Podcast appearances and mentions of Tara C Smith

Dr. Tara C. Smith is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at Kent State University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa. She works with bacteria that can be transferred between animals and people, and she often studies antibiotic-resistant bacteria. When not working, Tara spends a lot of time with her family, and is often driving her kids to their sports, music, and other activities. She received her PhD in Microbiology from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Afterward, Tara served on the faculty at the University of Iowa for about nine years before joining the faculty at Kent State. In this interview, Tara shared more about her journey through life and science.

Dr. Tara C. Smith is a gem. It's that simple. She's a gem.  Her CV is not so simple. It's stacked. Tara has a Bachelors in Biology from Yale, a PhD in Microbiology from University of Toledo, post-doc training in molecular epidemiology at University of Michigan. She was an Associate Professor at University of Iowa and the director of its College of Public Health's Center for Emerging Infectious Disease. For the past 9 years she's been a Professor in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. With all of the pedigree and accolades, peer-reviewed journal articles and academic appointments, Tara spends much of her time on science communication, science literacy and overcoming vaccine hesitancy for the masses. She is very active in science communication and outreach. She has maintained a science blog since 2015, and has written books on Group A and B Streptococcus, and Ebola. A second book on Ebola was published by MIT Press in 2016. She also writes about infectious disease for several national sites, pens a column for SELF.com, and serves as a member of the advisory board of the Zombie Research Society. This woman is incredibly smart, forward thinking and a relentless advocate for science literacy. 

You're listening to Lingo Phoenix's word of the day for September 18. Cheeseburger Day Today's word is reason, spelled r-e-a-s-o-n. reason /ˈriːzən/ ●○○ verb [transitive] to form a particular judgment about a situation after carefully considering the facts Newton reasoned (that) there must be a force such as gravity He reasoned that both statements couldn't be true. She reasoned that something must be wrong. They reasoned that other businesses would soon copy the idea. reason with phrasal verb to talk with (someone) in a sensible way in order to try to change that person's thoughts or behavior They tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. I tried to reason with her. Kids should talk to their parents and try to reason with them. — Tara C. Smith, SELF, 12 Aug. 2021 With your word of the day, I'm Mohammad Golpayegani. We love feedback. If you want to email us, our address is podcast@lingophoenix.com, or you can find me directly on Twitter and message me there. My handle is @MoeGolpayegani. Thanks for listening, stay safe, and we'll see you back here next Saturday with a new word.

Variants. They're all over the news. We push beyond the headlines and answer everything you want to know about COVID variants. Tara C. Smith, Angela Rasmussen and Mary Jo Ondrechen join Meghna Chakrabarti.

Podcast: On Point (LS 65 · TOP 0.1% what is this?)Episode: From Variants To Vaccines: The Future Of COVID-19Pub date: 2021-02-23Vaccine distribution, across the U.S. and the globe, is ramping up. But new variant cases are rising in the United States, waits for the vaccine are long, and most of us just want to know -- how will this pandemic end? Tara C. Smith, Angela Rasmussen and Ananya Banerjee join Kimberly Atkins. The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WBUR, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

A new report considers evidence that possibly suggests the coronavirus was circulating outside of China as early as late last year. We talk to epidemiologists about how that changes what we know about the virus. Bill Hanage, Tara C. Smith and Angela Rasmussen join Meghna Chakrabarti.

Reading the forecast models that track and predict the spread of the coronavirus can feel like a glimpse into the future. And epidemiologists – the scientists behind these models – have suddenly become the most important figures in this fight. Dr. Tara Smith, an epidemiologist and professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health, talks with Steven about what most people misunderstand about these models, whether there’s an end in sight for social distancing, and why the public health sector is our “invisible shield.”For more stories about challenges and triumphs of science and technology, hosted by Steven Johnson, listen and subscribe to Wondery’s American Innovations at https://wondery.com/shows/american-innovations/.Follow Dr. Tara C. Smith at https://twitter.com/aetiology.

Tara C. Smith has studied infectious diseases for twenty years in the U.S. and other countries around the globe. She currently leads the Smith Emerging Infections Laboratory at Kent State University which focuses on the transmission and evolution of zoonotic pathogens. She joins Nate on this episode to talk about a topic that's making everyone nervous - the coronavirus. Learn more about Tara and her work: http://www.taracsmith.com/

Tara C. Smith discusses her work uncovering ties between agriculture and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Her studies have found MRSA on and around pig farms, on animal handlers, and even in packaged meat in the grocery store. She also talks about using zombies as an allegory for infectious disease outbreak preparedness. Links for this episode Tara C. Smith website Aetiology Blog on Science Blogs Network Outbreak News Interview with Smith on her work communicating the science around vaccines and fighting anti-vaccine sentiments. Smith’s collected writings on Ebola and emerging infectious diseases Zombie Infections: Epidemiology, Treatment, and Prevention in the British Medical Journal History of Microbiology tidbit: Thomas Jukes’ 1968 Letter to the British Medical Journal and 1997 Recollections in Protein Science. Julie’s biggest takeaways: MRSA transitioned from primarily hospital-acquired to community-acquired infections in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, MRSA strains associated with livestock farming emerged in Europe. Smith’s group was the first to identify agriculture-associated MRSA strains in the United States. Tara found MRSA on the very first farm in which she and her colleagues looked for MRSA. The MRSA strain ST398 appears to have originated in people as MSSA then moved to livestock, where the strain acquired some antibiotic resistance related genes. This is because zoonotic diseases are a two-way street and microbes can pass from people to animals, as well as passed from animals to people. Many factors may contribute to MRSA contamination of consumer meat products: for one, MRSA in farms is aerosolized and the same may be true in meat processing facilities. People can also be colonized and spread from workers to products. It’s likely a mixture of strains from farms and strains from people working in the packing plants. Farms that raise animals without antibiotics were not positive for MRSA. Processing these animals at plants where conventional animals are raised creates potential for cross-contamination, however. Prophylactic and treatment applications of antibiotics are still allowed for livestock, but antibiotics used for growth promotion purposes were phased out in January 2017. Featured quotes: “I was in Iowa, the #1 pig-producing state. We started looking for MRSA + found them on the very 1st farm we sampled” “When we think of zoonotic diseases, usually we think of microbes that come from animals to people, but there can be bidirectional transmission. It’s definitely not just a one-way street “That it doesn’t cause disease in pigs made S. aureus invisible to people studying its epidemiology for quite a while” “Our biohazard people probably hated us because we had pounds and pounds of meat products we were checking” for MRSA "S. aureus is definitely not the only one - there’s lots of bacteria that are affected by use of antibiotics on farms” “Everything zombies now is a virus!” 

An anti-vaccine sentiment is alive and well in the US and abroad. This is not a new phenomena, but it has seen a resurgence in the past 20 odd years. What are the arguments, who are the cast of characters and how can become more active in promoting vaccination to friends, family, and the public at large? Associate Professor at the Kent State University College of Public Health and author of the recently published paper in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Rejection and Hesitancy: a Review and Call to Action, Tara C. Smith, PhD joined me on the show to answer these questions.

Dr. Tara C. Smith is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology at Kent State University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa. She received her PhD in Microbiology from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Afterward, Tara served on the faculty at the University of Iowa for about nine years before joining the faculty at Kent State. Tara is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.

This week, we're talking about Ebola: how it works, how it spreads, and how we're trying to stop it. We'll talk to infectious disease epidemiologist, professor and blogger Tara C. Smith about how Ebola is being handled here in North America, and perceptions surrounding the Ebola outbreak. We'll also speak with physician Dr. Tim Jagatic from Doctors Without Borders Canada and discuss the situation on the ground in Africa, and we'll speak to immunology professor Vincent Racaniello about the race to create an Ebola vaccine.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Kathy Spindler Guest: Tara C. Smith Tara Smith joins the TWiEBOVsters to discuss the Ebola virus outbreak in west Africa, spread of the disease to and within the US, transmission of the virus, and much more.   This episode of TWiV is brought to you by the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Composed of over 20 virology labs, all centralized in one building in the heart of New York City, this department is a perfect fit for anyone with an interest in pursuing virus research. The Department is presently looking to recruit any prospective graduate students to apply to our program by the December 1st deadline. Interested postdocs are also encouraged to contact faculty of interest. For more information about the Department, please visit www.mssm.edu/MIC. Links for this episode Science communications fellow at ASM Nation turns to science (New Yorker) CDC employees in West Africa (CDC) UN botched Ebola response (AP) Ebola czar (CNN) Ebola vaccine and budget cuts (HuffPo) Collins' ridiculous meme (NOT junk) How to quarantine against Ebola (Mukherjee) Ebola fear in Heartland (Tara Smith) Massive mutations in Ebola virus (PunditFact) Ebola airport screening (CDC) What is contact tracing? (video) (CDC) Inside MSF Ebola unit (YouTube) Ebola tech bulletin (DuPont) HAI controversies Letters read on TWiV 307 Weekly Science Picks Alan - Fall foliage mapKathy - Interviews with Peter Piot (one, two) and autobiographyVincent - The Ebola connection Listener Pick of the Week Brooke - N.B. Designs on EtsyVictor - SMBC Send your virology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twiv@twiv.tv

Moselio Schaechter – known as Elio to his friends – is Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Emeritus, at the Tufts University School of Medicine, and he’s currently an adjunct professor at San Diego State University and at the University of California at San Diego. Dr. Schaechter has had a long career in bacteriology and has authored or co-authored a number of text books, and is a former president of the American Society for Microbiology. He lives in sunny San Diego now, where he lectures, attends meetings, and writes his blog, “Small Things Considered”. If you want an example of the ways the internet has changed public discourse, look to the blogs - you’re reading one now, after all, and how many blogs did you read 10 years ago? Blogs give authors a bullhorn free from profit-driven publishers, provide people with ideas, and even build communities through reader discourse. To be sure, not every blog is interesting or even readable, but there are many bloggers out there working hard and stimulating some profound discussions. Those of us interested in the life microscopic are lucky to have Dr. Schaechter, who muses on the topics of interest to him and acts as host to other eminent scientists who write guest essays. With Small Things Considered, his goal is to express his own interest in various subjects while encouraging interest in others and kindling conversation and debate. In my interview with Dr. Schaechter, we talk about what he gets out of being a blogger, what makes for a successful blog, and about how mushroom hunting in xeric Southern California usually involves a lot of hunting and few mushrooms. Blogs and Websites mentioned in this episode include: The Loom by Carl Zimmer Esos Pequenos Bichitos Le blog des bacteries et de l’evolution Aetiology by Tara C. Smith Microbiology Bytes The Registry of Mushrooms in Works of Art