Healthcare History Society

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History & Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

Historians sometimes contend that before the fall of the Roman Empire, Western society possessed enough knowledge that our civilization could have advanced directly to the Enlightenment and the Industrial Age. Instead, the advent of the so-called Dark Ages reminds us that history does not always progress. We must seize the opportunities; our collective will and choices matter in history’s long arc. Novelist John Green has a self-described “obsession” with the disease of tuberculosis, or what…

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Healthcare Science Society

How to Prevent the Next Pandemic

Pandemics were on global leaders’ agendas before 2020, but since no global catastrophe happened since 1918, most did not prioritize these concerns. I hope that will not happen as much going forward. Preventative work has gained a new life. Bill Gates, co-founder of both Microsoft and the philanthropic Gates Foundation, uses his privileged, bird’s-eye view to organize what work can be done to avoid the “next pandemic.” Though humanity has moved onto other challenges, doing…

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