Americans have become acutely aware of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by a wild bat virus that found a home in the cells of the human respiratory system. The virus enters when we inhale respiratory droplets sneezed or coughed by an infected person. Mercifully, it cannot remain infectious for more than...

During the 1960-70’s, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) developed into the preeminent public health agency in the United States and the world.  Whenever a state health department or a foreign health ministry had an infectious disease problem on which they wanted assistance, they called on CDC.  Inherent in the...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 as part of the New Deal in response to the Great Depression.  The PWA spent over $7 billion between 1933 and 1939 administering the construction of 34,000 projects, including dams, airports, bridges, new schools, and hospitals that provided meaningful...