Christmas Travellers Maud Lewis c. 1960

Today I learned that NORAD’s Santa tracker started in 1955 when a Sears store in Colorado Springs ran a newspaper ad with a phone number for kids to call Santa that was, accidentally, the NORAD top secret phone line to be used by the US president, but instead had kids calling asking for Santa.

I’ve come to think of AI as being a pretty-good-intern on my team. I don’t trust it with anything important and it definitely shouldn’t do independent work. I find AI helpful for organizing my thoughts in a way I might not, but key point is these are my thoughts, my work, my analysis.

Oh my God just go read the papers, do the research, and learn the stuff you need to know. I realize the incentive structure in academia is bullshit, but have some integrity - and some interest in learning things and producing quality work!

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The fact that no pharma company is showing much interest in getting market approval for a #frostbite treatment IN CANADA of all possible places is a market failure.

Oh my God just go read the papers, do the research, and learn the stuff you need to know. I realize the incentive structure in academia is bullshit, but have some integrity - and some interest in learning things and producing quality work!

Consider signing up for FluWatchers! A quick weekly email asking about cough or fever helps track flu activity and supports public health officials in spotting early signs of outbreaks. Visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/flu-influenza/fluwatcher.html

Some potentially groundbreaking and life changing medicines and vaccines are on the horizon, including for major public health threats (Lassa fever, rabies) and respiratory disease (the most promising Tuberculosis vaccine in a century). 🧪

Some potentially groundbreaking and life changing medicines and vaccines are on the horizon, including for major public health threats (Lassa fever, rabies) and respiratory disease (the most promising Tuberculosis vaccine in a century). 🧪

Canada's governments need to take action to ensure Canadians have access to respiratory therapy services in acute care, primary care, critical care, and home care. Supporting the Canadian and international respiratory therapist workforce is essential. Read our recommendations:

Lots being written about a need to reorient global health, but this statement refreshingly honest: “Global health is now seen by many as a rarified world occupied by elites making decisions that are out of touch with everyday realities.” This is correct. The Global Health Country Club needs to end.

Lots being written about a need to reorient global health, but this statement refreshingly honest: “Global health is now seen by many as a rarified world occupied by elites making decisions that are out of touch with everyday realities.” This is correct. The Global Health Country Club needs to end.

Thank you to every one of my health professionals for your text messages between 8-8:30AM today wishing me a happy birthday. Good to know my optometrist is thinking of me on my birthday. 👍

This is a great paper by @jocalynclark.bsky.social and Tina Purnat, highlighting something that I don't think is being said often enough: "The challenges of health misinformation go beyond countering false claims." We need to give people credible answers to their real questions and problems.

Look, this is an absurd stunt and I am here for all your hot takes taking the piss out of it. But it is offensive and unjust that there are thousands of people actually working to create peace and restore dignity in some of the most horrendous conflicts on the planet who get no recognition at all.

I agree with this, but I also worry that large parts of the medical community and the anti-misinformation health advocates are massively out of touch with many people's daily realities & questions they have that are being answered by online influencers and others in the wellness space. What I mean:

France has identified two cases of MERS in travellers returning from Saudi Arabia. Both are reported to be in stable condition in hospital, no additional chains of transmission identified.

DRC has declared the Ebola outbreak in Kasai over - this is good news. The case fatality rate in this outbreak, however, is very high (43 deaths out of 53 confirmed cases). And higher than in recent outbreaks.

Great obituary in today’s Globe and Mail. A reminder to make sure that you exit this world on a, uh, high note. www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article...

Seeing too many articles talking about challenges accessing extremely pricey drugs in Canada that make no mention of the absolutely outrageous amounts of money the pharma companies are pulling in.💰💊 Vertex is on track to make $10 Billion+ USD off Trikafta this year (again). 👀A 10x blockbuster drug!

Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.) RTs appreciated.

Lauren is right: Canadian civil society, and Canada as a donor, is trying to do too many things and we need to stop doing some of them. I would add to this that Canada is a very good humanitarian donor that gets out of the way of humanitarian orgs delivering services & Canada should focus on this.

Update from the Ethiopian Ministry of Health on the #Marburg outbreak.

Lots to like in this #pharmacare report (it's feisty!) tho I still worry its approach to WHO #EssentialMedicines lets fall through the cracks the many drugs on the WHO EML💊📜, from #albendazole to #tuberculosis drugs, that aren't actually sold in Canada despite being the recognized standard of care.

Canadian foreign policy at this point basically consists of a series of banal tweets about important things. These tweets take 3-5 days to write and approve.

Folks, it’s probably time to stop posting glowing content praising Liberal ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries for standing up for global health or international assistance or having any kind of helpful foreign policy.

Can’t help but feel like Putnam predicted this in some way, 30 years ago. We’re now in a place where bad (or delusional) ideas and fake videos/text/“events” are given an air of credibility by a fake polished AI veneer. This is so obviously bad for trust, and just knowing what is going on.

Ottawa’s boondoggle of Lansdowne 2.0 will funnel a bunch of taxpayers dollars to a handful of private companies and now will drive out Ottawa’s very successful women’s hockey league team who say they won’t play in an arena that can seat fewer people than they have attending a weekday hockey game.

Ethiopia has confirmed that the cases of hemorrhagic fever identified in Jinka town are Marburg virus disease. There have been several Marburg outbreaks in the past couple of years, the largest occurred in Rwanda in the fall of 2024. There are no approved vaccines and therapeutics for Marburg.

Not good: Ethiopia is reporting a cluster of 8 suspected cases of a possible viral hemorrhagic fever. It is not yet clear: (1) if these are true, confirmed cases; and (2) what the suspected illness is - many possibilities here ranging from not a VHF, to Ebolavirus, Ebola Sudan, Marburg, etc.

Join us next week in Ottawa for a screening of the documentary “Restoring Dignity” and a discussion on neglected diseases (specifically Noma) moderated by me, with some wonderful panelists.

For clarity, here: Health Canada didn't "lose" them in the sense that they didn't, like, "fall off the back of a truck". Health Canada says there was a temperature deviation that, presumably, led to spoilage of temperature-sensitive products like vaccines or drugs. Which is bad, yes, but different.

Not good: Ethiopia is reporting a cluster of 8 suspected cases of a possible viral hemorrhagic fever. It is not yet clear: (1) if these are true, confirmed cases; and (2) what the suspected illness is - many possibilities here ranging from not a VHF, to Ebolavirus, Ebola Sudan, Marburg, etc.

Canada lost its #measles elimination status today. Here's something @jwnickerson.bsky.social and I wrote a while back in @theconversation.com for @msf.ca: "Measles is a humanitarian issue, and its unwelcome reappearance in Canada is a reminder of its importance" theconversation.com/measles-is-a...

Incredibly grim stuff, #Edmonton. 👀"the highest yearly incidence rate documented in the international scientific literature. This suggests that Edmonton may lead the world in severe frostbite cases." 👀👀"Reported amputations due to frostbite reached an all-time high of 110 cases in 2024 in Edmonton"

I helped make a film, out this week, called “Rovina’s Choice,” about the deaths this man without conscience or accountability has caused — already 600,000, ⅔ of them children.

Absolute nonsense. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable industries on the planet, every single new drug that comes to market is the result of some funding from taxpayers to discover or develop it, yet many Canadians can’t afford these same medicines.

Not sure what to make of this story that implies that politicians want to do the right thing and get people out of a genocide in Sudan, but Canadian government bureaucracy is stopping this from moving ahead. Once again, Canada seems unwilling and unable to do hard things that are important to do.

Not sure what to make of this story that implies that politicians want to do the right thing and get people out of a genocide in Sudan, but Canadian government bureaucracy is stopping this from moving ahead. Once again, Canada seems unwilling and unable to do hard things that are important to do.

At the end of the day I'm not sure how much difference it makes. But it is striking to put out a budget that axes a luxury tax on yachts and adds a co-pay for refugee claimants accessing drugs and dental care.

Just look at the stats from the most recent #Tuberculosis in Canada report (released Oct 2025, but covering 2023). It notes incidence of 5.5/100,000 & risk of not meeting Canada's 2030 commitment of >1/100,000. Meanwhile among Inuit it's 204.2/100,000... publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.9...

Horrific details emerging from El Fasher, Sudan: pools of blood so large they’re visible by satellite, people being killed systematically. Last week, MSF teams assessed 165 children under 5 fleeing the area and found 75% were acutely malnourished. An accelerating genocide before our eyes.

Horrific details emerging from El Fasher, Sudan: pools of blood so large they’re visible by satellite, people being killed systematically. Last week, MSF teams assessed 165 children under 5 fleeing the area and found 75% were acutely malnourished. An accelerating genocide before our eyes.

I've built a socioeconomic system that depends on everyone to do useful work and act ethically except the people at the top, who get unimaginable rewards for being antisocial frauds and criminals. And I think it will stand the test of time

WHO's new Global report on #NeglectedTropicalDiseases 2025 is out. #NTDs www.who.int/publications... Definitely have not yet waded through all 100+ pages, but plenty of interesting stuff here, e.g., ⬇️

Strong agree with this - there’s a presumption that the discussions and impact of the VIP meetings is higher than the “not-VIP” meetings. Simply not true - the world is full of brilliant people making huge impacts that are far more tangible than in many of these meetings.

Some of these people have now been fired and rehired TWICE since January. The current state of dysfunction is mind boggling.