Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist: Death threats and thick skin are “part of this gig.”

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina joins us at the fifth anniversary of the newsletter she has spearheaded,Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE). “An incredibly wild ride,” YLE reaches 370,000 subscribers, while social media accounts reach 700,000. To cross the political divide, we need to listen more, be more selective in the choice of words. The YLE operation now includes a team of 15 managing the newsletter, podcasts, speaking engagements, and social media—and trusted messengers. She’s joined Dean Megan Ranney at the Yale School of Public Health focused on social listening and upgrading communications. Two months plus into the Trump second term, have we rebounded back to mistakes and abuses allegedly committed during Covid-19? It has become a “proxy war” of multiple societal battles and “pandemic revisionism.” Is there a path out of this widening polarization? Perhaps, but “we’re going to have to move backward in order to move forward.” Secretary RFK Jr.’s ideas on chronic diseases are promising; it remains to be seen how far he can go, and how progress there measures up against what damage is imposed on vaccines. Her biggest worry? Erosion of the public health workforce.