Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Congress Just Voted Against Cancer Funding; Psychiatrists Reexamining Transgender Care
USA Today: What Happened To Cancer Moonshot? Partisan Politics Prohibits Progress
While there are many different forms of cancer and likely as many different research endeavors to treat them, the Moonshot program was the largest, organized effort by the U.S. government to find cures. Formed in 2016 by then-Vice President Joe Biden, after his own son was killed by brain cancer, the program has enjoyed bipartisan support and praise. (Dr. Thomas K. Lew, 5/5)
The Washington Post: Psychiatrists Learned The Wrong Lesson From The Gay Rights Movement
Five decades ago, the world’s most powerful psychiatric association changed the course of LGBTQ civil rights history when it removed homosexuality from its influential bible of mental health disorders. (Benjamin Ryan, 5/3)
Scientific American: The Unequal Burden Of Early Dementia On Black Americans And How We Can Change It
The first time many people likely ever heard of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) was in 2023 when actor Bruce Willis revealed the diagnosis, or this year when talk show host Wendy Williams did the same. A debilitating brain disease that can affect personality, behavior and language, it is the most common form of dementia for people under 60 years old. (Ashley Andreou and Minali Nigam, 5/3)
The New York Times: I’m A Doctor. I Was Unprepared When I Got This Disease
Dr. Deborah Heaney was enjoying a vacation in the Caribbean when she was struck with a sudden, debilitating illness. It took her days, a flight home and some luck before she was finally diagnosed with dengue fever. (Deborah Heaney, 5/6)
Scientific American: An FDA Overreaction Of Lab Tests Could Harm Patients
The implosion of the once-high-flying medical testing startup Theranos was an unmitigated disaster: a fraudulent health tech company led by a charismatic, articulate figurehead, disseminating deceitful diagnostic claims about its blood tests. (J. Wesley Boyd, 5/4)
