By definition, cancer is “Something evil or malignant that spreads destructively”, or “A malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth.” Merely hearing the word ‘cancer’ triggers an ominous feeling in nearly every person I’ve met. When I hear the word cancer, I think of tendrils of darkness creeping across a verdant landscape. Everything that each tendril touches contorts, hardens, and withers, becoming a wisp of its former …
The greatest risk factor
Throughout recorded human history, millions of people have died from infectious diseases like tuberculosis, mumps, and measles. In many parts of the world, they still do. Public health scientists aim to improve human health by identifying risk factors for disease and setting up systems to reduce those risks. To achieve this, they study everything from systemic problems like unclean air and …
An uncomfortable pause
Main photo from michaelnewnham.com Over the holidays, I was walking on the beach in California with my dad and brothers. As the Boehnke clan ambled across the beach, we ruminated about the public health implications of various scientific discoveries and policies, including the malaria vaccine, HIV vaccine, water quality improvements, and antibiotics (yes, I have a really, really exciting family). …
A bacterium with many hats
Since I tend to be a one trick pony and like to tie my blog topics back to my current interests, I’m going to write about Helicobacter pylori, the bacterial species that I am studying. H. pylori is fascinating to me because it’s a big intellectual puzzle; we haven’t determined specifically how it’s transmitted between humans, whether it’s an important gut microbe …