From research to policy impact 📊➡️🏛️ In 2024, LDI Fellows Aditi Vasan, @draaron.bsky.social & George Dalembert briefed PA lawmakers & Gov. Shapiro's office on the health benefits of tax credits—helping shape the new Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, recently signed into law. https://bit.ly/4qvTQb8

🚨New Paper🚨 US doctors are paid very different amounts for treating different patients—even when providing identical services. How much less are physicians paid for treating non-White patients? In @jamahealthforum.com, we offer the 1st national estimates. (1/7) jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Philadelphia is at risk of losing vital support for people living with HIV as funding cuts ripple through programs that address not just treatment but education, housing, and food security. Check out this piece from Billy Penn on what’s at stake ➝ billypenn.com/2025/11/18/h...

New research finds that cash transfers may help overcome poverty-related barriers & improve perinatal HIV outcomes in Haiti ft. @draaron.bsky.social, Sindy Desire, Florence Momplaisir (@pennidfellows.bsky.social) & @hthirumurthy.bsky.social (@pennmehp.bsky.social) link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New in @thelancet.com: a follow-up to our @nature.com paper on cash transfers and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. This studies explores *why* cash transfers reduce death, tracing effects on determinants of survival. free access 🔗: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

New in @thelancet.com: a follow-up to our @nature.com paper on cash transfers and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. This studies explores *why* cash transfers reduce death, tracing effects on determinants of survival. free access 🔗: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

Within a few years after giving birth, many women with HIV fall out of care. In our new paper from rural Haiti, we explore why this happens—and what might help prevent it link.springer.com/article/10.1...

SNAP benefits may resume—but deep cuts are still coming. Court rulings may soon restart payments, but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashes SNAP by $187 billion. LDI Fellows discussed how this will impact food insecurity, worsen health outcomes, and more. https://bit.ly/4hJLKbl

This is a good write up on the unfortunate and likely health consequences of upcoming SNAP cuts. Not to mention the desperation being experienced by many people now experiencing a delay in Nov benefits. ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/res...

Three major respiratory viruses COVID-19, RSV & flu still drive hospitalizations yearly. A new review of 511 studies shows current vaccines work. COVID-19 mRNA shots targeting XBB.1.5 cut hospitalizations by ~46–50%; newer KP.2-adapted vaccines reached 68% effectiveness. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Thank you, @cidrap.bsky.social, for covering our new @nejm.org review of Covid-19, RSV, and influenza immunizations. Check it out: cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/meta-analysis-covid-rsv-flu-vaccines-fall-provides-sea-data-showing-efficacy-safety

👇🏻 our new paper on updated evidence for respiratory virus vaccines

“The evidence-based processes used by the ACIP were adopted to prevent exactly what happened at the first 2 meetings this year: presentation of anecdotes, selective quoting of single studies, and a lack of in-depth evaluation of some of the evidence presented.” jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

📢 Important update! Join the Vaccine Integrity Project live stream TOMORROW 8/19 at 2pm ET. We'll review flu, COVID & RSV vaccine data—focused on safety & efficacy during pregnancy, and for kids & the immunocompromised. Watch here:

Tomorrow at 2pm the Vaccine Integrity Project through @CIDRAP will host a live webinar, From Data to Decisions: The Evidence Base for 2025 Fall/Winter Immunizations. The panel will break down evidence on vaccine safety and effectiveness followed by a Q&A. youtube.com/watch?v=lSuvGl…

Of every 1,000 children born in Kenya, 32 don’t make it to their first birthdays. A new stumbled onto a straightforward solution: Giving $1,000 to poor families lowered infant mortality rates by nearly half, and deaths in children under 5 by 45 percent. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/h...

To save the lives of infants and small kids in lower resource countries, there are a handful of tools: anti-malarial drugs, bed nets and vaccines. A massive experiment in rural Kenya suggests another. n.pr/4fKcjw3

IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit

I wrote a letter to my mom about Gaza. It's personal, but I wanted to share, in case it can be useful to anyone else who’s decided it’s time to have this discussion with their parents, or any parents who’ve decided it’s time to understand their children. aaronregunberg.substack.com/p/a-message-...

1. The pediatric death toll from #flu for 2024-25 continues to climb, with #CDC informed of 5 more deaths last week. That brings the season's total so far to 266, which is only 22 fewer than during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic! Of kids eligible for vax & for whom vax status is known, 90% weren't vaxed.

To me, this is the most remarkable thing about global health: With a relatively small amount of money, you can do a great deal of good for a great many people. This is money well spent, and we should go back to spending it—now.

A new study estimates that USAID saved 92 million lives from 2001 to 2021, and that its demolition could kill 14 million people in only five years through 2030. That would make the end of USAID by far the most impactful action Trump has taken this year. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

11 minutes: watch and share www.cbsnews.com/news/when-is...

Hepatitis B can be passed from parent to baby at birth - and when that happens, the consequences can be deadly. It is unscientific and dangerous to intentionally ignore the success of U.S. vaccination programs or argue that the U.S. should not vaccinate babies for hepatitis B at birth.

New from me and the great @hana-kiros.bsky.social reporting on the devastation caused by the USAID cuts Musk championed, Musk’s troubling obsession with “western civilization” and which lives he believes are worth saving (it’s not kids in South Sudan)

We know that undernourished persons with TB are at higher risk of mortality, but why? My incredible mentee Dr. Alexa Tabackman tries to understand why in this new paper: tinyurl.com/2jc76v8c A thread 🧵 @buceid.bsky.social @bostonmedical.bsky.social @madhupai.bsky.social @meganmurray.bsky.social

NEW: The Trump administration said their research did not "enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness." Thousands of scientists disagreed. We heard from +150 researchers impacted by the NIH grant terminations on what is being lost in the cuts. 🧵👇 projects.propublica.org/nih-cuts-res...

Anyone that has been around a lab knows that the trainees really drive the research, while most professors just sort of guide the ship. Most innovation comes from our trainees. Old professors like me will be able to survive these cuts, but our young scientists and our future will be destroyed.

Just published: our commentary on a new study adding to the growing evidence showing how anti-poverty programs improve population health. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The Future of Health and Health Care Conference May 1 | Jordan Medical Education Center Atrium Features 5 Research Associates @scotthalpernmd.bsky.social, Kevin Volpp, Atheendar Venkataramani, @draaron.bsky.social, @hthirumurthy.bsky.social REGISTER: d197nivf0nbma8.cloudfront.net/uploads/2025...

Eh ?? www.statnews.com/2025/04/23/l...

When Dorcas would get home from school, she'd often play house, pretending to prepare nshima. "I'm thinking she'll be very family-oriented when she grows up.” When NPR met with the family, it had been eight days since Dorcas and her mom took the last of their HIV meds. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Specifically, I experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about ultra-processed food addiction.

Last month, the CDC Division of Viral Hepatitis found the source of a Hepatitis C outbreak in Florida that state officials had been unable to solve since December. Now the entire Division has been fired, leaving investigations of outbreaks in OR, PA, MA, NM, WI, WV and GA, unsolved in addition to FL

Ah yes. Let's stop research on perhaps the most brutal disease in existence, the one without any really good treatments.

Simple answer - kids who receive the MMR vaccine do not die from measles The MMR vaccine is safe and effective and does not cause autism

I have sent patients to the NIH for *life saving* treatments. I don’t use that term lightly. The public value of this institution is beyond doubt. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

For what it’s worth, Jeanne Marrazzo is a national treasure. RFK Jr is a national embarrassment.

NEW FINDINGS: Simple visual aids, such as bead-filled bottles, may change attitudes and improve intent to take medication among people with HIV. Read our research brief here: ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/res...

“For decades, members of our profession have cared for people marginalized by society – immigrants, gay and bisexual men, transgender and gender diverse individuals, women, and people of every race or spoken language.”

A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.

See list of grants recently terminated. What great crime did these people commit to get their grants canceled? Was their work hurting or helping make America healthier, kinder, smarter? Where are we if science funding is not by peer review but by political affiliation? taggs.hhs.gov/Content/Data...

Multiple sources tell me AHRQ is about to be destroyed. A terrible loss for our country.

This is an incredible story. As a parent it brought tears to my eyes. As an infectious diseases dr it reminded me why this field is so gratifying. wapo.st/3DDwQUn

Destroying careers of America’s best scientists, and for what? www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Meet Gracie Himes, age 20. Her goal: Fight cancer by developing new medicines. On March 3, her dreams were shattered when Trump admin cuts hit West Virginia University, which rescinded her PhD program offer. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

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...

RFK Jr with more scientifically illiterate ramblings: The vaccine confers life long immunity to 95-98% of people who get 2 doses. Breast milk does NOT provide reliable protection to infants, regardless of mother’s immunity (infection vs vaccine).

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