Meet Karlyn Beer

Q: Karlyn, you are an epidemiologist. For the non-scientists among us (me!), what do epidemiologists do, in a nutshell?

There's an old joke in the field that epidemiologists count sick and dead people - and while that's technically true, it's only the beginning of the story! Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d often get asked “You’re an epidemiologist - is that the study of skin?” But for better or worse, many people are now familiar with epidemiology as the branch of public health responsible for figuring out why some people get sick and others don’t, in order to take action to prevent more disease.

Q: Is there a project or initiative that you’ve been involved with that you are particularly proud of?

Public health is truly a team sport, and I’m so proud to have worked on so many efforts with amazing teams. Some of my most memorable include the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, the largest US botulism outbreak in 40 years, the emergence of a deadly, drug-resistant fungal infection associated with agricultural fungicide use, and of course the massive response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the COVID-19 pandemic, I started in early 2020 screening travelers for fever at LAX airport with CDC and LA County Department of Public Health. Later, in 2022, I helped to stand up a small tech startup dedicated to bringing infectious disease analytics and tailored disease prevention consulting guidance to companies wanting to protect their employees and supply chains as they navigated each new COVID surge.

Q: Your PhD is in cellular and molecular biology. What led you to move from studying microorganisms in labs to tackling infectious diseases?

Since I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated by infectious diseases, and the way tiny microbial pathogens can wreak massive havoc on entire populations. I wanted to understand the molecular details of how pathogens work so that I could use that knowledge in service of action to prevent people from getting sick.

One of my public health heroes and mentors, Dr. Mike Osterholm, told me as a high schooler that there was a real need in public health to connect the often disparate worlds of laboratory diagnostics and the epidemiology of disease. I thought, there’s where I belong.

I remember writing in a college essay that I wanted to be a doctor, but with the population as my patient. I was much less interested in treating individual runny noses and upset stomachs, so I chose a PhD over a medical degree.

Q: You are currently a technical advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, better known as ARPA-H. What do they do, and are there any especially interesting projects you like to mention?

Yes! ARPA-H is a new organization that invests in game-changing health technologies that are too risky for traditional research programs or companies to tackle alone. The mission is to develop cutting-edge solutions that could revolutionize healthcare and health systems for everyone.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been exploring how we might build better, more resilient public health systems to build on all the lessons learned over the last few years. As a technical advisor at ARPA-H, I’ve worked to launch a new model of advanced hospital-level care serving the most rural and remote areas of the US.

Q: You traveled extensively in your work, including an 8 month trip by bike in multiple countries and a stint in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak. How have these experiences shaped your thoughts on public health and the implications of interconnectedness of the 21st century?

The bike ride was actually an effort to not think so seriously about diseases or big problems in the world, but to explore the world at a human pace, alone on my bike after a long 6 years in grad school. In 2013, as I was finishing grad school, I won the biggest lottery of my life in being awarded the Bonderman fellowship at the University of Washington. This long-standing fellowship funds students for 8 continuous months of solo travel, requiring a strict budget and minimum number of world regions visited.

I’ve always loved riding bikes, building them and fixing them, and I wanted to visit places in the world I might never see traveling by car or other modes. I rode through South America, Southeast Asia, India and Turkey before returning home. I came away with an overwhelming sense of the interconnectedness you asked about in your question.

I’ve sometimes struggled to walk that line between brave and just stupid, and this trip was no exception. Traveling alone on a bike is a willful vulnerability that had the potential for some tough consequences or immense gratification.

The scale for me was tipped far toward the latter. From the motorcycle police officers who showed up and kindly rode with me along some tough roads in Colombia, to los Bomberos (firefighters) who let me stay overnight at the fire station in a small town in the mountains of Ecuador when all the inns were full, to a kind family who invited me to dinner at their home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after I’d been traveling 6 months and was deeply lonely, I felt like the world opened up and gave me a huge hug.

Ten years later, I find myself returning to these memories of unexpected kindness from strangers. They serve as a powerful reminder that beneath the headlines of division and conflict, people are still capable of remarkable generosity and connection across borders, languages, and cultures.

Q: We have a thriving life sciences community here, which, in partnership with CoLab, is working with the schools on STEM education. What advice would you have for students and adults interested in pursuing a career in public health or life sciences?

I loved learning about CoLab in your profile of Watertown resident Merle Kummer! What an incredible way to connect local STEM professionals with students excited about science and technology.

As a kid, I remember thinking I liked science, but when someone told me that “getting a PhD means you write a long book about something no one has ever written about before,” I quickly wrote off the idea because certainly by the time I grew up, there would be nothing left that humans didn’t already know.

Now, I can confidently say, there is SO MUCH left to learn! And, so much to be curious about! Whether you like being outside in the field, inside in a lab, or working directly with people (populations or runny noses), there is room for your curiosity. Indeed we need it now more than ever!

Q: What do you do for fun?

In 2020 I got a fun new job called parenting! My husband Ed and I have a 4 year-old daughter and nearly 2-year-old son, and we love watching them grow and learning not to worry too much about having a messy house. (Sorry to our neighbors for the often-neglected landscaping.)

While my touring and racing bikes hang in the garage with flat tires, the cargo bike gets good mileage around Watertown and all the local playgrounds. We had fun planning a Westland Road block party with neighbors in 2023, and love that there are so many kids on our street to play with in the lighter months after school.

Aside from kid-related fun – translation: things I used to do and will do again someday! – I love contra dancing and at one point learned to call dances with a live band. I also like exploring new cities on bikes with my husband, and I love singing and playing music. Someday I want to join a ukulele jam group that’s friendly to highly mediocre players!

Note from Nicole: you can learn more about Karlyn’s amazing bike trip here, and her work in Liberia here.