Health

Writer James Atlas' new book is a collection of essays called My Life in the Middle Ages: A Survivor's Tale. James Atlas is the founding editor of the Lipper/Viking Penguin Lives Series. He writes for The New Yorker. He was also an editor at The New York Times Magazine. His work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Review of Books, The London Review of Books, and Vanity Fair. He is the author of Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet, which was nominated for the National Book Award.

With Desmond Tutu leaving as the Anglican Bishop of Capetown, South Africa, Njongonkulu Ndugane will replace him. He is an outspoken leader against poverty, third-world debt, and HIV/AIDS.

Her new book is The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back.

Journalist Jon Cohen recently finished a four-part series on HIV and AIDS in Asia for the Science Magazine. In researching the series, he traveled to six countries and talked to doctors, patients, public health officials, sex workers and drug users. Cohen has been writing about the AIDS epidemic for 15 years. His book on the search for a vaccine is called Shots in the Dark.

He'll discuss how the site was set up in an area known for its addicts. Campbell explains that the program's success is consistent with similar operations in Europe.

She works on the streets near the safe injection site, assisting addicts. From her perspective, preventing HIV and STDs is such an important task that it overshadows addiction issues. Two days a week, Gold walks the streets of Vancouver, handing out clean needles to addicts shooting up in alleyways. She also treats infections related to needle use.

Reporter Stephen Quinn talks about a program in Vancouver, Canada that provides clean needles and a safe injection site for heroin addicts. The idea is to prevent HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne disease transmission. The program is controversial, and critics say it encourages drug use. He'll also talk about the politics surrounding the program. Quinn works for the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Goemaere is head of Doctors Without Borders ( Medecins Sans Frontieres) in South Africa and a leading AIDS activist for South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign. He was recently featured on a Frontline report, "AIDS Treatment for Africa: The South African Struggle," that appeared on PBS.

Throughout his life he struggled with a weight problem. Last year he underwent gastric bypass surgery, an operation that reduces the size of the stomach and helps the patient lose weight. Roker lost 100 pounds. He talks about his operation and his new cookbook Al Roker's Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook.

He's a longtime correspondent on health and science policy for The New York Times. In his new book, Protecting America's Health: the FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation, he chronicles the history of the Food and Drug Administration from its start during the administration of Teddy Roosevelt. Hilts also broke the now-famous story of the Brown and Williamson tobacco industry papers, and is the author of Smoke Screen: The Truth Behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up.