation: Pandemic Preparedness," will replace "Now on PBS," which was originally scheduled to run at the 8:30 p.m. time slot. "Now on PBS" will air at its normal repeat slot May 13 at 5:30 p.m. on KUAT Channel 6.

Arizona Public Media is a member-supported non-profit media organization of the UA, this year celebrating 50 years of public broadcasting service to Southern Arizona.

Arizona Public Media broadcasts PBS stations KUAT Channel 6 and KUAS Channel 27; Digital TV Channels 6-1 PBS-HD; 6-2 V-me (en español); 6-3 Create; KUAS Channel 27-1 PBS-HD; 27-2 PBS Kids; 27-3 PBS World, the UA Channel (Cox 116/Comcast 76); classical music station KUAT-FM 90.5/89.7; NPR affiliate KUAZ 1550AM/89.1 FM; and the Ahora channel (en español) on KUAZ-HD2.

AZPM also produces award-winning original local programming from its digital studios on the campus of the UA in Tucson, Arizona.