My guest today, Papu Jenna, is a medical doctor, he's a PhD economist, and he's unbelievably

creative.

What happens when you mix those three things together?

You get someone who's finding ways to answer important questions that no one else can.

And the good news is, if you like what you hear today, he's got a brand new podcast

on the Freakonomics Radio Network called Freakonomics MD.

Welcome to People I Mostly Admire, with Steve Levitt.

I first met Papu when he took one of my classes as a second year PhD student at the University

of Chicago.

He was obvious to me that Papu had a men's talent, one of the most special students

of time.

But I also thought he must be a little bit crazy, who does an economics PhD in an MD simultaneously.

But I've always liked people who are a little crazy, so I did what I could to help him out

while he was a student, and I've kept an eye on his progress since then.

And wow, even I've been amazed at what he's done.

More or less single-handedly bringing Freakonomics style approaches into the mainstream of medicine.

A couple of months ago, I read a story in the New York Times about how some researchers

had used the timing of birthdays to learn about the transmission of COVID.

And I thought, wow, what a brilliant idea.

And then I read a few paragraphs further, and there was a quote from you, Papu.

And I said, of course, it had to be Papu, no one else in medicine thinks this way.

So that's a pretty high compliment.

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