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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD

@rossenator.bsky.social
694 followers 563 following 84 posts

psychiatrist/neuroscientist/activist/karaoke-ist. Autonomic nervous system, feeding behavior, stress and metabolism. Assoc Prof @EinsteinMed neuroscience. Founder of Rosslab.einsteinmedneuroscience.org

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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Talia Lerner @talialerner.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
All of us – share. The money in US science until now has enabled an individualistic mentality, but it is not the only way. Be generous with ideas, expertise, resources. Post your data. Post your code. Post your protocols. Send reagents. Reduce friction in the system; be stronger together. Be kind.
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
scul diva ❌👑 @sculdiva.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Vought is still at it. Despite the thousands of comments submitted opposing his OMB grants rule, he quietly submitted changes to the policy and procedures guide for NSF grants that would implement those same unpopular changes. Send a comment and write your MOC 👇 @alt-nihscience4all.altgov.info
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Informal poll to my colleagues at other medical institutions, has your dean recently provided a new top down ruling banning international students from doing parts of their PhD at your institution?
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
It’s like they don’t know that 3/4 of my admin work comes from the institution reacting to dynamic federal oversight thehill.com/policy/techn...
thehill.com
Trump administration to shift R&D funding from academia to individual scientists
The Trump administration announced it plans to shift some of the $200 billion in annual funding for research and development away from academic institutions to focus on individual scientists. In a …
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Lesley Carhart @hacks4pancakes.com · 20/07/2026
Having an in person international or national event in America? Are you weighing factors like lodging and transport? Cool stuff to do? Here's a map to consider if any of your attendees may possibly, even remotely be LGBTQIA. And you care about them.
Source: Movement Advancement Project (MAP) LGBTQ Equality Maps

See original source of US LGBTQIA safety study for tabular data by state.
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
This is a tremendous piece by Judy Stone at @forbes.com. This new OMB rule is going to hurt communities from coast to coast. Federal grants are not just about research! www.forbes.com/sites/judyst...
forbes.com
How The OMB Rule Could Hurt You And Your Town
The OMB proposal threatens scientific research and ALL federal funding for states, cities, and nonprofits. It politicizes ALL funding. Call your reps and write an objection.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
OMB crushing hopes and dreams for scientists just like Ecuador did to Germany today 🇪🇨⚽️ @standupforscience.net @mayor.nyc.gov @aoc.bsky.social @superkash.bsky.social @drjkhokhar.bsky.social
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Please comment on fed OMB proposal 2026-0034. Watch the clip to understand the threat, and follow link for resources and how-to write an effective comment by July 13! l1nq.com/syqpwbf @standupforscience.net @acnporg.bsky.social @drjkhokhar.bsky.social @aoc.bsky.social @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I am concerned the goal is bigger - dissolving the peer review system altogether. Since we will not consent to participate as standing members in the future, admin can argue that there we don’t value peer review and drop it from the process.
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 08/02/2026
Setting back neurological studies for years doesn't make America healthy. Use this link to help us #RemoveRFKJr standupforscience.net/impeach-rfkjr
Top of the photo in white text reads: "NEUROLOGICAL ISSUES LIKE CTE DON'T JUST AFFECT NFL PLAYERS." Below that is a photo of two NFL players clashing helmets. Below that is a news clipping reading: "How possible NIH cuts could threaten future treatment for neurological disease". Below that in bold white text reads: "SAVE LIVES. REMOVE RFK JR.". Below that in white text is a link reading: "standupforscience.net/impeach-rfkjr".
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Please @schumer.senate.gov and all the senate democrats
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
This is the correct answer!!!
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Im sorry! I lost my voice early and failed social time. I’m on Eleuthera for mini vaca though - can we do a hang in eastern Queens / western Long Island?
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Hahah yeah, the blue tones are all slightly different
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Loving this whole data and computation packed final panel of #acnp2026 on sex differences and similarities in the organization of the brain helmed by @elvisha.bsky.social, @bogglerapture.bsky.social, Jason Lerch, and @tollkuhn.bsky.social
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Btw just to note, it is uncanny that we all have these nearly-the-same glasses from different years of the same brand as NONE of us have met others with the same color combo/style in the wild.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Who wore it better @ahmarilab.bsky.social fashions of #acnp2026 fancy glasses version @jungheelee.bsky.social , Barbara Rothbaum, Karen Neirenberg, and me
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Congratulations to Bill Carlezon on a very successful year of presiding over the ACNP and cheers to Deanna Barch for the coming year’s stewardship! #acnp2026
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Exceptional presentation by the experts on the interaction between sex and gender in biology, in our society, and what we all can do in support and to help combat the misinformation flying around. Special thanks to Kale Edmison, PhD putting this resource kit together drive.google.com/drive/folder...
drive.google.com
Combatting Anti-Trans Misinformation Toolkit - Google Drive
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Next, Gary Aston-Jones of Rutgers posits orexin signal through its receptor HCRT1R in a VTA projecting pathway is a link between binge intake of illicit (cocaine) and naturalistic (HFD) appetitive substances.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Kicking off the appetite and addiction session @borglandlab.bsky.social shows high fat diet disinhibits OFC and impairs outcome devaluation, which is associated with astrocyte hypertrophy and inflammatory cytokine expression #acnp2026
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
@brenda-curtis.bsky.social
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Gorgeous distinguished lectures from @goldenneuron.bsky.social and NIH Brenda Curtis on the use of machine learning models in animal and human phenotyping to create open source, scalable, effective resources to understand the brain and behavior for health and disease #acnp2026
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Remarkably, Yuefeng Huang, a post doc in Rita Goldstein’s lab at Sinai, started by sharing that SUD is understudied in women compared to men, though it’s well known that risks and tolerance are v different. They’ve designed a cue-reactivity task to capture the sex differences more effectively.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Moving to humans, Anna Konova of Rutgers implicates neurocognitive mechanisms underlying opioid use risk increase in females through estradiol fluctuation, which scales with striatal reward error signals
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I have been modeling the impact of multi-year funding. Based on fairly reasonable assumptions, 50% multi-year funding, the number of new and competing awards is anticipated to drop to approximately 6000 compared to 10,000 had there been no multi-year funding above the historical background rate.
A graph showing a linear decline in the number of NIH award from ~10000 to ~2500 as a function of increasing percentage of grants multi-year funded.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Next fantastic talk by Erin Calipari showing incredible novel function of estradiol to potentiate dopamine release by direct action on nicotinic receptor, leading to observable functional differences between male and females, and females at different life stage #perimenopause #acnp2026
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Outstanding #acnp2026 day 2 start with @nicolagrissom.bsky.social reminding us of the principle that sex differences in neural mechanisms may drive behavior similarity. Leaning into the ambiguity of hidden markov models and showing that females exploit more; males explore more in a set shift task
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Noted binarizing of gender identity pins, not consistent with prior meetings options or the spectrum of #LGBTQIA2S+ gender identity. 🤨🤨🤨 #acnp2026
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Here we go #acnp2026 bahamania
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Dear academic internet friends, I’m working on an R01 on our novel early life model of food insecurity, which the federal govt no longer recognizes (as of ~1 week ago cancelling the annual report). Should I re-write my 3 line public health narrative (bonkers) to de-center that topic?
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
This. Read the article by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social it is wide angle, big picture, thought-provoking, critical reading for anyone who’s still trying to “understand” what’s happening all around us (in the US). www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Mourn, or Else
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
It’s not just that video is too slow. It is that. It’s also not my own understanding happening. I also truly believe that the mind and life I want to have does not happen through watching but does through reading. Wild that this is even a little bit provocative but I suspect that mostly just online
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
People get so angry about this, I’ve found that interesting. There is definitely some resistance to the idea of reading, not just the act of doing it. But yeah I am not watching a video, ever, if I can help it.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
This wknd, WSJ reported the Dept of Ag is ending its annual report on household food security. Started in the 1990s to help state and local officials distribute food assistance. Last year’s report found that 18 million U.S. households experienced food insecurity during 2023.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
It is SO insanely cool. Clinically we don’t expect to see changes in “intelligence scales” in adulthood. But hello primary cilia - let’s figure you out!
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
I highly recommend reading the discussion that one reviewer called “highly significant, as it suggests MC4R agonists may hold therapeutic potential…for metabolic control…and neuropsychiatric well being” (thank you to reviewer 2). Cheers to more depth in the interface between these fields!
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
I’m proud of this work for two reasons. 1. This was Katie’s first research as a med student, and she dove deep to produce this very thoughtful manuscript 2. This puts a clinical correlate for my lab’s work out there - pharmacologically targeting the melanocortin 4 receptor affects cognitive function
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Humble case report from prior Ross lab member Katie Kuk, who is now a psych intern, on the PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD OF improvement in cognitive function in a patient with a rare developmental disorder after starting a med to treat obesity. www.frontiersin.org/journals/end...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Case Report: Improvement in cognitive functioning following setmelanotide initiation in a patient with Bardet-Biedl syndrome
Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare genetic condition that results from mutations in a variety of genes crucial for ciliary transport. Consequently, patien...
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
“The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest”
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Three top CDC officials resigned in protest tonight. Read the powerful resignation letters, including from @DrDemetre.bsky.social, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponizing of public health.” insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
insidemedicine.substack.com
Breaking News: Read three top CDC officials' resignation emails.
The end of an era.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
To my psychiatry colleagues, here’s a helpful commentary on how to support and protect our trans patients rights and dignity in the face of current admin regime attacks. psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...
psychiatryonline.org
Psychiatry Online
PsychiatryOnline.org is the platform for all American Psychiatric Association Publishing journals, DSM, and bestselling textbooks, as well as APA Practice Guidelines, and continuing medical education.
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025 drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/n...
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025
I know Doctor Editor Director Professor Berg has more sophisticated analyses going but this simple data set made sense to me once I realized how few new R01 NIAAA has issued so far (5). Since we ar…
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper! We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media. Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑 doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
doi.org
Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky
Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For
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Reposted by Rachel Ross, MD, PhD
Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
NEW: In an unprecedented move, the NIH will soon disinvite dozens of scientists about to take positions on advisory councils that make final decisions on grant funding. NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.
nature.com
Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities
The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
It was my favorite because she provided both a lifespan and a risk factor perspective in her work on sex differences in dementia, both rodents and humans, as we need to understand the dynamic experience of the dynamical systems (neural circuits, neuroendocrine signals, and neuroimmunology)
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
My favorite talk of #Endo2025 is @liisagalea.bsky.social but also the entire sex differences session full of things we know but for some reason have ignored: females are different than males. Not more complex. Not more dynamic. Different. It’s not sexist to use funds to study this; it’s necessary.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
And don’t take my word for it, here’s the NIH itself on why humane animal research is necessary to appreciate biology in dynamic systems grants.nih.gov/policy-and-c...
grants.nih.gov
Why Animals are Used in Research | Grants & Funding
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
This link offers the opportunity to watch a lot of misinformation about replacing animal models but also offers a place to leave your commentary.
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Rachel Ross, MD, PhD @rossenator.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Today (5p EST) is the last day to log a comment about this policy and help NIH continue to support foundation basic science work which is necessary to understand our complex biological systems underlying both health and disease. www.fda.gov/news-events/...
nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
FDA-NIH Workshop: Reducing Animal Testing
The FDA is hosting a workshop on reducing animal testing. The workshop is open to current FDA and NIH employees.
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