Sam Baker
Sam Baker is KERA's senior editor and local host for Morning Edition. The native of Beaumont, Texas, also edits and produces radio commentaries and Vital Signs, a series that's part of the station's Breakthroughs initiative. He also was the longtime host of KERA 13’s Emmy Award-winning public affairs program On the Record. He also won an Emmy in 2008 for KERA’s Sharing the Power: A Voter’s Voice Special, and has earned honors from the Associated Press and the Public Radio News Directors Inc.
Sam worked in commercial television at NBC and CBS affiliates for six years before moving to public broadcasting. He was news director and Morning Edition host at KWGS-FM in Tulsa, Okla., for three years and moved to KERA in 1991. He has served on the board of Public Radio News Directors Inc. and is a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators.
As a volunteer, Sam produces a weekly series, Jazz in Words and Music, for Reading and Radio Resources, an agency serving the visually impaired. He also serves on the board of Southwest Transplant Alliance, a private non-profit organization that provides organs and tissues for transplantation.
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An expert in infectious disease prevention, epidemiology, and health care policy explains the importance of vaccinating children. -
As with nurses, the U.S. is also short on doctors. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates a U.S. shortage of about 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034.
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A well-balanced diet is considered essential for good health. The vitamins and nutrients can help minimize illness. So can what we eat work against COVID-19?
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The delta variant has sharply increased the number of COVID hospitalizations. It’s still possible to nurse milder cases of COVID at home. But the standards are higher than when the pandemic first began.
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Most people think of women as breast cancer patients, but about one in every 1,000 cases diagnosed is found in a man.
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The state health department in June expanded its list of required screenings for newborns to include spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). It's a rare neuromuscular disorder affecting cells in the spinal cord that signal the muscles how to work.
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Between Oct. 1 of last year and Jan. 30, there were 98% fewer flu hospitalizations than during the same time the previous season.
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Findings by scientists at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a new way in which exercise strengthens bones and immune function.
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Heart disease now tops breast cancer as the leading cause of death for women.
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Vital Signs host Sam Baker spoke with Dr. Joseph Chang, the chief medical officer with Parkland Hospital System, about how to stay safe during the holiday season. Chang said the type of gathering, cleaning precautions and proper mask-wearing are all things to keep in mind.
