EPISODE 36 – CONVERSATIONS with DOCTOR ELIZABETH PISANI. With an over-load of information and plenty of conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19, Elizabeth, an epidemiologist, academic researcher and the director of Ternyata Ltd., a public health consultancy based in London, UK, investigates the ways in which politics, economics and culture influence public health. She talks to me from London about  Corona virus (COVID-19) and other epidemics such as HIV/AIDS. She has written 2 books - Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation, and The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS, and her TED Talk "Sex, drugs, and HIV - let's get rational" describe the ways in which politics, religion and culture can outweigh scientific evidence in decision-making about HIV prevention.Pisani is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King's College London's Policy Institute, an Honorary Professor in the Department of Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a Fellow of the School of Health Policy and Management at Erasmus University, Rotterdam.Photo: Dr Elizabeth Pisani. © Elizabeth Pisani.