When you hear a national case count for a disease, nobody counted those cases by hand. A look at the reporting systems that turn individual diagnoses into the numbers the country relies on.
In this video, I walk through how the United States actually counts cases of a disease. Nobody counts them by hand. The numbers come out of a chain of reporting systems that starts with an individual diagnosis and ends with a national figure.
How that chain works, and where it strains, says a lot about what a case count can and cannot tell you.
Guinea worm disease is on the verge of eradication — not because of a vaccine or drug, but because of an information system. A look at how data collection and surveillance became the medicine itself.
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Jun 15, 2026Fewer than 700 people worldwide hold the designation of Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association. On what the recognition means — not as a personal milestone, but as a statement about the work.
May 25, 2026