By the time of this recording, the COVID-19 pandemic has been raging on for just over a year. Although the arrival of effective vaccinations signals that we are headed towards the end of this unprecedented moment, we are likely only beginning to grapple with the ways in which the virus has fundamentally altered our society.

One place where fallout from COVID-19 is already being actualized is academia. From stories on the ground, this pandemic has created a set of previously unimaginable challenges for scholars across the board—but particularly for assistant professors, post-docs, and graduate students of color. In this episode of Sick Individuals/Sick Populations, we welcome Sandte Stanley, Dr. Zelma Oyarvide Tuthill, and Kevin Martinez-Folgar to share their experiences in navigating the pandemic as early career scholars. We chat about how COVID has impacted our guests’ professional goals; discuss what type of support we would like to see our academic institutions develop in to help scholars navigate the uncertainty of a post-COVID world; and chat about how the “dual pandemics” of racial violence and COVID-19 have coalesced to impact our guests’ work and personal well-being.

This episode is sponsored by the Student Committee of IAPHS.

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Whether covering your face during a pandemic or developing policies that create equitable access to health promoting resources and healthcare, politics are involved. As we consider population level policies and practices capable improving the health and well-being of people around the globe, one of the biggest barriers is not funding. It’s political will. Unfortunately, it seems that our current political climate is toxic. We were fortunate to talk to Dr. Nadia Brown, Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies at Purdue University, to help us understand our nation’s current political moment. Dr. Brown’s current book, Sister Style, published by Oxford University Press, was just recently released. Listeners may enter (ASFLYQ6) for a 30% discount on the book.

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At this stage of the pandemic, the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine is absolutely critical if we seek to return to any semblance of normalcy in the foreseeable future. Despite the development of multiple, highly effective vaccines, we have all been frustrated with the slow rollout as well as the inequitable dissemination of the vaccine to date. For this episode, we were very fortunate to be joined by Dr. Mati Htlatswayo Davis, an infectious disease specialist at Washington University and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System in St. Louis. Htlatswayo Davis has regularly interacts with patients and discusses the vaccine and considers the broad population health implications of the current pandemic and how we can get more people vaccinated.

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