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When Science Finds a Way

Thanks for enjoying season two of When Science Finds a Way. While we're off the air, we recommend getting stuck into this series all about the history of vaccination and disease control. You can find the rest of the series by searching for Our Big Shot wherever you're reading this.

Tuberculosis is often assumed to be a disease of the past, but it kills over 1 million people a year - a higher rate than malaria and HIV combined.

In this episode we visit a forgotten and critical turning point in vaccine development. 'The Black Angels' were a group of black nurses who faced almost certain death to perform the world’s very first clinical trials using the drug that would become the gold standard for TB treatment today. They helped cure tuberculosis in New York City's Sea View Hospital during the mid-20th century.

We talk to New Yorker Maria Smilios about how she happened upon the tale of this incredible group of nurses in 2016. Astounded by the story from the City’s Sea View Hospital, and the incredible pioneers that changed the trajectory of the fight against tuberculosis, she knew she had to tell it to the world.

When the pandemic hit half way through writing her book, Maria realised that many of the themes in her book around inequity and disease were alive and well in present day New York. She decided she needed to write a book about it before it was too late. Maria tells us the story of these incredible pioneers who faced racial adversity, braving almost certain death to perform the world’s very first clinical trials using the drug that would become the gold standard for TB treatment today.

Seema and Maria discuss the future, the challenges of distributing and treating TB worldwide and the hope there is for the future with gains already made in campaigning and the triumphant power of people working together.

Feature guest: - Maria Smilios - Science writer and author on her book ‘The Black Angels’ revisiting a forgotten passage in the fight against TB and what this story can teach us today.

https://www.mariasmilios.com/