This week, we speak with Dr. Charity Dean, former asst. director of the California Department of Public Health in 2020. She is a lead character in Michael Lewis’ book The Premonition: A Pandemic Story; Lewis called her “one of the people who saw the real danger of the virus before the rest of the country did.” She is co-founder of The Public Health Company.
The former Chief Health Officer for Santa Barbara, she also served as the Co-Chair of the California Task Force on Covid Testing, which quickly ramped up to 100,000 Covid tests per day. We discuss everything from global health threats to the Delta Variant to being aware of the next threat.
She discusses how we can convince the vaccine hesitant to get their jabs. The key according to Dr. Dean is to show them how vaccinations protect the vulnerable — their parents and grandparents and children and other vulnerable or at risk people.
She explains her background in Public Health and Infectious diseases (beginning with Surgery) led her to a career as a Medical Public Health Officer. The layered jurisdiction of authority is widely dispersed and not well understood. A surprising amount of authority is wielded by local officials even for national outbreaks.
She says, “People today face two choices: they can either get vaccinated or you can get Covid.”
A list of her favorite books is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here Monday.
You can stream and download our full conversation, including the podcast extras on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, Bloomberg, and Acast. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Sandy Rattray, Chief Investment Officer of Man Group and a member of the Man Group Executive Committee. Man provides a range of funds for institutional and private investors globally and is the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund company, with about $125 billion in funds under management.
Charity Dean’s Favorite Books
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It by Scott Kupor
The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
