Liz Borkowski
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lizborkowski.bsky.social
Liz Borkowski
@lizborkowski.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.2K following 280 posts
Public health researcher at George Washington University (Jacobs Institute of Women's Health), managing editor of Women's Health Issues. She/her, views are my own.
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lizborkowski.bsky.social
I appreciate Stone & Feinberg pointing out that the absence of peak COVID precautions like widespread use of N95s and HEPA filters makes healthcare settings more dangerous for immunocompromised patients and staff, including those of us with long COVID.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/30/c...
Having unvaccinated personnel in a health care setting is incredibly disruptive and dangerous. They pose a significant risk to immunocompromised individuals, like patients with cancer or organ transplants, who make frequent doctor’s visits for treatment and monitoring. This issue is not just theoretical; it is very personal to us. One of us is immunocompromised and has good reason to worry — the death rate from hospital-acquired Covid is about 21%. A number of people have been so worried about catching Covid-19 in their physician’s office or hospital that they have delayed care. One of us is experiencing that concern now, reducing visits to a minimum and opting for telehealth appointments as much as possible. Two years ago, health care was safer in some ways than it is now. Health care workers were vaccinated. Everyone wore masks in clinical settings, many of them N-95 respirators rather than the less protective baggy blue surgical masks currently in vogue. And HEPA units that filter the air were often running in examination rooms. Now, workers and patients alike go unmasked and those HEPA units stand as silently as sentinels in disbelief. We need to go back to the multi-layered approach of infection prevention. Now, not only are there no HEPA air-purifying filters running, and generally no masks, but even we feel uncomfortable asking for those basic protections from infection — and we’re physicians! Imagine how intimidated regular patients must feel. Because hospitals and medical offices are not as safe as they were earlier in the pandemic, and fewer people are taking precautions, making sure that all workers in health care settings are vaccinated has become more critical.
October 31, 2025 at 3:21 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
25 years of experience show medication abortion is safe and effective. Attacks on mifepristone are based on politics, not science. #MifeInAll50 is what's best for public health.
Medication abortion has been FDA-approved for 25 years. But anti-abortion extremists are using junk science to try and block care. They aren't just coming for abortion rights — they're coming for your medications. Defend Mife in all 50.
September 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
We need to restore research opportunities and deepen commitments to equity so we can have a scientific workforce prepared to address public health problems effectively. Carter and Marnick recommend ways for Congress and states to respond.
scilight.substack.com/p/189-studen...
Recommendations: A Path Forward The survey results are not a representative poll of all U.S. students, but they highlight urgent risks that demand attention. Policymakers, states, and the scientific community can act now to reverse course: What Congress Can Do Restore canceled grants and programs through emergency supplemental funding. Bolster fellowships and training pathways to stabilize the STEM pipeline. Protect diversity and inclusion initiatives targeted by recent cuts. Enshrine scientific integrity into law to shield science from political interference. Modernize immigration policy to retain international STEM talent. What States Can Do Launch or expand science policy fellowships and climate/public health programs at the state level. Recruit displaced federal scientists to fill local science advisory roles. Partner with universities to ensure STEM remains a viable public-service career path. What the Scientific Community Can Do Defend science with a unified voice, publicly and consistently. Improve working conditions for graduate students and postdocs — competitive pay, benefits, and career support. Sustain DEI efforts even if federal support vanishes. Value diverse career pathways — from policy to entrepreneurship — as legitimate and celebrated outcomes for PhDs. Invest in science communication and outreach, embedding it as a core part of training.
September 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Many who took the survey reported upheaval at their institutions and said they’re unlikely to seek a career with the federal govt in the next 5-10 years. And research cuts have fallen disproportionately on scientists who are women, Black, Hispanic, & disabled.
scilight.substack.com/p/189-studen...
Bar chart titled “How likely are you currently to seek a career with the federal government in the next 5-10 years?” The tallest bars are in the “very unlikely” category (just under 40%) and the “unlikely category” (35%). “Neither likely Nor Not Likely” is slightly above 15%; “Likely” is between 5% and 10%, and “Very likely” appears to be at about 2%. Educational Inequities Are Widening: The upheaval in science funding and careers is not impacting everyone equally. The current crisis is falling disproportionately among those who were abready underrepresented and underserved in STEM. By many metrics, women, minorities, and students from low-income backgrounds stand to lose the most from the federal pullback - threatening to widen the diversity gap in science even further. Consider the NSF grant cancellations: an analysis by Science of the terminated grants found they disproportionately targeted researchers from underrepresented groups (Mervis, 2025b). Women scientists were principal investigators (PIs) on 58% of the canceled NSF grants, even though women comprise only about 34% of PIs on active NSF awards. Similarly, Black scientists led 17% of the terminated projects, whereas Black PIS account for just ~4% of all NSF grants. Hispanic PIs and PIs with disabilities also lost grants at roughly twice the rate one would expect from their share of the funding pool.
September 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
"This is not about semantics or bureaucracy. It is about whether the nation’s leading environmental regulator will allow its scientists to speak freely, publish honestly, and inform policy without fear. ... The repercussions for our environment, for public health and safety, will be disastrous."
The Hollow Promise of “Rigor” Supporters of the Trump administration’s approach frame “Gold Standard” science as elevating rigor, but rigor without integrity is hollow. A system may appear methodologically sound on paper yet fail if evidence is ignored, silenced, or politically filtered. True scientific integrity requires both rigor and independence from political interference. The quiet removal of EPA’s updated Scientific Integrity Policy is not a housekeeping matter; it’s an institutional pivot away from science-led governance. By discarding a policy built to protect against political interference and align with a federal standard, EPA has embraced a broader agenda that centralizes control of science in political hands. This is not about semantics or bureaucracy. It is about whether the nation’s leading environmental regulator will allow its scientists to speak freely, publish honestly, and inform policy without fear. Today’s action suggests that integrity is no longer the watchword at EPA, and perhaps at many other federal agencies, too. The repercussions for our environment, for public health and safety, will be disastrous. The take-down of this policy today, in short, should alarm us all.
August 22, 2025 at 1:18 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
These key strategies of the modern autocrat sound alarmingly familiar.
scilight.substack.com/p/the-autocr...
The modern autocrat employs several key strategies: · They systematically undermine independent institutions, particularly the judiciary and free press – and, as we’ve seen most recently, academic institutions. · They promise law, order, and simple solutions. · They manipulate electoral systems through gerrymandering, voter suppression, or changing electoral rules to favor their continued dominance. · They rely on simple resonant messages about an “enemy.” Someone, some group, or something to blame for everything in order to justify their actions. Immigrants, black and brown people, communists, wokeness, DEI programs, universities, the former administration, etc. · They favor friendly media outlets and harass or ignore those they perceive as challenging or hostile. Plus, democracies have loopholes and weaknesses that skilled autocrats can exploit: Voter polarization that makes people prioritize their "side" winning over democratic norms; Constitutional loopholes or ambiguities about executive power; Elected representatives who will turn a blind eye and go along to get along; An exhausted public; Weak civic institutions; and Economic inequality that creates desperation for "strongman" solutions.
August 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Improving the Health of America Together (IHAT), the new report from @defendpublichealth.bsky.social, calls for improvements in several aspects of public health, from food safety & clean air to access to healthcare. Also key: removing RFK Jr from office.
www.defendpublichealth.org/sites/defaul...
August 15, 2025 at 12:14 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
“He said repeatedly out in public, ‘I wouldn’t have come to NIH if we were going to stop funding minority health research.’ But under his leadership, we have continued to not fund minority health research.” - NIH program officer Jenna Norton, speaking up bravely about problems with Bhattacharya.
August 7, 2025 at 6:45 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
This isn't the first Trump administration repeated; it's far worse this time. We've already seen nearly twice as many attacks on science in the first 6 months of Trump 2 as we did the entire 4 years of Trump 1.
www.ucs.org/resources/sc...
July 21, 2025 at 4:41 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Michaels & Wagner contrast the executive order’s claim that it will fix government science with a list of ways this administration has done the opposite. tinyurl.com/2p5j76x8
Screenshot of text that reads: But administrations must be judged by their actions, not just their words. Department of Government Efficiency efforts led to the loss of hundreds if not thousands of government scientists and abruptly terminated billions of dollars of ongoing research, gutting the national capacity to produce any science at all, much less “gold standard” science. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright misrepresented studies on the impacts of the climate crisis. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made egregiously erroneous claims about vaccine safety and then forced the resignation of the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration. A resigning National Institutes of Health official accused the agency of “censorship.” Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again report, initially filled with errors of interpretation and references to nonexistent journal articles, cannot be considered “gold standard science.” Yet under the EO, which dovetails conveniently with presidential initiatives to limit civil service protections and make it easier to fire career employees, career government scientists who publicly disagree may be subject to discipline.
June 20, 2025 at 12:21 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
"The mass cancellation of grants in response to political policy shifts has no precedent, former and current NIH officials told ProPublica. It threatens the stability of the institution and the scientific enterprise of the nation at large."
projects.propublica.org/nih-cuts-res...
Light blue text on a dark background of some kind of crystalline material shattered. Title: Science Shattered. By: Annie Waldman, Asia Fields and Ashley Clarke; design by Zisiga Mukulu; photography by Bethany Mollenkoff for ProPublica. June 12, 2025.
June 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Fool me once, shame on you ... Senator Cassidy, can you remind me how the rest of the saying goes?
March 12, 2025 at 8:32 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
I'm not quite ready to cancel my WashPost subscription, because I want to keep supporting the strong and necessary work so many of their journalists & opinion writers do. I appreciate the Post Guild helping me express my concern to Will Lewis at bit.ly/3C0oLrx
Letter subject: Appalled by Decision to Cancel Endorsement. Your message: As a Washington Post subscriber of 20+ years, I was appalled to learn that the Washington Post has decided to cancel its presidential endorsement — and to do so at the behest of management, rather than as an editorial decision. If a paper's owner is shaping coverage based on fear of losing money under and autocrat who might take the White House, then it's hard to see how it can defend the democratic values it claims to uphold. For the moment, I'm not canceling my subscription because I value the hard work and integrity of Washington Post staff and writers. I am, however, paying close attention to whether this newspaper is doing more to uphold democratic values than it is to contribute to their erosion. Having management cancel a planned endorsement definitely falls into the erosion category. Please reconsider this deeply misguided action.
October 26, 2024 at 3:54 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
"[T]he federal government's ongoing efforts to consolidate its footprint" require telework in order to succeed.

I hope that's clear to the members of Congress who are grousing about too much remote work by federal employees.
www.bizjournals.com/washington/n...
Screenshot from Washington Business Journal article by Ben Peters, August 12, 2024. Photo shows sign of GSA Headquarters Building. Photo caption reads: "Two more federal agencies are forecasting plans to reduce leased space in the coming years. The GSA, the federal government's civilian landlord, has suggested it can cut a huge chunk of the feds' leased space."
August 15, 2024 at 12:35 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
A typical first prenatal visit is 30-45 minutes of a bucket of info dumped over the patient. Melissa Simon of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine wants to know why the first visit can’t just be about building trust. Ask the patient what can we do to support you and listen.
Melissa A. Simon, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. White-presenting woman with glasses and dark hair in a bun, wearing a black dress and sitting in a black leather chair. Green spotlights are behind her. On bottom of slide: 2023 NAM Annual Meeting.
October 9, 2023 at 7:22 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
An app won’t fix structural racism, and you can’t deliver a baby through a screen. Still, digital health can improve people’s health and wellbeing, reports Neel Shah of Maven Clinic. Their patients who used digital doulas had lower risk of c-sections and better managed anxiety/depression.
Slide title: Impact of virtual doula services. First item: 15% reduction in risk of a c-section for all members with 2+ doula appointments. Second item: 2.3x more likely to better manage anxiety or depression for Black members with 2+ doula appointments. On bottom of slide: 2023 NAM Annual Meeting.
October 9, 2023 at 7:21 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Between the pandemic and attacks on reproductive rights and gender-affirming care, many physicians are facing burnout to the point of moral injury, warns Jack Resneck. The American Medical Association is speaking up on bills & court cases to improve such circumstances.
Slide title: Keeping Politicans out of our Exam Rooms: Fighting in the Courts to Preserve Evidence-Based Healthcare. Screen shots of Supreme Court amicus brief; NPR article: Doctors rally to defend abortion provider Caitlin Bernard after she was censored; headline: Federal appeals court says Arkansas can’t ban treatment for transgender kids; headline: AMA calls eliminating no-cost preventive care “unwise and unthinkable.” On bottom of slide: 2023 NAM Annual Meeting.
October 9, 2023 at 7:20 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Lots of harms from the Dobbs decision, but Alina Salganicoff of KFF also notes some recent progress: more medication abortion via telehealth, state shield laws, 12-month supplies of contraception in some states, over-the-counter birth control pill (Opill), & more.
Slide title: What Does Abortion Innovation Look Like Post-Dobbs? First bullet: Medication abortion: telehealth abortion, pharmacy dispensing. Second bullet: More transparency about abortion access — new websites and services, but more confusion, disinformation, and fear. Third bullet: Broadening scope of practice to include advance practice clinicians as abortion providers. Fourth bullet: State actions to protect reproductive and abortion rights and providers. On bottom of slide: 2023 NAM Annual Meeting. Slide title: Access to Contraceptive Services and Supplies Progress. First bullet: ACA: requires no cost coverage of contraceptive services and supplies for private plans. Second bullet: State laws: have expanded coverage, but scope is limited, implementation spotty and oversight lax: 12-month supply, over-the-counter coverage, coverage for men, pharmacist prescribing. On bottom of slide: 2023 NAM Annual Meeting.
October 9, 2023 at 7:17 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
To improve maternal outcomes & equity, Veronica Gillispie-Bell urges using an equity lens and addressing social determinants of health while also improving systems of care and the clinical quality of care.
Slide title: The Pathway to Improvement. Large circle is titled “Lens of Equity.” Inside it are three overlapping circles. Circle 1: Addressing Social Determinants of Health. Circle 2: Improved Systems of Care. Circle 3: Improved Clinical Quality of Care. On bottom of slide: 2023 NAM Annual Meeting.
October 9, 2023 at 7:16 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
We need more scientific research, and we also have info that can allow us to act today. This is a systems failure, not an individual one.

Laurie Zephyrin of Commonwealth Fund sets the stage for NAM panel on Addressing Maternal and Reproductive Health in the Current U.S. Landscape.
Slide title: US Mortality Rates are Highest When Compared to Other High-Income Countries. Bar graph with a much higher bar for US is titled “Recent Data Shows US Maternal Mortality Rate Exceeds That in Other High-incomes Countries.”
October 9, 2023 at 7:13 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Rest can repair damage caused by stress, but women get less deep rest. Elissa Epel of UCSF’s Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center calls for more pro-social policies to reduce stress and allow for repair.
Slide title: Stress illuminates socio-biological influences. First heading: Women’s health is impacted by: First bullet point: Socially patterned exposure to toxic stress, insufficient deep rest. Second bullet point: Heightened neurobiological sensitivity to chronic stress. Third bullet point: Developmental periods of vulnerability & resilience (pregnancy, childhoood). Second heading: Implications: First bullet point: Early interventions work, intergenerationally! Good ROI. Second bullet point: Prosocial Policies that target families, critical periods.
October 9, 2023 at 5:02 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
We’ve learned a lot about how chromosomes and sex differences operate in the body (it’s not as simple as XX vs XY); now we have to understand what this means for  health, says David Page of Whitehead Institute, MIT, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Slide illustration shows a bridge being built from two sides, with a gap in the middle. The text reads: The quest: To discover the molecular bridges that connect Xi chromosomes vs Y chromosomes [on one side of the bridge] to sex differences in health & disease [on the other side of the bridge].
October 9, 2023 at 5:00 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
The National Academies updated the definitions of sex and gender in 2022. Carolyn Mazure of Yale Medical School notes that they're not binary, and we need to think about them dimensionally.
Slide titled “Sex and Gender.” Sex: biological classification, generally male or female, linked to reproductive organs … chromosomal complement. Multidimensional construct based on a cluster of anatomical & physiological traits. Gender: sefl-representation or sociocultural identification … influenced by social, cultural, personal experience … Multidimensional, linking gender identity, expression, social & cultural expectations about status, characteristics, behavior associated with sex trait.
October 9, 2023 at 4:56 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Whether it's a toxic relationship or a toxic exposure, the life course must be considered in women's health, says Janine Clayton of NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health.
Slide titled “Health of Women Across the Life Course.” List of Social and Environmental Exposures: Health care access and quality, Physical and chemical exposures, Mental health, Life context, Economic stability, Social and community context, Education access and quality. List of Biological Factors: physiology, immunology, microbiome, hormones, genes.
October 9, 2023 at 4:41 PM
lizborkowski.bsky.social
Great panel on sex and gender differences from the National Academy of Medicine's meeting on Women's Health: From Cells to Society.
Conference name: Women's Health: From Cell to Society. Panel title: Sex and Gender Differences: Understanding the Biological and Social Determinants of Women's Health. Photos of five people: Chloe Bird, Janine Austin Clayton, Elissa Epel, Carolyn M. Mazure, David Page.
October 9, 2023 at 4:19 PM