Hi folks, we are so glad that you're listening to Our Body Politics. If you have time,

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Thank you. This is our body politic. I'm Varai Chidea. More than two years after the first

COVID lockdowns, the urge to claim victory over the virus is strong. And yet public health experts

warn we are not out of the woods. That feeling

of not being out of the woods and not knowing what comes next is especially familiar to the millions

of Americans living with long COVID symptoms. Roughly one in 10 people who contract COVID will

develop long-term symptoms. That's according to a study released last month

by the CDC. Science educator and molecular biologist Dr. Raven Baxter, known as Dr. Raven, the science

maven, has long COVID, and she's used her powerful social media feed to chart her journey.

She has gotten many accolades for her work, including being a recent Forbes 30

under 30 honoree. And she's long been working to make STEM fields more inclusive, telling future

scientists that no matter what their race, gender, or cultural background, they are needed.

At a time when long COVID has been draining her energy, Dr. Raven generously shared her time to

talk with us about her work and her health journey and give some perspective to other people

facing long COVID themselves. Dr. Raven, I am so thrilled to have you on. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me. I have just really admired how you have

been evolving on the Twitters. And we're going to get to your specific health journey, which is

a lot of what you've been tweeting about. But, you know, your work as a science communicator has

garnered you over 100,000 followers on Twitter. You are making

moves. So can you just give us a little bit of a taste of your background in the sciences?

...