NEW: They Got the Best NIH Scores of Their Careers. A Year Later, They Still Don’t Have Funding. As the NIH bankrolls new research at a significantly slower-than-usual pace, I talked to scientists left in the lurch about the toll on their research and careers: www.chronicle.com/article/they...

Join us at @ucsfhealth.bsky.social for two presentations on integrating mental health into routine care, and the challenges that presents. - Perinatal depression into pregnancy care - Depression and anxiety care into routine care for hypertension and diabetes. ucsf.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

This was fitting news to receive on May 1, international workers day. I will be returning to work on Monday after being kept on retaliatory administrative leave for 5 months and 3 weeks. I return along with the brave Katrina Declaration signers from FEMA, also reinstated this week. 🧵1/?

NIH is not okay. @nytimes.com highlights how grant-making & ability to obligate funding is at risk from staff shortages and time consuming screening processes designed to censor research to align with the administration's political ideology. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s... Some highlights:

New York Times article about the slow pace on NIH grant making as well as enforcement of political constraints. [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s... 1/4

What if we could prevent domestic violence instead of waiting until a crisis? I’m sharing our experiences and results during Grand Rounds at @ighsatucsf.bsky.social We'll talk about tackling intimate partner violence and mental health in rural Nepal + lessons we can draw for programs everywhere

I felt helpless when she told me her husband hits her every day. I had nothing to offer other than saying she should leave. But she couldn’t leave. So, I stepped back and learned from women who did NOT have violence at home. The common link was surprising and taught me many things:

“Should I even do global health?” I’m hearing this from the young generation. I get it. Funding slashed, worries about unequal relationships, and now the common refrain: “why are we helping abroad when people suffer here?” Global health was supposed to...

Starter pack for raising a tween in 2026: 1. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: There is a graphic novel version of this classic. Son was a bit puzzled by the storyline but a few weeks later, made connections with themes in the news...

"screening for food insecurity, or whether people have access to enough nutritious and safe food, as a top priority for medical schools. Mr. Kennedy’s curriculum does not explicitly emphasize the topic. ...Trump administration’s cancellation of the government’s annual survey of food insecurity"

“You’re as healthy as an ox!” Over and over, doctors said this to me. I tried to explain that I wanted more intensive screening but they said I was lean and didn’t smoke, so the guidelines said I was healthy. I would cite studies showing that South Asians have... magazine.ucsf.edu/heart-risks-...

In public health and medicine, we often focus on what is not working. Which families have domestic violence? What is wrong in the families or communities that is causing this problem? However, we learn a lot by looking at families that do NOT have that problem. While working in rural Nepal...

More people are living with multiple health conditions: high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and anxiety. Busy doctors prescribe medications, even though counseling and should be tried first. Our latest paper for our 700-person randomized controlled trial of a novel intervention called BECOME

I met a nurse who works two jobs caring for disabled and elderly people. His work is sorely needed in a caregiving crisis that is only going to worsen bsky.app/profile/adri...

Did you look at TrumpRx to find medications? I'd love to hear from you today: [email protected] (please share!)

New York Times home page at 4:30 pm (ET) main story Videos Appear to Contradict Federal Accounts of Fatal Shooting It's very unusual for NYT to publish a video analysis, esp. one contradicting a govt account, so quickly, within 6 hours. But NYT had two of their most capable analysts on it.

The people are saying it loud and clear: ICE is dangerous, violent, and operating with impunity. Our elected leaders must seize this moment and take bold action to block any more funding of ICE's operations.

UPDATE re SAMHSA: While the Trump Admin signaled they'll undo the terminations, we don't yet have proof. On Jan 13, grantees received revised Notices of Award (NOAs) formally terminating their grants. Until they receive *another* new NOA w/ original terms, we assume grants remain terminated.

When governments, private companies, and non-profits focus only on “sick care” (not *health* care), this will replicate the problematic parts of the US system: severe underinvestment in prevention efforts, while most of the healthcare spending goes toward extremely expensive procedures

Advocacy CAN work 👏 Calling your representatives CAN work 👏 (Also, this is no way to run a health system—cut $2B in essential services suddenly and out of the blue, then hear a public outcry, then restore the funding the next day)

Thrilled feature Sanjay Basu in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social. I've been influenced by his work for years and it's really a treat to amplify his perspective here. Take a look - it's definitely worth your time if you care about medical care in America. sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/14/m...

"Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." --Paul Batalden "If you have fire hazards, every so often, you will have fire. We have the necessary conditions for this sort of thing to happen and I must emphasize that it will keep happening." -- Ta-Nehisi Coates

Forensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.

What happens when you bring the husband, wife, and mother-in-law together to reduce domestic violence? Improved communication, better relationships, mutual support in household tasks. And some backlash when women have more freedom. Our latest paper (free): link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007...

Three books stood out from my reading list this year: 1. On the Origin of Species: skillful persuasion techniques 2. The Beautiful Struggle: lyrical memoir with a journalist's restraint 3. Elderhood: compelling case for rethinking aging Happy New Year and happy reading in 2026!

We celebrate community health workers. But only half receive a salary. Everyone agrees that doctors deserve a reliable salary. But CHWs’ contribution is often invisible, serving people in their neighborhoods. Funders assume this is simple: raising awareness/teaching. We're testing a new strategy:

I was interviewed for @theguardian.com by the wonderful @melodyschreiber.com, one of the finest health reporters in the world, about what I called a “neocolonialist” study planned by Danish researchers in Guinea-Bissau, funded by RFK Jr. So many red flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Imagine a hospital built and then abandoned. For 30 years, its only visitors are water buffaloes. In 2008, our nonprofit, Possible, partnered with the Nepali government to renovate Bayalpata Hospital. 17 years later, it is transitioned back to the government. A look back at the changes.

Thank you! "Practical" is the highest compliment for our research

The honor was mine! Grateful to students+faculty for great questions and interest in practical solutions for intimate partner violence Thanks @pcollins-mh.bsky.social + @jkbass.bsky.social for the invitation + dinner Met Dr. Jackie Campbell, whose pioneering work continues to inspire!

This paper describes our approach to address a complex situation: husband drinks alcohol and wife cannot leave an abusive relationship Nurses use motivational interviewing for alcohol use and couple's therapy for communication skills, emotion regulation, & safety. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Looking forward to visiting the @jhu-gmh.bsky.social team! Join on zoom if you would like to hear about work in reducing intimate partner violence and depression.

This is such cool work

When women face violence from a partner, the common advice is to leave. But for many, leaving isn't possible. We asked: Can we reduce violence and improve mental health by creating a supportive structure within the family? Sharing our RCT protocol for this innovative approach.

It’s true, I was out on admin leave today at 2pm. I was given no reason. The notice says it is “non-disciplinary.” I was told it came down from HHS.

NIH program officer @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social has been placed on admin leave, sources say. Norton has been outspoken about the Trump administration's dismantling of science, and she signed the Bethesda Declaration. Bhattacharya has said that "science is dead without free speech".

Congratulations Sajama Nepali for receiving the Early Career Researcher Presentation Award at the Global Mental Health Summit! Wonderful when global and local knowledge drive innovation to improve mental health, AND our Possible team member gets recognized.

Don't miss talks from our team members covering two NIH-funded intervention studies supported by @ucsfpsych.bsky.social Global Mental Health Summit -a family-based intervention to reduce intimate partner violence and depression -address co-occurring depression, anxiety, hypertension, and diabetes

This is a remarkable piece. Conservative AND liberal legal scholars come out TOGETHER to condemn Trump’s compact for higher education. www.chronicle.com/article/our-...

2 weeks ago, a journal rejected my submission. It's ok. I'll send it somewhere else. Yesterday, they sent me a second rejection. Same manuscript. Should I write back: "I'm sorry to make you feel regret twice." 😄 When it's published elsewhere and I humblebrag, do I count this as two rejections? 😂

The entire HR department at the CDC is gone. Everyone at the IRB, which makes sure studies are conducted ethically and rigorously, and the ethics office, which oversee conflicts of interest for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The US just released its global health strategy. Quick takeaways: 1/1

Some information from the NIGMS Advisory Council meeting today. On foreign grants... 1/3

What the Nepal crisis is really about (and what the international media is getting wrong):

The NIH budget will INCREASE by $400 million — not slashed by 40%, as Trump proposed — according to a proposal by Senate appropriators, says Sen Murray. "Some have asked if there will even be an NIH by [2029]. The commmittee's resounding message is yes—Congress has your back", she says.

A three-judge First Circuit panel has unanimously denied the Trump administration's request to pause the judgment that restored hundreds of NIH grants.

I had a genuinely though provoking (for me anyway) conversation with Awais Aftab ( @awaisaftab.bsky.social ) about where I think the field of psychiatric genetics is right now, and might be headed.

This is a wonderful interview on psychiatric genetics, dense with insights on heritability, prediction models, unspoken assumptions behind genetics studies, critique of doing experiments just because you can, and ultimately a refocus on what actually matters to improve care.

"The example prompted Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a longtime supporter of PEPFAR, to say he would vote in favor of rescinding funds from the program." But it was completely made up. Great reporting by @apoorvanyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/h...

I’m promoted to three-thirds Professor at UCSF! 10yo: Wait, weren't you already a professor? Me: You start as an assistant professor then you get promoted to associate and then full professor 8yo: So you were only a one-third professor and then two-thirds and now you are a three-thirds professor?