A lone scientist seeks answers to a mysterious illness through a series of experiments, dissections, and autopsies, only to find that the inquiry's results present more of a threat than the ailment itself. Woven through with the story of Anna Morandi Manzolini-an 18th-century Italian anatomist and artist who struggled to support a husband suffering from depression-alongside accounts of a ruptured appendix, a splintered cello, and an ill-fated rock climbing expedition, Identifying the Pathogen blends scientific inquiry, existential struggle, and spiritual crisis to question the nature of corporeality. Spinning a clinical linguistic precision that functions at the molecular level and a mapped-out escalation emphasizing the fragility of the human psyche, Jennifer Militello's striking new hybrid collection investigates the mind-body split as part of a collective search to renegotiate our relationship with a sense of security in a post-pandemic world.