What We Must Learn From Ebola—A "Disease of Compassion"

About this episode:   Dr. Craig Spencer became sick with Ebola while treating patients in West Africa in 2014. He ultimately recovered at a treatment center back in the United States before returning to Guinea to continue his work. In this episode: he talks about what scares him about the current Ebola outbreak, what it's like to treat the disease on the ground, and what lessons he fears we still haven't learned about this "disease of compassion."   Guest:  Dr. Craig Spencer, MPH, is an emergency medicine physician, public health researcher, and associate professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at Brown University School of Public Health.  Host:  Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.  Show links and related content:  I Survived Ebola. This Is What Scares Me Most About This Outbreak.—The New York Times  Is The U.S. Stepping Up In The Fight Against Ebola?—KFF  HHS confirms Americans with high-risk Ebola exposures will have access to experimental therapy—STAT  White House resisted letting doctor with Ebola return to U.S.—Washington Post  Guinea families transport bodies in public taxis—Associated Press  Protests against US Ebola facility in Kenya turn deadly—ABC News  An Ebola Outbreak in Central Africa—Public Health On Call (May 2026)  The Use of Investigational Drugs in an Outbreak: Separating Science and Politics With Hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19—Public Health On Call (May 2020)  Transcript information: Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel. Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @‌PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @‌PublicHealthPod on Instagram @‌JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @‌PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.