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From NPR.

Today, we are immersing ourselves in a microbe rich environment, one that is utterly unique

to each individual, yet found among half the people on this planet.

I'm talking about the vagina, specifically the microorganisms that live there.

It's a unique environment compared to the gut at least.

This is Fatima Isha Hussein, a postdoctoral research scientist at the Reagan Institute

of MGH, MIT, and Harvard.

Fatima has been officially studying the vaginal microbiome since 2020, but she's been an

advocate of vaginas for years.

I've definitely been obsessing over vaginas for a while.

I started out setting environments on engineering and women's and gender studies in undergrad,

kind of more focusing on international development and drinking water sanitation.

And then I hopped over to microbiology and now I get to combine radical feminism with

microbiology in this really cool way.

Before studying the vaginal microbiome, Fatima researched microbes in the ocean.

So, I hope to use what I learned in how bacteria evolve in the ocean and apply it to understanding

how bacteria are evolving in the human vagina.

Both very important liquid environments and in studying the vagina, Fatima is focused

on helping people fighting a condition called bacterial vaginosis or BV. BV is an imbalance

of microbes in the vagina that can lead to poor health outcomes.

Preacher birth, HIV susceptibility, other STIs including HPV, which we know can lead to

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