Archives
The Rorschach Test of anti-vaccine beliefs
Posted on June 15, 2016 1 Comment
You have probably heard by now about a documentary spliced together by known anti-vaccine fraud Andrew Wakefield. I write that it was “spliced together” because so much of it is non-linear. There’s no introduction, thesis statement, and supporting facts. It’s all a hodge podge of talking heads, testimonials, spliced sampling of a recorded conversation of […]
Guess who got published?
Posted on May 26, 2016 10 Comments
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 […]
To the Public Health Graduates of 2016
Posted on May 16, 2016 2 Comments
Dear graduates, I am very, very jealous of all of you, in a good way. You are graduating and starting your professional careers in public health at a very exciting and challenging time. From Zika in the Americas to Yellow Fever in Africa, to MERS in the Middle East, and the refugees in Europe… Believe […]
The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio Must Not Proceed
Posted on May 10, 2016 3 Comments
Here is some very thoughtful commentary from Dr. Amir Attaran published in Harvard Public Health Review. http://harvardpublichealthreview.org/off-the-podium-why-rios-2016-olympic-games-must-not-proceed/ Here’s the clincher from that opinion article: “Which leads to a simple question: But for the Games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now? Of course not: mass migration into the […]
The people who were there for you
Posted on April 24, 2016
About a year ago, I told you about the people you were going to meet. Hopefully, in your lifetime, you will have met great people, people who inspire you. If not, look for them. They are all around you. But what about the people who were there for you? The other night, in one of […]
Story of a thesis (Part IV)
Posted on April 20, 2016 3 Comments
In the first part of this series, I told you about Baltimore and the challenges facing the Charmed City. The second part was all about the available data, and what those data told us, which is a lot. In the third part, I told you the story of some kids and how their social network […]
Story of a thesis (Part I)
Posted on March 18, 2016 9 Comments
In preparation for my thesis proposal seminar, I’ve decided to write for you a narrative of what I plan to do. I’ll be publishing them every Friday between now and the seminar in the middle of April. This is part one. Let’s Talk About Baltimore Baltimore is a city of about 600,000 people located in […]
Zika, Zika, Zika! (An update)
Posted on March 12, 2016 3 Comments
Just a quick update on Zika: A case-control study in French Polynesia has found a strong association between Zika infection and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). That is, the proportion of cases of GBS who had previous Zika infection (confirmed by serological analyses) was significantly larger than the proportion of people without GBS who had previous Zika […]
“You’re Welcome”
Posted on March 7, 2016 4 Comments
As I went to get into my car and away from the accident scene, one of the police officers who responded shook my hand and thanked me for helping out. A woman who also came to the aid of the victims thanked me as well. “We need more people like you,” she said. The cop […]
I get hate mail
Posted on March 3, 2016 9 Comments
You might think that I’ve made an effort to keep my email (or other ways of getting a hold of me beyond commenting on this blog or tweeting at me) a secret. I haven’t. If you look hard enough and know my full name, then you should have no problem figuring it out. Other times, […]
EpidemioLogical 