Now, what exactly is an applied epidemiologist, and why are they needed? In the late 90s- early 2000's there were a series of articles in AJPH, AJE, JECH, and IJE dedicated to answering these questions. I'll focus on Stephen Thacker's review.
academic.oup.com/ije/article/30… He states, “The applied epidemiologist is by definition an activist, moving rapidly from findings to policy, putting epi knowledge to good use. The 21st century epi must do all these things while maintaining a foundation of high-quality epi research and practice.”

Before we get started on our applied epi journey, I want to give honor to a great epidemiologist. Today is the second anniversary of his death, Dr. Bill Jenkins. At one point, it was said that 50% of Black US epis could track their career back to him. I'm one of those. If Bill has had a positive impact on your career or life, I'd love to hear your #BecauseOfBill story.

let’s talk about covid stress.

even if you and your loved ones are healthy and you still have your job and your home, your stress, pain, sadness, frustration, etc. are legitimate! 1/
#epitwitter #BodnarTwitterTakeover this is not the Olympics of suffering, where only people with the worst situation get to be the ones who are in pain. we are ALL struggling (even if people seem like they have it together)! 2/

#epitwitter #BodnarTwitterTakeover i've had a few requests to tweet on 'How to Say No." lots of people have published smart pieces on this. doing a google or a twitter search on 'saying no in academia' will help! but i'm happy to share a few things and take any questions! 1/ first, i've gotten undeserved credit for the idea of establishing a No Committee. it was originally written about by Professor Vilna Bashi Treitler at Baruch College and CUNY. i started my own No Committee after someone pointed me to her blog years ago 2/
tinyurl.com/y242d4sj

let's talk about boundaries! (saying no)

@Doc_Courtney asked this great question to @ProfMattFox and me after this week's @ShinyEpiPeople episode on kindness.

to me, questions about balancing kindness and your own work are about setting boundaries. 1/

https://twitter.com/Doc_Courtney/status/1308060596949020672

Anne Katherine has a couple of great books on setting boundaries. the quotes here are from her book Where to Draw the Line:
'A boundary is a limit. By the limits you set, you protect the integrity of your day, your energy and spirit, the health of your relationships,...' cont. 2/

Last century saw two very deadly pandemics the #GreatInfluenza of 1918 and #HIV. Is there anything we can learn from these about the future of #COVID19? The obviously parallel is the 1918 pandemic, a respiratory pathogen, though flu and #COVID19 have a lot of differences (1/5) The #1918Pandemic tells us not to be overconfident after a receding summer wave. Pandemic flu often has a summer wave, followed by a big resurgence in the fall/winter. Is #COVID19 as seasonal as the flu? We don't know, but don't get too comfortable. (2/5) researchgate.net/figure/fig2_56…

John Snow's #cholera investigation is one of the founding stories of #epidemiology, and cholera was one of the first infectious disease for which we proved a cause. But over 150 years later cholera still kills over 100,000 people a year. (1/4)
gtfcc.org/about-cholera/ We know what causes cholera. We know how it spreads. Supportive therapy can reduce death rates to almost zero. We have an effective vaccine. We know that adequate water and sanitation virtually eliminates the disease. SO WHY IS ANYONE DYING? (2/4)

#COVID19 has been moving up the charts in terms of deaths. But how does it compare with the big three infectious killers: #HIV #TB and #Malaria? Mortality is a tricky think to estimate, and I will be using numbers from this paper:
thelancet.com/journals/lance… According to @JHUSystems there have been around 815,000 #COVID19 deaths reported globally so far. This means #COVID19 has already passed #Malaria's 2017 total (619,000). However, malaria isn't everywhere and where there is malaria, it probably kills more people than COVID-19.

Today's theme is "breath."

Breathing is an essential autonomic function necessary for life. Yet, by definition, we often don't even think about breathing until we have a problem doing it, or mindfully observe it. For those of us with asthma (like me @zinzinator -- your SER Twitter guide for the week), breath is always on our minds. It's scary to think about taking a walk outside without the backup of this bad boy.

This makes a simple foray into nature formidable for a great deal of us.

Before I wrap up for the day: I hope my tweets have highlighted not just the massive impact of #COVID19 on Indigenous communities, but the need for more #nativeepi professionals in the field. #TaliaTwitterTakeover #epitwitter I finished my PhD in 2017 (Yay me! Thanks @JohnsHopkinsSPH/@JohnsHopkinsEPI/@JHIDDynamics!) We all know that deserves its own tweet. Below is me walking to receive my diploma.

In addition to protecting the health of their people, there is a lot of cultural and language knowledge at risk of being lost. I think it's important to highlight some examples of how different tribes are fighting #COVID19 #TaliaTwitterTakeover #nativeepi Many Indigenous Elders are the only remaining fluent speakers of their language, and protectors of religious and cultural/medicinal knowledge and practices. Losing Elders to #COVID19 has a lot of cultural implications! economist.com/united-states/…

To get public data for individual tribes, journalists like @jourdanbb have cold-called tribal leaders and health practitioners from different tribal communities. I and others have also scraped data from PDFs posted on Facebook. #TaliaTwitterTakeover #Nativeepi Side note: Facebook can be an easier/faster way to disseminate information to tribal members. More people have cellphones to access the app for their communities' #COVID19 information. This is really useful when internet access within the home is limited or unavailable.

Hi! I’m Dr. Talia Quandelacy. I’m excited to take over @societyforepi’s twitter today to talk about #COVID19's impact on Indigenous communities. I hope you’ll follow along, and follow me @NMRelleno for more research/ memes! #epitwitter #nativeepi #TaliaTwitterTakeover A bit about me: I’m an ID epidemiologist studying influenza, other respiratory viruses (incl. coronavirus), and vector-borne diseases (e.g., dengue, Zika). I’m an incoming Asst. Prof. at @ColoradoSPH + a grad of @JohnsHopkinsSPH, @HarvardHSPH, @EmoryRollins, @TuftsUniversity

Replying to @societyforepi
#SERiousEpi Journal Club #SERweek2020
Discussing controversial ideas presented in Win-Win: Reconciling Social Epidemiology and Causal Inference: doi.org/10.1093/aje/kw… by@sandrogalea & @_MiguelHernan COVID-19 and other inequities have further highlighted the need for social epi

Today's #SERiousEpi journal club is kicking off with a brief overview of a recent paper by @_MiguelHernan and @sandrogalea on social epidemiology and causal inference. In that paper, the authors identify 3 misconceptions:
*that social exposures are somehow qualitatively different than other exposures
*that the primary goal of causal inference is to identify causes
*that causal inference requires manipulation of causes.

Starting now: open session with the SER Diversity and Inclusion Committee to listen, talk, support one another, and be heard as members of the SER community in the light of recent events. us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regist… This session will be an open discussion on the topic of racism, how it effects us as scientists, and what steps we can take to move forward. Interested in being more involved in the Diversity and Inclusion Committee? Just check "D&I" on your membership renewal form!

Happening NOW - the first day of #SERweek2020 closing out with SER in the Moment: A Community-Wide Conversation with @oacarah @YYandtd @MarthaWerler and Sherman James.

https://twitter.com/societyforepi/status/1272525516621246464

Sherman James defines overlapping pandemic-related and endemic stressors faced by African American individuals:
1) COVID-19 (disproportionate deaths)
2) Economic collapse (increased unempl, loss of small businesses)
3) Systemic anti-black racism by police / vigilante killings

#SERweek2020 @casualinfer podcast being recorded LIVE NOW! @LucyStats @EpiEllie @AmJEpi Great discussion about propensity score trimming and how we need to carefully interpret results. Trimming can change who is in the population.

Some weekend reading to get ready for #SERiousEpi journal club 6/19 #SERweek2020 @AmJEpi @ProfMattFox @haileybanack @oacarah John Jackson @sandrogalea @_MiguelHernan #epitwitter

see below... The background editorial: Let’s Be Causally Social @eschisterman1 @AmJEpi academic.oup.com/aje/article/18…

Dr. Sherman James has made the case for decades that #RacismIsAPublicHealthCrisis. Listen to his story on the #podcast Social Distance @TheAtlantic. #epitwitter theatlantic.com/health/archive… 1/n Epidemiologist Dr. James tells his story about how he got started in public health trying to understand why racial differences existed for so many health outcomes, to the great detriment of the black population. sanford.duke.edu/people/faculty… 2/n

Be sure to join us for #SERweek2020!

Check out the schedule and message from SER President @MarthaWerler here bit.ly/2S2twGC!

Events are planned each day next week – be sure to register! More info below on each event! #epitwitter

1/n Monday 6/15 @ 11 am EDT: LIVE @casualinfer Podcast recording with @LucyStats & @EpiEllie – partnered with @AmJEpi! This episode will discuss causal claims relating to current #COVID19 crisis and take your questions. 2/n