July’s meeting of The Ladder brought together medical scholars of all ages to the UROC in North Minneapolis to learn about infectious disease. In addition to learning about different varieties and causes of infectious disease, we learned about those folks in medicine & healthcare who play roles in helping prevent and treat infectious disease, and conduct research that informs everything we know about infectious diseases.

Scholars learned about a variety of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, as well as how some diseases are spread and prevented.

Medical scholars participated in an exercise to illustrate how some infectious diseases are spread by physical contact. In this exercise all scholars received test tubes filled with clear liquid, but one scholar’s test tube contained a special, but invisible, substance (a liquid with a pH greater than 7.0 – no actual infectious diseases were involved!!!). Scholars then exchanged small amounts of fluid from their and a few others’ test…