QUICK TAKES - July 31, 2009

TV medic: Dr. Richard Besser, who was acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when the swine flu epidemic began, will join ABC News as senior health and medical editor.

Branching out: Stephen Schwartz, the composer of such Broadway musicals as “Wicked” and “Pippin,” has written an opera, “Seance on a Wet Afternoon,” which will have its world premiere Sept. 26 at the Granada in Santa Barbara.