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Bryan D. James, PhD

@bryandjames.bsky.social
3.6K followers 774 following 433 posts

Epidemiologist, @rushalzheimers.bsky.social Host, Epi Counts podcast serepidemiologycounts.blubrry.net Social media editor, American Journal of Epidemiology @amjepi.bsky.social #EpiSky #Geronsky #ADRD #scicomm Proud papa of three crazy kids

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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
For ADRD researchers working with Medicare claims: our work led by Yi Chen validates the use of the Bynum-Standard algorithm to identify dementia diagnosis in Medicare Advantage (MA). @rushalzheimers.bsky.social @umich.edu academic.oup.com/biomedgeront...
academic.oup.com
Identification of Prevalent Dementia in Medicare Advantage Encounters, Compared with Rigorous Cohort Assessments
AbstractBackground. Rapid growth in Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment has spurred dementia research using diagnoses in MA encounter data. However, the val
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Our work on the effects of redlining in Chicago on cognitive function in older Black adults, led by Brittney Lange-Maia in Social Science & Medicine. Older Black adults living in historically redlined communities had lower cognitive function (equivalent to 5 years of age). doi.org/10.1016/j.so...
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Our article on the Associations of ADRD Neuropathologies With Timely Diagnosis of Dementia in Healthcare Settings is out in Neurology @greenjournal.bsky.social! www.neurology.org/doi/full/10....
neurology.org
Neurology® Journals
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Our collaborative study on the impact of COVID-19 on health Behaviors in Older African Americans using @rushalzheimers.bsky.social MARS study (PI @beyoung40.bsky.social) data is out now! doi.org/10.2196/79432
doi.org
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Kristen Boyle, PhD @kristenboyle.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
#StandUpForScience at #ADA! Today and tomorrow during the Presidential Addresses at 9:45am. Audience members stand throughout the talk. 🧪
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 06/06/2026
Our official guide to help you write a public comment on the OMB-2026-0034 is here: zurl.co/XgyzA Submit your comment and take additional actions here: zurl.co/RiDuv #StandUpForScience #OMB #Vought #SaveScience #FundScience
The graphic displays an image of the SUFS Foundation logo, a hand holding pen, and hands over a type writer. The graphic reads: "The SUFS Guide to Writing Public Comments, Written by: Cole Donovan, Director of Policy and Advocacy and Colette Delawalla, PhD, CEO. BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: This is an opportunity to tell YOUR government that the OMB-2026-0034 "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance" is wrong. https://zurl.co/XgyzA "
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Is it just me or does it look like they’re building the wormhole transport machine from Contact in front of the White House? But nah, that would require believing in science… never mind.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
He's opening the journal review request. He clicked decline. Make him have to enter a password to be able to decline. Tell him the password is incorrect. Make him click "Forgot password" and enter a new one. When he enters a new password tell him "Error: you cannot use previous password".
Truman Show meme
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Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center @rushalzheimers.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Session one of #ROSMAP2026 focused on Lifestyle Factors in Older Adults. Speakers, RADC’s Andrea Zammit, Yi Chen and @bryandjames.bsky.social
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
So proud of our @rushalzheimers.bsky.social REC Scholar Emily Morris @epmorris.bsky.social for winning the Rising Star Poster Award at the @naccdata.org Spring ADRC meeting! 🤩 Proud postdoc mentor: @beyoung40.bsky.social
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
@alzassociation.bsky.social 2026 Alzheimer's Disease Facts & Figures report out today! It was once again an honor to contribute to this important document and to compile the facts about what we know about this devastating disease. Download for free at the link below.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
To @societyforepi.bsky.social members: please vote for my friend Meredith Shiels as member at large! She has been a highly valued member of the Awards Committee and would make a fantastic member of the exec committee. Could not endorse more highly to take my place! epiresearch.org/2026-electio...
epiresearch.org
2026 Elections – Society for Epidemiologic Research
It is one of the highest honors in my career to be nominated for President of the Society for Epidemiologic Research. SER has been my intellectual and professional home for the past 20 years.
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
In an age of creeping relativism, a universal moral law still exists. Threatening to end an entire civilization of 90 million people in order to bend a nation’s conduct to your will is grossly morally wrong. It is evil. And we should say this loudly.
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 07/04/2026
just to be clear, everyone, when 8 pm EDT comes and goes, regardless of what does or does not happen, the president still threatened genocide and war crimes and we should still impeach, arrest, and try him
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
I haven't bothered to post about what comes out of this mad man's mouth for a while because what's the point--But his threat that a "whole civilization will die tonight" is beyond anything we can ignore or normalize. He must be stopped.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Cat posts seem to get all the engagement on here, so here’s our cat Louie Pickle, who continues to hang his surgically repaired and completely healed “chicken leg” whenever he sits 😂 Vet says there’s no physical reason he has to do that, it’s all in his head.
Balinese cat perched on banister with one leg hanging down
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Emily Willroth @emily-willroth.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Postdoctoral Job Opportunity: Join me and the WELLab at WashU in St. Louis to study well-being in daily life and across the lifespan. This position is perfect for folks interested in ESM and longitudinal data analysis and well-being and affective science. wustl.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
wustl.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
Postdoctoral Research Associate - Psychological & Brain Sciences
Position Summary Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at WashU in St. Louis, to work on department-funded res...
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
📣 As Co-Editor of AJE Advances: Research in Epidemiology, I invite you to submit to our call for papers on "AI and Epidemiology". Will it help or hinder the field? Let us know your thoughts! academic.oup.com/ajeadvances/... #episky @societyforepi.bsky.social @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social
academic.oup.com
AI and Epidemiology
AJE Advances: Research in Epidemiology publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed research from an interdisciplinary community of scholars and clinicians.
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
🚨🚨🚨 Attention science communicators! 🚨🚨🚨 The 2026 Science IRL mini-grant application is NOW OPEN! Submit your creative ideas for connecting people with actionable science information *offline*. The deadline for this round of grants is March 23, 2026. Apply here! forms.gle/4emvpRPddmEt...
forms.gle
SCIENCE IRL: SciComm mini-grant 2026
Skype a Scientist is offering $300-$1,000 mini-grants to support boots-on-the-ground science communication. The Science IRL mini-grants will support projects that put either 1) important science mess...
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Today's @nytimes.com dialogue with Ross Douthat & Jay Bhattacharya is tough sledding. I wrote a book on how silent transmission made COVID harder to stop and drove misleading narratives. The interview continues to mislead as a means to seize more power. a 🧵 www.amazon.com/Asymptomatic...
amazon.com
Asymptomatic: The Silent Spread of COVID-19 and the Future of Pandemics
Asymptomatic: The Silent Spread of COVID-19 and the Future of Pandemics
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 29/01/2026
Trust in science was destroyed not by scientists, but by the right and rightwing billionaires. I wrote a rebuttal to Douthat’s bad article on Tue w/out even seeing it. Bhattacharya did this. Putting an arsonist in charge of putting their fire out is insanity. 1/
Despite loud voices on the right claiming that scientists have politicized science, the opposite is true. As with climate change and asbestos before it, powerful and wealthy interests found biomedical science, during COVID, opposed to their partisan agenda. So they ran the so-called
"Merchants of Doubt" strategy: they found scientists who would criticize biomedical science and NIH, and elevated them. Such junk scientists, from Scott Atlas to Jay Bhattacharta, were given high-profile platforms on billionaire-owned news networks, and given awards from billionaire-funded thinktanks.
It was primarily billionaires, acting through merchants of doubt they boosted, that
"politicized" science and NIH.
Biomedical scientists should have learned from the assault on climate science. But given where we are now, we cannot return to the old way of trying to ignore power and politics — if we
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Incredibly important points made here about our current reality. It seems so dissonant to go to work and raise our families while people are being murdered by the state in the streets. And that is actually the point. #DualState www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/o...
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 25/01/2026
Van Hollen: "They really think the American people are stupid. I mean, we can all see the video. We saw the video with Renee Good. We saw the video with Alex Pretti. The real domestic terrorists are in the White House right now."
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Ian Kremer @wolverinebear.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
A First: Gauging Alzheimer’s Prevalence from Blood Test www.alzforum.org/news/researc... #Alzheimers #dementia #biomarkers #science #neuroscience #epidemiology #NeuroSkyence
ADNC and Cognitive Function. In HUNT, the percentage of people per age group with plasma p-tau217 without cognitive impairment (green), mild cognitive impairment (orange), and dementia (purple). [Image courtesy of Aarsland et al., Nature, 2025.]
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Check out our LEGENNDS consortium paper showing an association of autism and other ND conditions with dementia using All of Us data: “Association of neurodevelopmental conditions with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and Parkinson’s disease” academic.oup.com/biomedgeront...
academic.oup.com
Validate User
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 22/12/2025
BREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...
muellershewrote.com
WATCH: The 60 Minutes CECOT Segment
I was sent the CECOT segment anonymously in a group chat.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
There is no bottom--not only is this sick, vile, and lacking of any human empathy, but it is a not subtly veiled threat that anyone who opposes him can be murdered (and a green light to his extremist base to carry it out). The only derangement is our president's, and anyone who can condone this
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Theresa Kim, PhD, MS @tyk314.net · 10/12/2025
📣 @bryandjames.bsky.social is hiring a postdoc at @rushalzheimers.bsky.social. This work examines predictors and consequences of a timely #dementia diagnosis using CMS claims linked to cohort data. Could be great for an #hpss #statssky #episky #hspr #geronsky PhD student finishing up this year.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Risks and Benefits of Clinical Diagnosis Around the Time of Dementia Onset
Diagnostic delay in dementia is common in the U.S. Drivers of diagnostic delay are poorly understood, but appear related to misconceptions about dementia, stigma, concerns about autonomy, the nature of the diagnostic process, and provider-related ...
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
The highlight of #GSA2025 was watching my friend and colleague @beyoung40.bsky.social give her speech for the James Jackson Mentorship Award , about her path from being mentored to becoming an exemplary mentor. Dr. Barnes has inspired SO many people. Lisa, you’re the best! @geronsociety.bsky.social
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I had a blast participating in the @geronsociety.bsky.social #GSA2025 Epi of Aging IG debate on the “Biggest Baddest Bias in Aging Research” as “The Confounder 😎” I got SMOKED in the final vote (3%!) as @sfackley.bsky.social ran away with it at 85% but still fun! 😆 @mariaglymour.bsky.social
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Fun with friends and AI at #GSA2025: Drinks and oysters at Rochambeau ➡️ our imagined selves at a 1940s speakeasy 🍸🦪 @ekgraham22.bsky.social @gabriellepfund.bsky.social @chops310.bsky.social
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Had the pleasure of serving as discussant for this great session on Blood-based Biomarkers of Aging and Neurodegeneration yesterday at @geronsociety.bsky.social #GSA2025 #geronsky Speakers: Natascha Mertens, Joe Coresh, James Pike, Jason Smith 📸: Priya Palta
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Dr. Rabbithole @drrabbithole.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
While the government was shut down, 379 NIH study section meetings (containing 24,380 grant applications) were postponed. NIH is committed to getting these reviewed, but please be patient and understanding with staff, as this is a complex and heavy lift.
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Alt The National Institute on Aging @altthenia.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
For those of you attending #GSA2025 in Boston, consider this panel of #NIH awardees, Drs. Alden Gross, @mariaglymour.bsky.social , @sfackley.bsky.social , and @bryandjames.bsky.social. Please remember to tag #geronsky and @geronsociety.bsky.social in your posts.
The "biggest baddest" bias in aging research: A spirited GSA debate.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Everyone on this site knows this so this is posting to an echo chamber but it really is shocking on a daily (hourly) basis how we seem to be powerless to letting this man assume absolute power. I just can’t believe how many Americans support this
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 09/10/2025
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
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Jacob Soboroff @jacobsoboroff.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Michigan Avenue right now.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
I know a lot of neuropsychologists—all of you should be voting for @drmlamar.bsky.social as the head of INS! Any professional society would be lucky to have her as president.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Please see this story of my program officer @tyk314.net’s father and what cuts to funding mean to people like him and all of us
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Truly disgusting. I don’t know how anyone can support this. The “It’s just a meme” claim falls short when it’s the president posting it and it will literally lead to deaths, pain, and sadness in an American city. Sadistic fascism.
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Gabrielle N. Pfund @gabriellepfund.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Our new paper in JG:PS is out! In a sample of over 3100 older adults assessed each year for 12 years, loneliness & sense of purpose were unique predictors of cognitive decline, though past research has underestimated the reciprocal nature of this relationship. www.researchgate.net/publication/...
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American Journal of Epidemiology @amjepi.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
September Editor Spotlight of the Month! ✍️ Next up is Sunni Mumford (@sunnimum.bsky.social) ✨, Associate Editor at AJE & Professor of Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. This month, we chatted with her about her work with AJE.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
🛎️ 🛎️ 🛎️
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Dennis Goris | Cartoons @dennisgoris.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
I miss the old brand #CDC
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Another insane day in America
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back. "The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
My resignation letter from CDC.  

Dear Dr. Houry,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.   I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.

This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.

While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people.  This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.   The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.  This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.  Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.

It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC.  The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense.  Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function.  Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.
Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.  Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.

I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again.  I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season.  Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.”  We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary.  I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us.  Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.  At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him.  To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information.

The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer.  I believe in nutrition and exercise.  I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability.  Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning.  My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so.  I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.   I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur.  I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.

For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics.  I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.

Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically.

Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.  If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Our latest @rushalzheimers.bsky.social study on the #MINDdiet and brain health led by Puja Agarwal: MIND diet associated with lower likelihood of hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and more neurons in the hippocampus. The MIND diet association with reduced dementia was partially mediated by HS #neurosky
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Bryan D. James, PhD @bryandjames.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
The GAO just confirmed what we all knew: this administration illegally withheld congressionally approved funds to research by canceling grants and slowing new awards. This destruction of US scientific research has to stop.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 05/08/2025
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
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Ian Kremer @wolverinebear.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Just Diagnosed With Mild Cognitive Impairment? What To Look For And What It Means beingpatient.com/what-to-do-a... #Alzheimers #dementia #health #wellness
beingpatient.com
Just Diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment? What to Look for and What It Means | Being Patient
An MCI diagnosis doesn’t always mean Alzheimer’s. Identifying and treating underlying causes can slow progression — or even reverse symptoms.
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