An economist’s take on risk, COVID-19, and infectious diseases – An interview with Dr. Emily Oster

In episode 38 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, interviews Chris Stolarski, associate director of university communication at Marquette University, about his frightening experience with COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, and sharing his story to encourage others to get vaccinated. 

In episode 37 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, and Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, square off in a spirited draft of the top animal-related infections.

In episode 36 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, interviews Emily Oster, PhD, professor of economics at Brown University and author of several books assessing risk during pregnancy and raising kids, to discuss communicating risk to readers and precautions parents should take in the time of COVID-19.

In episode 35 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, is joined by Zeynep Tufekci, PhD, sociologist and associate professor at the University of North Carolina, to discuss the logic behind her prescient COVID-19 pandemic conclusions, and her use of op-eds in prominent news outlets to amplify her findings.

In episode 34 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, speaks with David Meltzer, MD, PhD, professor and chief of hospital medicine at the University of Chicago, about his research linking low vitamin D levels with COVID-19 susceptibility, the limitations of currently available data, and if vitamin D supplementation is wise.

In episode 33 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, speaks with Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, author and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, about being an evidence-based medicine proponent, the handling of COVID-19 in the U.S., and voicing his thoughts on social media.

In episode 32 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, invites University of Alabama Jim Straley Chair in AIDS Research Michael Saag, MD, to walk through his harrowing experience with COVID-19, offer a comparison between COVID-19 and HIV, and what gives him hope for the future.

  In a pre-pandemic OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, takes on Monica Mahoney, PharmD, clinical pharmacy coordinator of infectious diseases at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in a podcast draft. This time, the pair debates their top ID internet resources (COVID-19 excluded).  

  In episode 30 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, speaks with David Boulware, MD, MPH, about the large, double-blind, internet-based trial he and his team conducted finding hydroxychloroquine is no more effective at preventing COVID-19 infection than a placebo.  

In episode 29 of the OFID podcast, OFID Editor in Chief Paul Sax, MD, speaks candidly with Eric Bressman, MD, chief medical resident at Mt. Sinai Hospital, about confronting the onslaught of COVID-19 cases at Elmhurst Hospital, the disproportionate impact on the Queens community, and the toll on his colleagues and family.