Peter Hotez joins us for a Texas-centered conversation. After 11 years in Washington DC, Peter migrated to Texas where over the past several years he has established himself as a leading research scientist, public voice on infectious disease, including SARS-CoV-2, vocal advocate of vaccines, and opponent of anti-science, anti-vaccine voices. How did this happen? How has this changed his life? In recent days, Governor Abbott made his sudden, unforeseen decision to lift the mask mandate and restrictions on businesses. How to make sense of that? Viral variants dominate the conversation, in Texas and beyond. What does that portend?   Peter Hotez is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development.