Thread by @WhitneyEpi

🧵1/ A pre-pandemic story

In 2019, I was on a planning committee for a scientific conference. One of our duties was a “hot topics” session — a hard task when you’re planning a year in advance

We were trying to predict, What will be relevant & topical in epidemiology in 2020?

https://twitter.com/alivelshi/status/1449767698540400651

🧵2/ I suggested vaccine hesitancy as a topic

It was likely top of mind bc I had a new baby in 2019. I was active on Mom Facebook & other US-based social spaces focusing on motherhood

🧵4/ And let me tell you, in these groups, childhood vaccination was a third rail topic

Some groups ended up just banning discussions of vaccination altogether

🧵5/ It would be hard to describe how intense & volatile the conversations were - *if* we hadn’t just lived through a year of intense & volatile conversations about public health issues

But you did live through 2020 (I’m so glad!), so you get the idea

🧵6/ The leader of the planning group, a man who’s at least a decade older than me (an extremely smart scientist whom I respect a great deal), was dismissive towards my suggestion

He reminded me, condescendingly, that we were looking for topical, hot-button issues 🙄

🧵7/ I was dogged (and annoyed) enough that I pushed the point and sent him articles like one, about the alarming measles outbreak in spring 2019 in NYC, due in part to increasing vaccine skepticism in some communities nytimes.com/2019/04/03/hea…

🧵8/ I think about this exchange often when I think about the importance of a diverse and inclusive scientific workforce

The leader of that planning group is brilliant, but he’s not all-knowing. No one is.

🧵9/ People ask,

Why does it matter if vaccine scientists <or insert other field> are all older White men?

If they are smart and productive scientists, why does it matter?

🧵10/ It matters because new ideas don’t come out of thin air. They come from making novel connections from other domains or from life experience to the work at hand

They can come from having a new mom, deep in Mom Facebook, on your planning committee

🧵11/ Oh, and there was another great idea from another youngish woman on the committee: Lyme disease, etc.
Leader was also initially dismissive

I laugh now thinking of how topical a session on infection-involved chronic diseases would have been! #LongCOVID

🧵12/ To his credit, @NIHDirector Francis Collins has pushed for more diversity in scientific workforce recently & NIH internal researchers produce some of best science on this topic

We can do better science & avoid being caught off guard by foreseeable challenges

HT @EpiEllie