Dateline Health, NSU’s public service television show hosted by Frederick Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D., chancellor, Health Professions Division, special projects, won the People’s Telly Gold prize in the 41st Annual Telly Awards competition for the episode “Coronavirus Update.” Being selected as a Gold Telly winner is the standard bearer of excellence in the industry.
“It is a tremendous honor to be selected as a recipient of the People’s Telly Gold award in such a competitive industry,” said Rita Silverman, M.P.S., Dateline Health executive producer. “I have produced many episodes with topics close to my heart during the past 15 years. However, being able to raise awareness and provide an unbiased and informative presentation about COVID-19 in such a timely manner to the public was a win in itself.”
The award-winning episode was taped on February 3 when there were only 11 reported cases in the United States. The episode aired on February 17—two weeks before the first confirmed cases in Florida were reported.
Lippman, who determines the topics discussed on Dateline Health, is innately inquisitive about emerging health concerns, techniques, and innovations. Consequently, when he learned in mid-January that COVID-19 had reached the United States, he decided to tape a segment to enlighten the public. Two faculty experts within the KPCOM were then solicited to share their insights—Bindu Mayi, Ph.D., M.Sc., professor of microbiology, and Naushira Pandya, M.D., CMD, FACP, professor and chair of the Department of Geriatrics.
“This is what drives us every day to give our best—the desire to educate our community on infectious disease threats and how our citizens can prevent getting infected,” said Mayi, who has previously appeared on Dateline Health to discuss the Zika virus, sepsis, and flesh-eating bacteria. “It is gratifying and immensely satisfying that Dr. Lippman recognized the enormity of COVID-19 as it was just beginning to unfold.”
Dateline Health—a six-time Telly Award recipient—is a 30-minute program dedicated to promoting the community’s overall health and well-being. The Telly Awards honor high-caliber stories created by the world’s best agencies, production companies, animation studios, television stations, and more.
“What the Dateline Health episode underscored was not only an early awareness of the potentially serious impact of COVID-19 in the United States and worldwide, but also the need for preventive measures at a community and health care level,” Pandya explained. “It is very important that we continue to keep the quality of compassionate patient care and safety in the forefront.”
NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library is pleased to once again offer the Summer Reading Program for Kids, Teens and Adults. Sign up today, track your reading, participate in lots of fun programming, and earn rewards! You can register as an individual, family, class or group and log activity separately for each reader. Everyone will receive a prize pack upon completion of the program. Why delay the fun – sign up now! Happy Reading!
