Jessica Malaty Rivera: Science Communicator and Infectious Disease Epidemiologist

Second Life

Clique Media, Female Founder, Entrepreneurship, Career Change, Career Pivot, Fashion & Beauty, Hillary Kerr, Personal Journals, Who What Wear, Clique, Career, Arts, Business, Careers, Second Life, Career Advice, Self-made, Entrepreneur, Mydomaine, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jessica Malaty Rivera is an infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator renowned for making complex public health information accessible, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. While initially premed at USC, she pivoted to studying health promotion and disease prevention, and worked in the nonprofit sector after college. She was later recruited to research emerging biological threats at Georgetown University and simultaneously decided to pursue a master’s degree there in biohazardous threat agents and emerging infectious diseases. While she’s always loved science, she began to realize that where she truly excelled was in “speaking science.” And the deeper Rivera got into infectious disease epidemiology—whether through work or academia—the more she realized how critical the communications aspect of science was to public health. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she joined The Atlantic to lend her expertise to the COVID Tracking Project to provide publicly available, comprehensive data on COVID-19 cases in real time. She then began using Instagram to explain and interpret global health news, unexpectedly gaining a large following for her easy-to-understand information. Over the past five years, she has grown her platform, launched a Substack, and is currently completing a Doctorate in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, all while remaining dedicated to science facts and public health literacy.

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Transcript

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1:00.6	Hi, everyone. I'm Hilary Kerr, the co-founder and chief content officer of Who What Where,
1:08.1	and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting women who have truly inspiring careers.
1:13.1	We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the process of setting aside their doubts or fears, and what happens when they embark on their second life.
1:20.1	Today on the show, I'm chatting with the infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator,
1:26.1	and one of my favorite follows on Instagram, Jessica
1:29.0	Malati Rivera. There are a few people who I trust with my life, my parents, my husband, a few friends,
1:37.2	and honestly, Jessica. I've followed her on Instagram for years, where she has almost half a million
1:43.7	followers because of her easy to
1:46.3	understand public health information and translation of what can feel like really inscrutable
1:52.4	medical advice, especially in this day and age. But she wasn't always one of the internet's
1:58.5	most recognizable and appreciated epidemiologists.
2:02.9	Jessica started her career at a nonprofit teaching best public health practices,
	...

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