That Space Still Belongs to Us
When vaccine misinformation comes from the highest levels of government, the work of building trust with our patients matters more than ever.
BK.’s Substack
My personal Substack
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Latest episodes
We've Seen This Ebola Story Before, We Cannot Afford to Repeat It
How delayed detection, conflict, funding gaps, and fading global attention allowed the largest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's history to outpace the response
Football, Fever, and the 2026 World Cup
Football shaped some of my earliest memories. Infectious diseases shape how I experience mass gatherings now.
What We Owe Each Other: Ebola, Borders, and the Politics of Shared Humanity
As Ebola resurfaces, familiar patterns of fear, exclusion, and selective compassion return with it
The Things We Carry After a Pandemic
How pandemic trauma reshaped the way we think about infectious threats
Why Militaries Vaccinate
History has already answered the question of what happens when they stop.
The Girls We Ironed Flat
"A Practice Intended to 'Protect' Girls May Now Be Killing Them"
Reflections on Smallpox and Disease Eradication in an Age of Individualism
"Public health might be the greatest measure of kindness, the greatest measure of how to treat each other." - William Foege
Lipstick on a Pig: Why the Amended Hepatitis B Birth-Dose Trial in Guinea Bissau Remains Ethically Indefensible
How Scrutiny and African Leadership are Changing the Conversation
How I Experienced This Year
Living through 2025 as a Physician, Scientist and Advocate
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
An ID Doctor’s Guide to Surviving Holiday Potlucks Food Poisoning Free
Because nothing says “festive” like avoiding an impromptu Norovirus outbreak.
Why We Still Need a Cytomegalovirus Vaccine, And Why It’s So Hard to Make One
Half a century of effort, billions spent, and one persistent virus: why protecting babies from CMV is harder than it looks
The Hepatitis B Vaccine: Why the Birth Dose Matters and Why We Must Defend It
Defending science, saving newborn lives, and keeping the world on track to end Hepatitis B
What Becomes of the CDC Now?
From shaping global health policy to guiding my own path in medicine, the CDC’s legacy is too important to abandon.
When the System Won’t Show Up for Public Health, We Must
Standing between our patients and a system unraveling in real time
Habemus Papam: But What’s His Stance on Condoms?
As an infectious diseases doctor, I can’t help but wonder what Pope Leo thinks about latex
Africa’s Outbreak Response Is the Global Standard Now
From outbreak containment to clinical innovation, African nations are setting new global standards for success
What Happens When the FDA Stops Testing Your Milk?
You shouldn’t have to think twice about whether your milk is safe. But after the FDA quietly suspended its quality control testing program, maybe we all should.
This Is How I Keep Showing Up
A infectious diseases physician’s reflections on trust, defiance, and public health in a time of outrage