by Katelyn Jetelina
Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is an epidemiologist and scientific communicator. Dr. Jetelina is the founder and CEO of Your Local Epidemiologist- a public health newsletter that “translates” ever-evolving science to the public, reaching over 500 million views in over 133 countries. In addition, she is the co-founder of Healthier Together, an adjunct professor at Yale School of Public Health, and former Senior Advisor to the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Jetelina has received numerous national awards, including recently being named a TIME100 Most Influential Person in Health. She has her Masters of Public Health and PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Texas Health Science Center and an honorary doctorate from SUNY.
Last night I took to the streets of Texas. People poured out, cheering, dancing, honking, and waving Texas and American flags. I ran out with my public health friends and I just… cried.
This has been the most exhausting seven years for health in the United States in I think… ever. We have found ourselves riding an extreme pendulum through a magnetic storm. A pandemic followed by backlash followed by the absolute destruction of systems at a rate I didn’t even think possible. The result: 1.6 million people died from Covid-19; many people lost jobs and were traumatized for all types of reasons; then there were record-breaking cases of measles (and deaths), whooping cough, more hungry people, less Medicaid coverage (so more medical debt), less clean air, immense confusion, and less scientific discovery for things like cancer and heart disease. And people from all sides did not feel heard.
But last night, I saw a STEM wave. More U.S. scientists and physicians ran for state and federal office this cycle than ever before. And many won:
- A pediatrician in South Carolina
- A public health physician in Michigan
- A microbiologist in Georgia
- A nuclear engineer in Virginia
- A physician in Ohio
- An ER nurse in Wisconsin
- An environmental engineer in Iowa
- A mathematician in Illinois
- A physician in New Jersey
The United States said clearly: Health matters. Science matters. Integrity matters. Empathy matters. People matter.
But let’s not forget: change matters. Many of these candidates weren’t focused on defense or the status quo. And rightfully so. We cannot go back to 2019. We cannot go back to 2024. The health ecosystem was not working for people. It was built for another time and has failed everyone for years. We need an alternative path forward from the one we’ve been on for the past 20 years, and the one we’re on now.
This means it’s time for something bigger than repair. It’s not just about putting the pieces back together; it’s about reimagining what’s possible, and, quite frankly, what’s needed.
This will take a lot, but two things are top of mind:
- An all-hands-on-deck response. Creating a more responsive, transparent, accountable, inclusive system that listens and builds a healthy health ecosystem (not just a sick system) is a complex and complicated problem to fix. Fancy doctorate degrees alone won’t solve it. It will take community expertise and lived experience. It will take prioritization and savvy and strategy and innovation. It will take historical knowledge, but also new thinkers. It will take doing things differently. People from all walks of life will have to be at the table to solve it.
- This is going to take time. As an 8-year-old Texan said this morning: “Breaking is faster than making.” Last night was just the first inch. And things can and probably will still get worse. I give it 10 years for this ship to turn. But the important thing is that it is turning. Let’s make sure it goes forward instead of U-turning.
After every period of darkness is a period of light. I, for one, am ready.
Love, Your Local (former Texas) Epidemiologist
Yee haw!