Meet the doctors behind the podcast.

Internationally-renowned travel health experts answer your most pressing (and most embarrassing) questions on maintaining good health during your global travels.

Dr. PAUL POTTINGER MD, DTMH, FACP, FIDSA

Dr. Germ

He is a board-certified physician and Director of the Infectious Diseases & Tropical Medicine Clinic at UW Medical Center-Montlake and a Professor in UW School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is also Co-Director of UWMC’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program.

He earned his M.D. at Yale, Internal Medicine training at Colorado, ID Training at UW, and D.T.M.&H. at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

He has received the Beeson Housestaff Teaching Award, UWMC Teamwork Leadership and Caring Award, Outstanding CME Teacher of the Year Award and UW Chief of Medicine Service Award.

Dr. Chris Sanford MD, MPH, DTM&H

Dr. Worm

Dr. Chris Sanford is a family medicine physician with a love of travel and a passion for helping others to stay healthy abroad. Through his entertaining videos & podcasts, blogs, and books, he helps travelers demystify the complexities of travel and tropical medicine so you can visit anywhere from the lush jungles of South America to the Sahara desert, all in good health. Doctor Travel is a prolific author and editor of books on travel medicine. He’s worked in clinical settings in the Peruvian Amazon, Uganda, and Ethiopia.

For 15 years he served as a Medical Officer on a U.S. federal disaster response team. His deployments included New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the 2010 earthquake. When he’s not traveling, Doctor Travel is based in Seattle where he teaches at the University of Washington’s Departments of Family Medicine and Global Health.

FAQs

Real!

Paul Pottinger, MD, DTMH, FACP, FIDSA:
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases
University of Washington
Board-certified, Infectious Diseases

Chris Sanford, MD, MPH, DTM&H:
Associate Professor Emeritus, Departments of Family Medicine and Global Health,
University of Washington.
Director, Global Health Fellowship, UW Dept. of Family Medicine
Over 20 years of experience as a provider at a University of Washington, Seattle, travel clinic.
Medical school: University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (MD).
Residency: Stanford University, family medicine, at San Jose Hospital (now O’Connor-San Jose Hospital).
Master in Public Health degree: Harvard School of Public Health.
Author of Staying Healthy Abroad: A Global Traveler’s Guide, and chief editor of The Travel and Tropical Medicine Manual, 5th Edition. 

It exists. It is a new specialty, born approximately 40 years ago. It has been defined as “the discipline devoted to the maintenance of the health of international travelers through health promotion and disease prevention” (J. S. Keystone et al., eds., Travel Medicine. Edinburgh, Scotland: Mosby, 2004, chapter 1).

Travel Medicine is an interdisciplinary field, drawing on infectious disease, public health, preventative medicine, and a host of other medical specialties and subspecialties.

Both the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) maintain a list of travel clinics on their websites. Many U.S. universities have travel clinics; some see students only, while some welcome all travelers. Medical organizations such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs) often have travel clinics.

Some do, some don’t. Call the phone number for member services on the back of your insurance card and ask.