Jack A. Roth, M.D.

Physician scientist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Views are my own. @MDAndersonNews #lungcancer #endcancer

[Jack A. Roth, M.D. @JackARothMD]

View my updated web site:
https://t.co/VY9UtPYERL
700+ scientific publications from my laboratory spanning 40+ years of translational cancer research can be queried by the AI chatbot without a paywall

#endcancer #OncoAlert @MDAndersonNews @AACR
@ScienceNews @LUNGevity @ASCO @aaas @AATSHQ

[Acyn @Acyn]

Bolton: There's a downside here to that occurred to me, and that is when Trump calls up Putin to berate him for providing Iran this intelligence. Putin says, let's make a deal, we'll cease all intelligence supply of intelligence to Iran, if you cease the supply of all intelligence to Ukraine…

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

This week @TheLancet cover
and link to their accompanying editorial
https://t.co/sNrxBIFGjP

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Here the Moderna flu data the FDA refused to review.

This is the most important slide from the company's study of its experimental flu vaccine-- exactly the data FDA said it wouldn't even review.

And below is a thread of relevant slides from that presentation and links to other relevant studies I wanted to bookmark. (I'm a reporter who covers this stuff.)🧵1/14

[Jill Feldman @jillfeldman4]

If you read one thing this week, read today's @nytimes piece by @SimarSBajaj https://t.co/GoxJ8bByt7 It names a truth people with #lungcancer live with every single day.

This well-written article makes it clear that stigma doesn't just hurt people emotionally; it is a life or death barrier. People delay diagnosis, care, and support because they're afraid of being judged.

Lung cancer is not a morality story. And nicotine addiction isn't a bad habit or personal failure - It's a DISEASE and should be treated that way, with compassion and evidence-based care, not judgment.

Thank you, @JimPantelas, for always being so open and honest. And thank you, @drCarterBawam, @hawkeyestudts, @NarjustFlorezMD, and others, for continuing to remind people of the most basic truth: no one 'earns' this disease and no one 'deserves' it!

Please help change the conversation and shift the narrative from shame and blame to hope and humanity.

#KilltheStigma #LCSM #WordsMatter

[Anirban Maitra @Aiims1742]

The most highly cited paper of the year is out!
Cancer Statistics 2026 from @AmericanCancer in @CACancerJournal
https://t.co/cPUAW3FMch
"In summary, decades of scientific investment have translated to longer lives for people with even the most fatal cancers" - let's keep going!

[Jack A. Roth, M.D. @JackARothMD]

China leads research in 90% of crucial technologies - a dramatic shift this century. Nature. 2026 Jan;649(8095):13-14. doi: 10.1038/d41586-025-04048-7. PMID: 41388085.

“At the beginning of this century, the United States led more than 90% of the assessed technologies, whereas China led less than 5%…” US Science must be supported and adequately funded if we are to reverse this alarming trend.

[U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. @SenBillCassidy]

As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate.

Before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20. Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker.

Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

Cassidy finally takes at least one glove off. “The ACIP is totally discredited.”

[AATS Journals @AATSJournals]

Intraop challenges after induction therapy for #NSCLC: Effect of nodal disease on technical complexity. Read the JTCVS Open article by @HopeFeldmanMD, @maraantonoff, et al: https://t.co/YeOwgoXbPg @rjmehran @BorisSepesi @sgswisher @AraVaporciyan @nicolaszhoudo @JackARothMD #JTCVS

[Mara Antonoff, MD, FACS @maraantonoff]

Proud to see @WomenInThoracic in @nytimes. The challenges highlighted are real, yet our meeting was filled with positivity, momentum, and a commitment to a better future for our mentees, patients, and daughters.
Women are wanted and needed in CT surgery!
https://t.co/yXAqYGNAG3

[Jack A. Roth, M.D. @JackARothMD]

Congratulations to Dr. Antonoff for her leadership of this groundbreaking organization: Women in Thoracic Surgery. @MDAndersonNews @AATSHQ
https://t.co/oCHWrJbgxX

[Drew Moghanaki @DrewMoghanaki]

A press release summarizes what I thought was the most important lung cancer abstract presented at #ASTRO25. It represents the updated REVISED STARS study results from MDACC. https://t.co/u6wWDW7lvR

[Dr. Catharine Young @DrCatharineY]

Today over 1,000 current and former HHS employees just sent a letter calling on Secretary RFK Jr. to resign.

“Should he decline to resign, we call upon the President and U.S. Congress to appoint a new Secretary of Health and Human Services, one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science.”

[Jack A. Roth, M.D. @JackARothMD]

"Medical groups must continue to stand up for science and truth." Source: Axios https://t.co/iDFlCgBliK

[Jack A. Roth, M.D. @JackARothMD]

Chaos reigns
https://t.co/czHm1PHmsH via @NYTimes

[Jack A. Roth, M.D. @JackARothMD]

@dr_demetre This letter reflects great integrity and a commitment to science. @SecKennedy must resign or be fired.

[DrDemetre @dr_demetre]

My resignation letter from CDC.

Dear Dr. Houry,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.   I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.

This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.

While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people.  This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.  The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.   The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.  This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.  Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.

It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC.  The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense.  Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function.  Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.

The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.   Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.  Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.

I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again.  I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season.  Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.”  We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary.  I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us.  Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.  At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him.  To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information.

The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer.  I believe in nutrition and exercise.  I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability.  Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning.  My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so.  I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.   I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur.  I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.

For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics.  I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.

Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically.

Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.  If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.

Sincerely,

Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH (he/his/him)