Sam Baker
Senior Editor and Morning Edition HostSam 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 for seven years produced a weekly series, Jazz in Words and Music, for Reading and Radio Resources, an agency serving the visually impaired. He is also a former member on the board of Southwest Transplant Alliance, a private nonprofit organization that provides organs and tissues for transplantation.
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A North Texas breast surgeon agrees with screening earlier, but explains why she favors annual mammograms instead of exams every two years. -
Significant population growth and pandemic workforce losses combine to increase the need for nurses.
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Since it began in 2022, a partnership between Children's Health and Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute has trained 75 health professionals in Dallas-Fort Worth through online modules and in-person case study discussions.
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Its latest community health needs assessment says Dallas County's rate of diabetes is above the national average, and will grow worse in coming years. Sam Baker talks with Dr. Uma Gunasekaran, Executive Director of Parkland Health’s Global Diabetes Program.
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About one in a thousand people get sarcoidosis and many may not realize they have it. But pulmonologist Dr. Gary Weinstein with Texas Health Dallas told KERA’s Sam Baker the inflammatory disease can be pretty serious for some people.
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Erythritol is used as a sugar substitute in a variety of foods. Dr. Brandie Williams, a cardiologist with Texas Health Stephenville, told KERA’s Sam Baker consuming large amounts may lead to serious problems.
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Given high-profile school shootings in Uvalde or recent ones in Dallas and Arlington, Dr. Jessica Gomez, a licensed psychologist and Executive Director with Dallas-based Momentous Institute, tells KERA's Sam Baker parents shouldn't wait for children to ask questions.
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The CDC says one in four older adults falls each year. KERA’s Sam Baker talks about why with Dr. Deborah Freeland, an assistant professor of geriatric medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
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Five ZIP codes in the region identified in the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) continue to have the greatest disparities. Parkland Hospital Vice President Jessica Hernandez talks with KERA's Sam Baker about the difficulties in serving those areas.
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Dr. Saima Zafar, a cardiologist with Texas Health Kaufman, tells KERA’s Sam Baker why statins don't work for some, and what makes Nexletol an acceptable alternative.
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College campuses are convenient sites for polling places. But Central Texas state Rep. Carrie Isaac told KERA's Sam Baker that safety issues drove her to file her bill.
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Dr. Quanita Crable, an OB-GYN with Texas Health Dallas, explains to KERA's Sam Baker why she believes laparoscopic myomectomy is the best option to remove the fibroids.
