Lydia Kang practices internal medicine at Nebraska Medicine and has written several novels including Opium and Absynthe, The Impossible Girl, The Beautiful Poison, and Toxic. Her latest book, co-written with Nate Pedersen, is nonfiction and incredibly timely. It’s called Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases, which chronicles how diseases spread, the scientific race to understand them, and how we race to destroy them before they destroy us. Each chapter chronicles a particular disease or virus–such as smallpox, the Bubonic plague, polio, HIV, or COVID-19. Kang and Pederson combine the human stories behind outbreaks with historical examinations of missteps, milestones, scientific theories, and more in a darkly funny, very accessible read. 

In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Kang discusses the massive scientific advancements made to combat infectious diseases, how our reactions to pandemics have and haven’t changed, and what might be in store for our future.

Find the book here.