Tista S. Ghosh is an internal medicine physician and epidemiologist.

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

Conditions
May 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, 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 …

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

The time for preventive health is now

Physician
August 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

The disparity no one talks about: COVID vaccines and men

Conditions
May 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, …

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The disparity no one talks about: COVID vaccines and men

Knowledge is power: Why science and health literacy matters

Physician
January 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 …

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Knowledge is power: Why science and health literacy matters

What this medical epidemiologist learned from prior pandemic vaccination efforts

Physician
December 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 …

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What this medical epidemiologist learned from prior pandemic vaccination efforts

Perceptions of risk and coronavirus: thoughts of an epidemiologist

Conditions
August 7, 2020

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 …

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Perceptions of risk and coronavirus: thoughts of an epidemiologist

Physician suicide is an occupational health crisis

Physician
February 11, 2019

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 …

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Physician suicide is an occupational health crisis