I often bead during online meetings; it helps me listen and really engage with people, particularly presenters. A random butterfly design from my overflowing bead box. Indig wisdom I learned a long time ago: keep your hands busy!

It can only good happen!

“This is the worst ‘health’ press conference I maybe have ever seen. And I watched every one during Covid.” — @craigspencer.bsky.social After RFK Jr & Trump claimed #Tylenol in pregnancy and #vaccines raise autism risk without evidence, doctors warn the MAHA agenda is eroding public health. More ⤵️

A+ headline

This is great! Looking forward to reading. Bridging this gap is what Indigenous scholars have been advocating for decades: calling for recognition of the value and legitimacy of bridging methodologies across disciplines AND worldviews to answer complex health questions.

RFK Jr.‘s advisory panel, amidst rushed confusion, votes to rescind the MMRV recommendation. “It was unclear whether the members all understood what they were voting for” is not a sentence I want to read after decisions like this. More votes to come, COVID tomorrow. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/h...

From the #TBR *audio* pile: The Push by Ashley Audrain (2021). When I tell you I ignored my husband for an entire day last weekend because I could not turn this off!! I’m sorta picky about psychological dramas but this was unputdownable. I don’t think I ever even hit pause haha.

From the #TBR pile: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (2021), which I read last August. You will seriously want to eat this book. An ode to her mother, her culture, and good food. Special appearance: my dog Kya who, despite being unable to read, spends a lot of time hanging around the library.

This is abhorrent. And so deeply sad. The parallels to the residential school system in Canada are poignant.

From the #TBR pile: The Other Valley by (local author!) Scott Alexander Howard (2024). I am so impressed by the simple yet vast world building in this alternate universe where to travel between valleys is to travel through time.

From the #TBR pile: North Woods by Daniel Mason (2023). One of my favourite recent novels, I read this last year and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fiction. This is the story of a place throughout time, told from the perspectives of people occupying a house in New England over centuries.

First up (and most recent) from the #TBR pile: Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer (2025). A comprehensive account of the history of research on what constitutes our aerobiome and the incredible challenges faced by researchers along the way.

I am going to start sharing books I’ve been reading every week. I have always been an avid reader, but post-PhD I found myself a bit estranged from that passion. I’m happy to report I’m more voracious than ever and would love to share some of the stack. I will call it my “from the #TBR pile” series!

I wanted to share some of my recent beadwork: daisy earrings I made for my friend’s birthday 🌼 backed with green felt. I made the original as part of a beading workshop I led several months ago, and I’m glad it found its final form.

mRNA vaccines ushered in a “new era” for vaccine technology. With nearly $500 million in funding canceled for mRNA vaccine projects, the possibility of using these vaccines against diseases like HIV, rabies, Zika, and certain cancers is dimming. Learn more: publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/risks-o...

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

Hello, I'm an Indigenous scientist in a film. I don't exist.

This stopped me cold. I just keep reading the headline. It seems literally impossible to me, that this thing that cut through an entire generation has an answer now. It's impossible to convey how terrifying those years were, how much loss there was, how much pain. My heart. It feels like a miracle.

I am supervising my first students ever, two Indigenous high schoolers involved in the #Seed2STEM program, and I'm so nervous! It is harder than I thought it would be to remember what I (thought I) knew at their age. Any tips from others who have supervised young students interested in research?

vaccines, food, relationships 😅

"From the policymakers in Washington to the masked agents on the street, undocumented individuals are “the other,” people who not only lack legal rights as a formal matter but who stand outside the web of connection that defines human society" Linda Greenhouse www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Social prescribing works where there are resources to support these activities for patients. I am excited to see this in the UK: “The National Health Service in the U.K. has incorporated social prescribing, covering the cost of hiring caseworkers to connect patients to the right community group.”

Air quality in my territory is really bad right now from all the forest fires in northern Ontario. Fortunately my reserve hasn’t needed to evacuate, but many neighbouring communities have. Hoping for lots of rain and cool temps ASAP 🙏🏼

If you're a white person, right now is the time to vigorously, publicly condemn Ann Coulter's genocidal tweet directed at Navajo Artist Melanie Yazzie.

The precarious state of public health in the US is an emergency! As I put together manuscripts about vaccine acceptability I am reminded of the prevention paradox and the urgency for better health communication around preventive measures for public health

With my dad in the homelands this week for #mamowskawin, Sachigo Lake FN 💛

accountability is not lateral violence. and too frequently accusations of the latter shut down the former.

I know I'm late to this as far as health academics go, but citing myself in new manuscripts makes me feel really cool lol.

Photos from last year’s mamowskawin festival in my community of Sachigo Lake First Nation. Headed back out there in a few weeks for this year’s gathering with my dad.

Childhood vaccination rates have stalled in recent decades as inequalities in access, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and an upsurge in vaccine hesitancy and misinformation hinder progress.

I've been through a lot with this team and I'm proud of the work we've done over the past three years. We moved to VCHRI in August 2024 and have made serious progress towards our goals and growing relationships with First Nations communities in BC. www.vchri.ca/announcement...

“For generations, Indigenous people have seen everything taken—our nations, our languages, our children. Now that our identities are valuable, those are being taken too, in what scholar Kim TallBear has called ‘a final act of theft.’” thewalrus.ca/can-you-be-s...

For any Indigenous person who needs to hear it: you don’t need permission to rest (but if you want it, you have it from me lol). You don’t owe society more of yourself than you already give just because Canada decided to make today Indigenous People’s day. 🌿 #HappySolstice

There is a lot to fight for right now, but if we don’t take the time to slow down and nourish our relationships there will be nothing left to fight for. Connect with each other and our ecosystems today and everyday 🌿

Happy summer solstice and Indigenous People’s day everyone! I hope you’ve found ways to connect with the land/water/culture/loved ones today.

Maybe I'm late to this conversation, but if X doesn't use "tweets" anymore, can we reclaim it? "Sky tweets" and its portmanteau are so millennial it hurts (nice try guys, I'm not saying "skeets" on the internet!) This is how I knew I found the old Twitter crowd, though. It's good to be back.

Making social sciences foundational to academic medicine journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...

Oh no. I can't think of a worse use case for AI. At best, a fresh new way for AI to negatively impact the environment.

Stop coming for my em dashes! They were a popular literary tool for narrative tangents and world-building in so many of the books I grew up on, and how you write is heavily influenced by what you read! I am not mad that more people have access to this style now www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

NEW on our blog: Behind the Paper: Indigenous perspectives navigating concurrent public health emergencies from the Cedar Project in British Columbia speakingofmedicine.plos.org/2025/06/02/b...

Sharing my qualitative study recently published in PLOS Global Public Health. Key notes: 1) personal coping strategies during emergencies are incredibly nuanced; 2) resilience and connection are important buffers against pandemic-related harms. #IndigenousHealth journals.plos.org/globalpublic...

⚠️Expansion of CDC's gag orders to ban "forbidden terms" in all research pubs. As the article expounds, demographic reporting is standard practice. This info is crucial for healthcare decision making, as it helps clinicians develop policies on who and how to treat. open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

boozhoo/waciye/hello out there! it's a good day to have a good day 🤗