-: My name is Taryn Stevens, and I am the zoonotic
and vector-borne disease epidemiologist
for the Indiana State Department of Health.
An epidemiologist is someone
who looks at disease kind of at a population level.
You can kind of think of us as disease detectives.
That's what we like to say.
We kind of look at the who, when, where, and why of disease.
Who's getting sick?
Where in the state are they getting sick?
When, what time of year, where have they been,
and why are they getting sick?
For my job in particular,
I do that for the zoonotic diseases
which are diseases you get from close contact with animals,
and with the vector-borne diseases
which you get from being bitten by a tick or a mosquito.