Sign in

Mark Hayward

@mdhayward.bsky.social
2.8K followers 2.1K following 372 posts

Population health scientist and demographer. Science thrives on honesty, honor,and commitment to others. Cat dad to two girls who are vying for the record of the longest lived cats.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Mark Hayward
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Life expectancy is worse in Texas than in Saudi Arabia. One fascinating contrast among many. Enjoy! infogram.com/woolf-life-e...
infogram.com
Woolf - Life Expectancy Estimates 2021
053
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Life expectancy is worse in Texas than in Saudi Arabia. One fascinating contrast among many. Enjoy! infogram.com/woolf-life-e...
infogram.com
Woolf - Life Expectancy Estimates 2021
053
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Policy research is at its heart population health research. Understanding the health consequences of policy is central to NIH’s mission and complements clinical research. Leading researchers in health policy research make the case in Health Affairs Forefront: www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore... 🧪
healthaffairs.org
Health Affairs Journal
050
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Mateo Farina and I are excited to share a Perspective recently published in Milbank Quarterly. We argue that the "race between education and technology" plays an especially important role in the growing educational divide in US mortality. 🧪 @Milbank Memorial Fund www.milbank.org/quarterly/ar...
milbank.org
Public Policies in Historical Context and the Association Between Education and US Older Adults’ Health | Milbank Quarterly
In this perspective, we have reviewed the historical evidence on the association between education and health in the United States, arguing that attention to public policies related to both education ...
043
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Today, the vendor of a medical device ordered for me called FedEx to inquire why it wasn’t delivered. FedEx’s answer? They had too many packages. Isn’t package delivery what they’re supposed to do???
100
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Recent NIH grant terminations discussed in an article in the latest edition of Science. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
NIH Director Bhattacharya kills more health disparities grants
Letter says agency is “adjusting its extramural research portfolio, which includes terminating grant awards”
020
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Trash panda family night on my front porch! Please party responsibly. 🤣🦝
010
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I feel exactly the same way. Instead of “do no harm,” it’s do as much harm as possible.
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
No, this is not AI. It’s an actual CDC website. Our nation’s health is in serious jeopardy. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
cdc.gov
Autism and Vaccines
Answers to common questions about vaccine safety and autism.
100
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
My front porch here in Austin, TX, seems like it’s on an animal trail. Here are some grey foxes (which can also climb trees!). In addition to the foxes we also have trash pandas by the dozens.
050
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Yes, I had similar thoughts about the role of marriage and pets, especially considering really low fertility and marriage rates in other countries.
030
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I foresee a new theory in fertility research about the rise in dog ownership leading to lower fertility rates in high income countries. (Just kidding!) 🤣🤣
120
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I appreciate the link. Thanks!
010
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
For folks interested in the impact of the Trump administration on our nation’s scientific enterprise. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
nature.com
US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains
A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.
030
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Me too!
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Thanks! I may write a blog about how the lack of coordination of care degrades our nation’s health, LOL.
030
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I am experiencing severe pain (9 level) because of pinched nerves in the spine. I was part of a team studying pain, but now I’m my own lab rat with my prior self as the control. All I can say is I’m impaired physically and cognitively. I may have enough data points to publish a few JAMA articles.
350
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
@bsky.app At least one news outlet is reporting the slowdown in grant funding at NIH. What better way to attack science than starve its essential funding. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
White House stalls release of approved US science budgets
The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.
042
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Another attack on US biomedical science? Probably. Jeopardizing people’s live. Definitely. It’s all about shifting control from scientific adminsistrators to political appointees. PS. There really is a list of banned words that can’t be used in NIH grant proposals.
031
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Congress has appropriated funds for the NIH budget, but Russell Vought, the head of OMB and co-Author of Project 2025 is only releasing funds to pay NIH staff. The money to fund new grants and continuing studies is not being released.
375
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
The folks who still work at CDC, NIH and FDA are heroes. Everyday, they confront the madness of the administration while struggling to protect our nation’s health, quality science, and people’s lives. Someday, our nation will realize that we all owe them a debt of gratitude.
040
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
The administration’s war on children won’t be a surprise to a lot of folks but here is a nice summary of the major attacks children are experiencing.
010
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Many thanks for writing this piece. The administration is truly engaged in a war on children.
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Some days-maybe most days-it feels like academia and science are being asphyxiated.
031
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
I’m very excited to visit!
010
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
I think it’s time to re-read Orwell’s 1984. Best to be prepared for the 2nd year of the Trump regime.
030
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Fascinating. Thanks for posting!
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
There is increasing interest in whether vaccines have broader benefits for aging and health beyond their specific disease infection. Here's a recent study linking the shingles vaccine with biological aging, pointing to systemic benefits of a vaccine. academic.oup.com/biomedgeront...
academic.oup.com
Association between shingles vaccination and slower biological aging: Evidence from a U.S. population-based cohort study
Abstract. There is growing interest in whether adult vaccines such as shingles vaccine may slow biological aging beyond preventing acute infections. Using
020
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
I just wrote my first external tenure review letter for 2026. I don’t want any of my academic colleagues to assume that I will be equally available (or quick) in the months ahead. Just saying.
020
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
As an IU alum (PhD 1980), I’m happily stunned by the Rose Bowl halftime score. I have too much respect for Bama to assume they won’t come back. But this is a once in a lifetime event. The program with almost the worst historical record up on a legendary successful program. I’ll relish this moment.
020
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
It’s disturbing that values are transactional. Just like pardons.
020
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
The lack of understanding of how health influences individual and collective wellbeing overall is shocking to me. And healthy workers are productive workers. Health doesn’t become an individual value until a person confronts a serious condition.
030
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I’m a demographer who studies US mortality. Looks like 2026 is shaping up to be a banner year, with vaccination rates crumbling and people foregoing health insurance because of rising costs. Why isn’t health an American value?
180
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Today was Pearl Harbor Day. Not a peep in the NYTs or Washington Post. It was a day that changed our country and the world. But now it’s invisible since history has become passe.
051
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Simply appalling. Sadly a daily occurrence. Their cruelty knows no bounds.
040
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
I agree. It seems like the swings are getting wider.
040
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
I’m a Boomer who has watched the US come apart at the seams (eg, Vietnam), then lace itself together, only to come apart at the seams!(Watergate)…and it still continues. This dynamic is crazy making both domestically and internationally. But at least I have perspective LOL.
130
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
I’m curious what Dems think the response should be to a party that will starve Americans, destroy airlines, create bankruptcies and willingly kill thousands of Americans. It’s not your mom and pop’s GOP. The barbarians are at the gates.
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I’m so sorry about your grandma. Dementia is one of the most socially malleable conditions out there. Her onset could be due to a myriad of exposures as well as genetic risk.
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I didn’t mind the repeat visit. It’s the mom’s encouragement that took me aback somewhat. 😂
000
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
My research team has published research showing that malnutrition and hunger in childhood are long-term risk factors for dementia decades later in life. Makes me think about the long-term health consequences of withholding SNAP benefits from families.
58730
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I asked one set of kids who came to our door on Halloween if theyd already been at my house. They said yes they had…but their mom said it was OK to swing by a second time. Hmmm…some parents need parenting lessons.
130
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
I love their formalism. But ignoring decades of work in other fields is not acceptable. A google scholar search will reveal this. Once an economist wrote a paper based on my work. I told him the editor wouldn’t allow him to cite me. He didn’t believe me. I was right and he was stunned. I wasn’t.
110
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Nothing in social science is real until an economist says it. Just ask sociologists and psychologists. As a former social science journal editor, I can attest that the sin is quite common.
2511
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
I never realized that Trump owned cattle ranches and soy bean farms in Argentina. Who would have guessed?
020
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Before he left, he confessed that he was a polio survivor. It was evident as he walked out of the bar. Yes, we had a lot in common when it came to vaccines.
030
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
I gave a keynote at a conference & have been relaxing at the hotel bar. I struck up a conversation with a guy next to me. He asked what I do for a living and I hesitated. I’m a biodemographer and social epidemiologist. This led to an amazing conversation about our nation’s health.
250
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
My lab group met today. Grad students and postdocs engaged in cutting edge research on health and aging topics. Every meeting it seems that they have a new article accepted or fascinating results. They’re provocative and fun! The next generation in this area of science. I love it!
040
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
I continue to be stunned at how poor health literacy is in the US. You’d think folks would have learned something during the worst of the pandemic. It almost seems the opposite. Perhaps the COVID “worm” ate people’s brains.
010
Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Today in my mortality grad seminar, we focused on what transpired in the US & comparisons with high income countries.The students were shocked by how devastating COVID was to US life expectancy compare to Europe. Then we discussed the Great Barringron Declaration. They were stunned.
0110