Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

A physician, epidemiologist, award-winning health journalist, and author.

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About

Tista Ghosh is a physician, epidemiologist, award-winning health journalist, and author. She served as Colorado's chief medical officer, an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an appointee to the U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force. During the pandemic, she advised Fortune 500 companies on worker safety. She now focuses on worker health, including stress management and burnout prevention.

Her writing has appeared in Fast Company, Business Insider, Inc., HuffPost, and KevinMD, and her media appearances include Today, CNN, and NPR. In 2021, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine recognized her health journalism with its media excellence award. Her scientific publications are available on ResearchGate.

Her latest book, Before the Next Crisis (Columbia University Press), shares everyday Americans' pandemic experiences, exposing communication gaps and misunderstandings. These stories inspired her to found the Institute for Personal & Public Health Literacy (IPPHL), dedicated to translating health science into clear, trustworthy guidance that empowers people to make informed decisions. She shares updates on Instagram.

Books

Before the Next CrisisView book

Latest articles

Health policy

3 ways communities can ease the loneliness epidemic

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

October 3, 2026Oct 3, 2026

Imagine if we only treated lung cancer and never tackled smoking. Is that what we're doing with depression? We always ask people struggling with depression to reach out. But maybe we should also ask whether anyone is within reach. Every…

Imagine if we only treated lung cancer and never tackled smoking. Is that what we’re doing with depression? We always ask people struggling with depression to reach out. But maybe we should also ask whether anyone is within reach.

Every October, Depression Awareness Month urges us to recognize the symptoms and seek help. As a physician, I support that message. As a public health and preventive medicine practitioner, I also ask …

Conditions and diseases

Bird flu’s deadly return: Are we flying blind into the next pandemic?

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

May 29, 2025May 29, 2025

Scientists have known about bird flu (H5N1) for decades as a virus that primarily affects birds. Until suddenly, one day, it didn't. In March 2024, H5N1 showed up somewhere very unexpected—in dairy cows in Texas (and their milk). And then,…

Scientists have known about bird flu (H5N1) for decades as a virus that primarily affects birds. Until suddenly, one day, it didn’t. In March 2024, H5N1 showed up somewhere very unexpected—in dairy cows in Texas (and their milk). And then, the virus started jumping to other mammals—goats, domestic cats, and even dolphins—and to humans who interacted with these animals. While there was no evidence …

Physician voices

The time for preventive health is now

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

August 10, 2021Aug 10, 2021

As a public health physician and epidemiologist, I’ve learned a lot of lessons during this pandemic. But the importance of preventive health was probably the most striking. It became clear relatively early on, that countries with healthier populations, with fewer underlying conditions like obesity, were much more likely to weather the pandemic without high levels of hospitalization and death. Because when it came to coronavirus, regardless of age, a …

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The time for preventive health is now

Conditions and diseases

The disparity no one talks about: COVID vaccines and men

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

May 9, 2021May 9, 2021

As an epidemiologist and former public health official, I’ve noticed a lot of coverage in the news about COVID vaccine hesitancy issues in BIPOC communities, and I, like many other clinicians, am working hard to address those issues. But there is one demographic that I’ve seen very little discussion on – men. And with the news that vaccination rates are slowing in the U.S., and that, …

Physician voices

Knowledge is power: Why science and health literacy matters

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

January 6, 2021Jan 6, 2021

As a physician epidemiologist and former public health official, I’m constantly struck by the sheer amount of disinformation that spreads related to COVID-19. I’ll routinely encounter myths about how masks actually cause viral spread. Or I’ll be told that drinking alcohol or raw, unpasteurized milk combats the virus or that putting hot pepper in food wards off viral illnesses. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories about 5G networks …

Physician voices

What this medical epidemiologist learned from prior pandemic vaccination efforts

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

December 13, 2020Dec 13, 2020

It was the fall of 2009. I was a medical epidemiologist at the largest local health department in the state of Colorado, in charge of coordinating the area’s H1N1 pandemic vaccination efforts. The CDC was distributing vaccine to state and local health departments, and we were in turn responsible for getting it out to our citizens. It was a daunting task – we were exhausted from months of dealing with …

Conditions and diseases

Perceptions of risk and coronavirus: thoughts of an epidemiologist

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

August 7, 2020Aug 7, 20202

As a physician epidemiologist and former public health official, I find myself confused by people's perceptions of risk related to coronavirus, particularly as we struggle to reopen our economy amidst a surge of cases. I'll meet an older adult with…

As a physician epidemiologist and former public health official, I find myself confused by people’s perceptions of risk related to coronavirus, particularly as we struggle to reopen our economy amidst a surge of cases. I’ll meet an older adult with diabetes who could care less about distancing or masks, but then a healthy person in their 30’s too afraid to walk outside. I’ll encounter a mother who is too

…

Physician voices

Physician suicide is an occupational health crisis

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

February 11, 2019Feb 11, 20193

I barely remember walking out of the hospital that day. After a nearly 30-hour residency shift, I was in a bit of a daze. I trudged across the main parking lot, staring absently at the coffee-colored snow beneath my boots. I have no memory of reaching the crosswalk to the main road or even stepping on to it. What I do recall is the loud, startling screech of brakes.

“Did you …