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Atul Gawande

@agawande.bsky.social
30K followers 297 following 169 posts

Surgeon, Writer ("Being Mortal," "Checklist Manifesto"), and formerly led Global Health @USAID.

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
13 Americans w/o Ebola exposure put in detention when returning from Africa. “Staff even created a map for Bhattacharya that showed the vast distance from Kinshasa to Ituri province, to highlight the low risk. He ordered them to be detained anyway.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
rollingstone.com
Trump's CDC Is Detaining Americans in Response to Ebola: A 'Wild Misuse' of Power
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is needlessly detaining Americans as part of a chaotic Ebola response led by Jay Bhattacharya.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 12/07/2026
Elon Musk’s cuts to U.S.A.I.D. led to some 700,000 deaths, Atul Gawande says. www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...
newyorker.com
The Human Cost of DOGE’s War on U.S.A.I.D.
Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and the “public man-made death” that they’ve caused.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
More signs of resurging HIV after USAID’s closure. African Neonatal Network reported at IMNCH (a global health conference): HIV+ pregnant women ↑50% & those not on antiretrovirals ↑>300%, year-on-year, across 22 hospitals in 5 nations. @vtoxfordnetwork.bsky.social
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Shock, awe, and economic fall out: During the first 9 months of 2025, ICE operations led directly to 668,000 lost jobs across 86 U.S. metro areas, according to new economic analysis. When you remove immigrant workers, you undermine native workers. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ICE Is a Job Killer Everywhere It Goes
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Speed of response is everything, and it's still lagging far behind. Essential explainer on the Congo Ebola outbreak from @JeremyKonyndyk. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Why This Ebola Outbreak Could End Up Being the Worst One in History (Gift Article)
The situation in eastern Congo and Uganda combines some of the most dangerous aspects of the 2014 and 2018 Ebola outbreaks.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Vital read from @jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social in @nytimes.com The closure of USAID & disregard for the human toll was the 1st step in a dark shift in US aspirations toward naked power and extractive self-interest. It's leaving the US friendless, isolated, and weaker. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Aftermath of Feeding America’s Credibility Into the Woodchipper
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
My sister, Meeta, and I are heartbroken to report that our beloved mom, Sushila Goswami Gawande, a joyful force of nature and a pediatrician for three decades in Athens, Ohio, died on December 17. We will miss her dearly. Her obit describing her remarkable life: www.legacy.com/legacy/sushi...
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Read to the end. NPR asked why the Trump team ended a low-cost program that cured millions of tropical diseases w drugs donated by pharma. The spokesperson replied with an NPR headline—“Farewell to USAID”—and said: “What do you think farewell meant?” www.npr.org/sections/goa...
npr.org
The fight to beat neglected tropical diseases was going well. 2025 could change that
The campaign to prevent and treat these diseases has seen great success thanks to a USAID program. Now that program is gone.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
My wife, Kathleen: “In the future, we will just be data. We will be just ones and zeroes. But I will be a one. Not a zero.”
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
This is your must read this week. Read this. It is about leukemia and the powers and limits of science and the terrifying dangers of the turn against it. It is human and excoriating and beautiful. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
The CDC website has been lobotomized. Where it once presented the decades of evidence debunking the false claims of a link between vaccines and autism, that has now been replaced with junk science.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
I spoke with @BigThink about why even the most experienced professionals need a coach — including surgeons. It’s one of the most under-utilized ways people improve. Video: youtu.be/tW7ClAexgHI?...
youtu.be
How to break the hidden limits of expertise | Atul Gawande for Big Think+
YouTube video by Big Think
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
I helped make a film, out this week, called “Rovina’s Choice,” about the deaths this man without conscience or accountability has caused — already 600,000, ⅔ of them children.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Today @TheNewYorker released our short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” online. It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
newyorker.com
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
I watched the 1st meeting day of RFK Jr’s handpicked committee of vaccine advisors. It was utterly depressing. 1/
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American." It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
#freedc I returned from the wedding of our daughter to find the city where I have lived for the last 3 years in the midst of a military takeover. The military policing Americans. This is happening. It is a danger for everyone in our country. Now is the moment to turn out in protest.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Excellent read from @danielleofri.bsky.social on the reality for clinicians as NIH, CDC, FDA recs are put under political controls: “Medical professionals can no longer fully trust federal health guidance, and our patients are the ones who will suffer the most.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Doctors Have Lost Their Mount Olympus of Medicine
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Reposted by Atul Gawande
Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
truly www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | José Andrés: People of Good Conscience Must Stop the Starvation in Gaza
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
They came for the foreign aid workers, justice department, public health institutions, universities and researchers, law firms, media organizations, not to mention longtime immigrants. Now it is nonprofits too. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | You May Not Be Trump’s Target This Time. But You Could Be Next.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
"The anti‑vax movement, once seen as confined to the U.S., is now spreading globally." An excellent, if sobering, piece from Rivka Galchen.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
“Foreign aid has changed nothing.” “These are not our problems.” “The system is dysfunctional.” “The countries we aid are corrupt.” “Other countries aren’t doing enough.” I have heard all these arguments too. @nickkristof.bsky.social succinctly answers. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The U.S. Cannot Solve All the World’s Problems
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Reposted by Atul Gawande
Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
This was supposed to be a breakthrough year in the 44-year-long struggle against H.I.V. It's turned into something very different. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...
nytimes.com
Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
politico.com
RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort
Kennedy ripped into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a video address at its pledging summit.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
This twice-yearly shot almost completely prevents HIV and is now approved. It could shut down HIV. It needs to roll out in at risk groups. But Trump has gutted HIV prevention at home and abroad. That could be stopped, however. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...
nytimes.com
Regulators Approve a Twice-Yearly Shot to Prevent H.I.V. Infection
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Reposted by Atul Gawande
Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Americans Are Going to Die’ -- Why Dr. Fiona Havers, an influential vaccine researcher, left the CDC. The wholesale dismissal of the agency’s scientific advisers crossed the line, she said (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...
nytimes.com
Why a Vaccine Expert Left the C.D.C.: ‘Americans Are Going to Die’
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
After Musk’s dismantling of USAID, deaths can be counted by the hundreds of thousands. “If there were justice in the world, Musk would never be able to repair his reputation, at least not without devoting the bulk of his fortune to easing the misery he’s engendered.“ www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
“No children are dying on my watch,” said Rubio. It's blatantly false. Credible estimates count 190K deaths so far. In Kenya, I am seeing devastating impact, incl this child's starvation & many deaths directly caused by Rubio’s actions. More in my @msnbc.com clip. www.instagram.com/atul.gawande...
instagram.com
Atul Gawande on Instagram: "“No children are dying on my watch,” said Rubio. It's blatantly false. So far, 190,000 children and 90,000 adults have died due to the dismantling of USAID (even assuming...
9 likes, 0 comments - atul.gawande on May 24, 2025: "“No children are dying on my watch,” said Rubio. It's blatantly false. So far, 190,000 children and 90,000 adults have died due to the dismantlin...
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
“What I do know is that my colleagues, many…like me, foreign scientists, are terrified of being detained or having their visa status revoked.” It’s 3 months since ICE put Kseniia Petrova in detention for a customs violation normally handled with a fine. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | I Came to Study Aging. Now I’m Trapped in ICE Detention.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Read the actual #math on DOGE cuts from Jessica Reidl. Musk claims $165B in savings are vastly overstated. And the cuts to IRS & loan recovery staff will produce 100s of billions in net loss of revenues. Net: Costs up. Lives lost. Country harmed. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
MCC is small but backs key infrastructure development in developing countries — such as power grids, ports, and access to critical minerals. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/u...
nytimes.com
DOGE to Dismantle Millennium Challenge Corporation (Gift Article)
Millennium Challenge Corporation staff members were offered early retirement or deferred resignation in the latest effort by the Trump administration to gut the foreign aid apparatus.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Yet another example of the gutting of key parts of HHS.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
I saw firsthand the impact of stop-work-orders/terminations at USAID & now Harvard. My new @NewYorker piece is on the serious implications for the lives of millions across the world and the US – including for my own family and very possibly your own. 🧵 www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
The Cost of Defunding Harvard
If you or someone you love has cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or diabetes, you have likely benefitted from the university’s federally funded discoveries in care and tre...
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Reposted by Atul Gawande
Anne Zink @annezinkmd.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
1/3 During my training, I never saw measles, Haemophilus influenzae b, or syphilis—because effective public health strategies had nearly eliminated these threats. But what I once took for granted, those public health victories, are sliding backward
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Reposted by Atul Gawande
Alt USAID/ USAID Forever @altusaid.altgov.info · 09/04/2025
Friends and former USAID global public health professionals have launched an emergency campaign to support high-impact local HIV organizations with stop gap funding. Please consider supporting to directly help them continue HIV services in the near term while they plan for the future. 🧵1
globalgiving.org
A Crisis in Care: Urgent Funding Needed to Sustain Lifesaving HIV Services - GlobalGiving
The abrupt termination of USAID-supported HIV programs has created a devastating crisis for vulnerable communities, leaving children, families, and at-risk populations without essential services. Thes...
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
USA led the world in expertise stopping HIV, incl preventing mother to child transmission. But DOGE has now dismissed every global prevention expert at USAID, CDC, & State Dept. The risk is insane: Resurgent HIV & 500K child deaths by 2030. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/h...
nytimes.com
Who Will Care for Infants With H.I.V. Overseas? (Gift Article)
The consequences of mother-to-child transmission can be enormous, a new study suggests. But the U.S. has dismissed experts working to solve the problem.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
.@SenBooker's marathon effort moved me more than I could explain. And this piece from @Dahlialithwick beautifully articulates what I couldn't. slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
Five Things Cory Booker Taught Me This Week
The thing Booker modeled above all is that we each have something at which we excel, and that now is a good time to step up and try to do it.
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Benjamin Wittes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org · 02/04/2025
On Friday, the Trump admin announced it was shuttering USAID by the end of the fiscal year. @nkorpett.bsky.social spoke to @agawande.bsky.social about why USAID matters and the consequences of destroying it. Watch their conversation here or wherever you get your podcasts:
youtu.be
Lawfare Daily: Why Public Health is Critical to National Security
YouTube video by Lawfare
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
State Dept gave Congress its full list of 5,300+ USAID program terminations. The sweeping cuts for health alone - from global childhood vaccines to surveillance for deadly diseases to malaria work - entail massive loss of life & national security risk. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/h...
nytimes.com
U.S. to End Vaccine Funds for Poor Countries but Continue Some H.I.V. and TB Aid (Gift Article)
A 281-page spreadsheet obtained by The Times lists the Trump administration’s plans for thousands of foreign aid programs.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
It’s the world’s most deadly infectious disease. But it strikes the world’s most downtrodden and neglected, including here at home. So we turn our eyes. Not you, @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social. You’ve made the story of TB personal. And your vivid, moving, vital book makes us grateful you did.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
What happens when you do surgery with a chainsaw www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-...
newyorker.com
Hundreds of Thousands Will Die
The writer, surgeon, and former U.S.A.I.D. administrator Atul Gawande on the Trump Administration’s decimation of foreign aid and the consequences around the world.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
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...
thelancet.com
Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization
Since 1974 substantial gains in childhood survival have occurred in every global region. We estimate that EPI has provided the single greatest contribution to improved infant survival over the past 50...
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
This is a huge victory against arbitrary, unchecked power -- and a key step toward restoring at least some of USAID's vital work to save lives and to advance freedom and American security.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Even before Zelensky’s visit, Sec. Rubio had terminated vital USAID support to sustain Ukraine’s energy grid. “The USAID initiative had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in helping Ukraine's energy grid recover from attacks from Russia.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/sta...
nbcnews.com
State Department terminates U.S. support of Ukraine energy grid restoration
The USAID initiative had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in helping Ukraine's energy grid recover from attacks from Russia.
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Mark Cuban @mcuban.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Ready Fire Aim is a lousy way to govern.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Thousands of fired USAID employees were given 15 minutes today to clear out their personal belongings from headquarters.
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts. Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Invaluable thread about the damage to vaccine access and development from the Trump administration's step by step weakening of US health capacity.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
JUST IN: Another medical horror story in an affidavit from a USAID employee stationed overseas. Says his pregnant wife was not medevac-ed for emergency health care because of directives from DC. Took intervention of a U.S. senator to reverse — but was too late. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
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