The risk posed by the SARS-CoV-2 virus — the cause of #Covid19 — is much different these days than it was in April 2020, when we were all learning about social distancing & flattening the curve. What happened? What does it mean for us? Experts share their thoughts. www.statnews.com/2026/04/27/i...

really interesting story that has both a STAT taste test and actual nutrition expertise:

After the launch of 988, suicide deaths among adolescents and young adults dropped 11% compared to projected rates, per a new JAMA study. But there are still a lot of lingering questions about the line's funding: www.statnews.com/2026/04/22/9...

btw, some readers are calling this story ~~ hopeful ~~ and others have even ~ teared up ~ while reading it, if that is of interest to you.

New: I've spent months getting to know Indigo, a 25yo trans guy who loves musicals & BTS. Even though gender-affirming care is completely legal for adults, he had to make appointments with four different surgeons over two years before he was able to get top surgery.

The authors of the HHS report on trans youth health care were chosen by the Manhattan Institute's Leor Sapir. Now, a rule based on the controversial report could wipe out this care at hospitals. Parents are begging the administration not to go through with it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Much of this work can be chalked up to one mom, who set out more than 20 years ago to cure her son and didn't stop amid innumerable setbacks. He is now 29, older than most people with DMD. He went on Avidity's drug two years ago. It has changed his life www.statnews.com/2026/04/08/d...

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

How groups like Children's Health Defense will leverage this week's ruling on conversion therapy for lawsuits re: telehealth regulation, Covid misinformation, and free speech: www.statnews.com/2026/04/03/c...

here is a story we reported this story two years ago that remains very relevant.

The Supreme Court just ruled 8-1 that a lower court should reconsider Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, an outcome that will likely lead to the ban being overturned. I wrote last year about the implications for queer people and health care regulation overall: www.statnews.com/2025/10/06/s...

In the first few months of 2026, the Trump administration has painted a dire picture: healthcare fraud is everywhere. Predators are swindling dollars out of the system and robbing vulnerable people of their care. Is that true? Let's look at the data. www.statnews.com/2026/03/27/m...

In its Board newsletter yesterday, the AMA addressed the hubbub around its comment on the ASPS gender-affirming surgery position statement. I wrote about it in STAT's morning newsletter, which, hey, you could subscribe to if you don't already: www.statnews.com/2026/03/27/n...

Medical schools are no longer required by the top accrediting body to teach health equity, @aniloza.bsky.social reports: www.statnews.com/2026/03/27/m...

Breaking: A U.S. district judge in Oregon said he will vacate a declaration made late last year by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that asserted gender-affirming care for young trans people does not meet medical standards of care. www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/j...

lots of jarring statistics and heartbreaking stories I could share from this story, but this particular anecdote made me tear up when @jonathanwosen.bsky.social first shared this story with me For more details from our survey of ~1000 nih-funded researchers, read the report below

Multiple vaccines offer benefits beyond protecting the vaccinated individual from the disease the vaccine targets. Some protect fetuses in the womb, some protect people who are immunocompromised, some protect seniors. As vax rates fall, these benefits are threatened. www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/v...

Federal judge stalls health secretary RFK Jr.’s overhaul of vaccine policy www.statnews.com/2026/03/16/k...

idk wtf is going on, but people are misgendering me more in the last few weeks, both in person and virtually, so just to make it explicitly clear: My name is Rose. I'm a woman. I use she/her pronouns. If you don't know me, please address me as Ms. Broderick.

Federal judges have consistently quashed DOJ subpoenas on gender-affirming care, often using strong language to call the investigations an overreach executed “in bad faith.” Today, the DOJ got its first shot at an appeal against a small telehealth clinic. The stakes: www.statnews.com/2026/03/06/t...

Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

As transgender Kansans grapple with a challenging new reality today, and the rest of the nation watches what’s happening in the Sunflower State, here’s a thread of @kansasreflector.com stories and opinion pieces about SB 244. (1/15) #ksleg #trans #lgbtq

Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church, reports @mmolteni.bsky.social in this @statnews.com exclusive. 13 years later, the whereabouts of the sex offender’s skin cells are a mystery www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...

Reminder: www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/m...

ACOG released its first clinical guidance on diagnosing endometriosis Friday. Notably, the group recommended against any use of biomarker tests that analyze blood, urine, or other samples. More in today's newsletter: www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/h...

NEW: Pharma lobbyists are working to influence an agency once thought largely off-limits — the FDA. How Trump-era politics are being injected into the agency tasked with regulating U.S. medicines: w/ @lizzylawrence.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/f...

This story was fun to write bc it’s mostly older trans guys being like “we used to bind uphill both ways in the snow” But in all seriousness, binding used to be the wild west. Duct tape, electrical tape, ACE bandages. Now we have good products. But the FDA is cracking down on those. Read more:

UMass abruptly canceled bottom surgery appointments for hundreds of patients with no explanation. Some had surgery dates booked a year in advance, others were scheduled to get revisions done. www.wgbh.org/news/health/...

Scoop: Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, STAT has learned. www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...

A Christian group announces a potentially landmark legal settlement that the ACLU says could establish new federal protections for harm reduction services. www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/n...

“I don’t know that this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in any one scenario,” one expert told me re: the latest ASPS and AMA statements on gender-affirming surgery. “The pressure [medical institutions] are already facing is substantial.” www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/m...

"So you’re a bear in the forest, and you’re hungry." www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/m...

I tallied all the hospitals and health systems that have stopped providing gender-affirming care to young people in the last year (so you don't have to) This includes nine that have stopped providing hormones and puberty blockers since the beginning of the year. www.statnews.com/2026/02/05/h...

The plastic surgeons society now recommends delaying gender-affirming procedures until age 19. Daniel and I wrote about it, including how the group made ethical considerations for surgeries on cisgender vs. transgender adolescents. www.statnews.com/2026/02/03/g...

STAT actually has a little bureau here in the Twin Cities. I’m glad my colleague @mmolteni.bsky.social was able to get out and cover this health care worker’s vigil www.statnews.com/2026/01/26/a...

Endometriosis can often take 5-10 painful years to diagnose. But recently, at least a dozen companies have begun working to make that process simpler. And there's hope their work could eventually lead to better treatment for the complicated, common disease: www.statnews.com/2026/01/26/e...

Nearly half of Trump-appointed experts involved in shaping the new dietary guidelines have financial ties to meat and dairy industries. Exclusive with @sarah-todd.bsky.social and @elizabethcooney.bsky.social --> www.statnews.com/2026/01/07/n...

The FDA is easing regulation for wearable devices and AI-enabled clinical decision support tools. Commissioner Makary intro'd the news at #CES2026, telling attendees the FDA will "get out of the way" and "promote AI." Read our news analysis: www.statnews.com/2026/01/06/f...

19 states are suing HHS over last week's gender-affirming care crackdown — particularly Kennedy's declaration. Chelsea has the details: www.statnews.com/2025/12/24/g...

NEW: Many Democratic Senators said they hadn't seen Marjorie Taylor Greene's anti-trans bill and didn't say if it would fail. The only one who gave a hard commitment? Greene's fellow Georgian Raphael Warnock. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

We updated this story with some insights from lawyers and policy experts on whether or not CMS has the legal authority to do this, what challenges to the rules may look like, and when those challenges can happen. Take a read:

BREAKING: Trump admin officially proposes new CMS rules to restrict trans health care for young people, including one that would change the conditions for hospitals to participate in Medicare/Medicaid by barring those that offer gender-affirming care to minors. www.statnews.com/2025/12/18/t...

Marjorie Taylor Greene's bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for young trans people has passed the House. Story updated:

The House is planning to vote on two bills to ban gender-affirming health care for children. I followed a doctor and a nurse as they visited lawmakers yesterday to urge them to vote no: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Republicans in Congress are making a renewed push before the end of the year to pass major federal restrictions to gender-affirming care for trans minors. There will likely be one vote today, and more to come before the end of the week: www.statnews.com/2025/12/17/h...

Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave U.S. behind www.statnews.com/2025/12/17/r...

The FDA is interested in changing testosterone’s label as a drug with a higher risk of abuse and physical dependence, to help cisgender men more easily access it. What about trans men, you ask? Well, the FDA didn't, but we did!

This week's installments to our American Science, Shattered series @statnews.com include a check-in with scientists, federal workers, policy experts, and patients whose stories we brought you earlier this year. www.statnews.com/2025/12/11/a...

A look from @theresagaff.bsky.social at how early-career trans and nonbinary researchers are dealing with lost funding and more generally ~the state of things~

Sharing an identity w/ study participants, health equity awards, widely read papers — all positives in the past But this year, they're being weaponized against trans researchers @theresagaff.bsky.social w/ the next part of American Science, Shattered www.statnews.com/2025/12/09/h...