Guess who got published?
If antivaxxers didn’t like me before, they are probably going to hate me. It’s okay though. I’m a big boy. I can take it.
Anyway, I had the privilege of collaborating with Dorit Reiss on a paper about mandates that require health care workers to be immunized against influenza. I wrote the parts about influenza disease and the vaccine, while Dr. Reiss wrote about the legalities involved in requiring healthcare workers to get their flu vaccine.
When I applied to go to the school of public health for the DrPH, a lot of people reviewing my CV kept asking me if I had any publications. It was kind of embarrassing to tell them that I did not. Why was it embarrassing? It was embarrassing because part of me knew that I had to spread the knowledge that I had gained as an epidemiologist, but the only efficient way of doing that in my position at the department of health was through posters or presentations at conferences.
Of course, there was the blog and the eventual rise of social media. I had plenty of experience in those. But being “competitive” to get into the school of public health required having publications. Lucky for me, I found a professor who believed in me and trusted my experience as a professional epidemiologist. He helped me meet the requirements necessary to be accepted.
Now, at the end of my third year in the doctoral program, I get published in a law journal of all things. In a way, it’s kind of poetic. Mom went to law school in Mexico, and a lot of people said she was a really good lawyer. Certainly, I could never win an argument against her. So big thanks to Dr. Reiss for helping me achieve this professional milestone. Here’s to all the knowledge that many more papers being published will disseminate… And to all the wisdom derived in doing so.
EpidemioLogical 
Woot! Congratulations, that should be a fine citation for Public Health doctorate!
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Thank you. My advisor and most of my colleagues were impressed and proud. Most, of course. There are always detractors.
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I’ve been published in an infectious disease journal, a cardiology journal and in a police chiefs’ journal, and my degrees are in chemistry and industrial hygiene, so wherever you can get knowledge disseminated is a good thing. Congratulations and may you have many more!
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“a police chiefs’ journal”
This is intriguing. Um, why? If I make a guess that if you have a degree in chemistry and industrial hygiene (which I assume does not mean robots that can wash their own bits that touch stuff) and was published in journals on infectious disease and cardiology — it was something to do with an investigation of a cardiac event from a disease that created an chemical signature (like a toxin!).
I am kind of half joking. I would have said “Hmm, that is cool that you were published in infectious disease and cardiology” (there are lots of cardiac disorders from diseases, like rheumatic fever). But then you tipped me into an incredibly curious mode with the “police chiefs’ journal.”
By the way, to tell you where my mindset is: I have just decided to watch a DVD from the library instead of catching up on ten episodes of “Elementary” on my DVR. The reasoning is that there is a time constraint on the library checkout (plus there is a movie waiting at the library that dear hubby would like to see), but I am still quite a fan of Sherlock Holmes (no matter who plays him, I am also about to purchase a audio version of all sixty stories, as soon as I can get to it). I did push through a couple of detective TV series, and I was leaving the best for when I could devote my full attention (the others I watch when I am doing other things, I just did not have the opportunity to sit and watch).
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See, disseminating knowledge is a good thing. Hearing from the lawyers that Ren and Dorit educates will be so, too. The infectious diseases journal publication was for a compilation and analysis of needle stick and body substance exposures back when those were just starting to be assessed. The cardiology journal publication was for a project I did on assessing the suitability of reusing nominally disposable cardiac electrophysiology catheters for reuse. I had come from the aerospace industry and was then in a very large tertiary care hospital, when the chairman of the Infection control committee decided I was the right person to do the project. The publication in the police chiefs’ journal came about from some public health work I did assessing the effectiveness of on scene decontamination of chemical/biological/radiologic contaminated victims. While the process may be able to get the victims decontaminated, from a forensic standpoint their clothing and personal belongings may remain contaminated and those who handle evidence must know this.
So, all good use of my science education and previous experience, to be shared for the greater good. I’m glad there’s interest.
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Thank you for answering! That was very cool, and very interesting. I do see a theme related to dealing with contamination from various sources.
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Wow, just thinking of a chain of custody of contaminated (or potentially contaminated) belongings and clothing as evidence makes for the stuff of nightmares!
In a military environment, we didn’t have that much to concern us, as many belongings would have been destroyed on site, rather than stored and spreading contamination. As it was, our decontaminating solutions were rather reactive, with supertropical bleach and DS2 being our primary decontaminating solutions (DS2 for equipment, STB for items that may contact skin) and the two together making for quite an exciting fire.
Some years ago, I had stopped in our battalion supply for something and had to advise our Chief Warrant to separate the two, as he had DS2 stacked on top of the STB, advising him that we’d need a new building if the DS2 leaked.
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Congrats Ren! Dorit certainly seems like a prestigious coauthor to have for your CV.
Any chance it is or will be available online?
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What? No link to the paper?
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Found it: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2562091
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