Epidemics are not won over Twitter.

They are not won in boardrooms.

They are not won in hospitals.

They are not won on TV.

They are won in the community.

Take it from a true expert who has been there & walked the walk, advising the Ebola response in Guinea
https://twitter.com/ranudhillon/status/1274170437581209601

2/ There have been a lot of “experts” on the epidemic, & I’m actually in support of an all-hands-on-deck approach. We need all the best minds coming to help. But having field experience actually provides something different- a completely different layer of complexity.

3/ As someone still very junior in the global health world, most of my last ten+ years has largely been in the field- India, Uganda, Mozambique, Nicaragua, DR, Mexico, Rwanda and more— & much of it has been in villages, clinics, communities, listening & learning from people.

4/ Same holds true now— seeing patients w/ #covid19 taught me how we were failing them at a policy level when it came to home isolation. Most cases I treated were infected by sick family members. Only in talking to real people could I see where pub health policies were failing.

5/ As people get more senior and/or further away from patients & communities, important to remember that the battle happening “out there” is probably very different than what’s happening on academic twitter or w/in ivory tower conversations or what’s published in NEJM/JAMA

6/ There’s a whole different part of the story out in the community. Very few actually venture to go out & hear it. If you’re an academic physician in a liberal city (pointing at myself & my friends/colleagues), we really have little clue what’s happening in Tulsa, Oklahoma

7/ W/ that all being said, respectfully, I would look to the wisdom of ppl like @RanuDhillon & others (he can point to many leaders in #Ebola response who haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve) rather than always turning to same few “experts” to speak on behalf of everyone