838 - Book Club—Crisis Averted: The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
Throughout history, humans have been engaged in public health work. In a new book, epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers shares lessons from past outbreaks, what's changed since COVID-19, and how, at a difficult moment for public health, she's thinking about the future and keeping a watchful eye on mpox, H5N1, and more.
Guest:
Caitlin Rivers is an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who specializes in preparedness and response for epidemics and pandemics.
Host:
Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, the largest center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Show links and related content:
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Dr. Caitlin Rivers' New Book 'Crisis Averted' Explores Public Health Lessons and Provides Insights for Future Pandemic Preparedness—The Center for Health Security
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to Public Health Question at jh.h.u.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's Public Health Question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:30.9 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:33.1 | Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Dr. Caitlin Rivers about her new book, |
| 0:38.6 | Crisis Averted, The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks. Rivers shares lessons learned not just from the |
| 0:44.3 | COVID-19 pandemic, but outbreaks throughout history and considers what we need to think about moving |
| 0:49.3 | forward. Let's listen. Caitlin Rivers, thanks so much for joining me. |
| 0:54.6 | Thank you. |
| 0:53.3 | It's great to be back on the pod. So I wanted to talk today about your new book. So very exciting. You've just published a new book, Crisis Averted, The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks. And I want to start real basic. Tell us about the book and why you wrote it. Thanks. Yeah, my book just came out. It's published by Viking, available at bookstores near you. |
| 1:12.0 | And it's about the hidden science of fighting outbreaks. It looks at some of the |
| 1:17.6 | most gripping, the most mysterious, the most exciting outbreaks in the history of public health, |
| 1:25.1 | and really dives deep to look at the people who chased those |
| 1:28.9 | outbreaks and brought them under control and how they did it. One thing I'm proud of in the book, |
| 1:34.0 | too, is it really elevates the characters, the heroes of those public health stories. |
| 1:39.4 | And this was important to me because I really wanted the audience to see public health more and better understand |
| 1:45.3 | that behind every amazing win and success story and even stumble, there are real humans doing |
| 1:52.2 | amazing work. So it was important to me to lift those heroes up. And what do you want people |
| 1:57.3 | to take away from that? I really want people to better understand the hidden |
| 2:02.5 | nature of public health. It's one of the least appreciated forces, I think, in modern society, |
| 2:09.7 | but it really has changed the course of history. So I would love readers to better understand that |
... |
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