Uncategorized

The American Rescue Plan Act goes into effect April 1st, 2021, and it makes some big changes to health insurance access for people in the United States. These changes make medical insurance less expensive and easier to get. There are also big changes to COBRA plan pricing (big!), flexible spending accounts, and paid sick time. Read more…

ICYMI: Those Nerdy Girls were recently profiled in National Geographic Magazine! Some highlights: “It’s like Grey’s Anatomy, Sex in the City, Friends, The Crown—name your favorite show. That’s me and the Nerdy Girls on Saturday,” she says. ~Susan Guariano, a Newark, Delaware, resident, tunes in every week (to FB live Q&As). “In a world where Read more…

This week in Meet Those Nerdy Girls, we’re delighted to introduce Dr. Michelle Kinder, PhD. Dr. Kinder is a PhD-trained immunologist working in industry, where she studies immunology and cancer drug therapies. 🧪 She volunteered to join the Dear Pandemic team last August! We need to tell you right up front that what Dr. Kinder Read more…

It’s been a heck of a year. For us all. For me, for all of you readers, and for the whole Dear Pandemic team. A year ago, I never could have anticipated where this would end up. The ol’ Magic 8-Ball doesn’t have a response that says “29-woman strong mostly volunteer team fighting the #infodemic Read more…

This week in Meet the Nerdy Girls, we’re delighted to introduce our readers to Dr. Sarah Coles, MD. Dr. Coles is a board-certified family physician practicing in both hospital and outpatient settings in Phoenix, Arizona. She sees patients in every stage of life, for any concern. She came to Dear Pandemic’s team as a 1-month Read more…

We’re so pleased to be introducing the Nerdy Girl who holds it all together, the heart of our scrappy little band of volunteers: Gretchen Peterson. Before joining the Nerdy Girls, Gretchen Peterson had a long and successful career as a middle school teacher. 👩‍🏫 “Until May of 2020, I taught technology and entrepreneurial classes to Read more…

A special message from the author of Your Local Epidemiologist, Dr. Katelyn Jetelina. She has personally asked Dear Pandemic to post this, and it’s also available on her blog (which has NOT been hijacked, and you should go check it out! THE SHOW MUST GO ON. As many of you already know, last Thursday there Read more…

Time to meet another Nerdy Girl! Introducing Dr. Shoshana Aronowitz, PhD, FNP-BC, MSN, RN. Dr. Aronowitz is a researcher and clinician studying low-barrier substance use treatment, innovative delivery of harm reduction supplies, racial disparities in pain treatment in the context of the overdose crisis, the intersection of criminal justice and healthcare, and reproductive/sexual health. Here Read more…

This week in Meet the Nerdy Girls, we’re delighted to introduce Dr. Amanda Simanek, PhD, MPH! Dr. Simanek is a social epidemiologist who studies the psychosocial determinants of infectious disease, links between infection and chronic disease, and the pathways by which social inequities in health occur across the lifecourse and across generations. We asked her Read more…