🧪 Obesity trends are diverging globally. In many high-income countries, childhood obesity rates plateaued after slowing in the 90s, w/ adult rates leveling off a decade later. In many low- & middle-income countries, obesity prevalence & growth continue to rise, per Nature: https://ow.ly/nrZJ50ZeZzH

Congratulations to Lasker Laureate and Board member Katalin Karikó on receiving an honorary doctorate from University of Oxford today! Karikó, a 2021 Lasker Award recipient, pioneered modified mRNA technology that enabled the rapid development of highly effective COVID-19 vaccines. 🧪

“Use your education to redesign our care delivery system so that it is truly a healthcare system, not a sick care system,” I encouraged grads yesterday during the Icahn SOM Master’s Commencement. Congrats to all grads—& may you always embrace evidence-based decision making to empower patients. ❤️‍🩹🧪

Overjoyed to be recognized today in such a profound way.

Oxytocin receptors increase in adipocytes during lactation in mice. 🍼 🧪 In Cell Metabolism, team reports that oxytocin stimulation of adipocytes then stimulates lipolysis and release of triglycerides into breast milk, where they're necessary to support mouse infant growth: https://ow.ly/3bzv50ZchXm

In a 14-yr, $200M effort, the @alleninstitute.org initiative called the Brain Health Accelerator aims to capture earliest cellular damage underlying neurodegenerative disease & identify new drug targets. AI will help collaborators analyze datasets from 1000s of postmortem brains, per @science.org. 🧪

🧪In a trial in NEJM.org, scientists tested oral ensitrelvir for Covid postexposure prophylaxis vs. a placebo. Ensitrelvir administered to household contacts of a patient with Covid within 72 hours after symptom onset was effective in preventing Covid in contacts: https://ow.ly/2Tvx50Zb7So

Firearms remained the leading cause of child (age 1-19 yrs old) death in the US from 2018-2023, per study in NEJM.org. “Public health measures to prevent deaths from firearm-related injuries, motor vehicle collisions, & drug poisoning remain crucial,” the authors wrote: https://ow.ly/gA7850Zb7il 🧪

🧪 Taking a daily oral semaglutide reduced major adverse cardiovascular events by 14% in people with type 2 diabetes and CVD risk factors compared to taking a placebo, a trial in JAMA Cardiology found. Benefits to A1c, body weight, and blood & pulse pressure lasted >3 years: https://ow.ly/iKVz50Z8T4f

🧪Cytokine gene therapy helped calm inflammation in infected lungs of mice, per study in Science Magazine. Viral-vector delivery of interleukin-2, IL-1 receptor antagonist, & IL-10 reduced tissue injury after respiratory infection, alleviating severe respiratory infections: https://ow.ly/aQAx50Z8SVV

Malaria may leave lasting effects on the brain, study in JAMA shows. Children who survived severe malaria scored worse on cognitive tests many years after infection, w/ a 4-7 pt IQ deficit vs controls. "It’s in the whole world’s interest to prevent this," one expert said: https://ow.ly/HCO750Z8SIE❤️‍🩹🧪

🧪Among ~64K scientists whose careers spanned ≥40 yrs, researchers found that the probability of producing a top 10% disruptive paper declines sharply with career age. The findings, in Science Magazine, suggest older scientists are less likely to overturn established ideas: https://ow.ly/3p7I50Z8R30

Honored to be a judge for the American Junior Investigator Association (AJIA) "America's Got Research" shark tank—congratulations to all the presenters on great science and to the winners 🥇 Aleksandar Obradovic,🥈 Leo Wang, and🥉 Marty Spang. 🧪

🧪SSRI fluvoxamine (but not metformin) may be an effective treatment for reducing fatigue and improving quality of life in patients with #longCovid, per Annals of Internal Medicine study of 399 adults in Brazil: https://ow.ly/js8O50Z6gua

🧪Physical adversity (e.g. poor water quality and pollution) is associated with structural brain aging, and social adversity (e.g. socioeconomic inequality and low gross domestic product) is more associated with functional aging, per metastudy in @naturemedicine.bsky.social: https://ow.ly/Zf1350Z6gaL

🧪US cancer mortality has shifted from highest in big cities to highest in rural areas, reversing since the 1990s for men & early 2000s for women, per Journal of the NCI study. This likely reflects geographic redistribution of social determinants of health, authors wrote: https://ow.ly/j7jL50Z5C2m

Traumatic head injuries from contact sports may cause lasting inflammation & long-term blood-brain barrier damage, per Science Magazine study. 🧪 🧠 MRIs of 47 retired athletes showed clear markers of barrier disruption, including altered expression of complement receptors: https://ow.ly/hA0o50Z6mqc

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act revised federal student loan policies by capping med school loans at $200K. Researchers estimate that OBBB loan caps will price out 1/3-1/2 of current med students—or require them to take on riskier loans, per Annals of Internal Medicine study. 🧪 🧵1/3

Traded mammals are 1.5-fold as likely to share pathogens with humans as nontraded mammals, & illegal & live-animal trade further exacerbate pathogen sharing, per study in Science Magazine. 🐆 🧪 A species shares an additional pathogen with humans every 10 years it’s traded: https://ow.ly/OO7J50Z2QOS

🧪Severe Covid and flu may set the stage for lung cancer, study in Cell Press found. Data from 76M adults linked severe Covid in 2020-21 to increased #LungCancer risk, while mouse models showed tumor-promoting immune changes after SARS-CoV-2 or influenza infection: https://ow.ly/1eVG50Z2QzW

In a Nature study, aging mice showed higher accumulation of medium-chain fatty acid-releasing gut bacteria. Fatty acids bind to GPR84 receptor on immune cells, suppressing vagus nerve activity. The result: hippocampal dysfunction & impaired memory, revealing age-associated gut-immune-brain link. 🧠🧪

💊 Choosing antidepressants: Can the PETRUSHKA tool to determine personal priorities help? 🧪A study in JAMA of 520 patients between 18 and 74 y.o. finds an increased number of patients still taking meds at 8 weeks & improvement in depressive & anxiety symptoms at 24 weeks. https://ow.ly/rTQM50Z2QkJ

🧪 #ICYMI: Colorectal cancer rates in the US increased by ~1% per year from 2018 to 2022. The rise is driven by cases in people younger than 65, which now account for ~45% of new cases (vs. 27% in 1995), per a study in @cacancerjournal.bsky.social by American Cancer Society: https://ow.ly/ymlt50Z2Q8J

🐭 Female mice develop male genitals when researchers modified both copies of non-coding Enh13, which controls Sox9 gene responsible for testes development in male mice. This suggests Enh13 acts as an enhancer and a silencer of Sox9, per Nature Communications study. #SciSky #MedSky 🧪

We’re thrilled to welcome stem cell research pioneer Shinya Yamanaka to our Board of Directors. He “embodies exactly the spirit of scientific innovation & human impact that the Lasker Foundation was built to celebrate,” says Lasker CEO Claire Pomeroy. See the press release. 🧪 ⬇️ Gladstone Institutes

🧪Are adolescents facing a crisis of connection? Healthy life years lost to mental-health disorders among 10-24y/os rose globally from ~27M to 47M between 1990 & 2023, Helen Pearson reports for Nature. In high-income countries, suicide rates among 15-19-y/os are 9/100K for boys & 3/100K for girls.

🧪Early-stage biopharmaceutical innovation: U.S. share declines, while programs in China increased from ~830 to >6,000 between 2015 and 2024, per JAMA. “China conducts phase 1 clinical trials 50% faster and 40% cheaper than the United States,” PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl said: https://ow.ly/Ke2W50Z0rcb

🧪🦟 An NEJM.org study in Singapore found that releasing wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes dramatically reduced dengue risk: Only 6% of tests belonging to residents in release areas were dengue-positive (354 of 5,722) vs. 21% in controls (1,519 of 7,080): https://ow.ly/qexA50Z0r8h

In honor of the patients for whom I have cared as an HIV physician, I celebrate the hope for HIV vaccines. On #HIVVaccineAwarenessDay, let's never forget and let's advocate for more funding for HIV research. ❤️‍🩹🧪

There are practical questions you’ll ask yourself throughout your career, like, “Do I really have time to do this new thing, or if I don’t, what do I have to give up?” Always consider the ramifications—for yourself, your peers and mentors, and your family and friends.

🧪Antibiotics may have longterm effects on gut microbiome, per @naturemedicine.bsky.social. In ~15K adults, a single course of clindamycin was linked to ~17 fewer bacterial species 1-4 years later vs controls. Tetracyclines & fluoroquinolones reduced diversity for 4-8 years: https://ow.ly/QF2P50YVjH9

Centre for Economic Performance study explores how motherhood derails women’s academic careers. 8 yrs after having 1st child, women are 29% less likely to work at a university & 23% less likely to gain tenure vs. not having a child, compared to 14% & no statistical change for men, Nature reports. 🧪

🧪 The HHS announced a new research program that will distribute $144M in grants over 5 years to develop clinical tests to measure and characterize microplastics in human tissues, identify the most harmful types, and investigate ways to remove them from the body: https://ow.ly/178t50YVc2Q

Early-career physician-scientists: Rarely do you create opportunities all by yourself. Having a mentor and having a sponsor that can identify opportunities for you is absolutely key, and you have to continuously nurture your relationships with them. Building a team is essential. #MondayMotivation 🧪

Can AI safely renew prescriptions? In January, Utah launched a 12-month pilot using an AI system developed by a health tech startup to autonomously renew prescriptions for chronic conditions, limited to 192 common drugs. 🧪 📖 Read more in NEJM.org: https://ow.ly/hKPr50YVjyk

Medical professionals and researchers, here’s something that helped me during tough times in my career: Your family might have insights into you that you might not have yourself, and you should listen to them. 📷: Marzieh Ghiasi, MD PhD moderates #JointMeeting2026 session on career pivots.

🧠 China has approved a brain chip that lets people with paralysis control a robotic hand. The coin-sized “NEO” records brain signals tied to imagined movement and translates them into action for the completion of everyday tasks, Nature reports. Early data suggests 32 people have benefited. 🧪

In body-first Parkinson’s, misfolded α-synuclein proteins propagate from the gut’s nervous system to the brain. Immune cell activity between ME-Macs with misfolded αS & T cells traveling from the enteric nervous system to the brain seem to play a key role in the disease, per Nature study. #MedSky 🧪

If you’re just starting your career, there are ultimate accomplishments out there that you're on the way to making. They’re incredibly fun & satisfying. Sometimes they’re unsuspected. Personally, I wish I hadn’t suffered the failures so painfully, & had celebrated the successes more. #MedSky #SciSky

At the beginning of my career, I wanted to benefit individual patients. Later in my career, I realized the time was right for me to have a broader impact by running an org. I pivoted to the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation bc I saw a need for the public to come together around science & medicine.❤️‍🩹🧪

☕🧪Moderate caffeine (2-3 cups coffee/1-2 tea daily) may lower dementia risk & slow cognitive decline, per 43-year obs. JAMA study of 130K healthcare workers. Even those with high intake (up to 5 cups) had 18% less dementia risk than those that drank little or no caffeine: https://ow.ly/XYJz50YRM0y

🦟 🧪Study in Nature projects climate change's impacts on malaria in Africa, showing it could lead to 40.5M-203M additional cases and 532K additional deaths between 2024 and 2050 under current control levels. Extreme weather events are the main drivers of this increased risk: https://ow.ly/ksQV50YRLOx

In science, we’re constantly searching for truth. During this pursuit, it’s important to work with, not on, communities, Lasker Laureate Quarraisha Abdool Karim said during The American Academy of Pediatrics/ASCI/American Physician Scientists Association #JointMeeting2026. 🧪 🧵1/2

🧠 Older people with exceptional memory produce more new neurons than their peers, per study in Nature. In contrast, Alzheimer’s patients exhibited the steepest drop in neurogenesis. Findings are based on a small post-mortem sample, underscoring the need for further research. #MedSky #SciSky 🧪

Your job early on is to make yourself successful, because the more successful you are, the more impact you can have. You really change from thinking about the accolades you receive to accolades your organization receives. #JointMeeting2026 American Physician Scientists Association#JointMeeting2026🧪

While the Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Kentucky, I led an HIV clinic serving patients in rural Appalachia. One of the biggest services I was able to offer patients was advocacy for better delivery of both medical and social services. #JointMeeting2026 #MedSky 🧪

❤️‍🩹 🧪Long-acting injectables can reduce risk of regimen failure in HIV patients who struggle with daily oral medication. But a Clinical Infectious Diseases report shows barriers to uptake (insurance, admin support, drug costs & access) & proposes policies to address barriers: https://ow.ly/oH5950YK8V6

🧪 From #JointMeeting2026: As my career advanced, I realized there are different opportunities at different points in your career. You try to match up your goals with the ability to achieve those goals. Sometimes it means you have to change institutions, change jobs. Be open to those opportunities.

🧪“DeepRare” AI diagnoses rare diseases using clinical data, genetic information, & lit searches to propose diagnosis with reasoning. Its top-ranked prediction was correct 64% of the time, outperforming experienced rare-disease physicians using search engines, per Nature: https://ow.ly/93ga50YJVI3

I'm thrilled to be in Chicago for #JointMeeting2026! Join me on Sunday for a candid conversation with Drs. Mukesh Jain & Marzieh Ghiasi, MD PhD on pivots, setbacks & redefining success in academic medicine. The American Society for Clinical Investigation American Physician Scientists Association🧪