This show is hosted by disease ecologists and epidemiologists Erin Welsh, PhD, (who studies tick-borne disease transmission in wildlife populations) and Erin Allmann Updyke, PhD, (who is currently working her way through medical school).
Its first full-length episode was released on October 31, 2017. New episodes were released weekly until the second season, when they switched to every two weeks.
The format of the show includes an interview with a guest who has the disease being highlighted in the episode followed by “Quarantini time,” where the hosts lighten things up by honoring a person who has contributed to advancing knowledge of or treatment of that disease by naming a drink after him or her. Here, listeners learn more about the historical figures who make up the science community.
Then, it wraps up with the biology of it all, as the “Erins” break the diseases down into more digestible terms, so the average listener can gain a better understanding of the disease as well as how it affects the biology of the body.
This podcast is worthy of four stars for many reasons. Complex medical diseases are often difficult topics to understand from the biological perspective, unless of course you are a biologist. By introducing each episode with guest interview of someone who has the disease, it not only puts things into perspective for listeners, but it also ‘humanizes’ it.
April 2022 Issue
