Topic: Public Health
Interview of Gianfranco Pezzino, January 23, 2026
Interviewed by Robert St. Peter
This interview with Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino is the second in the Healthy Kansans series and sets the stage for understanding the concern that Kansas has slipped considerably in the nationwide rankings of health in the states over the last 30 years. His explanation of how the rankings work and why they are important is clear and understandable. Pezzino stated, "In the end, I became more and more convinced that the important thing was not the numbers. It was the communication that we could build around those numbers." His discussion of the social determinants of health Show Moreis important to understanding the rankings. He recalls a controversy covered by the local newspaper that quoted the county commissioner saying, "What does education have to do with health?" He used that as a opportunity to begin a community conversation about those linkages. As an epidemiologist, Dr. Pezzino has played many roles in health policy in Kansas - from the local health officer to state policy maker. He recounts the stresses of being the county health officer during COVID and comments that the "social contract has been broken." He comments that there is still value in providing accurate data as a public health person but now a lot of the authority has been moved from public health officers to local elected officials. That change has created a tension between individual rights and the social good. Show Less
Interview of Robert Moser, March 10, 2026
Interviewed by Robert St. Peter
Dr. Moser had an unusual background because he went to pharmacy school before deciding to go to medical school. This interview really highlights the difficulties of practicing medicine in a rural area, and shows Moser's innovations in responding to those challenges. He did his residency in his hometown of Tribune, Kansas. He also credits the business training in Pharmacy school as being helpful in responding to challenges which included workforce issues. To meet that challenge, Dr. Moser used a multijurisdictional approach to expand staffing in both Greely and Wallace counties. Delivering babies was a Show Morerecurring problem - no backup, no personal time. Moser left Tribune in 2010 to work as Governor Brownback's Secretary of Health and Environment but left 3 years later because of opposition to medicaid expansion. In 2014 he joined the Kansas Heart-Stroke Collaborative - a CMS innovation - and also taught population health and family medicine at KU Medical Center. After surveying emergency room data regarding patients who came in with heart attacks and strokes, they were able to develop evidence-based guidelines for rural health care staff that improved patient outcomes. Show Less
Interview of Benjamin Anderson, May 7, 2026
Interviewed by Robert St. Peter
Benjamin Anderson is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System where he is responsible for the management, direction and coordination of all organization operations. He is a great story-teller and his personal story about his experiences getting into college and later gaining entry into the health care system shows his determination and creativity toward solving problems. He rescued failing Kansas rural hospitals in Ashland and Lakin by figuring out how to engage these communities and provide services that people needed. His story about organizing a basketball game to pay for mammograms for women Show Moreis inspiring and unusual. When asked if this was a role of a hospital administrator he replied, "It is the role of a leader." Anderson described his reaching out to Somalian immigrants who worked at Tyson's Food Processing plant. That outreach led to strategies to engage the community and deal with all sorts of community attitudes towards the immigrants. His philosophy was, "Pick one meaningful thing to measure that brings about meaningful change, lowers costs, and improves outcomes. Show them how you did it and they will run to you. Don't wait on the feds to solve your problems. You solve them." After spending six and a half years in rural southwest Kansas, Anderson made a decision to leave and work for the Colorado Hospital Association for four years in order to get specialized services for one of his children. He was recruited to come to Hutchinson because the hospital needed to make some changes. Anderson is now meeting those challenges with creativity and energy.
Highlights -- short excerpts from the interview