And become an epidemiologist. Maybe it’s just the rock ‘n’ roll I’m listening to (Patti Smith, in fact) while I read, but I am incredibly awed at how brave the researchers are who conducted the civilian mortality study on Iraq that came out last year. Both the door-to-door surveyors and those who went through so much careful planning, all the while knowing that every word and idea they put on paper would probably be turned against them.
To read what I’m reading, link to the article in Johns Hopkins Magazine.
One question I really want answered: In the description below, who was Roberts most afraid of? The US-led military, angry Iraqis, who? To slip into a country in such a way indicates great fear. But of what, whom?
In September 2004, Roberts [epidemiologist, lead researcher on the study] packed $20,000 in his shoes and a money belt and, lying on the floor of an SUV, slipped into Iraq from Jordan to coordinate the data gathering.
