Dialogues: a conversation with Laura Spinney on disease, linguistics and humanity

Dialogues is a series from the Global Health Matters podcast where we bring you interviews featuring fresh perspectives on global health issues. The goal of each Dialogues episode is to break through the echo chambers that exist in global health through in-depth, thoughtful conversations.For this episode, we turn to language, memory and the threads that connect pandemics and people across time. Host Garry Aslanyan is joined by Laura Spinney, a science journalist, novelist and author of two books -- "Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World" and "Proto: The Hidden Origins of the World's Languages." Laura's work spans the fields of history, genetics, linguistics and epidemiology to reveal how stories of disease and language shape our collective understanding of humanity. This conversation explores how pandemics alter societies, how words and names influence fear and stigma, and what the world's earliest languages can teach us about connection and change.Related episode documents, transcripts and other information can be found on our website.Subscribe to the Global Health Matters podcast newsletter.  Follow us for updates:@TDRnews on XTDR on LinkedIn@ghm_podcast on [email protected] on Bluesky Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Global Health Matters podcast series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of TDR or the World Health Organization.  All content © 2026 Global Health Matters.