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Alison Gemmill

@alisongemmill.bsky.social
6.5K followers 1.2K following 74 posts

Demographer/Epidemiologist. Associate Professor @UCLA. Repro/perinatal/population health, fertility, life course, health equity.

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Reposted by Alison Gemmill
Society of Family Planning @societyfp.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
(1/2) Please join us in congratulating these members who continue to be the #SourceForScience on abortion and contraception! @alisongemmill.bsky.social @caitlinmyers.bsky.social @imaddowzimet.bsky.social @jstrasser.bsky.social @ellendschenk.bsky.social @juliemaslowsky.bsky.social
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Thanks, Carl!
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Thanks!
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Thank you!
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Thank you!!
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Reposted by Alison Gemmill
James Holland Jones @juemos.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
This is quite the all-star lineup of demographers with expertise in fertility. Period fertility (or mortality) rates are not destiny. If we are really that concerned about future population growth, perhaps we should just make it easier for people to have families? It's in our power
sites.utexas.edu
Don’t Panic: Population Projection is Not a Crystal Ball
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Hi friends! Some bittersweet news to share: I’m thrilled to be coming back to California to join UCLA as an Associate Professor in the Dept of Epidemiology! 🌴🔵🟡 Immensely grateful to my Hopkins colleagues & students who made the past 6 years so rewarding. ❤️
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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
We cannot rely on private philanthropy to address structural and systemic issues over the long run because the changing whims of private donors means investments are piecemeal and seldom sustained for long enough to make a difference. wapo.st/3ZRonor
wapo.st
The Chan-Zuckerbergs stopped funding social causes. 400 kids lost their school.
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s retreat from funding social issues forced the closure of a school Chan opened for disadvantaged families in Silicon Valley.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Thank you. I’m on the same page. Feeling a glimmer of hope, but knowing that the attacks on science will continue no matter what.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
I saw that. Will be keeping my fingers crossed
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Does this mean I get my NIH grant back?? The one that was terminated bc I said incarceration was a form of “structural inequality”?
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Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Our latest paper is now in print, showing ⬆️ prevalence of adverse perinatal health outcomes in the wake of pandemic. This suggests potential lasting impacts on future generations. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... @societyforepi.bsky.social @dkarasek.bsky.social @alisongemmill.bsky.social 1/
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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Worries over low birth rates are nothing new. Everything @lesja.bsky.social, @alisongemmill.bsky.social, & I wrote in this op-ed *SIX* years ago is still true. These worries have coalesced into a well-funded & influential pronatalist movement w/in an admin that is deeply anti-family.
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | Don’t panic over declining fertility rates — and don’t let anyone guilt you
Lower fertility rates aren’t necessarily a bad thing.
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Dr Slaughter-Acey @drslaughter99.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
🧵It’s #BlackMaternalHealthWeek -a time to center Black moms & a need for action. I’m reflecting on what this means in a year when our #NIH grant “Looking Back to Look Forward: Social Environment Across the Lifecourse, Epigenetics, & Birth Outcomes in Black Families” was terminated. #MedSky #EpiSky
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
I am so sorry to hear this heartbreaking news and am thinking of you and your study team. Thank you for all the important work you have done and will continue to do.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
My favorite is placing pregnancy, infertility, maternal health, and child health (I.e., NICHD) in the Institute of Disability Research. What are we doing here??
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Jonas Schöley @jschoeley.com · 13/04/2025
Packed room for our session on #perinatal-demography at #paa2025 with Payal Hathi, @alisongemmill.bsky.social, Tim Bruckner, Haley Comfort @ihmeuw.bsky.social, and @jnobles.bsky.social as inspiring discussant. You can download their submissions here: submissions.mirasmart.com/PAA2025/Itin...
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Hi from @popassocamerica.bsky.social meeting! These past few weeks have been incredibly tough, but I am so inspired by my colleagues and our community.
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Reposted by Alison Gemmill
Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
NEW: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is the decades old data collection program focusing on the health of infants and mothers at CDC. Critical source of data for all aspects of health thru process of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum etc. In the first weeks of the admin I ...
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Same.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Yes— and the movie is doing well despite limited marketing, etc! Fans of animation are giving it great reviews. ☺️
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Timeline cleanse Go see my brother’s old school animation movie that was released this weekend—he was a co-writer and head of story. Proud of him!
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
While working on these studies, this was the finding that I couldn't stop thinking about. Reproductive justice folks warned us about this.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Thanks, Greer. We wrote about this in our op-ed that was published last year. Sad that we have to keep reminding people about the traumatic experiences of those affected. www.scientificamerican.com/article/anti...
scientificamerican.com
Antiabortion Heartbeat Bills Cause Immense Suffering
The rise in infant mortality in Texas shows that in states with strict abortion bans, forcing people to carry nonviable pregnancies to term codifies cruelty and unnecessary pain
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
If you are one of the #CDC #HHS #FDA #NIH employees who have learned today that your employment is being abruptly ended, we want to hear from you. @altcdc.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/f...
statnews.com
Are you affected by firings at federal health agencies?
Have you been affected by firings at federal health agencies? @statnews would like to hear from you.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
There is seasonality in outcomes like preterm birth and low birthweight. Lots of potential reasons studied in the literature-- seasonal infections, temperature, vitamin d, etc. Also some studies have shown socioeconomic variation in who gets pregnant throughout year.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
These are based on real data. Births and infant deaths are highly seasonal.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
I understand the critique, but we use the term because that's the standard demographic definition.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
No-- We estimate 22,180 more live births and 478 more infant deaths than expected in the 14 states through December 2023. Does that help?
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Our two papers on abortion bans and fertility/infant mortality are now out. In 14 states w/ abortion bans, fertility increased 1.7% and infant mortality increased 6%. Key takeaway is that these impacts were disproportionately felt among those w/ greatest structural disadvantages. Links below.
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Chelsea Polis @cbpolis.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
• increase prospects for government stability that accompany shifts in age structure. I am APPALLED by Natsios' lack of recognition of the life-saving benefits of contraceptive programming. Perhaps he should read this 2012 @thelancet.bsky.social analysis: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Maternal deaths averted by contraceptive use: an analysis of 172 countries
Numbers of unwanted pregnancies and unmet contraceptive need are still high in many developing countries. We provide evidence that use of contraception is a substantial and effective primary preventio...
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Ariel Beccia @albeccia.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
in case it's helpful to anyone, here are the email drafts I just sent to my mom and sister (both non-scientists) to have them contact their reps: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
NIH Indirect Rate Caps - Email Draft
Subject: Urgent Request to Reverse Proposed NIH Indirect Rate Changes Dear Representative [NAME], I hope this message finds you well. My name is [NAME], and I am a resident of [STATE], a dedicated c...
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
This is a de facto massive budget cut to research universities. We are talking Great Recession size impacts.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Every email: "I hope you are managing during these uncertain times."
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Joel Mittleman @joeljm.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey has monitored the wellbeing of America’s high school students since 1991. Since 2015, it’s been a vital source of data on LGBQ youth. In 2023, it provided the first ever nationally representative sample of transgender teens. As of this morning, it’s gone.
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Nsikan Akpan @monscience.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
The CDC has begun purging data. Example: The youth risk behavior survey...
The screenshot shows a "404 Not Found" error page on the CDC's official website, indicating that the Youth Risk Behavior Survey could not be located. The page suggests visiting the CDC archives or using the search bar on CDC.gov to find the correct resource.
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John Kubale @johnkubale.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
In case folks are looking for a place to archive the data: www.datalumos.org/datalumos/
datalumos.org
DataLumos
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Indeed. Did not expect to put this on my to-do list!
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Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
I’m very tangentially involved in our (BU and Harvard) efforts to archive data and am happy to connect you w/ the core team of folks working on this. Just let me know. A lot of what they’re archiving is / will be preserved on dataverse.harvard.edu
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
This is great! Thank you. Will share with my networks. I know many in the demography space that are also scraping info, so hoping we can all support each other if needed.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Thank you. We have a fair amount of restricted files with our NCHS DUA, but double-checking to make sure we have everything!
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Making sure I have birth/fetal death/infant death and mortality files too.
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
I did see that effort. Very much appreciate them coordinating! I am downloading files/documentation I know I will use in next year and am happy to share with others.
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Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
A colleague asked whether I thought the government would continue the public release of its data products. The data from CDC health monitoring surveys, decades of data on mortality, crime data, climate data of a variety of types that go back for years, etc. 1/
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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Anyone else working now to download as many public use cdc data files as possible? 🫠
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EJVallender @ejvallender.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Just got e-mail. The NIA study section I am on Jan 31st "will not meet as planned". Quoting SRO: "At the present time, all Federal advisory committee meetings are cancelled... We will be back in touch with you when we have further information."
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Candice Johnson @cyjohnson.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
According to this article, they have ordered CDC/NCHS to stop releasing data. Make sure you've downloaded what you need, #EpiSky. Some of the executive orders affect variables in these datasets.
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Heini Väisänen @heinivaisanen.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Now IUSSP is also on Bluesky! More excellent demography accounts to follow 😊 bsky.app/profile/iuss... #demography #PopulationStudies #AcademicChatter
bsky.app
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