Jessica Smartt Gullion, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Texas Woman's University, where she teaches courses on medical sociology and qualitative research methods. Dr Gullion is the author of more than twenty peer-reviewed articles, in such journals as the International Review of Qualitative Research, the Journal of Applied Social Science, Qualitative Inquiry, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the Archives of Internal Medicine, and Clinical Infectious Diseases. Her research focuses on how communities cope with health threats. See an interview with Jessica Smart Gullion regarding OCTOBER BIRDS: http: //www.examiner.com/article/pandemic-influenza-infection-control-and-first-responders-with-dr-gullion