Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH
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rmcarpiano.medsky.social
Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH
@rmcarpiano.medsky.social

Professor, University of California, Riverside School of Public Policy. Faculty Director, Science to Policy (S2P). Public health scientist & sociologist keen on population health & community issues. Sometimes in the news, often for troubling topics. πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ .. more

Public Health 27%
Medicine 20%
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Welcome new followers! About me beyond my profile: I post on a range of public health, sociological, & policy topics in my expertise areas (e.g., vaccinations, misinformation, health disparities) & other stuff I find important, intriguing, or fun/funny. Journalists: happy to chat (part of my job).

πŸ˜‚ Joke all you want, but that Alan Parsons Project is no laughing matter.

Nice explainer about the legal implications of Mark Kelly's comments...

2 military law experts:
"I am 99% certain nothing he said violated any of the provisions of the military code"

"The likelihood of this getting any traction in the military justice system is essentially zero"
www.reuters.com

Too big to fail...
James Bond supervillains threaten to blow up the world with their big laser unless you pay them a trillion dollars.

Real American supervillains embed themselves in the economy and threaten to cause a depression unless you subsidize their sex robots and the weird chatbots they use to avoid humans.

I like how you think!!

This exchange could be a useful teaching tool for trainees on how to write letters to the editor as well as rejoinders and what to do/avoid to keep it professional. A few things stuck out to me in both docs as "That could've been written in a more productive way (or not written at all)."
Suicides and Overdoses During the 2023 Wildfires in Maui, HawaiΚ»iβ€”Reply
In Reply In response to our article,1 Dr Busch raises concerns about conflating correlation with causation and questions the public health significance of the excess suicide and overdose deaths that m...
jamanetwork.com
James Bond supervillains threaten to blow up the world with their big laser unless you pay them a trillion dollars.

Real American supervillains embed themselves in the economy and threaten to cause a depression unless you subsidize their sex robots and the weird chatbots they use to avoid humans.

Is ordering 2 halves a possibility?

I'm no leadership and management expert, but safe to say it's generally ill-advised to send notes to your staff that are relatively equal parts egotistical, over-compensating (about your vita), & condescending. This is a real window into a tortured soul--CBER Dir. and noted contrarian Vinay Prasad.πŸ›Ÿ
Zach Brennan on X: "The entirety of CBER Dir Prasad’s email to staff over the weekend https://t.co/gz9KfG2RdX" / X
The entirety of CBER Dir Prasad’s email to staff over the weekend https://t.co/gz9KfG2RdX
x.com

You're fine. πŸ‘

No worries--I was pretty sure you weren't. Just wanted to be add more context to my OP bc I realized it might be read that way.

Can anyone suggest good lit on R1 univ trends/use of TT Prof of Teaching lines? Seen great examples of their value on my campus, but also see recent trend where big revenue soc sci's get them heavily vs. trad'l lines. Complementary roles, but for R1s what's optimal mix given program (grad) rankings?

β€œ'The US government will not be commemorating World AIDS Day this year' is the official instruction US agencies and country-based programs received in a recent email."
πŸ›Ÿ medsky sociology health policy
The United States Cancels World AIDS Day
What does silence equal?
substack.com

I wasn't implying that bringing it back fixed those problems and/or didn't introduce others.

Not that I am aware of, but I am definitely no expert on this.

I don't know another word for it. I just meant citing dip as an example is something you don't often hear (vs. smokes, vapes, or "uses tobacco"), as dip has a far more circumscribed user demo. He's from rural OK but I doubt it was intentional. I'd guess most who dip aren't watching Fox Bus. News.

Same planet, two different worlds. Says a lot when "dip" is invoked to describe tobacco use.
Markwayne Mullin on healthcare: "What the president would like to do is say, hey, if you take care of yourself -- you don't smoke, you don't dip, you're not drinking, you're not overweight, you're working out -- then you should pay less than the guy that obviously is not taking care of himself."

Well, that's still policymaking--but just policymaking based on the bad process you described. I'm trying to think back to when this happened in 2020 and remember the discourse. Maybe I was too mired in COVID matters and life in shelter in place, but I am at a loss to remember much at all.

Really makes you ponder too when you see the the interquartile ranges of GPAs for entering classes of various UC campuses. Super high, yet this news.

That sounds good. I never joined Facebook and, as time goes on, I am ever more thankful I haven't done so given everyone else's experiences I hear.
Markwayne Mullin on healthcare: "What the president would like to do is say, hey, if you take care of yourself -- you don't smoke, you don't dip, you're not drinking, you're not overweight, you're working out -- then you should pay less than the guy that obviously is not taking care of himself."

The new big tobacco...?

Meta claims this particular study was flawed. Ok, but if this is the only study, then approach is ignorance is bliss/plausible deniability. Still bad PR.

Was this really the only study? If they found other results suggesting null or positive effects, they'd be hyping them.

Well, place your bets now as to whether the SAT will be making a comeback in UC admissions... A case study in unintended consequences of policy-making. Academicsky
Opinion | A Math Horror Show at UC San Diego
At one of California’s top universities, many freshmen are unable to do middle-school math.
www.wsj.com

Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...
Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm, court filing alleges
Meta is alleged to have halted internal research suggesting social media harm, according to court documents.
www.cnbc.com

Right way to put it.

Ozempic Alzheimer's study trial failed.

Dashes hopes for Novo Nordisk "that Alzheimer's could open a major new market for GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide, as it faces rising competition to its blockbuster drugs in its core treatment areas of obesity and diabetes."

πŸ›ŸπŸ§ͺ Medsky sociology 😷
www.reuters.com

Sad to hear. Was hoping to check it out in hope it would be closer in quality to the original book, which I remember as being really good (and eerily prescient of reality tv), than the Arnold version.

Oh, that's awful. Yeah, the ads for injury attorneys in my neck of the woods are nonstop and annoying, but bring a non-service dog/animal any place they aren't supposed to be and they cause injury? Tort away!

My recent incidents seem to be ppl treating their dogs like children. That's never good.

Sadly, I now await the already-launched Trump admin attacks on the Nat'l Academies to amp up. Setting the record straight means RFK Jr.'s bunk claims get elevated/legitimated. No choice--public responsibility to correct the record--but I expect to see RFK Jr./HHS respond w/ smearing & other tactics.
NEW: The National Academies release statement saying the revised language on @CDCgov web page on links between vaccines and autism, which cited some of the academies work, did not provide the full context. 1/2
www.nationalacademies.org/news/stateme...
National Academies - Statement on CDC’s Updated Vaccine Guidance
National Academies respond to CDC’s updated vaccine guidance, offering scientific context and clarity on vaccine safety.
www.nationalacademies.org