Experts in the News

Vivian Ho, director of the Center for Health and Biosciences, appeared on Houston Matters to discuss how major layoffs and CEO departures at Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Hermann Health System and St. Luke’s Health System may impact Houston’s health care industry.

India recently overhauled its tax code and launched a goods and services tax in an effort to turn the country into a single market. Russell A. Green, the Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics, discusses the potential ramifications of this reform in an episode of The World and Everything in It.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called elections July 30 to choose a constituent assembly that would be granted sweeping powers, including the ability to rewrite the nation's constitution. This election has been widely opposed both domestically and internationally. Fellow Francisco J. Monaldi explored how the United States may respond with sanctions — and how they would affect the country — in an interview with Texas Standard. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Katharine Neill Harris, the Alfred C. Glassell, III, Fellow in Drug Policy, elaborated on her proposal to launch a pilot program to study the safety and efficacy of heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) in the United States. Several European nations have already launched HAT programs that have shown to have a significant impact on reducing opioid use and overdoses. "For certain people, heroin is preferable," Neill Harris said. "It could help them stay in treatment for longer."

Houston needs a district that can foster tech startups, but there is disagreement on where it should be located. McNair Center director Edward J. Egan said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle that EaDo should be a non-starter; while the neighborhood is viewed as up-and-coming, the innovation district needs to be in a place that's already arrived.