Michael Blank
mbblank.bsky.social
Michael Blank
@mbblank.bsky.social
Jewish. Infectious disease physician.
Reposted by Michael Blank
🎙️ MIC podcast Ep. 2 is out now! 🦠

Dr Amy Belfield & Dr Michael Blank return with insights on new vaccines for gonorrhoea & how climate change is already altering infection prevalence in the UK.

🎧 Listen here: www.britishinfection...

#MICpodcast #InfectiousDiseases #BIApodcast
November 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Michael Blank
🎙️ Today we launch the first podcast in the series of MIC! 🦠

Join UK infection trainees Dr Amy Belfield and Dr Michael Blank in our first MIC Pilot Episode ➡️ www.buzzsprout.com/2...

📲 Available now on all major platforms – tune in to the conversation!

#MICpodcast #BIApodcast #Infection
October 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Michael Blank
🎙️ Introducing MIC – new BIA podcast! 🦠

Launching 16 Oct, join Dr Amy Belfield & Dr Michael Blank as they chat with authors from Journal of Infection & Clinical Infection Practice.

🎧 Teaser’s live! share.descript.com/view/O8t3o3S...

#MICpodcast #InfectiousDiseases #BIApodcast #InfectionScience
October 9, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Michael Blank
One of my favourite recent pastimes is looking through Keir Starmer's old Guardian op-eds. Here's a great one, from 2003. (h/t @tom-clark.bsky.social)

www.theguardian.com/politics/200...
Keir Starmer: Sorry, Mr Blair, but 1441 does not authorise force
Keir Starmer: The attorney general has a tricky task in defending the legal basis for war.
www.theguardian.com
June 19, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Michael Blank
Pretty amazing graphic to go with the @financialtimes.com article about the cost of Trump's attack on US science

NIH is HUGE!

www.ft.com/content/67fd...
April 23, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Michael Blank
Stories In The Press: Exploring the philosophical connection between Bob Dylan and Emmanuel Levinas. Could Dylan be embracing Levinas's notions of alterity?
Has Bob Dylan Been Reading Emmanuel Levinas? | The Lehrhaus
Michael Blank explores themes from Emmanuel Levinas in Bob Dylan’s recent compositions.
thelehrhaus.com
February 26, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Michael Blank
I think about my trans friends.

I think about how scared they are.

I think about the ways this government is targeting them, demonizing them, steadily eroding their rights and erasing them from sight.

I think about what it would feel like if this were done to my people.

I remember that it was.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The end result of this is trans people can't travel to the USA without the risk of being permanently banned from entering the USA on grounds of "gender fraud".

Already know trans folks in high tech fields who will be cancelling plans to give talks in America.
US threatens permanent visa bans on trans athletes based on sex markers
Exclusive: State department memo directs officers to bar those deemed to misrepresent birth sex on applications
www.theguardian.com
February 25, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Michael Blank
February 2, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Michael Blank
"The UK currently has the worst paternity leave offer in Europe [at] maximum of 2 weeks' paid leave"

Among other things: mothers can't drive for 6 weeks after c-section and babies often in-and-out of hospital with follow-up care. Lack of paternity leave = stress, resentment + limited productivity.
January 29, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Michael Blank
🧪 UKHSA has confirmed a case of influenza A(H5N1) in a person in West Midlands region. #IDSky #EpiSky

🏥 Individual is currently well & was admitted to a High Consequence Infectious Disease unit

📰 Currently no evidence of onwards transmission from this case

🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...
Human case of avian flu detected in England
UKHSA confirms rare case of bird flu (H5N1) in the West Midlands region.
www.gov.uk
January 27, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Very excited about this paper... minimal data on penicillin allergy outside of UK/US/Aus www.journalofinfection.com/article/S016... #allergy #ID
January 27, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Michael Blank
ADL: Never again*

*conditions may apply
January 21, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by Michael Blank
this article made me weepy in the best way possible
He’s a Security Guard at the Met. Now His Work Is Showing There.
How the dream of a lifetime became reality for a sculptor from Egypt.
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2025 at 1:10 AM
I get varying to responses to my last name when I'm on call. Even at 2am I've had both:
1-haha what a funny name
2-oh you must be related to X in Manchester, whose brother is Solly, do you know him?

>Happy to be #baigeled
December 29, 2024 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Michael Blank
It’s time for THE charger.

Today, the USB-C becomes officially the common standard for charging new mobile electronic devices in the EU.

It means better-charging technology, reduced e-waste, and less fuss to find the chargers you need!

#DigitalEU
December 28, 2024 at 7:09 AM
By some remarkable turn, Mishpacha magazine mentions Emmanuel Levinas and Chouchani this week #shabbatreads
December 26, 2024 at 9:56 PM
New game idea for #chanukah:
-With an opponent, each take turns to name a restaurant the other went to in the last five years
-Then the opponent has to describe where the toilets are
-Keep going until one of you gets stuck
>The brain retains so much useless information
December 24, 2024 at 12:24 PM
Looking for a nuanced reply to "what are you doing on #christmas" that doesn't involve being economical with the truth
December 23, 2024 at 10:22 PM