Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is an epidemiologist, data scientist, and one of America's most influential science communicators. She founded Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) in March 2020 as a few sentences to update her UT Health students about COVID-19 - and somehow that turned into a 365,000-subscriber newsletter reaching people in 133 countries with over 500 million total views. Named a TIME100 Most Influential Person in Health, she translates complex public health science into actionable insights twice a week, covering everything from vaccines and bird flu to gun violence and federal health policy. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, consults with the CDC, and serves as an adjunct professor at Yale School of Public Health - all while raising two daughters and having visited 50+ countries.
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. is a staff science writer at The Atlantic and one of the most respected science journalists working today. A former Harvard bacteriologist turned acclaimed writer, she translates complex biology - from pandemic viruses to the sex lives of deep-sea creatures - into stories that are simultaneously rigorous and riveting. Winner of the 2024 Kovler Prize and the 2022 Schmidt Award for Science Communication, she has reported for The New York Times, National Geographic, and Smithsonian, and holds a PhD in Microbiology and Immunobiology from Harvard. She writes the newsletter The Pivot, covering science and health.