Tomás Aragón (托马斯·阿拉贡)
Impact Fellow & Adjunct Faculty, UC Berkeley Public Health
Former State Health Officer & Director, California Dept Public Health.
Former Health Officer & Director, Pop Health Div, SF Dept Public Health
Blog: TEAMPublicHealth.substack.com
- We need to bring together - neuroscience - learning science - artificial intelligence Top learning techniques - Retrieval - Spacing - Generation - Reflection These techniques promote "productive struggle" which is necessary for learning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBH8...
- Artificial intelligence will make important contributions to public health decision making, but humans will always need to be "in the loop" as decision architects. #TEAMPublicHealth #decisionintelligence
- A Consequence Table (CT) is a simple way to organize your thinking around a single decision with multiple choices (eg, choosing a school to attend). CTs were popularized by decision science pioneers. #TEAMPublicHealth #DecisionIntelligence teampublichealth.substack.com/p/consequenc...
- "As Trump withdraws the U.S. from the World Health Organization, California has become the first and only state to join a WHO-coordinated global outbreak response network — strengthening rapid detection and response to emerging public health threats." #ILoveCalifornia www.gov.ca.gov/2026/01/23/g...
- Decision makers manage two dimensions of decision competence: organizational complexity and analytical complexity. On this GitHub page we focus on decision analysis using data science languages such as R and Julia. Feed welcomed! #TEAMPublicHealth #DecisionIntelligence github.com/tomasaragon/...
- Decision Intelligence 4 Health -- DEEP decision making under constraints (Presentation delivered to the Health Officers Association of California (HOAC)) docs.google.com/presentation...
- Bayes' theorem and decision analysis for mortals -- Transforming data into information, knowledge, and wisdom - Part 3 #TEAMPublicHealth #DecisionIntelligence teampublichealth.substack.com/p/bayes-theo...
- #TEAMPublicHealth introduced #Stoicism and Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics (NAVE) for #CharacterMatters. How do they differ? Stoicism is practical #CBT and believes that good character is necessary and sufficient for a good life. To learn more visit teampublichealth.substack.com/t/character
- Public health practice as Stoicism in action -- How the wisdom of ancient philosophers shows up in public health practice. #TEAMPublicHealth #Stoicism teampublichealth.substack.com/p/public-hea...
- Public health practice as Stoicism in action -- How the wisdom of ancient philosophers shows up in public health practice. #TEAMPublicHealth #Stoicism teampublichealth.substack.com/p/public-hea...
- "This school banned phones. Remarkable things happened." - "After Ballard High School banned phones, they saw a 67 percent increase in students checking out library books. We hear from psychologist Jean Twenge about what phone bans can do for kids." www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/pos...
- Causal reasoning with Bayesian Algorithmic Thinking (BAT Part 2): Transforming data into information, knowledge, and wisdom (Part 2) #TEAMPublicHealth teampublichealth.substack.com/p/causal-rea...
- *BREAKING NEWS* (Denmark): Danish postal service is set to stop delivering letters after 400 years. US FDA officials, led by Beth Høeg, note that US remains an outlier; they suggest that, much like the vaccine schedule, the US should simply copy the Danes. #Parody www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
- "R.F.K. Jr. Likely to Swap U.S. Childhood Vaccine Schedule for Denmark’s." "... But a Danish health official found the idea baffling, saying the United States was getting 'crazier and crazier in public health.' " www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/h...
- Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH Director and State Health Officer. “I am thrilled to work with these advisors to catalyze our efforts to lead a sustainable future for public health. California is stepping up to coordinate and build the scaffolding we need to navigate this moment.” www.gov.ca.gov/2025/12/15/g...
- Dec 17, 2025: Discover the story behind San Francisco’s 2025 One City One Book selection, "The Worlds I See" by Dr. Fei-Fei Li. Li reflects on her journey as an immigrant, scientist, and AI pioneer, sharing insights into her vision for a human-centered future of technology. sfpl.org/events/2025/...
- Just finished watching Newsom's interview with Ezra Klein. Absolutely worth watching! In case you don't watch to the end, here are book recs. It includes "Mediations" by Marcus Aurelius - a foundational book for Stoic philosophy (#Stoicism) @gavinnewsom.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqBs...
- The West Coast Health Alliance, @capublichealth.bsky.social , and Leading National Medical Organizations Continue to Recommend Hepatitis B Vaccination for Newborns www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA...
- Dr. Art Reingold is a legend with a heart of gold! We are very excited about the campaign for the Reingold Institute for Global Health at UC Berkeley School of Public Health! publichealth.berkeley.edu/articles/new...
- Do you agree? "Life Advice That Sounds Good But Will Destroy You" www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiz2...
- New review finds no evidence to support delaying universal hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
- Bayesian networks for algorithmic thinking: Transforming data into information, knowledge, and wisdom #TEAMPublicHealth teampublichealth.substack.com/p/bayesian-n...
- @capublichealth.bsky.social - State Highlights Mental Health Resources for California Youth Amid Changes to Access to AI Chatbots www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA...
- Slide presentation: "Population Health Data Science: Algorithmic thinking for transforming data into information, knowledge, wisdom, and action" #TEAMPublicHealth #PopulationHealthDataScience #BayesianNetworks docs.google.com/presentation...
- The Public Health for All Californians Together (PHACT) Coalition supports public health in response to committee and policy changes at the federal level that raised concern about the scientific rigor and transparency of vaccine guidelines and access. @capublichealth.bsky.social cpr3.ucsf.edu/phact
- [W]hile emergence in complex systems is about "more is different," intelligence is fundamentally about "less is more." Large Language Models are "more is more", Krakauer explains. They're essentially sophisticated libraries that know everything but understand nothing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY46...
- "When leaders begin to track decisions, they build a feedback loop into their thinking. Patterns emerge, assumptions surface, and accountability shifts from defending the past to improving the future." Over time, this sharpens decision quality and strategic learning." hbr.org/2025/11/grea...
- From Dr. Atul Gawande: Set Clear Goals With OKRs: Set bold, yet attainable goals. Conduct regular progress reviews. bigthink.com/my-classes/t...
- Dr. Susan Monarez — Former CDC Director, First Live Interview with Dr. Eric Topol of "Ground Truths" on Substack. Wonderful podcast! www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL02...
- "The Road Best Traveled" -- Susan Monarez's new Substack blog. Be sure to subscribe! Dr. Monarez is the former CDC director that was ousted by RFK, Jr. susanmonarez.substack.com?r=8n7u7&utm_...
- Real ID! --- "Don't leave home without it!" (especially if you're brown) (WARNING: Your experience may vary.) ¡Identificación "Real ID"! --- "¡No salgas de casa sin ella!" (especialmente si eres de color) (ADVERTENCIA: Su experiencia puede variar.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
- Regardless of where you stand with the ending of the government shutdown, Ezra Klein of The New York Times provides an insightful, nuanced analysis worth watching. It's only 5 minutes long! www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRCE...
- You can't make this up. www.latimes.com/california/s...
- The brain is an prediction machine. It guesses what will happen and updates future guesses based on experience. Every perception, emotion, & decision depends on these forecasts. Over time, predictions become expectations, and expectations define who we become. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/myel...
- Character matters: The moral determinants of health -- and what to do about it. #TEAMPublicHealth #CharacterMatters teampublichealth.substack.com/p/character-...
- Best summary of Medicare Advantage! And funny! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejoi...
- Finally - the “Duolingo” of decision quality frameworks! Introducing Decision Intelligence 4 Health (DI4H) -- Version 1.0. #DecisionIntelligence4Health #TEAMPublicHealth teampublichealth.substack.com/p/finally-th...
- My synthesis: Choose to spend your time on contributions that compound and transcend us. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jgu...
- Governor Spencer Cox is correct: "The consequences of America’s moral drift: Consumerism and the addiction economy are undermining the republic." #CharacterMatters #TEAMPublicHealth www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
- Sharing slides from recent presentation! "Decision Intelligence 4 Health: Strategic decision making under constraints (Values – Information – Time – Resources)" #TEAMPublicHealth #DecisionIntelligence4Health docs.google.com/presentation...
- Congrats! Dean Michael Lu transformed public health by his research that gave us what we now call "the life-course perspective -- the idea that birth outcomes reflect not only the nine months of pregnancy but the long arc of a woman’s life before it." publichealth.berkeley.edu/articles/new...
- Download selected #TEAMPublicHealth infographics. Frameworks organize our reasoning, decisions, actions, reflections, learnings, and improvements. teampublichealth.substack.com/p/downloadab...
- #CharacterMatters We have a crisis of moral character in the US. "Good character is the foundation of building trust. Good character is having steady and permanent dispositions to do what is right and to refrain from doing what is wrong." Virtue is the act of good character. Use downloadable image.
- “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity,” Mr. Mamdani said. “And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.” #MoralCharacterMatters www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/n...
- "A growing body of research suggests that behavior is not just a matter of willpower; it's the result of prediction. Our mental system constantly generates expectations about what will happen next, including what we ourselves are likely to do, think, or feel." www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spon...
- Manage Conflict with PDSA Looping: A practical tool for deep inquiry, listening, and learning. #TEAMPublicHealth teampublichealth.substack.com/p/manage-con...
- From public health heroes Michael Mann and Peter Hotez! Authors of 'Science Under Siege' warn of concerted effort to discredit science www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZq7...
- Was the backlash against the childhood immunization schedule inevitable? Prediction with causal loop diagrams and systems thinking #TEAMPublicHealth teampublichealth.substack.com/p/was-the-ba...
- Download table: "Listening with intention and purpose"! Courtesy of #TEAMPublicHealth
- On principle, I am boycotting ai fake content.
