27 UNIHTED: The Bethesda Declaration: One Year Later / Continuing Harms to the NIH Mission 👉 bit.ly/3QAWa3H @27unihted.bsky.social

girl me too

It’s very gratifying when a paper you publish in a peer-reviewed journal plays a role in influencing national policy Here’s the paper 2/2 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40803141/

I've seen a lot of info for specialized audiences (e.g. scientists, non-profits) on how to comment on the proposed OMB rule change for grants, but less for the general public. So I made this one-pager that can be shared more widely. docs.google.com/document/d/e...

We would like to thank House members Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), and the 37 other Representatives for their letter to HHS, particularly for the specificity of the questions they ask, which highlight some of the most pressing issues NIH faces today.

TLDR Good News: We have a growing community of NIH staff who have decided academic freedom & scientific excellence are non-negotiable. And a movement in the research community to match. So when I leave NIH I will take on a full-time role as a science advocate & organizer w/ @27unihted.bsky.social …

And follow @27unihted.bsky.social for updates www.27unihted.org/bethesda-dec...

We published a substack today with part 3 of the probationary project, the impacts to the American public. Read it now open.substack.com/pub/27unihte...

So glad some people are standing up to ADA silencing scientists. The ADA's president elect and scientific session chair resigned their positions. We need more people to speak truth to power. Sometimes actions speak louder than words. www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...

Thanks @firedbutfighting.bsky.social for the great infographics. Please make a public comment !

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the Bethesda Declaration (I'm proud to have signed) On June 9 2025, a group of over 300 current &former NIH workers sent a letter to Dr. Bhattacharya expressing deep concerns about the ways he was harming the NIH Current/former staff now report ongoing harms 👇

It’s the Bethesda Declaration’s birthday — to mark the occasion, 73 NIHers have a report outlining ongoing concerns, which have become “more insidious and systematized, but no less harmful” as @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put it www.statnews.com/2026/06/09/n...

Thanks so much for talking about this!

Despite some benefits, use of virtual review panels ensures that scientists do not travel in & around DC and see, with their own eyes, what this administration has done to staff, institutional morale, and even the physical headquarters of independent federal agencies. Reflections & an alternative.

One year ago today, 300+ NIH scientists and staff risked their livelihoods by signing the Bethesda Declaration to call out government leadership for harms to science and patients... ...today, their new report documents continuing harm to science and the American public. www.27unihted.org/bd-home

My quote of the day Bethesda Declaration (June 9, 2025)

Just say NO to theft of American tax $ & the undoing of our democracy via fascist accounting practices. The great @elizabethginexi.bsky.social explains how. Thanks to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social & @27unihted.bsky.social for fighting for science, health, & what truly makes America great 🇺🇸

This is a great resource.

The essay by @27unihted.bsky.social contains action items for scientists and the public - read it. open.substack.com/pub/27unihte...

Compelling analysis & want to flag one theme: *in-person review* There are many reasons to utilize virtual review, but, there is a real cost, one that has been under-indexed in an age of attacks on science, in that it "erodes the engagement and investment of the community in the review process" 🧵

We published an article written by a number of current and former peer review workers in their personal capacities outlining the changes to peer review at the NIH over the last 18 months. It’s a great resource, and we’re grateful to the authors who wrote it! open.substack.com/pub/27unihte...

Thank you. I have the honor of being a recognizable face representing hundreds of NIH staff who are speaking up & pushing back. I would not have had the courage to do this without our community of named & anonymous Bethesda Declaration signers and allies. @27unihted.bsky.social go.bsky.app/LQZYUdE

Many among the scientific community have seen or read about the arrest of scientists distributing information on censorship outside of the ADA conference. Join @kristenboyle.bsky.social and others at ADA this weekend and stand up for science during the presidential addresses!

Well respected and brave scientists were removed from the American Diabetes Association meeting today simply for distributing copies of a published editorial critical of the administration’s policies. www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...

A small office within HHS with keeping research participants safe has been chronically underfunded and understaffed Then, the Trump administration "just squashed us like a bug" a former staffer told @mmolteni.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/06/05/h...

Join our 27 UNIHTED community member Alexa Romberg share her story of scientific advocacy and the Bethesda Declaration June 10 2:00PM at APHAs policy action institute. Register here last day to register for in person is today at 12:00 PM: www.apha.org/events-and-m...

The FY2027 appropriations fight is entering the House markup right now. If you're a federally funded PI and you haven't contacted your rep's office this cycle, here's a 6-step thread that takes less than 80 minutes to start. 🧵

What's happening to CBS News is what the tech oligarchs call "parallel" strategy. Buy an existing institution, gut it, and convert it into a right-wing zombie version of itself. They are doing this to media, government, education, biotech, defense tech, etc. Some call it the "Network State."

It’s fascinating to see Rubio going over RFK Jr’s head & indicating that the $600 million that Congress appropriated for Gavi will indeed go to Gavi Now let’s hold Rubio to account 💪 It’s also good to see RFK Jr facing a loss 👏; Rubio’s decision will anger him! www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u...

Big civic engagement day! I voted in our local primary elections, and watched a video webinar organized by @standupforscience.net about fighting back against the administration's full-scale attack on US scientific research.

When science, data, and public health expertise are sidelined, everyone feels the impact. Healthy communities depend on trusted information, prevention, and a workforce equipped to respond when it matters most. #PublicHealth open.substack.com/pub/national...

The last speaker from the @standupforscience.net OMB regulation event, Elizabeth Ginexi. She has provided the clearest explainer of the proposed regulation and why it is so important. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

If Big Brother doesn’t like your science topic you won’t be funded and if Big Brother doesn’t like your results you will be defunded. A recipe for backwardness that seems to be designed by people who want America to humiliate itself and collapse. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

I am a postdoc, there are tens of thousands of us throughout the country working on federally-funded projects, and the regime wants each of us to ask its permission every time we want to publish a paper or present at a conference*. In other words, if we want to share our work at all.

ScienceInsider: HHS is now weighing in on science in NIH grants Staffers say comments coming after NIH’s own approvals are overriding peer review by Jocelyn Kaiser @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social @science.org bit.ly/4343TtT

Bhattacharya is at NIH (and CDC) to be a mouthpiece for the administration. He does the bidding of Russell Vought, who aims to destroy science - as we just saw in the 800 page tirade he called a proposed OMB rule.

"I'm trying to stay out of the water" says a man wearing a freshly purchased swimsuit, swim fins, and goggles...

In fact, he says science should be apolitical at political rallies.

What does the new OMB proposal mean for science? How can we STOP VOUGHT and SAVE SCIENCE together? All of these questions and more to be discussed at the Emergency Science Meeting on June 2nd, 4PM ET, hosted by Stand Up for Science! Register at the link in our bio, or go here: zurl.co/g3vTZ

“...I’m trying to stay out of politics as much as I possibly can because I think science is what the NIH should be always about.” —NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya weeks before speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Our fourth Bhattacharya Fact Check piece is out today…

Webinar "Funding Under Pressure: Political Influence, Censorship, and the Future of U.S. Research" Wednesday 11:00 Eastern Details and registration here. www.defendresearch.org/events/webin... @michaeldgreen.phd @rouhiroo.bsky.social

🪼 Your tax dollars paid a scientist to squeeze jellyfish through cheesecloth. Osamu Shimomura processed tens of thousands on an NSF grant to understand why they glow. He found a protein that glowed green under UV light. Called it "green protein." Nobody cared. For decades.

"The document itself is an odd grab-bag of micromanaging grant processes, assertion of presidential power, and airing of cultural grievances... Its lack of coherence, however, will not prevent it from causing staggering damage to the US scientific system." 👇 arstechnica.com/science/2026...

Several people have asked for possible content and structure for comments regarding the proposed OMB regulations. With some suggestions from others, I have posted on example (as a Word document) for downloading). jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g... I hope this is helpful.

🧵(1) Here's my statement: I'm a private citizen who cares about federally funded research. Political appointee approval of grants is nonsense. Medical research is because medical conditions do not discriminate. One's political affiliation does not determine whether a person develops cancer or

The Atlantic: The U.S. Is Winging This Ebola Outbreak by Katherine J. Wu @theatlantic.com @katherinejwu.com bit.ly/4nZsZ6T -- gift link

I was talking to a dear friend who’s a Program Officer at NIH. They said, “I just learned that [XYZ] is likely to fund a follow-up to a study in my portfolio. I’ve been advocating for this for a year. I’m so happy, the BS of this week has faded away!” POs care so, so much!! 🥹❤️ Never doubt this.

Top O’ the morning to yas ☀️ and Happy Friday! This poster wants to take pause and thank all of the brave men & women (special shout out to those in USPHS) for stepping up and volunteering to screen passengers at airports and those deploying to the field in DRC, Uganda & Kenya.

Cliff Lane, longtime NIAID researcher and leader is suing for wrongful termination. democracyforward.org/news/press-r...