Steven Woolf
@shwoolf.bsky.social
Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University.
My latest editorial, in the Lancet, on how the Trump administration is affecting health outcomes. Understanding the true impact requires a wide-angle lens. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Evaluating how the Trump administration will affect health outcomes
Discussions about how a government's policies affect health often focus on health
ministries or agencies responsible for medical or public health services. This is
certainly true in the USA, where con...
www.thelancet.com
September 20, 2025 at 9:28 PM
My latest editorial, in the Lancet, on how the Trump administration is affecting health outcomes. Understanding the true impact requires a wide-angle lens. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Cuts by the Trump administration hurt the labs that are researching future cures to deadly diseases and the scientists keeping us on the cutting edge of innovation.
Go to ProtectScienceAndInnovation.org and tell Congress to reject these funding cuts.
Go to ProtectScienceAndInnovation.org and tell Congress to reject these funding cuts.
July 21, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Cuts by the Trump administration hurt the labs that are researching future cures to deadly diseases and the scientists keeping us on the cutting edge of innovation.
Go to ProtectScienceAndInnovation.org and tell Congress to reject these funding cuts.
Go to ProtectScienceAndInnovation.org and tell Congress to reject these funding cuts.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/... My latest in the New York Times. An attempt to warn the public that their health is about to get much worse.
Opinion | How to Wreck the Nation’s Health, by the Numbers
The administration's cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services are going to do irreparable harm to the nation’s health.
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
www.nytimes.com/interactive/... My latest in the New York Times. An attempt to warn the public that their health is about to get much worse.
Reposted by Steven Woolf
A must-read from Jill + @shwoolf.bsky.social 👇
RFK Jr’s recent upheaval of the CDC’s ACIP is just the latest example of his numerous attempts to replace science with his personal agenda. @shwoolf.bsky.social and I explain why ACIP matters and why calls are growing to remove RFK Jr. as health secretary. www.americanprogress.org/article/rfk-...
RFK Jr. Is Systematically Undermining Vaccine Science and Endangering Health
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent upheaval of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is just one example of numerous attempts to replace science with his personal ag...
www.americanprogress.org
June 27, 2025 at 2:53 PM
A must-read from Jill + @shwoolf.bsky.social 👇
Word on the street is that big layoffs are occurring at HHS today (Friday afternoon), losing a large number at CDC, NIH, etc.
February 14, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Word on the street is that big layoffs are occurring at HHS today (Friday afternoon), losing a large number at CDC, NIH, etc.
This is ridiculous. These web pages are meant for data and scientific updates. This is not a platform for politicians to spew ideology. Take this elsewhere please and let us concentrate on treating our patients.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Trump officials ask CDC, FDA to use gender notice on restored websites
The Trump administration had directed health agencies to place a notice condemning “gender ideology” on health webpages that had been earlier taken down.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 14, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This is ridiculous. These web pages are meant for data and scientific updates. This is not a platform for politicians to spew ideology. Take this elsewhere please and let us concentrate on treating our patients.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
How sad. A serious agency with serious leaders now taken over by ideologues. The scientists at FDA must be demoralized.
New from FDA on its clinical trial diversity guidance, which was restored because of a court order this week
"Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality"
www.fda.gov/regulatory-i...
"Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality"
www.fda.gov/regulatory-i...
February 14, 2025 at 1:50 PM
How sad. A serious agency with serious leaders now taken over by ideologues. The scientists at FDA must be demoralized.
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship
'We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles'
www.medpagetoday.com
February 11, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
Now DOGE is going after our nation's best soirc of data on educational outcomes. I guess American schoolchildren are not a priority.
Here's why your education friends had a real rough one today. It's... it's the entire education data collection apparatus of the United States.
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
February 11, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Now DOGE is going after our nation's best soirc of data on educational outcomes. I guess American schoolchildren are not a priority.
The White House statement shows its ignorance about what indirects are for.
The White House sent out an email to all reporters on its press list, calling our story “fake news.”
We stand by our story.
We stand by our story.
February 9, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The White House statement shows its ignorance about what indirects are for.
Reposted by Steven Woolf
“A sane government would never do this.” — the former dean of Harvard Medical School
Universities are reeling. Elon Musk’s allies are celebrating.
Looking at the major cut to federal research funding — which many scientists predict will be devastating
With @lenasun.bsky.social and Carolyn Johnson
Universities are reeling. Elon Musk’s allies are celebrating.
Looking at the major cut to federal research funding — which many scientists predict will be devastating
With @lenasun.bsky.social and Carolyn Johnson
NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately
The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM
“A sane government would never do this.” — the former dean of Harvard Medical School
Universities are reeling. Elon Musk’s allies are celebrating.
Looking at the major cut to federal research funding — which many scientists predict will be devastating
With @lenasun.bsky.social and Carolyn Johnson
Universities are reeling. Elon Musk’s allies are celebrating.
Looking at the major cut to federal research funding — which many scientists predict will be devastating
With @lenasun.bsky.social and Carolyn Johnson
It should not fall on a British journal to speak out about threats to science in the United States. Leading US medical journals, such as JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, and others should issue a joint statement in defense of scientific independence.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
American chaos: standing up for health and medicine
Withdrawal from WHO and the Paris Agreements. USAID shuttered and aid halted, ceasing
health programmes globally. A freeze on US$3 trillion worth of federal grants and
loans, jeopardising the function...
www.thelancet.com
February 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
It should not fall on a British journal to speak out about threats to science in the United States. Leading US medical journals, such as JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, and others should issue a joint statement in defense of scientific independence.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Steven Woolf
Censor CDC scientists and ask them to withdraw papers from medical journals?
This is not how it works, Mr President.
Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
This is not how it works, Mr President.
Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
February 4, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Censor CDC scientists and ask them to withdraw papers from medical journals?
This is not how it works, Mr President.
Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
This is not how it works, Mr President.
Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
Reposted by Steven Woolf
THIS ⬇️
"We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language," APHA's Georges Benjamin tells Medpage Today. "We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles." www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo... 🔥
"We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language," APHA's Georges Benjamin tells Medpage Today. "We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles." www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo... 🔥
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship
'We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles'
www.medpagetoday.com
February 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
THIS ⬇️
"We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language," APHA's Georges Benjamin tells Medpage Today. "We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles." www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo... 🔥
"We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language," APHA's Georges Benjamin tells Medpage Today. "We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles." www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo... 🔥
Reposted by Steven Woolf
Thank you @jocalynclark.bsky.social @kamranabbasi.bsky.social @bmj.com for standing up for science, evidence, and public health
Note to other science and health journals: this is what it looks like to show a spine when science is under attack
Note to other science and health journals: this is what it looks like to show a spine when science is under attack
Censor CDC scientists and ask them to withdraw papers from medical journals?
This is not how it works, Mr President.
Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
This is not how it works, Mr President.
Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
February 4, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Thank you @jocalynclark.bsky.social @kamranabbasi.bsky.social @bmj.com for standing up for science, evidence, and public health
Note to other science and health journals: this is what it looks like to show a spine when science is under attack
Note to other science and health journals: this is what it looks like to show a spine when science is under attack
Just published this morning in JAMA, on how medicine and public health should respond to the new administration. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
How Should Health Care and Public Health Respond to the New US Administration?
This Viewpoint discusses scientific, medical, and public health actions, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization, taken so far during the first week of the Trump administration.
jamanetwork.com
January 31, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Just published this morning in JAMA, on how medicine and public health should respond to the new administration. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
The CDC web pages for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) has gone dark. It provided extensive data on the physical and mental youth, including LGBTQ+ youth. Alarming statistics on the poor mental health of trans youth. It's all gone, at least for now. See yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov
App Offline
yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov
January 31, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The CDC web pages for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) has gone dark. It provided extensive data on the physical and mental youth, including LGBTQ+ youth. Alarming statistics on the poor mental health of trans youth. It's all gone, at least for now. See yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov
RFK Jr, on 2nd day of testimony, again claims (inexplicably) that there was no treatment for chronic disease when John F Kennedy was present. This is absurd. Does he think doctors in 1960 weren't treating heart disease, cancer, etc? Someone this ignorant has no business being head of HHS. #STOPRFK
January 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
RFK Jr, on 2nd day of testimony, again claims (inexplicably) that there was no treatment for chronic disease when John F Kennedy was present. This is absurd. Does he think doctors in 1960 weren't treating heart disease, cancer, etc? Someone this ignorant has no business being head of HHS. #STOPRFK
Reposted by Steven Woolf
Literally, let's get anybody else.
I don’t even mean this with hyperbole: nearly any other American would be a better choice.
Sen. Bennet on RFK Jr.: "I hope my colleagues will say to the president, out of 330 million Americans, we can do better than this."
January 29, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Literally, let's get anybody else.
Asked how he will make America healthier, RFK says the food supply is problem #1. It's important, but what about tobacco use, physical inactivity, guns, and other leading causes of death. This is environmental lawyer is preoccupied with toxins,l. HHS secy needs a broader understanding of the issue.
January 29, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Asked how he will make America healthier, RFK says the food supply is problem #1. It's important, but what about tobacco use, physical inactivity, guns, and other leading causes of death. This is environmental lawyer is preoccupied with toxins,l. HHS secy needs a broader understanding of the issue.
RFK incorrectly claims that NIH is preoccupied with infectious diseases (this will come as a surprise to NCI and NHLBI) and "does nothing" to address chronic diseases. This is blatantly false. Anyone who knows anything about NIH would know this. This man is not qualified to be HHS secy.
January 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
RFK incorrectly claims that NIH is preoccupied with infectious diseases (this will come as a surprise to NCI and NHLBI) and "does nothing" to address chronic diseases. This is blatantly false. Anyone who knows anything about NIH would know this. This man is not qualified to be HHS secy.