"Voices in the Pandemic" Backstory: Dacre Knight, MD, MS
Meeting Dr. Dacre Knight on social media was one of the catalysts for creating this podcast series, “Voices in the Pandemic.”
My hope was that more people could meet him and people like him to learn about their work and lives during this extraordinary time of the COVID-19 pandemic. His voice may not be the loudest or with messages designed as “click bait.” Still, it's an important one for more people to hear — sharing human stories as well as science.
In early March 2020, I came across Dr. Knight on Twitter. I am a science geek and was obsessed with understanding this new virus hitting other parts of the world. I spent hours every night trying to gather a picture of what was happening. I saw he connected with news that the Mayo Clinic had record-time success in developing one of the first tests to determine if a patient had the COVID virus, and in another article on serology – using blood plasma from people recovered to help those sick.
As I caught his occasional posts, I could see that unlike some of the voices during this confusion, his input reflected a careful and objective eye. He is a scientist as well as a physician at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. It was a terrifying time with lots of news thrown around about bats in caves, how the virus spread was progressing in China and Italy, how COVID is different from the ordinary flu and the concern for enough PPE –- personal protection equipment for the brave front line. Yet, through his lens it was like watching medical history unfold before my eyes.
Over time, I learned more about his background: he is the husband of a lovely wife and father to three little ones under the age of seven and an ex-Air Force officer who served in Afghanistan. He’s an expert on artificial intelligence in medicine and studied bio-defense. Like many doctors now, he is a COVID doctor. He also developed the first Virtual COVID Clinic at Mayo Clinic.
I approached him a few months ago to see if he’d be open to talking on a podcast to share his story as well as expertise. He gave an enthusiastic “yes.” Here are some of the questions we covered in our recent interview:
What’s life like in an epicenter of an illness we don’t know that much about, especially while having small children?
Will he send his own children to school there in Florida?
How does he cope with the stress?
Why would doctors now have to be concerned about pay cuts and losing their jobs?
What is he learning in all this as a person?
What are his hopes for our future?
I believe there are heroic people with values, integrity, and brilliance who live among us. They are not just in the movies. They see bigger pictures of life than many of us see. Dr. Knight feels like one of them. We need to learn and study their stories. I think you’ll find our talk informative as well as inspiring.
His podcast is Thursday, September 10, 2020. Check back for the link or watch on Twitter. @GeniusPodcast.Us Learn more about “Voices in a Pandemic.” Join us for his interview and in our series of six episodes with the five other fascinating people on their human stories in this pandemic.
You can follow Dr. Knight on Twitter at: @KniDac
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Dr. Knight gave a shout out to two of his other favorite podcasts during our interview. They are: The Curbsiders, Anonymous MD
