In this episode of “To Health and Back,” we’ll hear from Pat Thomas — a journalist and the author of “Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine” — to evaluate the politicization of the HIV epidemic and the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has been similarly politicized.

In this episode of “To Health and Back,” we’ll hear from Dr. René F. Najera — an epidemiologist and editor of the History of Vaccines site, an online project by the College of Physicians of Philadelphia — to see explore the history of vaccines and vaccine skepticism, and how that same skepticism exists today.

In this episode of “To Health and Back,” we’ll hear from Rachel Priest, the content editor at The Bitter Southerner, to hear about her personal experiences with xenophobia as a transracial adoptee. 

NOTE TO LISTENERS: This conversation was recorded 2 days before the Atlanta spa shootings on March 16, 2021.

In this episode of “To Health and Back,” we’ll hear from Dr. Alexandre White, an assistant professor of sociology and history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, to see how past instances of xenophobia (including in policy) are reminiscent of the racism and discrimination toward Asian Americans in the U.S. today. 

In this episode of "To Health and Back," we'll hear from Dr. J. Alexander Navarro, the assistant director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan, to see what mask-wearing looked like during the 1918 influenza pandemic. 

In this episode of "To Health and Back," we'll talk to Dr. Nan McMurry, historian and head of collection development at the University of Georgia libraries, to see what lessons we can take from early outbreaks. 

Here's a sneak peek of what's in store for Season 1 of To Health and Back.