Catherine Bulka
@drcatherineb.bsky.social
Mom 👧🏻👧🏻👶🏻🐕🐕🦺, partner 👨🏻🔬, env epidemiologist, assistant professor
I love my children very much. But damn, sometimes I just want to eat a meal without being touched 😭
November 25, 2025 at 11:48 PM
I love my children very much. But damn, sometimes I just want to eat a meal without being touched 😭
I truly don't see the point anymore of online, asynchronous classes in the era of ChatGPT. Like, wtf are we doing?
It's actually gross to watch young people's brains atrophy in real time.
It's actually gross to watch young people's brains atrophy in real time.
November 25, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I truly don't see the point anymore of online, asynchronous classes in the era of ChatGPT. Like, wtf are we doing?
It's actually gross to watch young people's brains atrophy in real time.
It's actually gross to watch young people's brains atrophy in real time.
potentially hot take (that only other U.S.-based public health faculty will understand): ILE's are terrible
November 24, 2025 at 2:12 PM
potentially hot take (that only other U.S.-based public health faculty will understand): ILE's are terrible
I'm sponsoring a PhD student who's submitting an F31 for the Dec due date. Even though the federal govt is in disarray and who knows if any F31s will even be funded 😭, I'm so proud!!! It's a BEAUTIFUL application. Crossing my fingers!! 🤞
November 19, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I'm sponsoring a PhD student who's submitting an F31 for the Dec due date. Even though the federal govt is in disarray and who knows if any F31s will even be funded 😭, I'm so proud!!! It's a BEAUTIFUL application. Crossing my fingers!! 🤞
We’re still looking for applicants!!
Any cancer epidemiologists looking for a tenure track position? We (Dept of Epi at USF) are hiring. Happy to share more info if you’re interested 😊
November 18, 2025 at 9:39 PM
We’re still looking for applicants!!
slept funny 4 nights ago and it still hurts to turn my neck. this is 37
an older woman is making a funny face and says `` i 'm old '' .
ALT: an older woman is making a funny face and says `` i 'm old '' .
media.tenor.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
slept funny 4 nights ago and it still hurts to turn my neck. this is 37
Told her to hug the dog 🥰
November 15, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Told her to hug the dog 🥰
Just found a frozen lizard in my car and screamed…at that very moment, a woman walking by appeared and said “oh!! You startled me!”
Cold Florida problems
Cold Florida problems
November 11, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Just found a frozen lizard in my car and screamed…at that very moment, a woman walking by appeared and said “oh!! You startled me!”
Cold Florida problems
Cold Florida problems
not the folks on my environmental health listserv emailing around a "pre-print" on ResearchGate by Dr. Andrew Wakefield himself and calling him a 'very reputable researcher'
i gotta get off this thing
i gotta get off this thing
November 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
not the folks on my environmental health listserv emailing around a "pre-print" on ResearchGate by Dr. Andrew Wakefield himself and calling him a 'very reputable researcher'
i gotta get off this thing
i gotta get off this thing
Being a parent is so weird because I have to know things like when my child says she wants “toast bread but wet,” she means she wants toast with butter
November 4, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Being a parent is so weird because I have to know things like when my child says she wants “toast bread but wet,” she means she wants toast with butter
My husband says dental insurance is “a scam”
Guess how much it was to for all 3 uninsured kids to get cleanings? 🙃
Guess how much it was to for all 3 uninsured kids to get cleanings? 🙃
October 28, 2025 at 10:05 PM
My husband says dental insurance is “a scam”
Guess how much it was to for all 3 uninsured kids to get cleanings? 🙃
Guess how much it was to for all 3 uninsured kids to get cleanings? 🙃
Had to make a new account/download a new app to access my child’s report card. Why not just send it home on a piece of paper and end this madness 🤦🏻♀️
October 27, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Had to make a new account/download a new app to access my child’s report card. Why not just send it home on a piece of paper and end this madness 🤦🏻♀️
i had this idea to ask students in the intro class to clean a 'messy' dataset. it's tiny (15 rows x 10 columns) and i thought no big deal, i'll just write some R code to read in their files and grade them. lol dumbest idea i've ever had 🤦♀️
October 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM
i had this idea to ask students in the intro class to clean a 'messy' dataset. it's tiny (15 rows x 10 columns) and i thought no big deal, i'll just write some R code to read in their files and grade them. lol dumbest idea i've ever had 🤦♀️
I only realized once I became faculty that it’s soooo f*ing easy to be a bad professor, it’s really f*cking hard to be a good one, and we’re really only incentivized to be somewhere in between.
October 23, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I only realized once I became faculty that it’s soooo f*ing easy to be a bad professor, it’s really f*cking hard to be a good one, and we’re really only incentivized to be somewhere in between.
by the time i've woken up my 3 kids, gotten them fed, dressed, groomed, out the door, off to school, and finally arrive at my office to work...WHEW I HAVE LIVED 9 LIVES 😩
October 23, 2025 at 12:59 PM
by the time i've woken up my 3 kids, gotten them fed, dressed, groomed, out the door, off to school, and finally arrive at my office to work...WHEW I HAVE LIVED 9 LIVES 😩
I’ve been revamping the Intro to Epi class. It previously had a reputation as being “an easy A”…now it’s probably more of an easy B. Students are starting to complain. But I don’t want to cave because one of my core beliefs is that doing good epidemiology actually *is* hard 🤷🏻♀️
October 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I’ve been revamping the Intro to Epi class. It previously had a reputation as being “an easy A”…now it’s probably more of an easy B. Students are starting to complain. But I don’t want to cave because one of my core beliefs is that doing good epidemiology actually *is* hard 🤷🏻♀️
i have a super flexible job, high health literacy, and $$ to throw at problems and i still find navigating the u.s. healthcare system hard as f***. how are those without my advantages handling it???
October 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
i have a super flexible job, high health literacy, and $$ to throw at problems and i still find navigating the u.s. healthcare system hard as f***. how are those without my advantages handling it???
dude isn't even a full professor at Duke.
he also has exactly 3 papers related to environmental health, 0 of which he's the first or senior author on. absolutely un-fucking-qualified to direct NIEHS
he also has exactly 3 papers related to environmental health, 0 of which he's the first or senior author on. absolutely un-fucking-qualified to direct NIEHS
VERY TROUBLING NEWS REGARDING NIH INSTITUTE DIRECTORS
A new appointment for NIEHS
1/3
A new appointment for NIEHS
1/3
October 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM
dude isn't even a full professor at Duke.
he also has exactly 3 papers related to environmental health, 0 of which he's the first or senior author on. absolutely un-fucking-qualified to direct NIEHS
he also has exactly 3 papers related to environmental health, 0 of which he's the first or senior author on. absolutely un-fucking-qualified to direct NIEHS
Is anyone doing research on how the rise of chatbots contributes to the loneliness epidemic??
i'm listening to a university-sponsored webinar on 'Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI' wondering wtf we are doing to these kids 😭
i'm listening to a university-sponsored webinar on 'Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI' wondering wtf we are doing to these kids 😭
October 17, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Is anyone doing research on how the rise of chatbots contributes to the loneliness epidemic??
i'm listening to a university-sponsored webinar on 'Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI' wondering wtf we are doing to these kids 😭
i'm listening to a university-sponsored webinar on 'Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI' wondering wtf we are doing to these kids 😭
I recently moved into a new office. It had a little alcove with filing cabinets that I didn't need, so they were removed. Now there's a cute little area that's partially hidden by my desk, but still easy to crawl into...I'm very tempted to put a mattress and some pillows down there 🙃 Thoughts?
October 16, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I recently moved into a new office. It had a little alcove with filing cabinets that I didn't need, so they were removed. Now there's a cute little area that's partially hidden by my desk, but still easy to crawl into...I'm very tempted to put a mattress and some pillows down there 🙃 Thoughts?
Not me, a grown 37 yo, screaming at my tv “team Conrad, you idiot!!!!”
October 15, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Not me, a grown 37 yo, screaming at my tv “team Conrad, you idiot!!!!”
I volunteered to mentor through a program at my high school...and now this class of '06 grad is getting a little nervous. What on earth do I talk about with a 16 yo?
October 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I volunteered to mentor through a program at my high school...and now this class of '06 grad is getting a little nervous. What on earth do I talk about with a 16 yo?
Sometimes my husband does this thing…
All 3 of my kids will be making noise in some way—crying, yelling, singing, whatever. And he’ll turn UP the volume on the tv/radio to drown them out.
It makes me feel like I’m literally short circuiting.
All 3 of my kids will be making noise in some way—crying, yelling, singing, whatever. And he’ll turn UP the volume on the tv/radio to drown them out.
It makes me feel like I’m literally short circuiting.
October 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Sometimes my husband does this thing…
All 3 of my kids will be making noise in some way—crying, yelling, singing, whatever. And he’ll turn UP the volume on the tv/radio to drown them out.
It makes me feel like I’m literally short circuiting.
All 3 of my kids will be making noise in some way—crying, yelling, singing, whatever. And he’ll turn UP the volume on the tv/radio to drown them out.
It makes me feel like I’m literally short circuiting.
Daycare: hey your kid has a fever, can you come get her?
Me: ok be there in 20 mins
Get kiddo home, take temperature…98.4 degrees. Cool cool cool.
Me: ok be there in 20 mins
Get kiddo home, take temperature…98.4 degrees. Cool cool cool.
October 9, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Daycare: hey your kid has a fever, can you come get her?
Me: ok be there in 20 mins
Get kiddo home, take temperature…98.4 degrees. Cool cool cool.
Me: ok be there in 20 mins
Get kiddo home, take temperature…98.4 degrees. Cool cool cool.
In case anyone finds this helpful, I live in FL and was able to get my Covid shot at CVS today with no issues. The website made me state whether or not I a medical condition that put me at high risk so I checked yes (physical inactivity was listed and that sounds about right!). I wasn’t asked again.
October 7, 2025 at 11:10 PM
In case anyone finds this helpful, I live in FL and was able to get my Covid shot at CVS today with no issues. The website made me state whether or not I a medical condition that put me at high risk so I checked yes (physical inactivity was listed and that sounds about right!). I wasn’t asked again.