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Stephanie Nolen

@stephanienolen.bsky.social

4.1K followers 1.1K following 135 posts

Global health reporter, The New York Times. Former correspondent in South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the MidEast. Author, 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa; Promised the Moon. Baker. Canoe tripper. Disease nerd. Lover of a fat novel and Earl Grey tea.

Posts Replies Media

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And if you somehow missed the story of spatula guy, well, that's also a blessed relief from the actual news www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/u...

The Viral In-N-Out Spatula Hero Is Exactly Who You Imagined He Was

It started as a bizarre late-night standoff behind the counter of a fast food joint. It ended with no injuries — and free burgers.

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This story by Fatima AbdulKarim is just an absolute delight www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/w...

The Winner of This Rivalry Gets Ice Cream. But So Does the Loser.

The competition between two popular ice cream shops in Ramallah inspires fierce loyalties, and a running joke, for lovers of cones piled high with flavors.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I also appreciate Emily Wilson as a woman in a male dominated role, by which I don’t mean translator or classicist or public scholar but rather “curmudgeon.”

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Brian Barrett @brbarrett.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Ebay’s harassment spree against a perfectly nice couple in Massachusetts is one of the craziest stories I’ve ever covered. Six years later, the victims have finally gotten their due. from @laurengoode.bsky.social

Ebay Has to Pay $55.7 Million in Settlement for Its Unhinged Harassment Campaign

For months on end, eBay employees and contractors made life hell for a couple that had criticized the company. Six years later, the company is finally paying up.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

NYT: With Hopes High for New H.I.V. Prevention Pill, Merck Takes Steps to Ensure Access By Stephanie Nolen @nytimes.com @stephanienolen.bsky.social nyti.ms/4h07K3i

With Hopes High for New H.I.V. Prevention Pill, Merck Takes Steps to Ensure Access

Companies in Africa and India will make generic versions of the pill that could cost as little as $5 per person per year. But access to the drug and other new products in much of Latin America remains...

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Paul Bleicher @pbleic.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Astonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.

FDA Panel Supports Lifting Restrictions on Four Peptides (Gift Article)

In an all-day hearing, the agency’s scientists argued against allowing broad access to unproven drugs that the agency had banned three years ago.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

How Bad Could the Ebola Outbreak Get? Here Are 5 Key Factors. Contact tracing is improving. Treatments may be months away. Here’s what could determine whether a fast-expanding outbreak can be slowed down. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... via @nytimes.com @stephanienolen.bsky.social

How Bad Could the Ebola Outbreak Get? Latest on Testing, Tracing and Vaccines

Contact tracing is improving. Treatments may be months away. Here’s what could determine whether a fast-expanding outbreak can be slowed down.

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

A generic version of a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug, manufactured in Bangladesh for a fraction of the American price, may give some families around the world an unlikely lifeline. (unlocked) www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/h...

Loophole in Patent Law Brings ‘Miracle Drug’ to Patients Who Can’t Afford It

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Ashis Basu @ashis.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Scientists Race to Test Treatments as Ebola Outbreak Widens Trials are beginning on several drugs that have shown promise in preliminary studies against the virus that is causing the current outbreak. @carlzimmer.com and @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/h...

Scientists Race to Test Treatments as Ebola Outbreak Widens

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 12/06/2026

As the Bundibugyo outbreak continues to grow, researchers are scrambling to start clinical trials of antivirals and monoclonal antibodies to see if any work against the virus. Here's my story on the race, with @stephanienolen.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4eEZHqR

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A Powerful Drug Which Protects People from HIV Infection Has Landed in Zambia. But Will It Reach Those Who Need It? Lenacapavir arrives at a time when the health system has been hollowed out by American aid cuts, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/h... via @nytimes.com

A Powerful H.I.V. Drug Lands in Zambia. But Will It Reach Those Who Need It?

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Ashis Basu @ashis.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

A chronic lack of investment in development of better tests has left clinicians blind and allows deadly viruses to spread unchecked. @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/h...

Only the Right Tests Can Stop This Ebola Outbreak. Congo Has Hardly Any.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

appreciate @stephanienolen.bsky.social and @carlzimmer.com ending the article with this important history on ebola drug access

In 2019, during an Ebola outbreak in Congo, a trial funded largely by the U.S. National Institutes of Health tested four monoclonal antibodies treatments. Two of the drugs cut deaths in patients by as much as 50 percent. One of them was developed from the blood of a Congolese Ebola survivor.
And yet, despite the public funding and the local origin of the treatments, there was no guarantee that the promising drugs would be supplied in Congo. Two companies, Regeneron and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, ended up holding the intellectual property. Neither registered either drug in any of the countries where Ebola outbreaks occur.
Instead, the U.S. government bought the entire supply of both drugs for its own national security stockpile.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The World Has Learned From the Last Ebola Outbreak, but Gaps Remain. The vaccine development process and coordination between health organizations have improved since a devastating 2014-2016 outbreak, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/06/06/w... via @nytimes.com

The World Has Learned From the Last Ebola Outbreak, but Gaps Remain

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Surprise not-everything-is-terrible news: While there is justifiable fear and frustration with the current Ebola response in East Africa, there are also some signs the world has learned some things. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/06/w...

The World Has Learned From the Last Ebola Outbreak, but Gaps Remain

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

AVAC @avac.org · 26/05/2026

Another important read by @stephanienolen.bsky.social. 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/h... And as our ED said last week at #WHA79, "We're introducing [lenacapavir] on what should have been a foundation of stone, but instead we're introducing it on a foundation of sand.” www.devex.com/news/the-pro...

A Powerful H.I.V. Drug Lands in Zambia. But Will It Reach Those Who Need It?

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Incredibly proud of my @bloomberg.com colleagues, who won a Pulitzer today for illustrated reporting for the graphic novel version of an incredible, harrowing story about “digital arrest” scams in India. Gift link to the graphic novel, will thread the feature below: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Arrested by Phone: A Graphic Novel

No texting. No visitors. No escape. She was caught in India’s new digital nightmare.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

University Health Network recruits senior NIH investigator, more than 70 global scientists, as part of campaign to attract 100 early- to mid-career scientists from other countries, by @kkirkup.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com @uhn.ca

theglobeandmail.com

University Health Network recruits senior NIH investigator, more than 70 global scientists

Campaign to attract best and brightest aims to bring in 100 early- to mid-career scientists from other countries

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

David Gura @davidgura.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

A Pulitzer for Julie K. Brown. Richly deserved, and overdue!

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

For @codastory.com, Isobel Cockerell typed two words into the search function of the Epstein files. What she found was a tangled skein of sex and eugenics stretching across tech and academia. As dark as it all has been, this is a new shade of bleak.

"All my fundees have blue eyes." Epstein and the tech world's dark ideology - Coda Story

The Epstein files reveal beliefs about race, eugenics, and engineering humans that run to the heart of Silicon Valley.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Meticulous piece by @stephanienolen.bsky.social tracking the human impact of US aid cuts to HIV in Zambia No tracing means contacts aren't tested No health workers mean baby is left untreated, meds aren't delivered, and appointment reminders aren't sent www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 25/04/2026

HIV drove Zambia's life expectancy down to 37. A program backed by the US helped raise it up to 67, as hundreds of lives were saved. Now cuts to the US HIV program are causing a jump in AIDS deaths, as @stephanienolen.bsky.social reports. Gift link: nyti.ms/41V2Uvq

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to HIV Assistance. A once-robust HIV treatment and prevention system, credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives, has begun to crumble, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h... via @nytimes.com

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

A group of health organizations just finished a massive 36-country effort to vaccinate 18 million children who were missed during Covid. Most of those children had never received a single vaccine before We can still do good things www.who.int/news/item/24...

Largest catch-up initiative delivers over 100 million childhood vaccinations

The Big Catch-Up (BCU), a historic multi-year, multi-country effort to address vaccination declines driven largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged 1 to 5 ...

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Measles Is Back. What Comes Next Will Be Worse. When measles surges like this, it signals that vaccination programs are starting to fail, and that other preventable childhood diseases won’t be far behind. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/o... via @nytopinion.nytimes.com

Opinion | Measles Is Back. What Comes Next Will Be Worse.

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I first reported on H.I.V. in Zambia in 2002, when no one had treatment in sub-Saharan Africa. I saw hospitals where gaunt, dying patients packed the corridors. But Zambia — bolstered by international donors and the U.S. PEPFAR program — turned the tide www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/h...

AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

There’s too much bad news these days To uplift you, check out this @ourworldindata.org story on how cervical cancer rates have declined greatly among younger generations with vaccination! ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

This is tough news For herd immunity, measles vaccine coverage needs to be much higher (95% or higher)... So, outbreaks will occur I hope B.C. can step up and turn things around

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

A lovely tribute to Stephen Lewis, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social. Despite his years working in systems and institutions, Lewis never became lost to them. To the very end, he was fiercely passionate about justice for people www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/w...

Stephen Lewis Was a Singular Man on a Mission

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Tofu @tbfightertofu.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

and by those same groups, I mean the few groups that actually survived the sudden death of USAID. Check out the data yourself, here: globalhealthwatch.org?section=blog

globalhealthwatch.org

The data are public. We just make them usable.

The data are public. We just make them usable.

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Tofu @tbfightertofu.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Excellent article by @stephanienolen.bsky.social about how the shuttering of USAID diverted money away from local groups that delivered care, towards big US companies that took an overhead cut, turned around, and then subcontracted to those same groups www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/h...

Trump’s Foreign Aid Overhaul Sent Millions More Dollars to Big U.S.-Based Contractors

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Anna Mehler Paperny @mehlerpaperny.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Required reading from @stephanienolen.bsky.social on Stephen Lewis's legacy. It's not inevitable for people to die of what could be a chronic condition. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/w...

Stephen Lewis Was a Singular Man on a Mission

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

AVAC @avac.org · 04/04/2026

A beautiful tribute to #StephenLewis from @stephanienolen.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/w...

Stephen Lewis Was a Singular Man on a Mission

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

What could possibly go wrong? www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/h...

C.D.C. Pauses Testing for Rabies and Mpox

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Let's be frank: the thing we're all wondering, looking at those astronauts in that tiny pod, is how anyone is going to 💩. Fortunately, @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social brings us the science of the Artemis toilet www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/s...

The Artemis II Toilet Had a Problem

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

There is a striking epidemiological shift underway across much of Africa: People now face as much risk of dying from a noncommunicable disease such as diabetes as they do an infectious one, such as malaria. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/h...

Diabetes, Overlooked and Unchecked, Poses New Risks in Africa

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Diabetes, Overlooked and Unchecked, Poses New Risks in Africa. As deaths from diabetes start to rival those from infectious threats like malaria, a new form of the condition linked to malnutrition is surfacing, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/h... via @nytimes.com

Diabetes, Overlooked and Unchecked, Poses New Risks in Africa

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Andrew Green @theandrewgreen.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The U.S. is considering escalating pressure on Zambia to sign away its mineral rights by withholding life-saving HIV treatment from Zambians as early as May according to a leaked memo to @stephanienolen.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/h...

U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 17/03/2026

U.S. Considers Withholding H.I.V. Aid Unless Zambia Expands Minerals Access. Story by @stephanienolen.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4bLRbF4

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating TB. Isolating tuberculosis patients is an outdated and potentially harmful practice, but poor countries lack the resources to move away from it, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h... via @nytimes.com

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Reporting in northern Cameroon, I noticed a few people sitting at the back of a hospital compound. They had drug-resistant TB. They weren't there to get meds or see a doctor: they LIVE there. For months. In isolation. That's government policy. Sanitarium throwback. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

"Because TB is a disease of the poorest people in the poorest places, the systems to diagnose and care for them remain antiquated" @stephanienolen.bsky.social reports on the ground realities from Cameroon www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/h...

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa. Parasites and infections that cause blindness and other disabilities were nearly eliminated in some countries, but U.S. cuts to aid programs have stifled progress, by @stephanienolen.bsky.social . www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/h... via @nytimes.com

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa, Health Officials Fear

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Reporting this story in Cameroon, I met people who were blind because larval worms died in their eyeballs: NTDs cause immense suffering and disability. But they're preventable! And treatable! And eliminatable!

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

U.S. tax dollars backed the effort to wipe out neglected tropical diseases for 20 yrs. Many countries eliminated 1 disease, and were tantalizingly close on others. Then the U.S. walked away – jeopardizing all that investment, with diseases poised to come roaring back www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/h...

‘Biblical Diseases’ Could Resurge in Africa, Health Officials Fear

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

If you're feeling like you would like to be reminded of the good things humans are capable of – read this edge-of-your-seat obituary for the legendary Dr Bill Foege + his effort to wipe out smallpox and see every child immunized against infectious diseases www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...

William H. Foege, Key Figure in the Eradication of Smallpox, Dies at 89

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

NEWS: An outcry from ethicists has prompted the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau to block RFK Jr's plan for a study that would have withheld Hep B vaccines from infants. Critics called it a modern Tuskegee. @stephanienolen.bsky.social @by-cjewett.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/h...

Kennedy Plan to Test a Vaccine in West African Babies Is Blocked

Reposted by Stephanie Nolen

Ben Kuchera @benkuchera.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

I was telling one of my kids that it was physically impossible for an ad to play between songs on any of the records I own, and they asked "and you only have to pay for it once?" and you could see how strange that seemed. You cannot overstate how many basic rules of media consumption have changed.

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

The United States is signing new bilateral agreements for health funding (replacing USAID) with developing country governments. They come with conditions -- and controversy. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/h...

U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties It to Funding Pledges by African Governments