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Lisa Jarvis

@lisamjarvis.bsky.social
13K followers 944 following 1.3K posts

Chicago-based health & science columnist for Bloomberg Opinion @opinion.bsky.social. Writing about public health, medicine, emerging technologies (Crispr!), biotech & pharma. opinions=mine, She/her. Signal: lisajarvis.77

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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Exemptions for one or more routine childhood vaccine have risen sharply:
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Ending the week on a positive note: this very good girl had her last round of chemo and is looking forward to a weekend full of long walks, extra treats, and belly rubs to celebrate.
A smiling beagle mix sitting in front of a mural featuring hearts and flowers with happy faces.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
A friend painted this of my Oscar after he died. It makes me happy every time I see it. www.rickmullin.com
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Whew!
Alerts
noW
NLRT | Suggested
Supreme Court Preserves
Abortion Pill Access by Mail for
Now
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
The rest of Leon’s letter with Wilmer Hale comments (2/2):
On April 30, the Board of Trustees received the findings of WilmerHale's independent review of communications between President Leon Botstein and Jeffrey Epstein. The Board initiated this review to ensure a thorough and independent understanding of the facts. Subsequent to the conclusion of the review, President Botstein submitted his retirement, effective June 30, 2026, when his current term expires.
The Board is grateful to President Botstein for his five decades of service to Bard College, his countless accomplishments and the lasting impact of his leadership.
We believe an orderly transition is essential to support our students, faculty, and staff, and to ensure continuity through key academic milestones. The Board will soon announce both an interim leader for next year and the details of a national search for our next permanent president, which will involve a wide range of stakeholder input.
The concerns raised in recent months have been serious and deeply felt. We are grateful to those who came forward to share their perspectives, and we recognize the importance of the questions that prompted this review and the deliberation that followed. A summary of WilmerHale's findings is available here.The concerns raised in recent months have been serious and deeply felt. We are grateful to those who came forward to share their perspectives, and we recognize the importance of the questions that prompted this review and the deliberation that followed. A summary of WilmerHale's findings is available here.
The College is committed to strengthening its policies on donor vetting, fundraising, and conflicts of interest.
Outside counsel is reviewing existing policies and will present findings and specific recommendations, including on donor vetting procedures, to the Board and the development office. The Board will determine next steps for implementing those recommendations.
Funds associated with Jeffrey Epstein will be directed to organizations that support survivors of sexual harm.
Our focus remains on the strength of Bard's academic mission and the well-being of our community. We are grateful for the resilience, care, and continued commitment of students, faculty, staff, and alumni during this time.
Executive Committee,
Bard College Board of Trustees
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Leon Botstein, embroiled in controversy over his ties to Epstein, is retiring from Bard College. This letter just went out to alum (1/2)
To the Bard community,
From President Leon Botstein
After completing 51 years as the president of Bard, I am announcing that I will be retiring from the presidency at the end of this academic year, June 30, 2026.
I knew I could not retire until the completion this January of the 1-billion-dollar endowment campaign begun in 2020 as a result of the generous challenge grant by the Open Society Foundations. The College now has a core endowment that will give it the opportunity to fully secure its financial future into the years ahead.
I am proud to have marshalled, during my tenure, nearly 3 billion dollars of philanthropy from numerous sources on account of the College's unique and vital purpose. I am deeply grateful to all the institutions and individuals who have stepped up to support Bard and the people it serves.In an age in which liberal arts education is under immense stress, the distinctive mission of the College must endure. This demands a commitment to rigorous academic inquiry and the larger public good which Bard advances through its many initiatives in degree programs for underserved populations, in the arts, liberal learning, and international education. The College must also continue to contribute to our neighbors in the Hudson Valley, who have been wonderfully supportive of Bard and its mission.
Over the past 50 years, Bard has developed and acquired a magnificent campus, and attracted an outstanding faculty, and dedicated staff. It boasts a vibrant and terrific student body. I offer my thanks to these constituencies for their extraordinary service and loyalty to Bard.
I previously informed the Board of Trustees that in view of the completion of the endowment campaign, my 51 years of service as president, and my upcoming eightieth birthday, it has been my intention to retire from the presidency and focus my energy as faculty member, teacher, and musician. I will continue with the Bard Music Festival, SummerScape, and the Bard Conservatory and will live at Finberg House.
I want to thank my superb colleagues, past and present, in the administration as well as the faculty, for an exceptional half century.One individual deserves particular mention: the person who hired me in 1974 and without whom none of this would be possible, David E. Schwab III '52. David gave me the charge "to build something great or close the college." I've devoted my life's work to lead Bard to become significant in American education and culture, and to make a strong economic and social impact on the Hudson Valley region. He challenged me to ensure that Bard become not just like any other institution of higher education, but that it should stand for both excellence and equity.
We should all remember that through our collective work Bard has defied the fate of many smaller institutions of higher education, and has overcome its long history of financial instability and poverty to become a college of national and global prominence, known especially for its devotion to liberal education and to public service.
Bard's success in that defiance has derived from its commitment to innovation and excellence, not the opposite.
I believe it was prudent and in the best interest of Bard to wait until the Wilmer Hale review was complete to make this announcement.
I want to wish the college and its future leadership the very best and I pledge to both my support.
Leon Botstein,
President, Bard College
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Hope everyone is heading into the weekend with the same joy as my Jojo.
A close up of a smiling beagle/shepherd mix who is sitting in a patch of grass like the best girl.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Welcome home, Artemis II astronauts!! Thank you for making my month with your incredible journey around the moon--and for reminding us all of the wonder that can happen from an investment in team science. On that front, my recent @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Seen during Artemis II’s lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, the Moon and Earth align in the same frame, each partially illuminated by the Sun. The Moon’s surface appears in sharp detail in the foreground, while Earth sits much farther away, smaller and softly lit in the background. A faint reflection in the spacecraft window is also visible, subtly overlaying the scene.

Credit: NASA
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
My dog had a very expressive ear moment earlier today.
Close up of a gleeful black and brown dog face with her left ear fully extended and her right ear ticket behind her head.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
A recently-published Gallup poll shows what people are sacrificing for care:
Health Care Is Forcing Difficult Choices
Share of Americans making trade-offs to cover health expenses in the last year
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
As a parent, I really appreciated hearing from experts about how to talk to kids about what they're worried about, witnessing, directly experiencing, processing. This snippet from the Child Mind Institute's Kimberly Alexander (who had many wise words) especially resonated:
Any way that parents can offer stability matters. “What are our routines we can hold onto? What are our family rules and values that we can hold onto?” Alexander suggests. “That can give a child a sense of calm and acceptance — that while there are uncertainties, that’s not all there is. There are some certainties, too.”
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Threw on my coat and ran down the street to catch a better view of tonight’s spectacular Chicago sunset. Highly recommend winter sky walks.
A pink and orange fiery sunset against a background of bare winter trees and brick apartment buildings.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
A hint about the "what we can do" piece:
A line graph that uses CDC data to depict the downward trend in flu vaccine uptake among US children from the 2019-2020 season to this 2025-2026 season.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Levi says ACIP's work group on Covid vaccines felt should be individualized decision and the shots should be prescribed. On the topic of access, he says high risk people are already engaged with health care system and not unreasonable to expect them to add boosters to discussion.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
👀
Bloomberg Weekend
Ousted vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad is set to return to the
FDA after he abruptly departed the agency at the end of July.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
"Preparedness is a deterrent," Nuzzo says. Walking away from an investment in mRNA also "sends a message to our adversaries that the United States is uncommitted to preparing for future health emergencies - that the United States is now more vulnerable than it has ever been because we are systematically taking off the table multiple approaches to protect ourselves."
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
And, of course, can't resist bringing up this ol' tweet from Casey Means about glucose:
A tweet from Surgeon General nominee Casey Means that reads: "Glucose as a molecule has caused more destruction of the human mind and body than any other substance in human history"
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Of course this just came across:
A screenshot reading “Alert: HHS Cancels Moderna’s $590 Million Contract for Bird Flu Vaccine
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Finally braved the Del Sur line and got the last two turon danishes. (Sorry people behind me.) So. Delicious.
An assortment of pastries, from left to right: a pineapple muffin with a cherry in the middle, an ube oatmeal pie, pandan basque cake and two rectangular banana pastries.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Whelp. Casey Means is Trump's Surgeon General nominee.
Image of a Truth Social post from Donald Trump that reads: I am pleased to announced that Dr. Casey Means, will be nominated as our next Surgeon General of the United States of America. Casey has impeccable "MAHA" credential, and will also work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, an ensure Great Health, in our future, for ALL Americans. Her academic achievements, together with her life's work, are absolutely outstanding. Dr. Casey Means has the potentail to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey! Secretary Kennedy looks foward to working with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in another capacity at HHS. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Feeling like summer today, Chicago. No one is more thrilled by the sunshine than this lady.
Super smiley beagle-Australian shepherd mix (with dark brown fur, tan paws and a white chest) wearing a harness while sitting in a patch of grass.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su
A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com looks at the heartbreaking, harmful gutting of LGBTQ health-related research, which our analysis found was acutely targeted in the massive NIH cuts.
A Euler diagram of four overlapping ellipses showing the number of terminated NIH grants by research area. The four categories shown are LGBTQ health (328 cancelled grants), minority health (319), youth health (168) and vaccines (109). The diagram also labels the number of terminated grants at the intersection of research areas: Of the 328 terminated LGBTQ grants, 207 also involved minority health research and 116 involved youth health.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
First spring bloom on my patio. Will take this bit of sunshine today.
A just-opened daffodil with a second opening flower in the background
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Whelp.
Measles
Outbreaks
The Latest West Texas Outbreak
Kennedy Links
Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health, Citing Fringe Theories In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak.Read in app
40p EXCLUSIVE
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake
The order covers more than 40 awards to researchers around the country seeking to understand why vaccine acceptance has declined.
Updated today at 6:57 p.m. EDT
Gd 5 min
口
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Just home from #standupforscience2025 rally in Chicago. If I didn’t get to talk to you amid the freezing rain, reach out! Working on a few ideas related to the current upheaval.
Photo of protesters with Calder’s Flamingo statue in the background
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
The flu, meanwhile, has been going from mild to wild in recent weeks.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Just a few quick things that jump out in this executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again commission…
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
From that column:
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
A screenshot of text that reads: Consider the impact on St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which develops new treatments for pediatric cancers and diseases like sickle cell. The hospital will lose nearly $40 million a year in research funding, says Charles Roberts, director of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center. “This will likely mean fewer new treatments will get to children and therefore that more children will die,” he says.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
I dunno about this game, but this jam donut cake I made for it is delightful.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Whelp.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
We call this version the slinky sploot.
A dark brown dog with a red collar stretched out in the sploot position on a striped carpet
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
Best new addition to our tree.
A glass Christmas tree ornament of SNL character Stefon, holding his hands in front of his mouth.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Was typing away and heard an odd sound outside and hooray! My favorite time of year is here! The wonderfully weird sandhill cranes are passing through Chicago. Sound on…
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
Current mood.
Dark brown and tan dog peeking out forlornly from under a blue and rose colored comforter with one ear flipped back and paws splayed.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 05/11/2024
Why yes I did visit my new bff again today…
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 04/11/2024
Reiterating my “all conferences should have a dog park” mantra. This fella is a senior dog whose owner died and needs a new home- seems like a real love bug!
Smiling black dog with a grey beard.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 01/11/2024
Always a small thrill to be handed this sticker- even after waiting >2 hours in line for it.
Round sticker that reads “I voted” over a ballot box
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 31/10/2024
Made my Jolene put on her Dolly Parton costume, which she did not at all enjoy, though it really made my Halloween.
Dog looking miserable in a red gingham cowboy shirt
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 07/10/2024
Snapshot of vaccine-related bills proposed in 2023.
Bar chart showing the number of anti-vaccine and pro-vaccine bills introduced in 2023, with long red block for Republican-led anti-vaccine bills and blue block for Democrat-led pro-vaccine bills.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 06/10/2024
This was so so so good.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 15/08/2024
Out of office message:
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 30/07/2024
Sounds like Simone Biles is crushing it in Paris today, though trying hard not to hear much about the gymnastics final I can watch it myself tonight. Can't help but re-up my piece from over the weekend: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 21/07/2024
Needed quality park time with this ray of sunshine.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 01/07/2024
Sometimes your kid’s basketball team gets to sit courtside for Sky warmup…LOVED seeing a packed stadium and the incredible energy and support Chicago shows Angel Reese.
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Lisa Jarvis @lisamjarvis.bsky.social · 23/03/2024
If you’ve read any of my work in the last 13ish years, know that nearly every word was typed with this best boy overseeing it (at my feet, curled up next to me, sitting on me, giving me an intense “dinner time” glare over the top of my screen). We said goodbye to him this week. The loss is immense.
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