Bhattacharya wants a “Silicon Valley Culture” at NIH, as reported by @maaisha.bsky.social. Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” mantra does not belong at a place dealing in human health and lives. Because those are the things you end up breaking. insidehealthpolicy.com/share/153444

Worth noting: literally any US born politician could get some of that Mamdani glow by siding with people over billionaires every single time. Just love your neighbors more than money and fight for them relentlessly! (And have years of coalition building and great communication skills, etc.)

This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence. The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:

Not preparing for the next pandemic doesn't prevent pandemic from happening. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The TRO doesn't seem to be blocking termination notifications 🤔

Scoop: The NIH infectious-diseases institute (NIAID) will soon scrub “pandemic preparedness” and “biodefense” from its web pages, according to e-mails I obtained. The directive is the start of a broader shake-up at NIAID, which has long been attacked by Republicans.

there's fierce competition, but this is one of the most stomach-turning things I've read in some time

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

When Ds are back in charge, they have to change everything. No moderate half-measures. Just relentless razing of the corrupt institutions that enriched the worst people in the world and propped up fascism. A few suggestions...

NEW: Another NIH institute director hasn't been renewed — the director of NIAMS (arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases institute). That leaves a whopping 15 of 27 institutes and centers without a permanent director.

NIH, CDC, HHS, and all of US cancer research and public health needed and still needs protection from Russell Vought and the P2025 White House. The defining feature of 2025 at NIH was not merely grant changes. It was unprecedented levels of presidential interference with NIH decision-making. 1/

Huge sigh of relief, though we're far from done. news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-a...

Hoping the courts see this for what it is ...

Four states sue Trump administration over cuts to public health funding reut.rs/4afW7S8

4,049 people gone from NIH compared to 2024, an 18% loss in staff. www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...

“Cut ICE’s budget to restore federal health care funding” is an extremely popular message www.politico.com/f/?id=000001...

Ok, yesterday we learned our work to reduce loneliness in older adults is in jeopardy. Today, we find out our project to enable people with HIV to receive their medication injections at home is also threatened with imminent termination. This makes no sense outside of punishing blue states.

Florida has reversed funding cuts for HIV medication — but only until it can go through the formal rule-making process. https://mrf.lu/3CxW

I genuinely cannot believe the degree to which we are pissing away this generational breakthrough, even given the fuckmuppets who are involved www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

RFK Jr.'s claim that COVID vaccines are deadly? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. In this new extraordinarily large study, vaccinated individuals had a 74% lower risk of death from severe COVID-19 and a 25% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those unvaccinated. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

After a year of close calls and sleepless nights, after losing all of our federal collaborators ... They are getting rid of our program to help older LGBTQ adults, many estranged from family, feel less lonely and isolated. I'm heartbroken. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/h...

HIV justice is racial justice! 🗣️ Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), a day to recognize how HIV disproportionately impacts Black communities—AND to act against the barriers to health equity. (1/3)

one of the greatest human triumphs of my lifetime is the relentless, unceasing, heroic effort by DECADES' worth of doctors and scientists to find a cure for a disease much of the world didn't take seriously for years because it predominantly affected a community they thought kinda deserved it

It will be important to watch how this rule affects staff at NIH. People are already afraid to speak up inside NIH. This policy works against the academic freedom the administration claims to value.

Swear to god, ICE could just announce they're leaving a city but not leave and the media will just stop covering that city completely even though ICE never left. It's what ICE and the media did with LA and they're doing it with Minneapolis too

The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023. The Cato study provides the first-ever 30-year analysis of the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets. https://ow.ly/jy8a50Y8kM3

We stand with Dr. @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social! She’s a champion for health equity and scientific integrity. No one should face retaliation for speaking up for public health and science. We must protect whistleblowers and defend equitable health research for all. 💪 Gift link below👇

Kennedy has stacked another HHS panel with his fellow travelers in the anti-vaccine and pseudoscience world. Many of the 21 new members have previously worked in some capacity with Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine advocacy group that Kennedy founded.

“I am very concerned about the minimal scientific expertise on the committee, and the degree to which it is stacked with vocal proponents of the discredited notion that vaccines contribute to autism,” says Joshua Gordon, former NIMH director. By @avaskham.bsky.social bit.ly/3Z8Gs0y

Here's a "holy shit" sentence for you: "In the past year, the federal workforce lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s, according to an analysis in Science." www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-m...

We did not properly punish the confederates. We did not properly punish the insurrectionists on January 6th. We have to punish ICE. They can’t be allowed to slink back into their communities quietly. Expose them. Arrest them. Convict them. Imprison them.

Let’s be crystal clear about why more Americans are losing insurance: Donald Trump. He’s targeted the ACA for 10+ years and has never once offered a meaningful alternative. This together with RFK jr’s rampage against proven health care measures like vaccines is very bad news for our country.

I am hearing that RFK Jr.’s minions are going to go after HPV vaccines. I’ve got problems with these people and now you’re going to hear about them, first from a personal perspective and then from a professional one. It all boils down to this: WE HAVE A SAFE VACCINE THAT PREVENTS CANCER.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that's airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. A vaccine can prevent it. https://to.pbs.org/3O9iu2I

Wow. This is devastating. www.science.org/content/arti...

if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.

The killing of Alex Pretti and the grotesque lying was an overreach by the administration. They've paid a price and had to pull back a bit. But it's when there's some disarray that the democratic opposition needs to intensify the offensive, and turn a marginal tactical success into a major victory.

Nearly half of the databases that the CDC used to update regularly — surveillance systems that tracked public health information like Covid vaccination rates and hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus — have been paused without explanation, according to new research.

The Senate may choose to vote together on the DHS and LHHS bills. Thus, a filibuster on DHS may mean no funding for NIH. What my colleagues are saying: “Shut it down, public health will understand. I’ll work without pay again.” - anonymous NIHer

this is it. this is the level. this is the standard for democratic officials. anything less is intolerable.

not impressed by the fact that the democrats dot org people finally got someone on social media who matches the energy of fucking gavin newsom, who talks big and throws trans people under the table. SHOW. US. LEADERSHIP. THAT. MATTERS.

I’m completely fed up with elected Representatives saying shit like, “Republicans will tell you behind closed doors that they don’t agree with what ICE is doing”. Playtime is over. Professional courtesy no longer exists. Name them, record them, and make it public.

Criminal tribunals will be the bare minimum, and are the modest response under the circumstances

ICE agents are America's failures, basically indistinguishable from lazy school shooters, losers who want to play Call of Duty on our streets against people who can't fight back. They have unlimited ammo and toss tear gas like they're pressing L1. They have to be defunded and jailed. All of them.

"'I was hit so hard with the fact that this man would not do this for me,' she said" www.startribune.com/detained-by-...

“He has no idea what he’s talking about,” says Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of AAP's infectious disease committee. Rejecting decades of science, vaccine panel chair says polio and other shots should be optional, the New York Times reports: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/h...

YES! A step in the right direction. After a horrendous year for science & the #NIH, it is imperative to protect it from political interference. NIH's success is due to decisions based on science, not political ideology. Science does not belong to politicians. 🧪 degette.house.gov/media-center...

🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year. That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027. A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications. A short 🧵

RFK Jr. appointee Kirk Milhoan has just clearly stated, out loud, that he wants to experiment on the people of the United States by seeing what happens as vaccination coverage plummets and infectious diseases spread.

"2025 was a year in public health that I’m sure none of us wants to repeat. But we, as an #HIV Community, remained steadfast in holding control of our here-and-now existence. Our future, and our health, demand that we continue that momentum in 2026." via @thebodydotcom.bsky.social