Not all innovation is progress. I gave a lecture to bioengineering students at George Mason University on what we owe the patients we'll never meet. My new article below summarizing the lecture on unintended consequences, health AI risk, and engineering ethics. apothek.substack.com/p/unintended...

NYT article by @craigspencer.bsky.social: "The dismantling of U.S. foreign aid left clinics, community health workers and humanitarian organizations that formed the backbone of health care across eastern Congo without crucial funding."

Karnataka state legislature building (Vidhana Soudha) in Bengaluru, India. Constructed in 1956. The inscription above the columns reads: "Government work is God's Work"

A year later, my grief hasn't gone away over the lives affected around the world, the loss of colleagues, the collapse of US soft power gained through showing up in hard places. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/u...

Not all innovation is progress. I gave a lecture to bioengineering students at George Mason University on what we owe the patients we'll never meet. My new article below summarizing the lecture on unintended consequences, health AI risk, and engineering ethics. apothek.substack.com/p/unintended...

Lessons from Zambia via @theandrewgreen.bsky.social on G2G global health efforts. This quote from his FP piece sums it up: "...experts involved in Zambia’s transition warn that direct government financing is being introduced without a full understanding of what made their approach successful."

via @craigspencer.bsky.social, reflections on the global hantavirus response including the state of US preparedness, WHO coordination, and the impact of cuts to vaccine research.

Via @madhupai.bsky.social: "...every US$1 invested in TB yields $46 in benefits." "Greater investments by high-burden countries make them less reliant on development assistance and more likely to have a sustainable TB response"

This also seems to align with the NYT reporting on what happened: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/u...

Great list of global health publications via @madhupai.bsky.social:

Excellent thread exploring the rationale behind moving towards a "single payor" health system. The majority (~20) of the 38 countries of the OECD use this approach either via a tax financed national health insurance program (payor only) or national health service (hires staff & owns facilities).

20 years later... still a legend! www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2...

Great overview of GLP-1 pharmacology & potential off label use cases... worth a read! "Patients, doctors & researchers are making observations about a range of new potential uses. Some of these benefits may eventually pan out in clinical trials, but others won’t." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Via: @craigspencer.bsky.social ... sharing a policy accelerator in Ohio bringing together voices from public health, MAHA, State lawmakers, and Tribal communities. statesforum.substack.com/p/making-sta...

"If you cannot find a woman panellist, it's probably because they don't exist." A must-read satire from the @lancetgh.bsky.social Lancet skewering the norms of global health conference panels from tokenism to recycled speakers. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

ICYMI: Sharing my end of April roundup of health, environment, and technology updates:

City Hall Park Deliverista Hub at 249 Broadway in NYC… a good start offering shelter from the elements, but no bathroom? Public restrooms are vanishing across urban spaces. We need to expand our concept of a "rest stop" for workers and pedestrians alike. grist.org/labor/new-yo...

"Initial sign-ups had already fallen by about 1.2 million people. But insurance companies, state officials & industry analysts are reporting that many more have lost Obamacare coverage... The federal government has yet to report current enrollment data." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/b...

Via @sciencepolitics.bsky.social: "...migration is not a failure of development, but an intrinsic part of it." This was the conclusion of USAID's migration working group, of which I was a member, when we released a policy paper in January 2025. Read more below: sciencepolitics.org/2026/04/08/u...

Great reflections on #publichealth from @bethlinas.bsky.social:

📡 The April 2026 Apothek Dispatch is live: Ultra-processed foods & heart risk. Deep-sea mining tradeoffs. PEPFAR data wars. And how a fake disease fooled every major AI chatbot. Plus >50 fellowships, internships, and senior roles. #GlobalHealth #Technology apothek.substack.com/p/april-2026...

Researchers invented a fake disease and uploaded preprint papers about it ... then major AI chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) started telling people it was real & citing the uploads as peer-reviewed literature. A wild read on AI and misinformation via @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The last mile challenge is a common phenomenon in global health… treating the hardest to reach cases, & achieving disease eradication, requires the highest amount of resources per individual. The overnight disruption of USAID programs last year is expected to lead to NTD resurgence across the globe.

Via @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social on new negotiated agreements with former USAID partner countries: "...what is being sold as autonomy is, in practice, a more transactional and conditional model of engagement that mirrors rather than reduces the colonial relationships critics have long decried."

Via @thinkglobalhealth.org: Over 2 decades, USAID "...invested more than $140 million in India's TB response, supporting nongovernmental organizations, private-sector partners, & survivor-led networks that bridge gaps between hospitals & households." Now this progress in India is under threat...

A year later, my grief hasn't gone away over the lives affected around the world, the loss of colleagues, the collapse of US soft power gained through showing up in hard places. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/u...

Lessons from Zambia via @theandrewgreen.bsky.social on G2G global health efforts. This quote from his FP piece sums it up: "...experts involved in Zambia’s transition warn that direct government financing is being introduced without a full understanding of what made their approach successful."

Great list of global health publications via @madhupai.bsky.social:

Excellent thread exploring the rationale behind moving towards a "single payor" health system. The majority (~20) of the 38 countries of the OECD use this approach either via a tax financed national health insurance program (payor only) or national health service (hires staff & owns facilities).

My Substack crossed 200 subscribers a few days ago! The milestone has been a bright spot in an otherwise difficult week... 1 year since I received my termination letter from USAID. Apothek Dispatch has been my way to stay connected and keep moving forward. So to everyone out there... thank you 🙏🏽.

Latest post live on Substack: N=47,000 women followed for 30 years. Headlines with coffee puns. But was it a "landmark study"? My latest Substack post on what the news cycle got wrong about a June 2025 scientific update. Is coffee good for us after all? apothek.substack.com/p/coffee-hig...

Last night, over 300 people gathered at Politics and Prose to support a book talk on Nicholas Enrich’s “Into the Woodchipper”, moderated by Dr. Atul Gawande. 📲Check out the recording on our Instagram: www.instagram.com/reel/DXK-m0P... 📺 Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/8rfKjIudffw

Unless your doctor says that you medically cannot get vaccinated, Every one of these deaths is preventable. The Tdap/Td vaccines have been around for so, so long. They are incredibly safe and effective. You only need one shot every 10 years. #vaccinessavelives www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...

Heat pump orders up 2x in a month. Solar panel inquiries up 250%. EV leases up 85%. The Iran crisis has made energy security feel personal. I understand why: I have solar panels, a heat pump & EV on a flexible tariff. When gas prices spike, my bills barely move. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

My reflections on ambient scribes in primary care medicine. Head line: “AI saves you time.” Well, I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that. open.substack.com/pub/benngooc...

Great overview of GLP-1 pharmacology & potential off label use cases... worth a read! "Patients, doctors & researchers are making observations about a range of new potential uses. Some of these benefits may eventually pan out in clinical trials, but others won’t." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Via: @craigspencer.bsky.social ... sharing a policy accelerator in Ohio bringing together voices from public health, MAHA, State lawmakers, and Tribal communities. statesforum.substack.com/p/making-sta...

City Hall Park Deliverista Hub at 249 Broadway in NYC… a good start offering shelter from the elements, but no bathroom? Public restrooms are vanishing across urban spaces. We need to expand our concept of a "rest stop" for workers and pedestrians alike. grist.org/labor/new-yo...

Via @sciencepolitics.bsky.social: "...migration is not a failure of development, but an intrinsic part of it." This was the conclusion of USAID's migration working group, of which I was a member, when we released a policy paper in January 2025. Read more below: sciencepolitics.org/2026/04/08/u...

Researchers invented a fake disease and uploaded preprint papers about it ... then major AI chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) started telling people it was real & citing the uploads as peer-reviewed literature. A wild read on AI and misinformation via @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Some fuzzy math happening here... states are spending tens of millions on consultants to CUT safety net health and food programs instead of expanding them. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

🚨 Each additional daily serving of an ultra high processed food was associated with a 5.1% increased risk of a cardiovascular disease event. The bottom line: every junk/processed food item you cut or swap out from your diet counts! 🫀 via: @jaccjournals.bsky.social www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/...

"The wealthy can afford their skepticism. They live in low-density neighborhoods. Their children attend small schools. Their risk of exposure, even in an outbreak, is low." Via @sciencepolitics.bsky.social sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/31/t...

The State Dept is deliberately withholding PEPFAR funds that Congress appropriated, CDC staffer says. "That's a controlled demolition. The people who will pay the price are the more than 12 million people living with HIV who depend on these programs for their treatment." www.npr.org/2026/04/04/n...

ICYMI: My March "dispatch" for your Sunday morning reading 🤓

Some fuzzy math happening here... states are spending tens of millions on consultants to CUT safety net health and food programs instead of expanding them. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

My Substack crossed 200 subscribers a few days ago! The milestone has been a bright spot in an otherwise difficult week... 1 year since I received my termination letter from USAID. Apothek Dispatch has been my way to stay connected and keep moving forward. So to everyone out there... thank you 🙏🏽.

Re-sharing from March... but still a good read!

Once considered an older-age disease, colorectal cancer rates are skyrocketing among young adults. https://to.pbs.org/4dku8m1

“We lost 27 staff and had to cancel over 20 of our community vaccination efforts, including to schools identified as having low vaccination rates,” he said. “There are simultaneous attacks on immunizations that are making our jobs harder.”