Philip Alcabes trained as an infectious-disease epidemiologist and has been writing about health and illness for the Scholar since 2004. He is a professor of public health at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Dread: How Fear and Fantasy Have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu, a history of epidemics as social phenomena.
Philip Alcabes
The Pandemic Mood
Who created it and how it is maintained
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, January 08, 2022
After the Chaos
Who tells the story of Covid and what will it mean?
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, June 12, 2021
Experimental Overreach
Why doctors and researchers must ask for consent
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, April 03, 2021
The Costs of Prudentialism
Why our public-health institutions failed to stop Covid-19
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, January 16, 2021
Coronavirus and the Withering of the Public Sphere
What are the chances of a post-pandemic world?
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, September 19, 2020
Coronavirus and the Coming Election
No matter who wins, the pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, October 31, 2020
Race and Public Health
The coronavirus reveals how this country fails to relieve suffering
by Philip Alcabes | Saturday, September 05, 2020
Beyond Technical Fixes for Coronavirus
This time, we must not leave the poor behind
by Philip Alcabes | Monday, April 20, 2020
Coronavirus: This Is Not a Plague
The metaphor obscures clear thinking
by Philip Alcabes | Monday, April 06, 2020
The Anxiety of Culpability
The limits of what we can know and what we can do about it
by Philip Alcabes | Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Coronavirus and Its Costs
by Philip Alcabes | Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Coronavirus as Crisis
We are not at war, America. There will be no victories or defeats.
by Philip Alcabes | Friday, March 20, 2020
How to Think About the Coronavirus
Whether we will collectively move away from fears that make us subservient and move, or inch, toward a more interconnectedly humane world—this, as far as I can tell, remains up to us
by Philip Alcabes | Tuesday, March 10, 2020
State of Vulnerability
Social distancing is important, but there’s more to consider
by Philip Alcabes | Sunday, March 15, 2020
Medication Nation
Our increasing reliance on drugs—prescribed, over-the-counter, illegal, and ordered online like pizza—suggests we have a deeper problem
by Philip Alcabes | Monday, December 07, 2015
The Ordinariness of AIDS
Can a disease that tells us so much about ourselves ever be anything but extraordinary?
by Philip Alcabes | Thursday, June 01, 2006
Failure to Heal
Today’s medical industry thrives on diagnosing and curing, but it doesn’t reach the soul
by Philip Alcabes | Wednesday, March 04, 2015
