© 2026 WUNC News
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Vaccines and public health: voices from Asheville, Nashville and the Triangle

Syringes are prepared for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at a clinic in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 26, 2025.
Mary Conlon
/
AP
Syringes are prepared for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at a clinic in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 26, 2025.

0:01:00

Yet another reason measles can spread — it can be hard to identify

An update on the spread of measles in the Carolinas, and how communities in western North Carolina are trying to cope with the confusion – even in a hospital.

Andrew Jones, Rural Health Reporter, KFF Health News


Dr. Hildreth giving blood for the Genomic REsearch Advancing Transformational (GREAT) Health Study led by Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
Meharry Medical College
Dr. Hildreth gives blood for the Genomic REsearch Advancing Transformational (GREAT) Health Study.

0:13:00

HBCU leader Dr. James Hildreth on medical research funding cuts, vaccines and community health

Dr. James Hildreth is an infectious disease expert and HBCU leader. He also served on the FDA Vaccine advisory committee that reviewed COVID-19 vaccines and on former President Biden’s Health Equity Task Force. Hildreth talks with Leoneda Inge about the past, present and future of vaccines.

Dr. James Hildreth, President and Chief Executive Officer of Meharry Medical College


0:33:00

Coping with changing guidance on vaccines

Co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with a pediatrician and medical historian about vaccines, vaccine hesitancy and addressing parents’ confusion and concerns. (This interview originally aired February 2, 2026)

Dr. Jeffrey Baker, practicing pediatrician, a Professor of Pediatrics and History, and the Director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.
Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.