iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Breaking! There's a new key indicator measure for "Rachel has been in Florida with her parents for too long?" My mom is calling the dog "Bestiana Grande"

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Idk who needs to hear this, but breaking apart the MMR vaccine leads to more injections, not less. It'll also lead to more to missed doses. This is some #publichealth math run amok.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Idk who needs to hear this, but Gardasil isn't solely for preventing cervical cancer. In a new study of over a million males, receiving Gardasil 9 lowered risk of HPV-related cancers by 46%. That means fewer head and neck, anal, and penile cancers for men. Unfortunately, far too few are vaccinated

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

It's the last morning of the girls trip. For the third morning in a row, as we sat down for breakfast we were given a shot of their house blended juice. Each time we warned us it has grapefruit juice "just in case" 😂

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Heads up, if you say "Oh, Long Island" to someone who is taking about the Hamptons, they'll become your bff. Follow me for more modern day tips and tricks to make friends and influence people

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

My two favorite things about driving through Connecticut: 1. Exiting CT 2. Driving through Lyme and Norwalk, and if those two diseases aren't a shining example of this hellscape...

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Reading course evals w/bff (male). A few students said it was "inappropriate" that he taught fundamentals of women's health. But, like, no one gets upset that a cancer epidemiologist has never had cancer! I'm so angry on his behalf.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Nothing tastes as good as skinny fe- no, no. Nothing feels as good as resolving comment threads on a word doc.

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Reposted by Rachel Wacks, PhD

Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Touch grass, but in Latin

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I've had my PhD in epidemiology for like 7 min, but there's no Ebola at the World Cup to stop. The Congolese team was training in Belgium. Before arriving here, they completed a 21 day quarantine in Europe. Staff were in Kinsasha, 1k+ miles away from Ituri, and also completed the 21 day quarantine.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/05/2026

Experts estimate the death toll from babies not receiving vitamin K shots may be greater than reported. More than 700 newborns died from spontaneous bleeding in their brains in 2024, a common result of vitamin K deficiency.

propublica.org

Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth

A lifesaving injection given at birth to prevent severe bleeding has become collateral damage of the anti-vaccine movement.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

At 9, I knew I wanted to become an epidemiologist because of Ebola. Growing up in the 90s and 00s, books and articles called it a "self limiting" disease. Now, we call it a disease of compassion because it's the most often the women and girls, the carers, who contract it. I'll never forget that.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

This weekend I was hooded by my mentor, @cnspracklen.bsky.social. Although I defended in December, this made it feel real. Cassie, your mentorship transformed my PhD journey and truly changed my life. I've had the time of my life studying epidemiology with you 🫶

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Scene: coworking with bff. Him: locked in Me: unharnessed and unhinged Me, out loud, to the void: What's another word for "suggests?" Also me: Our results lowkey imply that...

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Reposted by Rachel Wacks, PhD

Derek Silva @derekcrim.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

fuck this so much we are so not prepared for the mountain of dogshit “scholarship” about to flood journals everywhere

A tweet that reads “The new academic wealth gap isn't your university.
It's not even your advisor's connections.
It's who knows Claude can turn 50+ research papers into a thesis chapter in 3 hours and who's still manually coding qualitative data.
I just watched a sociology PhD skip 8 weeks of analysis.
Here are the 9 prompts they used:”

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Welp, they just nuked the childhood vaccine schedule. Who wants to keep children from 17 vaccine preventable diseases when we can just choose to only prevent 11! 🤡 Who in customer service do I speak to about a refund on 2026?

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Me: Oh, yeah, well, it's a full moon... Also me: Trying to complete a PhD in science

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Me: Panic runs code in SAS that I didn't really think all the way through because it would take 7 days SAS: Crashes Me: Me, too, bestie 💗

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

It's #GivingTueaday and my alma mater, Agnes Scott College, is always my first stop. I owe this community and these incredible women so much. Support the next generation of Scottie leaders! www.givecampus.com/schools/Agne...

givecampus.com

Giving Tuesday 2025

Join me and make a gift to Giving Tuesday 2025

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Measles cases surge while associated deaths are declining. Why? Because most privileged people in the world harness that power and use it not to ensure vaccine equity to end needless, vaccine-preventable deaths, but rather, to opt their children out of vaccines because they won't die if they get it

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Jes Battis @jesbattis.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Universities are assembling larger and larger teams to deal with academic integrity issues--mostly focused on AI--while simultaneously holding AI "writing" contests, AI-themed events, "hey, come play with these fun tools!" The messages are so mixed, it's criminal. Because AI is bloated with money.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

I used to be so cool, but that's over now. Today, I Googled, "LinkedIn premium black friday discount."

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

The best part of being a scientist rounding the final corner of my dissertation journey? I know that I can't cry for at least 24 hours after this lash lift or I'll risk deactivating the ammonium thioglycolate. #WomenInSTEM

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Reminder, vaccines are: ✔️ Safe ✔️ Effective ✔️ Cause adults

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BNO News (Health) @health.bnonews.com · 15/11/2025

UPDATE: Person infected with bird flu in Washington state has H5N5. It's the first time H5N5 has been found in a human

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Trying to finish a dissertation in epidemiology, or any science, right now is wild. Like, what do you mean PubMed won't load randomly, every click takes at least 10 tries, and it still probably won't open anything.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

My dad was trying to give me a mid-dissertation panic writing pep talk and reminded me that I've really only ever wanted to be four things: an epidemiologist, a senator, POTUS, and Christiane Amanpour, and I'm almost one of them, and two are still possibilities. @camanpour.bsky.social

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

We're living in increasingly unfergalicious times

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Is it okay to include the Spice Girls in my dissertation acknowledgements?

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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Tylenol/autism stuff is bad for many reasons, but it will be used to push the idea that pregnant people shouldn't have pain relief. Women's pain is already dismissed.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Medicaid pays for a substantial % of childhood vaccines in FL. Will FL Medicaid/CHIP cont to cpay for the vaccines w/o the mandate? The revocation itself is worst case scenario, but if they longer cover the cost of vaccines? I don't know a word stronger than catastrophic but that's what it will be.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Once again, my home state is at the forefront of FAFO. Vaccines are safe, effective, and allow children to live past childhood.

nytimes.com

Florida Says It Plans to End All Vaccine Mandates

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Bama will still be ranked T10 tomorrow and FSU will remain unranked. But we'll always be the #1 party school. Go Noles ❤️💛

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

You know, if we, as a society, believed women and girls, we would never have to wait for a list.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Happy first day of internship year, new doctors! Learn who the charge nurse is and where they like to sit and never, ever sit there. Deep breaths, it's going to be fine. #MedSky

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Thom Tillis has learned his lesson. by Susan Collins

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

I'm dangerously close to my next decade on this earth, I have a whole dissertation to write, the world is on fire in every way, but right now I'm doing a live version of the eras tour in the pool for the wild bunnies in my parents' backyard. Long live. 🩷🪩🎀

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Lauren Miller @laurenmiller.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Medicaid is the primary payer for 63% of nursing home residents. That's your mom, dad, grandma and grandpa. So when the Senate Republicans cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid this weekend, think: are YOU going to be paying those nursing home bills, or are you going to be changing dad's bedpans?

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

My law degree may be from Dick Wolf, but the way some states pass personhood laws should really be interesting when they try and say a child born in the US, within the state's borders, isn't eligible for US citizenship? When, you know, fetal personhood says it's a US citizen at conception.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I'm currently in West Palm Beach, in a state that aggressively voted for this...

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Tonight I introduced my fave Jersey girl, my mom, to my 2nd fave, @stephruhle.bsky.social, on #11thHour. It was mom's first time since BW retired. I told mom SR's my fave, she sometimes weeps, and that seeing smart, powerful women *feel* without shame on tv is really empowering. Mom agreed 💕

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Reposted by Rachel Wacks, PhD

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

We could effectively stop all transmission of HIV today if people were willing to give up capital

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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.

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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Here are some texts I got from an immigration lawyer friend of mine. Shared with permission. Some of the bleakest shit I’ve ever heard.

Text reading: I had to come down to Los Angeles for Work and ended up trying to help with the raid last night. As a Bernie usefully. Waited by the entrance for detainees
We were repeatedly denied access of any kind, and eventually LAPD force removed attorneys ice. Also tear gassed a baby under age two. Today they told us to come back at eight to see the clients, but they ever refused entry to us as well as politicians, including Jimmy, Gomez, and right now. They’re releasing some kind of gas, so the Attorneys can’t breathe

Text reading: Post it so everyone knows. When we were trying to chant their rights ice honked so no one could hear.

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Come kick off #SER2025 by visiting me at the first poster session! First time in Boston? Feel free to ask for recommendations, I lived there for 6 years!

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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

SCOOP: The CDC is planning to move information on cases of diseases like measles and polio to a data system managed by Palantir, raising concerns about patient privacy. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/h...

nytimes.com

Palantir’s Collection of Disease Data at C.D.C. Stirs Privacy Concerns

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Rachel Wacks, PhD @rachelwacks.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Hashtag pro-life party dot gif or whatever

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Joe Allen @joeallenjoe.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

TRANSLATION: we know our research won’t pass peer-review, so we’ll create our own journals where we control the review process (this, by the way, is what a bunch of industry-sponsored hacks did about 25 years ago to push thru bad science claiming toxic chemicals weren’t toxic…)

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