The Formula

The Formula

The Single Question That Changed My Life

And saved millions of others

Tom Frieden's avatar
Tom Frieden
Aug 20, 2025
∙ Paid

The question was straightforward: Of the 3,811 patients with tuberculosis diagnosed in New York City last year, how many did you cure?

I was half a year into my role as the head of the New York City tuberculosis control program. The previous night, Dr. Karel Styblo had taken our annual information summary back to his hotel to study. I thought it was a go…

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