Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: $4B In NIH Funding Cuts Will Affect Health Care For All Of Us; Prevention Is Key To Ending Bird Flu
Bloomberg: Trump NIH Cuts Will Devastate US Research And Communities
A dramatic cut to the National Institutes of Health’s budget for grants that support research institutions will have a seismic impact on science and medicine in the US — and will directly affect local communities and Americans’ access to high quality care. (Lisa Jarvis, 2/10)
Stat: Focus On Preventing H5N1 Outbreaks, Not Containing Them
In the summer of 2023, I connected with an epidemiologist from Kerala. A lush sliver of land along the Indian peninsula’s southwestern edge, it is a place of sleepy backwaters and rolling hills of spices. It is also known for its forests. There, a man from the leafy village of Maruthonkara had died from Nipah virus. (Arjun Sharma, 2/11)
The Washington Post: For Childhood Obesity, A Cheaper Solution Than Weight-Loss Drugs
The Trump administration has promised that addressing childhood obesity will be a key part of its “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. That’s much easier said than done. (Leana S. Wen, 2/11)
The Atlantic: Why Is The Trump Administration Deleting A Paper On Suicide Risk?
In addition to being a physician, I happen to be a woman, so I was curious why women needed defending from an analysis of how health professionals might better help suicidal patients. In the paper, the authors reminded clinicians to keep in mind which patient groups are known to be at higher risk, citing peer-reviewed data: “High risk groups include male sex, being young, veterans, Indigenous tribes, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ).” The acknowledgment of transgender people, however peripheral, was apparently enough to invite the ax. (Danielle Ofri, 2/10)
Science: Who Is Benefiting From The Amyloid Hypothesis Of Alzheimer’s?
In November 2022, Dennis Selkoe, a Harvard professor of neurologic diseases and among the most celebrated and prolific Alzheimer’s researchers, chastised me over lunch. I had just broken a story in Science about the horrific death of a volunteer in a trial of lecanemab, a much-anticipated new drug to treat Alzheimer’s by flushing certain dangerous substances from the brain. The woman suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. A pathologist said it was like “her brain exploded.” (Charles Piller, 2/11)
