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Communicable takes on hot topics in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology. Hosted by the editors of CMI Communications, the open-access journal of ESCMID, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.
Episode 043: Katie's picks of 2025 (ver 2)
[00:00:00]
Angela: Hello and welcome back to Communicable, the podcast brought to you by CMI communications estimates, open Access Journal, covering infectious diseases and clinical microbiology.
My name is Angela Huttner and I am editor in chief of CMI Comms and an infectious diseases physician at the Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland. I'm joined by my co-host, Annie Joseph, clinical microbiologist at Nottingham University Hospital's, NHS Trust in the UK and associate editor at CMI Comms.
Hi, Angela. Great to be here again. Hi, Annie. For this last episode of the year, we are bringing you Katie's picks, Katie Hostetler Oy hails from the United States, but did her PhD work in the field of antimicrobial drug discovery and development here in Switzerland at the University of Zurich. She joined Esid in 2024 and is now the managing editor of CMI Communications and the producer of [00:01:00] Communicable.
Most of you have never heard her voice, but she is the engine behind this podcast. She knows each of this year's episodes very well, having done the sound editing and other production work for all of them. So we thought you should hear from her what she thinks. We're going to ask her to give us her topics of the year, and afterwards, you'll hear some end of year messages from Katie and from all of the editors here at CMI comms.
Katie, it's a great pleasure to have you here in front of the microphone today.
Katie: hi Angela. Hi Annie. Thank you for having me.
Annie: Okay. So katie's picked five episodes that she really wanted to highlight from communicable year in 2025. So, Katie, do you want to kick off? What's the first episode you want to tell us about?
Katie: Okay. Top five was really hard to get to, I have to say. But I still managed and I also have some shout outs,
No special order. I'll kick things off with, episode 21 on FMT Fecal Microbiota Transplant. I really [00:02:00] enjoyed this one. Angela, you hosted with Mark and we had two really nice guests, Maria from Frankfurt and Dimitri from, Minnesota.
as someone who was studying microbiology and the master's and the PhD in Zurich, this topic somehow came up a lot. I also read about it like on BB, C, wondering if this is like a miracle pill, and then to actually have two experts to on communicable.
Super fascinating. I also really loved their dynamic, like they were both so humble somehow and they just wanted to talk about their research and Dmitri's clinical trials actually quote unquote failed or was negative and his ability to elaborates and just discuss it so clearly. And then have Maria comment on it.
I just found this really, fascinating.
Angela: I'm so glad. Yeah. I do remember there was a moment where I was like, oh no, because I was worried that the two guests, essentially had different [00:03:00] views at a certain point and. I don't think they had ever had the chance to talk directly with each other until this very recording.
And I remember thinking , how is this gonna go? One is basically saying, uh, and he's losing his faith in this. And the other one is, doing like a lot of work on this.
But I thought they were great,, they were very respectful of one another. I felt like, okay, this is how it should be. We should be allowed to have disagreements and we should be allowed to discuss them, , it's intellectual, it's not emotional and I felt like, okay, this is gonna work.
Annie: , I found the episode really humbling just to listen to Dmitri, talk about his trial and how it hadn't worked and how they'd invested in it, like emotionally as well. I thought that was really nice, and then to be able to just reflect on it and be like, , it wasn't the result we hoped for, but the science is the science and we have to kind of accept the results for, for what it is.
And FMT as well. It's one of those things, isn't it? Where, , people read about it outside of medicine and they're like, what? You're doing what to people? So it's got that kind of universal appeal of like, oh my God, is this really what [00:04:00] we do in medicine to people?
Angela: Thanks for bringing that one back because that was early in the year and there've been so many episodes since.
Annie: I dunno if other people have this or what they remember where they are when they listen to a certain podcast episode and I remember I was watching my youngest at a jujitsu competition whilst I had my headphones in, so it was really noisy, but I had these noise canceling headphones and I was listening to this like FMT episode that it just just dropped on a Monday.
And us watching all these seven year olds absolutely . Kick the hell outta each other doing jiujitsu and that. So now when I think about that episode, I'm like, feel like it's jujitsu That like brings back the, that's my memory now of it.
Angela: Interesting.
I do that too, by the way. Sports mornings on Saturdays,
Annie: valuable. Bing. Time that kids activities. Totally. Sports. Put the headphones in.
Angela: Right. Okay, Katie, next,
Katie: next, both of you'll also be very familiar, was episode 22 and 23. We did International Women's Day in two [00:05:00] parts. And , this was a really heartfelt, sensitive, but very topical episode. I think, generally showcasing that we at the Journal wanna promote an inclusive environment, and it was just nice to hear that the group of editors acknowledge that perhaps men and women as well as other marginalized communities don't have the same starting point in terms of career development yeah,
Angela: , I remember being surprised by some of the conclusions of our male editors, so impressed and really surprised I would love to hear Annie's take on that episode because we did something potentially really unfair to Annie. That was her very first time. Right. And being non-communicable used to be like, under the bus. I fit that one Nice. Completely. And then the bus just kept, like driving back and forth over year, rolling over from me several times.
Yeah.
Annie: Yeah. No, how did that go? I mean, I, I think I was appointed and then that was the very first thing I did. I don't think I'd even handled any articles or anything. You were just like, oh, , it'd be great. We need, [00:06:00] you have views, Annie on this. We need to get you on this episode.
Angela: Well let everyone know this is actually optional.
I don't think I like forced you, right? There's no actual, mechanism to enforce anything. No,
Annie: I was definitely nervous and I think as well, 'cause I hadn't, met all the editors before I, I knew you and, I've met Erin as well before, but I hadn't actually met the men, so I was kind of , going into the unknown a little bit, sharing our stories and things.
But honestly I think that really. Doing that episode kind of bonded us and was a really good start to joining the CMI comms team because I felt like we'd just gone straight in with , the difficult topics upfront. First time they've met me were like, Hmm, so how do you tackle microaggressions in your workplace, Thomas, you know, it was just straight, straight to the point.
And then after that it's been really, easy and relaxed with them all, with everyone at the journal. But, yeah, I think it definitely broke the ice. Oh, that's for sure. Yeah, I
Angela: guess that's one really good way of looking at it. Like we [00:07:00] threw you into the deep end and everything
Annie: afterwards is super easy, right?
Yeah. But I do think, , Katie, what you were saying, , topical, I mean, it is topical, isn't it? Feminism, I guess in that, more than half the is women, but I think. I would quite like to keep that as something that communicable does Mark some of these important events that happen in the calendar.
It's not just one day, is it? And we do have an episode planned around International Women's Day, along a similar theme next year, this year, 2026, nearly so, that will be good to keep that up. And that's gonna be a great episode as well.
Angela: I am looking forward to that one. You've got some very cool guests coming up on that one.
I have to tell you guys one little story about the recording of that Women and Men episode, that I don't think I've ever told either of you. and I don't know if Katie. Was onto it when she was editing the recording. So this is what happened. I was actually in New York recording that episode because my daughters really wanted to go to New York.
This was our February holidays. So we went [00:08:00] and we were in a hotel and there's nowhere to record a podcast when you're sharing a small New York hotel room with two teenage girls.
So I had, , done my due diligence. I had scouted. A quiet place in the hotel in the days before. And the only place I could find was the basement of the hotel. So I thought I was brilliant. Like I had it all set up. I had found a quiet space and we were recording for me, it was like five o'clock in the morning, so I figured this will be fine.
There won't be noise, , everyone will still be asleep. And sure enough, that part worked out , really well. But one thing, and this is how I realized, I have really lost my New Yorker bearings. I used to be such a proud native New Yorker, like I knew everything about New York.
Every time I go back now I realize what a tourist I am now. My kids remind me like I, I am such a dumb tourist now. And sure enough, I hadn't thought about the mice aspect. Yeah, of course. You go into a basement of a New York hotel, what are you gonna [00:09:00] encounter in the dark at five o'clock in the morning?
As I was recording with you guys, I was trying to be really cool, but a mouse crawled across my feet. I was sitting on the, yeah, how stupid, right? Well, there was, there's not like a desk in this basement of the hotel. There was like the floor, and I had set up a, like a little cushion and a little makeshift, like I found some boxes , for the computer.
But I was essentially sitting on the floor and a mouse scampered over my feet, and we were in the middle of like a heartfelt moment. So I, think I did kind of let out a little Yelp. But. I, was like, okay, just gotta be cool.
It's just a mouse, and yeah. And the moment came and went. And, yeah, that's my memory of that episode.
Katie: have to say, Angela, you played it very cool because I had no idea. All, I was
Angela: like, shocked. It, and I were we were both very scared. Like I, yeah. The little like girl.
Nice. You're considering the mouse as well. Was it a mouse or a rat? luckily it was a mouse. Yeah. No, those New York [00:10:00] rats, they're huge also. Oh, they're huge. They're like, they're large rodents of unusual side Turkey. Yes, yes. Anyway. Sorry, moving on.
That was a total tangent. It's a great story. Great story. Well it's my memory of that episode, which is not good, but so be it.
Katie: I have to say, and yeah, we can also cut this, but I think Switzerland has made both of us very soft. I think you're right. I think you're right. Was so spoiled here.
Annie: . I really Good is very clean. I remember walking around Geneva. I kept saying to Angela, oh my god, it's so clean. Oh my God. Look at the water. Oh my God. Look at the pavements. . It's not, it's not either in the UK either.
Angela: All right, next up, Katie.
Katie: Yes. Next up is episode 25. Measles, another very topical, episode. We very appropriately entitled Its Measles is Back.
The episode also addresses vaccine hesitancy. And , it was a really good balance between the science and addressing public health as well, because. Carrigan and [00:11:00] carrigan and Natasha.
Yeah.
Angela: Yeah. And we were the host Annie, right? Yes. It was you and me. I thought they
Katie: balance each other really well.
Angela: They were so good. They were really good. They had a beautiful chemistry together.
I remember. Yes. And I love that South African accent ugh, to die for. And the cool English one too, Annie. Of course. but you know what, I made my Siri on my phone. I made my Siri have an South African accent after that.
We have to keep, that's so funny.
Katie: Yeah. Maybe Kerrigan. Can't know this.
Angela: Anyway. Sorry, Katie, you were trying to say the real reasons that you liked episode.
Katie: I'm not sure if I can actually articulate it, coherently, but I think, because measles has returned, it's addressing many important topics, not just, about the disease, but also about the general trend.
Which societies and communities and countries are moving towards, in a dangerous way, , about vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation spreading and yeah, losing [00:12:00] faith in the science over rhetoric. , And I think this is,, it's really scary times. Yeah, yeah,
Angela: I still think about some of the things Natasha said when we talk towards the end, I think about anti-vax sentiment and how do you fight this sentiment.
And she said basically you know, having a doctor's office that's well kept, that's clean. That,, inspires trust. That already is part of the work of combating this skepticism, just having a place where you're making an effort for patients, where it's clear that you care about them, that's already the battle. And I think about that, you know, these basic things. We're looking for these, really, sophisticated responses.
Annie: . I really liked Kerrigan's Insights about, things she'd seen early on in her career, measles epidemics in orphanages and things like that. And it was just like, gosh, we are worried about measles being back in a setting where we've already achieved eradication status and now countries, Canada, us, might lose their eradication status, but, most of the world hasn't got measles eradication.
And it's just kind of bringing it back [00:13:00] to that, , what can happen, if we lose that vaccination, coverage.
Angela: Yeah, was actually the second time we had Carrigan on, she was on very early in the year to talk about some other, viruses that are coming back.
We have to hunt them down and make the two of them come back, in 2026. There will be need, there'll be things to talk about sadly,
Katie: did you guys meet them, like at Estimate Global?
How did you come across these two speakers? Actually,
Angela: That's a really good question. Definitely Carrigan from the first episode. I knew she had done a lot of measles work. I knew that I really wanted her, just given her experience both clinically and surveillance wise, she had really such interesting perspectives and experience.
And then Natasha, , so as now all our listeners will know, I have this inside, connection to WHO 'cause my husband works there. And I asked him, who at WHO would be really the right person to [00:14:00] talk about this? Because Carrigan. Had herself said, look, I'll give you the on the ground perspective.
And then I thought, yeah, that should be complimented with a very global perspective, so what better place to go to than WHO? And so my husband luckily put me in touch with Natasha, whom I had never met.
So, she was very gracious to accept and I hope to get to meet her in person, , one day. Yeah. And Carrigan as well. I've never met her in person. She's almost in the same time zone as us, I think. Right. Just a little further south.
Annie: Yeah, that's a good point though, Angela,
we've had such great guests on true, like world experts in the field of what we wanna talk about. And I'm sometimes just can't believe they just said, yes, they're gonna call, they're gonna have a chat. I'm like, hi, I'm Annie. But we have this great chat. Oh God, it's, they're just like world experts and they're just agreeing to give a couple of hours of their time to make the podcast. I think we've been so, fortunate with that
Angela: Yeah. It's amazing and even in the beginning, we only started this mid [00:15:00] 2024 and from the beginning we were so lucky to get.
Global experts and, I think, people, they care. The people who are gonna dedicate their lives to this kind of work. They're also the people who are going care about giving their time
yeah. And I have to say , not once, you know, they always say never meet your heroes. But I have to say , not once has it been unpleasant or , a disappointment, let's just say.
Not once. These people are all amazing in real life,. Yeah, it's a nice thing that we get to say at the end of this year. All right, Katie, I think there are more to still cover.
Katie: Yes. The next one would be episode 37 on peer review. Again, Angela and Annie hosting, she
Angela: didn't know, she picked these without knowing that Annie was gonna co-host.
I'm sure this wasn't engineered or anything.
Katie: Absolutely. , No,, I think this topic is also really important to shed light on this invisible work, as [00:16:00] we've discussed and as you guys discussed in the episode. Finding peer reviewers to do this important step in the publications process really important.
And someone, me, someone who's been in academia and seeing this submission publication process from the publishing side is also really interesting because when I was doing the PhD, of course, you kind of submit to a black box and then you get some correspondence from a.
Miscellaneous person from the journal saying, okay, you need this and this documents and blah, blah, blah. And then, , you follow the instructions, you submit and then you know, the rest works itself out , right?
Annie: I mean, still can't believe how guests said yes to that., Melinda Baldwin and Sergey Hoback, both, outside of the field of medicine and, Melinda is like historian by background.
And Sergey is kind of social science background, but both real experts in peer review, not just in medicine, but peer review as an entity within academia just made it really [00:17:00] interesting dynamic to hear from like the whole history side where it is now, where it's going in the future.
And I thought it was quite nice as well to, maybe remind listeners that, communicable is the podcast for CMI communications,, it's a journal based podcast, and. It gave us lots of ideas as well, didn't it, Angela? I think we had lots of did thoughts after that of how we can improve the peer review process and then Oh, we did.
Yes.
Angela: Yeah. And that episode was all thanks to Annie. It must be said. Annie found those guests you really designed that episode.
Annie: Again, I can't believe we said yes. That was when I reached out on Blue Sky. I was just like, hi, you don't know me, but do you want to come on this episode?
And they both said yes.
Angela: Yeah, that was very cool. Honestly, I thought that episode was fascinating and sometimes I will admit, I feel kind of challenged because being the host and like handling the controls and actually being in the moment, like being in the discussion, so I remember it being a very cool discussion while we [00:18:00] were having it, but then afterwards when I got to listen to it, I was like, oh, wow, those are really good points.
I got much more out of it later because sometimes your attention's kinda like, oh, gotta do the echo cancellation or whatever. But I think that might be one of my favorites of the year, honestly.
Annie: Yeah, it was a fun episode and, I think both of us at the start were like, we dunno how this is gonna go.
'cause I'd never actually spoken to either of them before, and I'm like, this is like a total unknown. It's not even about anything, medical that we can fall back on our, in our field, our own knowledge. I was like, so totally.
Yeah. That one was a bit of a roll of the dice. That was that day as well. Angela, we'll cut all this out, but when I was like running between conferences across the middle of the city, I was in Birmingham and I was like running between like speaking at something at one venue and I was legging it across town, dragging my suitcase with me trying to log on and get the internet started and everything.
And I was like sweating and I sat down trying to, trying to stay cool and get my script up. But I was, that was the most stressful day for me. I just did that recording right in the middle of that day. [00:19:00] Yeah.
Angela: Maybe we shouldn't cut this because maybe people should know like how crazy it is behind the scenes.
The finished product, thanks to Katie, it comes out sounding so cool. So still and calm, but the reality is kind of a mess sometimes. And thank goodness you guys are all there because you guys have normal jobs, normal lives. And somehow you find the time to do this, which I think is really precious.
Yeah.
Annie: Okay. What's your last pick then Katie?
Katie: Episode 41, diagnostic stewardship. nice. Yes. So one that both of you will also be familiar with as wait host. These are almost all I know, me and Annie, it looks or seems really rigged, but. That's just what happened. You guys are picking the most interesting topics.
Wow. Now you have to cut that. It's not nice to the others. No. I picked diagnostic stewardship for, different reasons. I thought first, obviously the panel had really great chemistry. you could tell that there was just a real, comfort between everyone and it, came [00:20:00] through
Angela: There was such good chemistry because the two guests knew each other and they worked together I think on diagnostic stewardship and maybe even other things.
So there was, I agree. I could, you could feel that there's just good chemistry. They like each other, they respect each other.
Katie: Yeah. So it was also about, sustainability, which is really important today. I thought this topic was really helpful just for people or practitioners to stop and think and instead of just clicking and just being kind of routine, like think about what you're actually doing and stop and think, do you actually need this test? , Just give yourself pause and reconsider something.
So I thought that was really nice. And it was also about improving practice. Because, just doing more tests isn't correlated with better care, right? It's just maybe you feel like you're doing something, but maybe in the end it's actually meaningless.
So, just being mindful
Annie: yeah, for sure. I came away with loads of ideas from that episode, loads of ideas. And since then I went and I was like, right, we're gonna go and do some good diagnostic stewardship [00:21:00] in our lab.
And in the process of doing something around therapeutic drug monitoring assays and when I looked into it, I said, oh my God, I cannot believe the amount of money we spend on this. It's like a hundred pound of tests, which might not sound too much. But when we are talking about high volume.
It was nearly a hundred grand a year. We were sending on these like therapeutic drug monitoring assays, and a lot of them were taken at the wrong time. All these kind of things. And we are just dealing the results going, oh, this results meaning listed, da dah, dah.
So we're tackling that now, but that, I thought about that in the diagnostic stewardship. Episode
Angela: yeah, so many leads on that, right? I remember actually, so we have all these episodes peer reviewed, and then the peer reviewer of that episode was like, oh yeah, I would love to hear more about, number one, number two, number three listed, all these cool branches of thought from that episode.
So yeah, we have lots of material that we need to cover next year So Katie, those were the top five, but you've got some shout outs apparently.
Katie: Yes. So of course I went [00:22:00] back into transistor and I had to just look up what was the most popular episode or the most downloaded episode, and it was the SNAP trial.
Ironically, I'm not involved in this one because I was on holidays, but I still wanna give it a special shout out because , Josh is one of our editors and Steve Tong also a friend of the journal, and so I'm sure it was also a great, dynamic group of people.
Angela: Steve Tong is now an advisor.
He's an official member of the journal's advisory board. So he does have a very special place at ZMI comms.
Katie: I wanna also give a shout out to Predatory Publishing. Mm. I thought this topic was so fascinating. Mm. I learned a lot about the industry. Again, recalling from my PhD times I. Was completely oblivious to such a lucrative industry that just wants to exploit young, early career researchers in any field, really.
Right. It exists basically in any academic research field. Yeah. So [00:23:00] yeah. That one was hosted by you, Angela and Mark Bonin, and the guests were also Leonard Lei and Ursula Hoffer. Right. Two editors in chief of other Infectious diseases clinical microbiology journals.
Angela: I thought they were great. That was one of those episodes though, where I felt like, oh, we were really good at laying out the problem here, but at the end you're like, it's so complex and it's so hard and we're never gonna be able to fix it.
You know, like we were good at describing the problem, but not so great at solutions just yet.
Annie: I don't know, Angela, I think maybe some of these episode. It's just, it's good to talk within our field. And I think perhaps, some of the episodes that I've not been involved with, I've listened to and I've gone, God, I've never really thought about this before.
And then I'll start to talk to people at work about it and I'll be like, oh, hey, have you thought about, you know, this sustainability thing that we're doing? Have you thought about how much money we're wasting on this? It'll just start conversations. And I hope it does the same for listeners as [00:24:00] well.
If it's a area, that they don't really know much about, or it's, a big issue, but they've not really engaged with it before, to be able to, to those conversations back into, their workplaces and with their own contacts, just to go, Hmm, I've never really thought about this. It's a big problem.
What do you think about it? And then maybe that's how the conversation start. We can't solve the problems. Can we, we have to just maybe start the discussion.
Angela: Yeah. I love that. I think that's a great take. Yeah, we can't carry everything right and starting the discussion is good. It's okay to be at the beginning and not, at the end solving everything.
I like that. Any more shout outs, Katie? Yes.
Katie: Another shout out that I want to give is episodes on Climate Change. One in particular was the one nav hosted solo. It could be one of the only ones, where we had a solo host.
This by the way, was like one of the most logistically complicated, episodes, to bring Laura Yung, , she's actually going to be Future Fellow. Yes. She was a guest on Communicable and [00:25:00] Reya. discussing sustainability and climate change in the field of infectious diseases. That was a really cool episode.
A bit related to diagnostic stewardship in some ways. Mm-hmm. Sustainability. Sustainability.
Angela: Yeah,
Katie: exactly. Yeah.
Angela: That's also one of the ones that I think has really influenced me day to day, on several levels. Now I really think carefully about. Literally the plastic involved of asking for an extra blood draw.
All the waste material waste. And now, thanks to that episode, I insist on any clinical trial I do. Um, Environmental outcomes have to be part of it. It's not easy because actually, what's the metric? How do you measure are, how reliable are these measurements gonna be?
But there are people working on this, creating consensus metrics for measuring, the environmental cost of, different medical practices. And I I was not thinking about stuff like that at all, so it was very
Annie: inspiring.
We definitely haven't got the answer to climate change of communicable. [00:26:00] That's definitely one where the problem was discussed. No, but it planted a seed and it's changed your practice. So Yeah. Hopefully it's done that for other people as well.
Angela: Yeah. Fair enough, Annie. No, good point. I, I hope so.
I hope so.
Katie: Okay. Last one. But then I also want to share a surprise because I think Mark Fontin deserves it.
Yes. But anyways, okay, so the last episode that I wanna give a shout out from 2024 was episode nine on Avian Flu. It was hosted by you, Angela and Nav. .
Angela: Oh yeah, the episode with Ron Fie.
Katie: Exactly. About this episode.
Again, discussing the problem, no real solution yet. But just bringing awareness and having you think about, your place and your position in this context. And, he talked a lot about water birds and, I live in Zurich, we have the lake there, and I'm just looking at these geese and I'm like, oh my God.
Like,
Angela: oh yeah, they're all [00:27:00] infected.
Katie: Oh my God.
Angela: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And they're breeding grounds for, yeah, exactly. New viral mutants.
Katie: Yeah. All these tourists just. Giving the bread so much bread, so many geese. And I will never look at swan's. Geese the same, I have to say, but oh my God, really topical, really great.
Just also there was great discussion. I thought the dialogue was really nice. It was just one guest format. But, I think he did well. I thought, he addressed the science, he also addressed the public health issues and the shortcomings about the policy, the mandates that are not there
yeah.
Angela: Yeah. I'm so sorry though that Communicable has now totally ruined Lake Zurich for you. Like now you can't experience it in that same innocent way ever again. I remember being absolutely shocked. I, again, there I was so naive. I remember being shocked when he said, yeah, there's virus in the milk of the cows.
And I was like, oh, yeah. But when they know the cow's infected, they [00:28:00] take that milk and they throw it away and he's like, no, they don't. It goes to market. I remember being shocked by that one. And so, Katie,
Any surprises while you were editing these episodes?
Katie: Yes. I guess the one surprise that I wanna share is giving a shout out to Mark Bonin, who I just find absolutely hilarious.
Angela: , Should I let our listeners know that Mark is kind of our bad boy editor, not editor.
No, he's an excellent editor. He's kind of our bad boy host, shall I say.
Katie: He is just so unpredictable. I don't know what's gonna come out next when his line is up. I think he ad-libs all the time and it's great. he can think on his feet so fast. And when he was on this Twitter episode and he came up with a great potential title, the Sequela of a.
Tweet of a tweet, it was like, yeah. Wow, mark. That's a good one.
Angela: And he's doing it in a language that is not his mother [00:29:00] tongue.
Katie: I also think he's full of zingers. Like he is often self-deprecating, I hope it's also not, because now I've met him and I know him a bit better.
I think it's still translated through the podcast, , yeah. Yeah. But sometimes we have to censor his comments. We try to keep the appropriate ones,
Angela: the
Katie: ones that are estimate safe.
Angela: Yeah, he's very honest, very raw. Mark is gonna be listening to this and hopefully laughing with us. We struggled with his sound. He had the worst microphone, or he just didn't have a microphone for a while. That was the big surprise for me of 2025. That Mark now has a real microphone. We had to be a little heavy handed there and, be a little paternalistic.
We, forced him to get a good microphone.
Katie: Oh, bioethics, sorry, bioethics I thought was also very important. So these topics that don't. Often get first priority, don't have the spotlight too often. I think it's really nice that communicable is, [00:30:00] giving them a stage, and bring in experts that can really discuss and explain it to a broad audience, I think is really important.
Angela: Oh, I'm so glad. It's true that we don't actually get to talk together always about these episodes it's really nice that we, get to do a sort of, debriefing at the end of the year.
Annie: , Cool. Thanks Katie. It was great to hear your topics pick of 20, 25, but also some of 2024 as well. , I've loved, been on the podcast this year. Loved hosting. And Katie, all your hard work behind the scenes is so appreciated and I don't think communicable would be what it is at all without Katie's hard work.
So yeah, a big happy holidays and thank you so much to Katie for that. She does in the background.
Angela: Thank you so much Katie. Without Katie, we would not have communicable. I think it's fair to say, there is no way we could keep up , as people probably know, because I think our listeners are very much, who we are, right?
These are people who, all have day jobs and have so [00:31:00] much other stuff to do. People waiting for them to get things done. And yet, we manage to. Produce this stuff thanks to Katie. Without Katie, there is no way we could keep up this pace and keep up the interesting episodes. So thank you.
Katie: Aw, thank you. It's really my pleasure to edit these episodes. I'm also learning, right? And it's really great program. You guys have organized for the year and next year I might add. So looking forward also to
Angela: next year as well. Thank you so much, Annie. I could say the same for you. The editor, I mean, you guys are giving so much of your free time and it's just amazing. I feel like there is something really okay, this is gonna sound really cheesy, but there's something kind of sacred about this.
People coming and saying, okay, I'm just gonna give this, , for free because I believe in this, , I believe that we should meet in this place, whether it's a paper journal or podcast that I believe we should meet and we should share and learn and give our time for free.
Get nothing back necessarily, [00:32:00] except that we're contributing to something that's very. Collective.
So now for the final part of this episode, I'd ask the editors to send in some recordings. I'd ask them to answer two questions. The first was along the lines of what was something or someone, or some place that surprised you in 2025, and the second was, what do you look forward to in 2026, whether CM I comms related or not?
Some of the editors don't identify themselves so I've put them in alphabetical order. Mark Mont, Josh Davis. Annie Joseph, Aaron McCreary, Emily McDonald, Josh Na, Sanduk, and Thomas Tank. You'll also hear from two new editorial fellows, Victor Dale and Reka .
Katie rounds up the editors with her message, and finally you'll hear a voice you may not know it's Hora Pan Pardo. Our publications and guidelines counselor with an Esid executive committee. Although he, like Katie is often unseen, Hora is a source of critical support and guidance for our [00:33:00] journal and our podcast.
And in putting these together at this time of year, I got a little sentimental and played around a little with some slightly cheesy music layered into some of the messages. I couldn't resist.
Marc: Under pressure from David Bowie and Queen Recorded in 1981 was for me the song of 2025 Under Pressure is where our scientific values have become and are increasingly going to for 2026. Therefore, our recipe should be better science and better communication, and that's why I'm looking forward to next episodes of Communicable and the CMI Comes all the best wishes for 2026.
Josh D.:
Hi everybody, it's josh Davis here, one of the editors on CMI Communications. I wanna start by saying, , thanks for listening to Communicable, over the past year. I hope you've found it enjoyable and educational as much as I have to listen to. For me, , it's all of the above, but also summer. I know that's not the case for a lot of you [00:34:00] guys, but today it's a beautiful beach day. I am watching the cricket having an ice block.
That's what this time of year means to me. So. In terms of something that surprised me this year, I couldn't narrow it down to one thing. Couple of things that spring to mind. I went to Turkey earlier this year for a conference and had a few days spare afterwards. And I went and visited Ephesus, which is a ruin of an ancient Greek and then ancient Roman city.
And it's just amazingly well-preserved, interesting and large, ruin city, which rivals anything I've seen in Rome or Greece or Italy. So that was a surprise and a pleasant one. Secondly, I surprised myself because I ran my first ever marathon in August, the Sydney Marathon,
Josh D.: and for many years I thought, oh, I never would be able to do a marathon, but I decided to try it and I did.
So. That's a little, motivational message for everybody. You can do things you thought you couldn't do. And then finally, surprise is, one of the best novels I read this year was [00:35:00] called Inter Metso by Sally Rooney. I wasn't expecting much from it. And in fact, the first one third of the book was not super interesting, but it just got better and better.
And it really left an impression on me. So I'd recommend you read it. Finally the second topic, what am I looking forward to next year? Well, a lot of things. Of course estimate global in Munich. Hopefully I'll have a beer in one of those big, German glasses. But also we're putting together a course on clinical trials, for.
People in the field of ID and microbiology who want to get more involved in designing and running clinical trials. And that's gonna be held in Malta in November next year. So I'm looking forward to that and please keep an eye out for it. And then finally, I'm, doing a four day bush walk around the coast in Tasmania, next year with my wife for our wedding anniversary.
So I'm very much looking forward to that. So thank you for listening everybody, and hope you all have a great. 2026. Thank you.
Annie: Hi everyone, it's Annie Joseph here in Nottingham in the [00:36:00] uk. I joined the CMI Comms editorial team in March of 2025, so it has been a busy year for me of learning how everything works with the journal and the podcast, ironing out all of those technical difficulties with mics and headphones and recordings, and sometimes it has been a bit nerve wracking, I won't lie, but also a lot of fun.
There have been two things about this experience that have really pleasantly surprised me with the journal. It's been the dedication of the peer reviewers that I've had the pleasure of working with those professionals who are prepared to lend their expertise and opinion to improve the work of others.
And I think they really are the unsung heroes of academia. And with the podcast, it has been, without a doubt getting to meet so many true experts in the field of ID and Micro who are willing to share their knowledge and experience, but most of all, their passion through communicable. And I've learned so much this year from hosting.
Something I'm looking forward to in 2026 is of course ESMI Global Conference in Munich, but particularly I want to try and meet in person as [00:37:00] many of the CMI comms, authors, reviewers, and communicable podcast guests. Perhaps maybe we can share with few beers, some of those big German pretzels, and hopefully continue to build the CMI Comms community together.
Erin: Hey everyone, and hey, to our loyal listeners, I can't believe we're wrapping up another year at Communicable. It continues to be such an honor to be a part of this editorial board and this podcast something, or someplace that pleasantly surprised me in 2025. I'll have to say my first one is personal, which I think I've talked about on the pod before, but I checked something off my bucket list in a big way in 2025, and that is ice.
Saw a concert at Red Rocks out in Colorado for the audio files and the music lovers out there. , It is a concert venue unlike any other, the acoustics, the stars, the sky, the mountains. It's just truly unbelievable. So that was just, everything I hoped it would be and more.
And I hope all of you have a fulfilling experience like that. In all your years to come. 'cause it was really just [00:38:00] transcendent , and something I'm looking forward to in 2026. I'll go the science angle for this, and maybe this is a little cheesy, but I really think we have the best editorial board ever under Angela's leadership and just working with this team and I can't wait to continue to grow this journal.
With Nav, Josh, Emily, Thomas, Annie, Josh, mark Hora, Katie and everyone. I mean, it's just the best, the best committee of people and we're growing and we look forward to your continued submissions. I look forward to reading all the amazing work you're doing around the world, continuing to build this family.
Emily: Hi everyone. Seasoned greetings. It's Emily McDonald here. I hope everyone had a great year. Something that pleasantly surprised me this year was, how well the journal has taken off and how well communicable is going. I am really excited for next year when we're gonna roll out, some new types of episodes that, do a little bit of the evidence summary and keep you up to date quarterly on the latest [00:39:00] publications,, out there in the infectious disease world.
And I'm really excited to welcome our new editorial fellows. I think that's gonna be so much fun to work together. So thanks everyone for listening and, see you, year. Bye.
Josh N.: Hi Angela. This is for Katie's Picks. First, what is something or someone or someplace that surprised you in 2025? I would answer that I had the opportunity to spend a week in Ascention and Paraguay. Where I met many clinical microbiologists and infectious disease physicians, and one thing that really struck me was that they diagnosed about 300 new patients a year with leprosy.
I didn't know there were 300 people a year that were getting diagnosed with leprosy globally, and it just goes to show what. We don't know and why we need to have more international activities so we can be aware of these things and we can put better programs together to address them in a [00:40:00] global and thoughtful way.
That ties into what do I look forward to in 2026? one of the things that I'm really excited about is the launch of a new collaboration with my friend, ed Einstein, Liz Roski and colleagues in Rio and Cheba to look at some novel biology of Cryptococcus Neoformans, which is one of the WHO Fungal priority pathogen.
List pathogens and it's actually the number one on that list. And again, collaborative and global opportunities to address these critical threats are really a strong way to move forward. So I'm looking forward to that with great enthusiasm.
Thomas: Hi, this is Thomas. I just wanted to thank everyone who helped developing CMI Communications, including my co-editors, reviewers, authors, and podcast guests. It's a true privilege to work together with all of you. For next year, I hope to learn about groundbreaking discoveries in r and d of [00:41:00] new antibiotics and rapid diagnostic tools that will help in the management of multi-drug resistant infections.
Victor: Hello everyone. This is, Victor Dale from, old Denmark here. So what am I looking forward to in 2026? Well, as I look ahead, there are many things I'm excited about to begin with. I'll be starting the year on a high note with a skiing holiday with my family, and it's always a wonderful way to recharge and spend quality time together and enjoy.
Being outdoors professionally, I'm very much looking forward to getting acquainted with, the CMI communications team and gaining a deeper understanding of the entire editorial process from a TC. Being involved in research from the author side is one thing, but seeing what truly happens behind the scenes, how high quality science is shaped and refined and safeguarded , is something I find interesting and inspiring.
I'm also, excited for ECM Global. It's a highlights every year yet, this year, connecting with the editorial team, but also joining inspiring Sessions, learning from colleagues across the [00:42:00] world and meeting many wonderful people who share the same passion for infectious diseases and microbiology.
And last but definitely not least, I'm looking forward to some month of, paternity leave in the spring with our third, daughter. I can't wait for the slower days filled with play. Hopefully some warm coffee, long walks and maybe even a bit of reading if she allows me.
Rekha: Hi everyone. I'm re Kapai originally from Uluru India, now living in Melbourne, Australia. I will be joining the CMI Comms team as editorial fellow in January, 2026, and I'm super excited about this. Things I'm looking forward to in 2026 as a CMI Comms editorial fellow. I'm looking forward to meeting the CMI comms team, getting to know and work with the other editorial fellows, learning editorial processes and how to podcast.
I am also looking forward to reading more literature, medical and non-medical, and scrolling a lot less. I'm excited for 2026 to new opportunities, new [00:43:00] connections and collaborations. Have a wonderful holiday season and see you in the new year.
Katie: Hi, Angela. Here's my soundbite. This task is so much harder than I expected. I really hope the quality of my sound is okay, but here we go. Hey everyone, it's Katie. I'm the editorial manager at CMI Comms. A highlight for me of 2025 would definitely be our editors meeting that we held in Rome in September.
I didn't expect an in-person meeting to be so impactful, but it was really great. I got to know all the editors a little bit better. We had quality time, not just to learn more about each other, but also to discuss the vision that we have for the journal and for the podcast. So I was really grateful to be present.
In 2026, I am really excited to just build on what we have done already in 2025. We have a lot of exciting new and article series [00:44:00] and podcast episodes coming your way. So, really excited to see, how everything evolves. Wishing everyone good health and be well in the new year.
Joserra: This is ra. , I'm, writing you, well, this is not writing to tell you my, couple things. What surprise me in 2025 it was, my family trip to Austria this summer. I had never been before to the Austrian and the landscapes, the lakes, the mountains.
For me it was, really beautiful and enjoying, the time with the family, that made it really very special. And another thing that pleasantly surprised me because elections are always. Out of someone's control is that I got reelected to admit executive committee, which, I'm very happy very proud of.
And what I look forward for 2026, what are very trouble everywhere, different parts of the world and that affects, how we [00:45:00] approach not just as a society, but as a species, as a world, infectious diseases. I hope that we, from SE, whether from guidelines, publications, educations, we can contribute to foster, cooperation, because really.
believe the corporation , is the key ingredient , to approach, such complex problems. and that's it. Angela, thank you very much I'm personally very proud of how the journal is doing and we have, another, powerful arm, just for science and communication and that's something, that makes me proud.
Bye.
finally, my answers to those questions, well, there were many things that surprised me in 2025.
Unfortunately, not always pleasantly, but on the pleasant side, it was hands down the chemistry among these editors. Katie mentioned our meeting in Rome, and we had Vienna before that. Esme Global of 2025 is just beautiful seeing how they interact, how they support each other.
And how they work off of each other. And the other great surprise is how many of our expert [00:46:00] colleagues gave their time to provide really good peer reviews. The value of these very real, very thoughtful peer reviews became starkly apparent last week when we came face to face with what could. Be an essentially dystopian academic future.
If we're not careful. I'll write about that experience in an upcoming editorial, which will hopefully be online soon.
For now, what I wish for 2026 is that we work harder at fixing our flawed publishing system, the people who participate as reviewers and editors for the sake of science of medicine. Of that sacred meeting I was going on about with Katie and Annie,
that these people can be properly honored and supported and that no one can take advantage of their good work or benefit improperly from it.
So here's to 2026. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for your support and for your ideas. Please keep them coming. If you get the chance to be in Munich this year for Esid Global, please come to the journal's Happy Hour Organized by esid.
It's usually on the Sunday afternoon. [00:47:00] Please come and say hi because we would love to meet you. If you're a CMI, comms reviewer, or author, or even simply a communicable listener, we will certainly read a glass to you.