Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈

Queer social scientist | MPH @YaleSPH ‘18| Psych PhD student | Housing justice, health equity, harm reduction, SGM mental health & sports ⚽️🏀🏳️‍🌈📊she/they

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

Currently recruiting LGBTQ women in Southern Appalachia who use opioids for a qualitative research study.

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

@enews No one is inspired by these awful people and Ashlyn never played in a World Cup so please find some actual queer icons to feature this pride month?

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

@DavidJuurlink Have you ever had a spinal injury? I don’t wish that level of pain of anyone and I’m thankful to have had pain management besides NSAIDs that kept me alive through it. This rhetoric is inaccurate, harmful and dangerous.

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

@SophiaBush You literally platformed him when there were known allegations and continue to platform other sexual predators and abusers. This is why white liberal women are the worst and the Democratic Party will continue to drop the ball ugh.

[Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭 @JDaviesPhD]

Both Chair & Vice-Chair of the new DSM-6 (Future Committee) have financial ties to the pharma industry, as may many members of its Strategic Committee. As the APA appears to make no conflict-of-interest statement publicly available, we have to search this info ourselves¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

@TempoBasketball @TurboTaxCanada Hii! Do y’all plan to release more kids merchandise any time soon? I’d love to get @TempoBasketball merch for my nieces for Christmas but you don’t sell anything in your team colors in kids sizes 😭

[Women Kick Balls - Jackie Gutierrez @womenkickballs]

ACFC Captain Sarah Gorden and Angelina Anderson open up today’s press conference with statements regarding the recent article from their fellow teammate in the New York Post.

[Jason Shepherd @JasonSynaptic]

“due to recent NIH actions, more than 4 in 5 early career researchers are considering leaving academia or relocating outside the US. When I directly pressed Bhattacharya about this exodus during our meeting, he said that if researchers did not like the way things are in the US /1

[Jessica Burbank @JessicaLBurbank]

WSJ is handling this story horribly.

The original title was: "Ammunition in Kirk Shooting Engraved With Transgender, Antifascist Ideology: Sources"

They've since changed the article body and headline with no acknowledgement of the changes anywhere on the page.

THREAD

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[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)

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

💔💔💔

[Stacey Abrams @staceyabrams]

My prayers are with our neighbors in the Emory community and with CDC workers this afternoon in the midst of this active shooter alert.

[Stacey Abrams @staceyabrams]

My prayers are with our neighbors in the Emory community and with CDC workers this afternoon in the midst of this active shooter alert.

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

@shannonrwatts They were and are such a gift (and used they/them pronouns for everyone sharing and honoring them <3)

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Summary Table of the massive defunding of biomedical research in the United States https://t.co/lRh7pAbgy6

[Natalie Esquire @natfluential]

Would love to see the South get some more W teams in the future. They’re def due.

[AshleyStevens @The_Acumen]

It’s baffling to me how limited some of y’all’s imaginations are. You can’t see anything past the world around you, or the possibility of better. You see success and pride in replicating the same harmful conditions. That’s unfortunate.

[Erin McC, MPH (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 @emcconoc]

@SophiaBush Maybe then don’t go to an AirBnB event or appropriate AAVE constantly 😭. When you’re on the board of a problematic yet powerful LGBTQ organization, it’s important that queer folks hold you accountable. That aside, abuse and misogyny are obviously not acceptable.

[JAMA @JAMA_current]

Targeted grant terminations by @NIH have affected 694 grants totaling $1.81 billion, disproportionately impacting larger grants and @NIMHD across various institutions.

https://t.co/aorcQxNWyY