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Heather B, PhD

@heatherburkin.bsky.social
140 followers 184 following 27 posts

Associate Professor, Personal account

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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
(1) Overall impact scores will be binned into THREE bins: Top 25%, 25-50%, and >50%. (2) Overall impact scores will be retained but will NOT BE SHARED with program officers, advisory councils, or institute/center/office (ICO) leadership. 2/3
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Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Should there be a database of scientists who fabricate data or harass others? That's what two research policy experts propose to prevent those scientists from evading accountability. Would this this centralized, secret list would solve the problem? Read more about the debate in @nature.com.
go.nature.com
Should academic misconduct be catalogued? Proposed US database sparks debate
Repository would require US universities to register research fraud and workplace harassment.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Glencora @glencora.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Anecdotally, l know of someone whose R01 was ND and funded. UK (Kentucky) 🤷‍♀️
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Here you go... You can always check yourself at grant-witness.us/funding_curv...
Funding curves for new and competitive renewal grant for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal year 2021 to 2025. The curve for fiscal year 2026 lies well below the other curves.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
-[2nd amendment freaks spend 50 years insisting everyone should be allowed to carry guns to resist tyranny] -ah, well, no, not like that
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
I have some more bad news. If an admissions committee even suspects you used ChatGPT for your application letter, they'll almost certainly decide not to waste a precious admissions spot on you. Instead they'll give it to, you know, someone who actually likes to write and knows how to do it.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
My quote of the day Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 18/12/2025
Ah yes, deleting climate change from government websites means it doesn’t exist. I’m surprised it took this long, considering Trump’s EPA takes its marching orders from the fossil fuel industry.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Our comments section reacts to @stevescalise.bsky.social threatening us with a good time. #MedicareForAllNOW
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Illegally terminated
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The American Academy of Pediatrics represents tens of thousands of doctors whose sole focus is keeping kids alive and healthy. Pulling support from that work doesn’t punish an institution; it puts families (especially rural and underserved ones) at greater risk.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Under the proposed rule issued by the Trump Administration today, any Medicare- or Medicaid-participating hospital would be barred from providing gender-affirming care to *any child*, even if the care is not paid for by Medicare or Medicaid. public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-23465.pdf
public-inspection.federalregister.gov
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
RFK Jr. has cancelled federal grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, claiming the work they fund “no longer aligns with departmental priorities.” Those grants weren’t about ideology.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Note also that today HHS is proposing rules (a) to bar the use of federal Medicaid/CHIP funds to cover gender-affirming care for those under 18 (public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-23464.pdf) and
public-inspection.federalregister.gov
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Quite the set of leading questions, isn’t it? “Please help us justify that which we already plan to do, I.e. break academic research in what will be a failed effort to make progress “efficient”. Which it never is.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
This is really important. Both in the fact of IMLS reinstating grants. (Which have been *crucial* for libraries and civic life across the country. Notably in rural areas.) And in the example that the overall stalwartness and rigor of federal district/circuit courts has made a huge difference.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
It’s infuriating to me that I need to evaluate media to determine whether it’s AI generated now. The great “time saver” technology wastes incalculable time and energy for people who want to retain their grasp on reality
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jes Battis @jesbattis.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Reminder: you don't have to engage with AI as an instructor. You can talk about AI--even build AI literacy, if you want to call it that--and still not engage directly with a brutal, unethical, ecologically disastrous bundle of technologies. Regardless of institutional pressure, you can refuse.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Uuuugh
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Leslie B Vosshall PhD @leslievosshall.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
@hhmi.org Summer Undergraduate Research Experience - #CechFellows named in honor of Prof Tom Cech Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025 Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!! www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
hhmi.org
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience | HHMI
The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
This is concerning. NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES). 1/2
An internal document from NIH which states that documentation must be provide for each funded grant but that no documentation need be provided for applications that are not selected for funding including those that are skipped back on overall impact scores.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
NPR @npr.org · 12/10/2025
A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.
n.pr
This 4-year-old's heart is failing. A federal grant that might help him was canceled
A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
The breakdown of new awards by mechanism. F30 (Predoc, MD/PhD) FY2025: 196 FY2024: 253 F31 (Predoc, PhD) FY2025: 670 FY2024: 1054 F32 (Postdoc) FY2025: 216 FY2024: 350 6/12
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today. The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly. We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Dan "Mr. Bones and Me" Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Dwayne has his job back because we organized for it. We fight or we die. Join AAUP today www.aaup.org/join
aaup.org
Join
Joining the AAUP says that you’re concerned about academic freedom, and about the way that basic freedom protects your teaching and research. Join today.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Not surprising, but maddening. Such a loss of talent! www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
After months in limbo, four NIH institute directors fired
Two leaders removed by Trump administration had hoped to stay at agency as in-house investigators
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool
Graph showing total R35+R01 awards issued by NIGMS from 2020 to 2025. R01 in black showing a steep decline. R35 showing an increase. Total awards in 2025 slightly up from 2024 but these years are lower than 2020-2023
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
sher12.bsky.social @sher12.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
New article from the Washington Post [Gift Link] wapo.st/4ngFN7u
wapo.st
NIH pulled off a ‘near miracle.’ Scientists say there’s still a problem.
The National Institutes of Health is on track to give away all of its grant money to labs, but research on cancer, aging and diabetes is still being left behind.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
For example: of the 26 most recent NIGMS, R35 NGAs, 9 appear to be MYF. By my count, instead of 26 awards, NIGMS could have funded 62.
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God @thegodshow.com · 31/08/2025
Thou shalt not end vaccines. God will not save you from plague. The Middle Ages should’ve made that very clear.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Rachel Widome @rwidome.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
The best time to curtail firearm access is 40 years ago. The second best time is today.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Childless Dog Lady is on sabbatical. 🍉🌺 @sgbuggs.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
all the evidence in the world and yet tenure requirements never seem to shift
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
- Provisions to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - A effort to eliminate the federal audit watchdog (PCAOB) - EPA emissions rollbacks that had nothing to do with the budget
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
But it’s not over yet. Provisions like the 10-year ban on state AI regulation and the forced sell-off of public lands are still in the bill. Keep spreading the word. Keep pushing back. This isn’t budget reform.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Rejji Kuruvilla @rkuruvi1.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
This week, I’ve seen colleagues serve on NIH study section, doing their job diligently, submit papers, mentor students, serve on university committees, be excited about the science at conferences. Despite all the uncertainties and chaos. Don’t know what’s ahead but you can’t break spirits so easily.
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Tennessee Lookout @tennesseelookout.com · 20/06/2025
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, one of the largest academic research and hospital care systems in the southeast, expects to lay off 650 employees as a result of grant and other funding cuts made by the Trump Administration, it said in a statement. From @anitawadhwani.bsky.social.
tennesseelookout.com
Vanderbilt University Medical Center to lay off up to 650 after Trump administration grant cuts • Tennessee Lookout
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, expects to lay off 650 employees as a result of grant and funding cuts by the Trump Administration,
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Art Walaszek, MD @walaszek.art · 20/06/2025
Former NIH director Francis Collins speaks out about why he left NIH: “I didn’t feel I could raise alarms about the harms that were being done to medical research. I was prohibited from speaking about it.” #medsky www.aamc.org/news/former-...
aamc.org
Former NIH chief calls research cuts “careless” and “heartless”
Francis Collins, MD, PhD, lauds lifesaving research supported by the National Institutes of Health, explains why he left, and warns of scientific brain drain.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
ACLU @aclu.org · 16/06/2025
BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity. This is a major win for public health.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH @rmcarpiano.medsky.social · 17/06/2025
Wondering what's the big fuss about US fed cuts to research grant indirect costs? Very informative details & interactive map here on the big impacts nationwide. America: Your tax dollars fund these science & economic benefits and return on investment. 🧪🛟📈 Sociology demography 😷 Medsky health policy
rdcu.be
NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment
Nature Human Behaviour - NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment
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Megan Ranney MD MPH @meganranney.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Over the next 25 years, if proposed cuts in NIH funding are made real, “In a population of more than 340 million, this reflects **82 million** fewer years of life.” In the US alone. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com
Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe
This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Dahlia Lithwick @dahlialithwick.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
abcnews.go.com
2 Minnesota lawmakers shot in apparent 'targeted' incidents, in grave condition; manhunt underway
Two Minnesota state lawmakers were shot in apparent "targeted" incidents on Saturday that left them in grave condition, officials said.
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
ACLU @aclu.org · 14/06/2025
When the National Institutes of Health cut billions of dollars of research funding earlier this year, it jeopardized our wellbeing and scientific progress. We'll be in court Monday arguing that scientific research should be guided by evidence, not politics.
science.org
Trump’s cuts to more than 1700 NIH grants get court hearing
District judge could declare terminations unlawful—or toss suit based on technicalities
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Reposted by Heather B, PhD
Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)
NSF, NASA and NIH budgets per year, inflation adjusted from 2000-2025 along with the proposed cuts. NSF includes research component only. Massive cuts across all sectors, well below support spanning 25 years.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
I am going to have to start a regular feature called “More nonsense from RFK, Jr.”…
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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
No-cost extensions of NIH grants are no longer automatically approved drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/05/09/n...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
No-cost extensions of NIH grants are no longer automatically approved
The no-cost extension (NCE) allows the recipient of a NIH grant to continue to spend on the project after the original award interval has expired. This NIH website explains the way NCE used to work…
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Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
NEW: We (mostly @noamross.net) launched a website to shine a brighter light on terminated NIH and NSF grants. grant-watch.us It links to our NIH & NSF trackers, grant info submission forms, and other info. We'll also add new analyses soon. Check it out and let us know what else you'd like to see.
grant-watch.us
Grant Watch
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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
For any who do not know, the increases on the left were the end of the commitment to double the NIH budget over 10 years voted in by Congress following Newt Gingrich's leadership on this. Flatlining nominal dollars under the Bush administration onward led to gradual un-doubling of purchase power.
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