Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Erin Welsh and Erin Allman Updike host a listener Q&A episode covering their podcasting process, personal backgrounds, scientific training, disease ecology, vaccine hesitancy, climate change, and career advice in epidemiology/public health. The conversation blends humor and practical guidance, emphasizing interdisciplinary science, the complexity of infectious disease, and the realities of grad school and research burnout.
Main Topics: Podcast format, quarantine drinks, and how episodes are made: The hosts explain how they invent quarantini drinks, sometimes starting from a name or using ingredients already on hand, and describe their remote recording workflow using Skype, separate audio tracks, and audio editing software. Academic backgrounds and paths into epidemiology/disease ecology: They summarize their educational trajectories and how they moved into epidemiology, ecology, parasitology, entomology, and disease ecology through classes, research experiences, and mentorship. Science, humanities, and interdisciplinary collaboration: They argue that humanities and social sciences are crucial for medicine and epidemiology because they humanize disease, improve communication, and create more complete explanations of health problems. Advice on careers, grad school, and burnout: They answer questions about epidemiology careers, choosing a PhD program, time management, and burnout, stressing advisor quality, funding, mental health, and realistic expectations. How infectious diseases work: They discuss reservoirs, contagious periods, immunity, strains, antibiotics, and how individual variation affects disease outcomes and vaccine responses. Public health controversy and communication: They address how to talk to anti-vax or vaccine-hesitant people without escalating conflict, recommending patience, validation, and finding better intermediaries when direct discussion won’t work. Favorite diseases, books, and the scariest pathogen: They identify favorite pathogens and books, then conclude influenza is the disease they fear most because of its rapid mutation, broad host range, airborne spread, and pandemic potential.
Key Arguments: Quarantinis are designed pragmatically and creatively, often using whatever ingredients are available, with simple syrups and bitters offering affordable versatility. Interdisciplinary work matters because humanities and social sciences add perspectives that biology alone cannot provide, especially in epidemiology and medicine. Remote podcasting works best when each host records separately and tracks are aligned later, improving sound quality despite being less personal than in-person recording. The hosts intentionally know very little about each other’s episode topics before recording so they can learn together and keep the conversation natural. Career paths in epidemiology/public health are broad; people should identify what aspect of the field excites them, then match education and training to that goal. A PhD advisor and departmental culture can make or break the graduate experience; students should investigate mentorship, peer feedback, funding, and atmosphere before committing. Burnout is real and is worsened by academia’s culture of constant comparison, so personal time, support networks, and boundaries are essential. Infectious diseases can remain symptomatic but non-contagious when symptoms are driven by the immune response rather than active shedding, though this varies by pathogen. Influenza is singled out as especially dangerous because of rapid mutation, reassortment, broad host range, airborne transmission, and ability to spread before symptoms appear.
Data Points: Listener questions received: hundreds - The hosts say they received hundreds of listener questions for the Q&A episode. Remote recording locations: 2 - They record from two different locations, with one host in Finland and the other in Illinois. Age of guest questioners: 9 and 6 - A note from nine-year-old Autumn with help from six-year-old Reed is read on air. Hosts' ages: 31 and 32 - They state their current ages while answering the childhood question. Duration of PhD training: 4 to 7 years - They note that a PhD can take anywhere from four to seven years depending on the field. Fieldwork frequency: every week - One host describes collecting ticks across the Panama Isthmus every week during fieldwork. Risk factor comparison: urban to rural gradient - One host describes research on Chagas disease risk across an urban-to-rural gradient. Immune variation: not a single gene - They explain that susceptibility and vaccine response vary due to multifactorial immune differences, not one controlling gene. Time commitment to podcast: at least one full weekend day + 4 or 5 weeknights - They describe the workload required to produce the podcast alongside full-time academic work. Flu transmission timing: before symptoms - They explain that influenza can be shed heavily before a person begins showing symptoms. Aspirational host-to-host parasite cycle: multiple hosts - They describe schistosomiasis as an especially complex multi-host life cycle worth observing up close.
Pivotal Quotes: "yelling at people has pretty much never solved anything ever" — Erin Allman Updike: Advice on talking with anti-vax or vaccine-hesitant friends and family. "No one knows your research better than you do." — Their advisor (quoted by the hosts): Advice used to calm nerves during dissertation defense and scientific presentations. "Influenza. 100%. Yes. Influenza." — Both hosts: Their answer to the question asking which disease they fear most.
Implications: Listeners get a candid look at how disease scientists think, work, and communicate. The episode normalizes interdisciplinary training, highlights the complexity of public health careers, and reinforces that disease understanding is as much about people, systems, and communication as biology.