Business
For the first episode of CEA Global Voices, we were joined by two experts on epidemiology: Catalina Gonzalez Uribe, Master in Anthropology as well as MSc in Social Epidemiology, as well as Doctorate in Epidemiology and Public Health from University of Los Andes, Colombia; and Maarten van Wijhe from Roskilde University, Denmark, postdoctoral researcher on epidemiology, who works with the historical and statistical aspects of infectious diseases. Both universities are part of Critical Edge Alliance (CEA), a global collaborative framework for innovative, student-centered, and critical universities around the world which has brought us together to create this podcast. With the aim to understand the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of its historical context, we explored past, present, and future together: what makes this pandemic different from those in the past? Why and how did this pandemic catch so many completely off guard? What are the present challenges and future implications of COVID-19? Joined by Catalina, an epidemiologist with an interdisciplinary orientation having also studied psychology and anthropology, and Maarten, who contributed historical insights, we crossed boundaries and found a means to connect using our computers and critical minds. Together, we created something larger than the sum of its parts: a shared understanding of what makes our present meaningful and historical.