Heading to Phoenix for #SER2026, my first trip since joining the Bursky School of Public Health at WashU. Excited to connect and re-connect, see you all soon!

It seems that only the science community is noticing that NIH and NSF budgets are cut 40% and 55% in the budget bill, respectively. If you live in Maine, West Va, Pennsylvania, Alabama, or Louisiana, CALL YOUR SENATOR as they could make a difference. See below. prospect.org/politics/202...

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity. This is a major win for public health.

📢BREAKING: Just left the courthouse for our NIH grant termination case Judge ruled terminations are “VOID & ILLEGAL” As a plaintiff, I felt a wave of relief & hope; he acknowledged the discrimination & harm Closed by asking, ‘Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?’

After issuing his rulings, Judge Young has some absolutely stark words for the Trump administration. "This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community. That's what this is. I would be blind to not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."

Measles infection during pregnancy is dangerous! It’s linked to early pregnancy loss, preterm labor and other pregnancy complications, increased risk of stillbirth, and neonatal mortality. In this recent case, a newborn with congenital measles has died.

Who's calling the shots at NIH? Sworn testimonies and internal e-mails reveal for the first time the breadth of DOGE's control over the world's largest public biomedical funder. DOGE has provided lists of hundreds of grants to cut, and DOGE is now reviewing ALL NIH awards before they're released

If by “paying” you mean a $400 honorarium which works out to less than minimum wage but ok - tell me more about how you have no idea how this works 🙄

The grant that funded a large part of my doctoral work - a 40 year cohort study which has been running successfully and learning all sorts of things about disease and wellbeing - was just terminated. Surreal.

… and Molly is not alone. More than $2.6B of ongoing research has been canceled (with much more this week, at Harvard). With each cancellation: We are losing so much knowledge. Losing the next generation of scientists. Losing our ability to protect our health, both now & for the future. 🧪🩺😷

They told me graduation is a formal event, I’m ready. #vaccinescauseadults

2.7Billion in NIH research funding cuts in the first three months of 2025. This is not abstract No NIH funding = fewer new treatments for cancer, fewer new vaccines, fewer discoveries for chronic diseases, lower retention of scientific talent, more brain drain. www.cnn.com/2025/05/13/h...

An enslaved man, Onesimus, was very likely the person who introduced the lifesaving procedure of inoculation to the US. www.history.com/articles/sma...

Insane is exactly the phrase I would have used! ‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage www.science.org/content/arti...

I have an 8th percentile R01 that cleared council in Sept 2024 in limbo but has a foreign sub so dead in the water now. Not spending seems to be the point.

More insanity. 1. Collaborative research gave us vaccines for Ebola 2. Drugs for HIV 3. Malaria vaccines 4. Researched and enhanced tracking of emerging infectious disease threats. And much more This is another damaging own goal. www.statnews.com/2025/05/01/n...

This is a disaster for global public health. I think moving to a model where the IC funds directly could be a not-bad thing, esp if it allows for capacity building re: admin for NIH grants and empowering institutions to lead them, but destroying everything first is not how you achieve that.

🧵1/N New study published in @jama.com on re-emergence of vaccine-eliminated infectious diseases under declining vaccination in the US. We model long-term risk and conditions for return to endemicity for measles, rubella, polio, & diphtheria. Collab w/ @Mathewkiang.com jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

They’re destroying federal science capacity & California needs to step up & expand science capacity at the state level. I introduced SB 829 to create the California Institute for Scientific Research & authorize the State of California to produce vaccines. It just passed the Senate Health Committee.

Vaccines save lives by the millions, this is not a point of debate.

Do not normalize children dying from measles. Measles was previously eliminated in the US, thanks to vaccines. When children die from measles, it means that adults have catastrophically failed to protect them because they have rejected basic science.

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women. More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications. I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

We've been tracking unlawful NIH grant terminations for 3 weeks. Spread the word👇! Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination? ✅ Email PO + document questions ✅ Submit FOIA ✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation ✅ Consider outside litigation ✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs 1/🧵

13. And anyone who has been part of this grand humanist tradition is someone who will not lie down and cower before these sad bullies. I don't know what happens to science in the US over the next four years, but I have no doubt as to where the arc of history bends. We aren't going anywhere. fin

I just want to do my work, man. That’s all any of us want to do.

UCSF is the 2nd largest employer in San Francisco.

I’m so grateful for silly dogs.

The foreign aid cuts left partially-excavated, exposed pits of dioxin, a poison, left by the American military. Now, rainy season is coming & hundreds of thousands of people live right around the base. Worse, less than 1,500 ft away is a major river that flows into Ho Chi Minh City, pop. 9 million.

THIS: The Best Investment You Didn’t Know You Made: How NIH Funding Fuels Innovation and Economic Growth www.amfar.org/news/how-nih...

Last week, a colleague who studies how the shingles vaccine affects the eye had her R01 terminated. She mentioned “physicians are hesitant” to recommend the vaccine to those who had a previous shingles infection. This is extraordinarily bad. www.msn.com/en-us/health...

I am so grateful for the reporters who are doing the work on telling the story of the incredible negative impact of the cessation of US aid. The human toll is hard to wrap one's head around. This article is a must read. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

"Famine is really a human-made tragedy,”... “Food insecurity and malnutrition is not because we are not producing enough. It is a problem of poverty, access, war, political strife and other social-economic issues.” www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Nothing will kill more children than the ongoing decimation of CDC, NIH, and USAID work to lift vaccine uptake in the US and world. Child survival rose 75% in the last 50 years. Vaccines account for 40% of that. Measles vax alone was 60% of the benefit. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The long list of words flagged for review includes several fundamental epidemiology terms which likely show up in every paper, grant, report, presentation, or conference talk. Does this mean epidemiology as a whole is now forbidden? My thoughts at: open.substack.com/pub/epiellie...

If your sources are willing to share specific details of cancelled grants publicly, please encourage them to share using the Google Sheet below👇 The current lack of transparency on cancelled grants is really limiting organizing efforts and advocacy. bsky.app/profile/scot...

I don’t understand why the president is allowed to spout nonsense about colonizing another country and the 25th amendment isn’t being invoked in addition to all the other horrors this is insane. It’s absolutely insane. It isn’t funny or even weird.

I have confirmation from several sources now that all T32s, many F30s and F31s, and most or all Center awards (P30, P50) have been terminated at Columbia. This is quite damaging to research and to individuals. This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...

Vaccines do not cause autism. If you need a quick reference to studies that disprove this relationship: Commentary, how we got here: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... Meta-analysis synthesizing the results from studies on almost 1.3 million children: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As I told @bostonglobe.com, “This goes beyond research on LGBTQ health & includes studies seeking to understand & address health issues affecting a wide range of other vulnerable communities. Scientific inquiry is under siege & the public’s health hangs in the balance as crucial studies vanish.”

Worst timeline. Resources are not infinite. Any additional dollar wasted to relitigate this debunked idea is a dollar taken from important work elsewhere.

An excellent thread on T32s, which have launched so many scientific careers including my own. I was lucky to have 4 years of T32 support, which were instrumental in allowing me to explore and figure out where I wanted to specialize.

I can’t believe this needs to be said. TransGENIC mice are not TransGENDER mice

75% of Americans oppose cutting funding for scientific research on cancer; only 12% are in favor of doing so. ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/Po...

They are a basket of deplorables. She was right about everything.

Having spent a few too many years of my life studying vitamin A supplementation and infections/survival, I can confirm that vitamin A is not a panacea. The MMR vaccine remains the most safe and effective way to avoid getting the measles.

Berkeley and east bay folks - we will have a UC Berkeley campus event on Friday as part of this broader day of action — please join us and make your voice heard! www.standup4scienceberkeley.com

I am not going to call this a Bluetorial, because I do not want to sully that term (which, at least I, find joyful). Let’s call it a Orwellial.

Regarding #NIH websites, including #RePORTER, #PubMed, #NCBI, being down: - This appears to be due to an issue with domain-name lookup. The websites are up, the lookup is (partially) broken - It could be caused by a denial-of-service attack or a misonfiguration 🧵 with explanation and workaround: