A new episode of the Inspired to Heal podcast, hosted by Dr. William (Bill) Trick – retired in 2024 after a distinguished career as a clinician, researcher, and CDC epidemiologist – features Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Kimberlee Musser alongside Dr. Don Weiss of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The podcast revisits the 2015 Bronx Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, where Weiss and Musser combined shoe-leather epidemiology with advanced molecular methods to help solve one of New York City’s most significant public health investigations. Working with a broad team of colleagues, they successfully pinpointed and eliminated the outbreak source, ultimately preventing future deaths.
This public health success was made possible through collaboration among the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The full story is highlighted in Don Weiss’s new book, Disease Detectives: True Stories of NYC Outbreaks, as well as in peer-reviewed publications documenting the investigation.