The Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation with Paul Offit

Every medical decision—whether to have chemotherapy, an X-ray, or surgery—is a risk, no matter which way you choose. In You Bet Your Life, I discuss how risk, from the first blood transfusions 400 years ago to the hunt for a Covid-19 vaccine, has been essential to the discovery of new treatments. We learn as we go, and that knowledge invariably comes with a human price. The book examines the tortured relationship between intellectual breakthroughs, political realities, and human foibles.

Paul A. Offit, MD, is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq.

This talk took place on January 20, 2022, as part of Skeptical Inquirer Present