iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Incredibly tough time for public health right now, but this new article from my old colleague and I highlights a few critical priorities states can take to continue progress on health and wellbeing.

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Katie Sandlin @kmsandlin.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Today, along with 2,000 other NIH employees, I had to clear out my office 😭 It was truly the honor of my life to work with such incredibly passionate people focused on improving human health. I’ve never experienced a more positive culture where *everyone* cared about their job and serving others.

Office desk without any personal items or decor

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Absolutely recommend checking out @emmbadger.bsky.social’s new NYT article for those wanting to dig in more on NIH cuts. The combination of my article and hers really highlights the different attacks here—infectious dz, overhead cuts—and what they mean for states! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

How Trump’s Medical Research Cuts Would Hit Colleges and Hospitals in Every State

Changes to a key funding formula will reduce research grants at hospitals and universities by billions — and may discourage future research.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Louisiana with yet another bad vaccine policy. It’s almost like they waited to make sure RFK Jr., a vaccine conspiracist, was empowered before make this move. Proud to see my hometown, New Orleans, and its health department taking a stand!

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

We should anticipate even more drastic changes to NIH following RFK Jr.’s confirmation as HHS Secretary—changes that undermine scientific integrity, innovation, and public trust. www.americanprogress.org/article/how-...

americanprogress.org

How Cuts to NIH Research Funding Would Hurt States

Proposed changes to the National Institutes of Health’s $48 billion budget would risk jobs, threaten state economies, and hamper progress toward prevention and treatment of diseases such as cancer.

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Center for American Progress @americanprogress.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine record speaks for itself, even if he tries to deny it. Last week, Sen. @chrismurphyct.bsky.social called out exactly this. RFK Jr. puts your health at risk. Take action now before it’s too late: www.americanprogress.org/take-action/...

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

On top of this weirdness, buried here is a provision prohibiting communities from implementing vaccine or mask policies that keep people safe and healthy. That's going to be perfect if we have another public health emergency as if that's totally out of the realm of possibility!

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

A powerful commentary on the role of the medical, science, and public health community in these dark times. Incredibly, proud to call the author a collaborator in the hard work ahead. Great work, Steve!

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Unsurprising as they said they would do this in Project 2025. Breathing clean air and drinking clean water should be the most basic things we can agree on and this administration won't even commit to that. Corporate greed is more important that public health.

americanprogress.org

Project 2025 Would Make It Easier for Big Corporations To Dump Dangerous Toxins That Poison Americans

Far-right extremists’ plans to dismantle environmental regulations would reverse progress in protecting Americans from lead, PFAS, soot, and other hazards.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Nice closing from Cassidy but he left too open a door for RFK Jr. to feign a shift on the viewpoints we already know he's committed to.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

RFK Jr.:"I'll comply with the laws." *Prospective boss that he pledges to serve at the pleasure of proceeds to NOT comply with the laws*

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

This is unfair to the families affected and a very unserious response to a tragic event.

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Andrea Ducas @andreaducas.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

RFK Jr is asked: 'how will you decide which scientists are good, and which scientists are bad?" Says: the ones that are corrupt. Interesting. I wonder whether profiting off conspiracy theories (say, by making money from litigation against a vaccine you want to limit access to) constitutes corrupt?

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Not only does he not understand Medicare (see my previous post). He doesn't understand Medicaid. This program covers almost 80 million people, including children.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

This program covers 66 million people and the person we're interviewing to lead it doesn't even know the basic components of the program. We're gambling with real people's lives.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Wow, powerful words from Hassan: Questioning settled science prevents us from moving forward and making critical progress that helps families, freezing us in place. This is so dangerous not just for health but also for those so worried about us being able to compete with other countries.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Reminder: he makes money from spreading his anti-science views on vaccines.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Senator Murphy now with a great point. RFK Jr. isn't doing any "questioning", he's already made up his mind and there is no reason to believe he'll suddenly change his mind after confirmation.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

How can you "question" when you don't know what you're questioning? This is basic research.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

This is the question! HOW are they broken? He has no specifics for us, just sweeping summary statements. The lack of specifics should give you pause.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Not to mention there is a whole institute within NIH focused on diabetes 🫠

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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Rand Paul now claims no healthy child has died of COVID. This is false. COVID-NET data indicated that about 1 in 3 children who died of COVID had no relevant comorbidities. It is also disgustingly ableist to suggest that the deaths of those children is acceptable because they had comorbidities.

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Jill Rosenthal @jillrose.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

RFK Jr just said he doesn't know if the COVID-19 vaccine was a success. How can he say with a straight face that he will follow evidence? www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/tw...

commonwealthfund.org

Two Years of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccines Have Prevented Millions of Hospitalizations and Deaths

Evidence supports the debate over whether or not vaccines help COVID management and transmission. Discover what ways COVID vaccines have helped.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I'll say again that you can't give infectious diseases a break and also make sure the country is prepared to fight against bird flu. The two things contradict.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Sen. Cassidy coming out strong to push RFK Jr. on his anti-vaccine views. However, his subtle response "If you show me the data, then I will commit." The evidence has been there! Someone coming in to lead HHS should already know this and shouldn't need more convincing, glad Sen. Bernie called this!

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

MAHA needs the partnership of America's farmers while doing very little to support the infectious disease outbreak happening throughout their farms. Make it make sense!

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

We're gearing up for round 2 of hearings for RFK Jr. Senators on the HELP committee today should consider deeply what his plan to "take a break" on infectious disease funding would mean, especially for their states. ⬇️

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Smiling through the pain of a very sad and weird day. Thanks @andreaducas.bsky.social and @shwoolf.bsky.social for being my comrades in arms today!

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Andrea Ducas @andreaducas.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

One surefire way to stop losing farmers is to take bird flu seriously. Hard to farm dead chickens and cows. But RFK Jr calls infectious disease work a distraction.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Don't fall for RFK Jr.'s rhetoric about fluoride. The study he referenced in today's hearing has many issues with it (see the STAT article). I recommend YLE's article on the fluoride debate to understand why fluoride in our water is safe (key point: it's about the dose).

yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

The fluoride debate

The nuance you may be looking for

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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

There is extensive research on chronic disease, and there were previous efforts to address processed food. It's never been a priority for Kennedy - he's been an anti-vaccine activist - and there's no reason to think his priorities changed.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

This is a profoundly welcome step, but the White House has *not* rescinded it's other illegal impoundments. -It is still illegally impounding IRA and IIJA funds. -It is still illegally impounding foreign assistance.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

How can you say you support the CDC but question the work of the scientists and experts at the agency without evidence?

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CAP Action @americanprogressaction.org · 29/01/2025

RFK Jr. has made millions encouraging lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. As HHS secretary, he'll have the opportunity to enrich himself even further—and he won't promise otherwise.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

RFK Jr. claims that NIH has infectious diseases as the chief funding focus while not funding chronic disease research. Last year, NIH's infectious disease institute had about $6B out of NIH's $40B budget. The cancer institute's budget alone was higher than this at $7B.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Senator Warren is pushing RFK Jr. to go on the record about his conflicts of interest with drug lawsuits. He's skirting around the answer, per usual.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate. Nearly 700 are on the brink of closure. Yet, the attempted pause on federal grants would threaten funding for these hospitals. Now square that with RFK Jr.'s statement: "President Trump is determined to end the hemorrhaging of rural hospitals."

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Clearly, he has no idea what HHS does or what his powers and responsibilities would be as Secretary.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

I guess we might call this "on the job" training? 🫠 Though let's hope he never gets the job! #stoprfk

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

RFK Jr. says it is "immortal" not to have a system to report vaccine reactions. There already is a system. Not to mention the enormous body of publicly available evidence on vaccine safety. Our system for researching, approving, and monitoring vaccines is ROBUST.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

RFK Jr. doesn't know what a community health center is. These are incredibly important providers for the most underserved communities. I wrote about that a bit in the article below. To me, this signals he doesn't understand the basics of our health care system. Disqualifying.

americanprogress.org

Climate-Resilient Health Care Promotes Public Health, Equity, and Climate Justice

The federal government must target additional incentives and offer assistance in leveraging existing resources to community health centers and rural hospitals so that they can build stable, climate-re...

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

RFK Jr. wants to get rid of 600 employees at NIH "not doing their jobs." What does that even mean? It means the people working on infectious disease research, lifesaving drug development, and vaccine research.

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Protect Our Care @protectourcare.org · 29/01/2025

Senator Bennet: Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon? RFK Jr.: I probably did say that.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

RFK Jr's conspiracy theories about COVID, lyme disease, and more were just repeated by Senator Bennet. RFK's response: "I probably did say that" or "I don't remember" This is dangerous. This is who is being considered to LEAD the country's health. Let's get serious.

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Marquisha Johns @marquishajohns.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

It's critical to fact check every thing he says today!

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