This NYT on how everything is becoming "K-shaped" nytimes.com/2025/12/19/b... pairs with this NYT nytimes.com/2025/12/21/h... on how many (esp older folks) stopping GLP-1s b/c of $. Health sadly seems heading in K-shape, both b/c of $ & b/c of choices (eg vax skepticism). @zekeemanuel.bsky.social

A season of light & joy, perseverance & hope to all!

More generally, speaks to the widening gap in what you might call "accessible health" - where the access is greater if you (a) can (and choose to) avail yourself of preventive tools like vaccines; (b) can afford highly effective meds incl GLP-1s. @zekeemanuel.bsky.social @ashishkjha.bsky.social

Heartbreaking studies, incl from @zekeemanuel.bsky.social highlight how high costs (& also, in some cases GI side effects) are causing older people in particular, who’ve benefited from GLP-1 meds, to discontinue, & give up all the previously attained health benefits. nytimes.com/2025/12/21/h...

Re: @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social ? at end (anything in health to feel positive about right now?): emphatic yes, remarkable progress in biomedical science, novel Rx, meas & analytical tech (incl AI), + incr sense of individ empowerment as I wrote: www.wsj.com/opinion/nobo... @citizencohn.bsky.social

Usual w/e temptation bundling (h/t @katymilkman.bsky.social) listening to @thebulwark.com @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social & J Cohn Focus Group pcast while exercising; quite the ep, feat sound from MAHA voters & their POV on health, vax; many doing own research... Wow. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...

Occurs to me, @erictopol.bsky.social, these data offer yet another compelling reason (in case you needed one) to focus on healthy aging (especially if you see yourself as multidisciplinary): you need to be around long enough for the magic to happen! @matthewherper.bsky.social @wilbanks.bsky.social

Try not to feel optimistic about the future of therapeutics after reading the latest Front Points, @luketimmerman.bsky.social summary in TR of the biopharma news of the week: timmermanreport.com/2025/12/lill.... Special h/t to my friends at Takeda for great PIII results w Nimbus Tyk2!

Thank you Matthew Holt at THCB for the opportunity to reshare my recent TR piece on why the real opportunity for proactive digital health platforms is designing for agency vs merely fixating on performance metrics. thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2025/12... @nachristakis.bsky.social @thgoetz.bsky.social

"As individuals become more inclined 2c the world in pos-sum terms, they become more inclined to pursue technological improvements. A general inclination to see the world in pos-sum terms may open the psychological door to the diffusion of beliefs abt human progress."- Joseph Henrich

Evidence for a detrimental causal effect of social isolation on cognitive function in older adults academic.oup.com/psychsocgero...

View from Father Crowley Vista Point near Death Valley.

Indeed. The word “derangement” encapsulates his response perfectly.

🧵I am a survivor of the synagogue attack in Pittsburgh in which 11 innocent people were murdered simply for being Jews. We now see the repetition of this horrific hate fueled violence in Bondi Beach, Australia.

Horrific news from my alma mater.

Value of preemption and responding constructively to directional early signs of illness… @nathanprice.bsky.social @danielsodickson.bsky.social @buckinstitute.org @functionhealth.bsky.social

Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

GLP-1s don’t just change weight; they alter psychology: effort finally feels like it counts. An “agentic dividend.” The opportunity for health tech is platforms that treat people as subjects to empower, not objects to optimize. timmermanreport.com/2025/12/to-i... #digitalhealth #healthtech

Nearly everyone in healthtech wants more “agentic” AI. I’m more interested in a different race: who’s actually building systems that make *people* more agentic - more convinced their actions can shape their future? My 2c here: timmermanreport.com/2025/12/to-i... #digitalhealth #healthtech

Agency is a critical driver of human health & potential, I argue in my latest TR-- and a factor overlooked by most digital health platforms. To improve health, we must design for agency. timmermanreport.com/2025/12/to-i... @angeladuckworth.bsky.social @nachristakis.bsky.social @thgoetz.bsky.social

Agency is a critical driver of human health & potential, I argue in my latest TR-- and a factor overlooked by most digital health platforms. To improve health, we must design for agency. timmermanreport.com/2025/12/to-i... @angeladuckworth.bsky.social @nachristakis.bsky.social @thgoetz.bsky.social

“A magic trick of universality that is specifically American.” - The origins and inclusive appeal of your favorite holiday songs, by the great @elilake.bsky.social -> podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b... And to all a season of joy, gratitude, and peace.

Sort of curious how far things will get before administration finally installs responsible adult like @scottgottliebmd.bsky.social at HHS (ideally) or FDA…

Wow: Ty Burr in @bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/02/o...

ICYMI over the weekend: my @wsj.com review of new book about the origins and complicated social and cultural effects of GLP-1 medicines: wsj.com/arts-culture....

This July TR may be esp good companion piece to NYT op-ed, covering the economics of a longer-lived population, the need for tech platforms to move beyond reductive perf metrics (ofc), & also impt, humbling limitations-bad outcomes befalling super healthy people. timmermanreport.com/2025/07/pers...

Of course I appreciated today's Ken Stern NYT op-ed on healthy aging www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/o..., echoing the optimism & recognition of the importance of connection & agency I've expressed in WSJ www.wsj.com/opinion/nobo..., TR timmermanreport.com/2025/02/rewi..., & on www.kindwellhealth.com.

Enjoyed my @wsj.com review of GLP1 book & want more? - My @statnews.com on GLP1 incr agency: statnews.com/2025/06/17/w... - My Stat on GLP1 wt loss->impt oppy metric-obsessed tech platforms missing: statnews.com/2025/11/13/w... - My TR on preemptive health oppy: timmermanreport.com/2025/11/why-...

1/2 In today's @wsj.com, I review a new book describing the scientific origins and complex and still emerging effects on society and culture of GLP-1 medicines: wsj.com/arts-culture..., as this excerpt from review suggests. @alicecallahan.bsky.social @thgoetz.bsky.social @ashishkjha.bsky.social

I also just posted a companion TR piece looking at another aspect of the book: the contested history of GLP-1's discovery: timmermanreport.com/2025/11/a-ne... (plus other links related to GLP-1s as well as weight management issues & opportunities). @luketimmerman.bsky.social

Just out - my latest @wsj.com book review: "Off the Scales," on the history of GLP-1s, emphasizing their complicated impact on society and culture: www.wsj.com/arts-culture... . (gift link).

Gif of a series of pics of a bald eagle hunting water and sticks (for nest) at Sacramento Wildlife Refuge #birds

I feel this in my soul, but in my case it's human geneticists discovering something an animal or plant breeder did in the 1970s and publishing it Nature because "UK BioBank".

On left: dimensions of health that McKinsey apparently sees; in my view, they (like many) are essentially stuck on biometrics (not a big surprise), and miss critically important, evidence-based but more difficult to quantify measures, as outlined in my diagram of flourishing health, right.

"The growing popularity of these drugs [peptides] shows that many people will experiment with them long before science confirms they work or are safe." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/w... my review erictopol.substack.com/p/the-peptid...

Fun feature on musicals in today's NYT, asking, "If you had to convince a nonbeliever, in just a few minutes, why they should make musical theater their religion, what evidence would you offer?" & offering response: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/t.... Would **love** @jackviertel.bsky.social POV here...

Now out in & just in time for your long Thanksgiving drive: my annual podcast recs, from Acquired & Ground Truths @erictopol.bsky.social to Not Otherwise Specified @lisarosenbaum.bsky.social & Grand Rounds @ai.nejm.org to The Rest is History & excellence actually timmermanreport.com/2025/11/reco...

1/Enjoyed this @statnews.com piece by @mgurven.bsky.social offering sensible perspective on improving life expectancy of populations, incl increasing physical activity, "the best anti-aging remedy we have, an all-purpose longevity extender." www.statnews.com/2025/11/20/l...

In my latest TR column, I discuss how pts & many innovative docs, frustrated by system & skeptical it's fixable, are heading to the relatively underemphasized space of preemption & seeking health engagement there. timmermanreport.com/2025/11/why-... @alicecallahan.bsky.social @euanashley.bsky.social

Epic #Boston

Hudson River Run.

Good piece describing current comprehensive testing efforts so popular in consumer hlth, despised by med establishment b/c of v real concerns abt false +s: nytimes.com/2025/11/22/b.... Today: reasonable worry; in future, w more/richer/longitudinal data-likely less true @danielsodickson.bsky.social

Strongly endorse what @halle.blue calling for here, in this concise piece published by @chrissyfarr.bsky.social Second Opinion: secondopinion.media/p/should-pat.... OF COURSE pts should have access to med grade AI!! Access to AI can't be what makes docs special or valuable. @bijans.bsky.social

In my latest TR column, I discuss how pts & many innovative docs, frustrated by system & skeptical it's fixable, are heading to the relatively underemphasized space of preemption & seeking health engagement there. timmermanreport.com/2025/11/why-... @alicecallahan.bsky.social @euanashley.bsky.social

New TR -why patients-and many innovative doctors-are building health outside what feels like our impossibly broken system. Starting point=preemption, secret sauce=talent, & focus on agency & meaning, as well as relevant biometrics. timmermanreport.com/2025/11/why-... @alicecallahan.bsky.social

Tx for flagging, @thgoetz.bsky.social -what a well-done visual feature, kudos @alicecallahan.bsky.social & team. The impact of a changing food environment is also key theme of important book by nutrition scientist @kevinh-phd.bsky.social & @juliabelluz.bsky.social timmermanreport.com/2025/10/food...