Lyn van Rooyen

Passionate about using words for social justice. Tweets on faith, HIV, gender, poverty, inequality, the environment, and whatever else catches my interest.

[World Council of Churches (WCC) @Oikoumene]

The Feast of Creation — an Eastern Orthodox gift — is crossing confessional boundaries. #FeastOfCreation

🔗https://t.co/aivDnZZaVj

[World Council of Churches (WCC) @Oikoumene]

A dialogue held in Nigeria, on 1 April, “Faith Forward – Sustaining the HIV Response with Faith & Science,” drew representatives of government institutions, religious leaders, people living with HIV, youth, civil society, and international partners.

https://t.co/TjbKMURllK

[World Council of Churches (WCC) @Oikoumene]

🇨🇺 “Cuba offers a prophetic witness to the global church,” says WCC general secretary in Havana: https://t.co/M5VH6EnmMT

📷Panchito González/Prensa Latina

[World Council of Churches (WCC) @Oikoumene]

*Global Prayer for Peace in the Middle East: “we are one world and one human family”*
––Watch full video––
https://t.co/HtMNAX7QJS

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

Has CABSA touched your life in any way? You still have this week to support their special campaign. Come on, every donation makes a difference! https://t.co/CBKVlql5Ii

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

WCC gravely concerned over report regarding crimes against Ukrainian children https://t.co/OakvYCYZ0H

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

WCC Book Talks: Indigenous perspectives https://t.co/gnl9r8iO0Z

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

Wispr's finally launching their android app. One of the most fun waitlists I've seen: https://t.co/qdB06882mz

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

WCC deeply alarmed by escalating violence in US https://t.co/0lNG9PHezE #Minneapolis

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

#SantasNewSleigh only in South Africa! @FlySafair

[ZNNP+ @znnpinfo]

🕯️ We’re sharing our Candlelight Memorial 2025 video for those who couldn’t attend.
A moment to remember, reflect, and stand with people living with HIV.
Watch, share, and help keep the light shining.
https://t.co/Y1RAiXNDgV

#CandlelightMemorial #HIVAwareness

[Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance @gavi]

In 2024, Gavi-supported vaccination programmes saved at least 1.7 million lives, the highest number recorded in a single year! Find out how we will be building on this progress in our 2026-2030 strategic period: https://t.co/shaETGRspd

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

Declare GBVF a National Disaster in South Africa - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/oFlsHkrw42 via @ChangeorgSA

[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)

[World Council of Churches (WCC) @Oikoumene]

#Thursdaysinblackyouthedition

"True liberation is not just about unlocking cages; it is realizing the cage was always an illusion. Gender justice is not noise; it is a symphony where every voice, every instrument, finds its harmony." — Jerrin Daniel Roy

#FaithAndJustice

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

WCC publishes “HIV, Migration, and Forced Displacement: What Can the Churches Do?” https://t.co/uXsq4ceB6E

[Derya Unutmaz, MD @DeryaTR_]

I’m excited to share the first part of an absolutely stunning analysis from the GPT-5 thinking model! I uploaded a huge spreadsheet, nearly 1,300 metabolites (lipids, carbohydrates, microbiome-derived compounds, and much more) measured in 150 ME/CFS patients and 100 healthy controls.

In the first run, I didn’t even tell GPT-5 these samples were from ME/CFS patients, I wanted to see what it could find blind, purely from the metabolomics data. Next, I’ll share the version where I revealed these were from our patient cohort, tied to our recently published paper and what GPT-5 uncovered there is yet on another level!

We had analyzed this same dataset over two years ago, and it took us more than a month to fully work through it.

✅GPT-5 did a better job in under five minutes.

✅It not only replicated almost everything we had concluded back then, including finding all the significant differences, creating multiple spreadsheets on different pathways and so on, but also uncovered several discoveries we completely missed.

✅GPT-5 even highlighted actionable targets and potential treatments for patients (which I’ll share soon).

This isn’t an “incremental improvement.” This is a revolution!

What once took months now takes hours. As I mentioned before the rules of scientific research aren’t just shifting, they’re being rewritten!

Sharing a portion of output from GPT-5 as an example, and executive summary is also included as a screenshot.

Unified mechanistic theory with causal diagram

Observed pattern

•Lipid remodeling with increased DAG, PC, SM, and specific ceramides in patients.
•Cofactor pattern with decreased carotenoids and increased alpha-tocopherol.

Mechanistic links

•De novo ceramide synthesis via serine palmitoyltransferase and ceramide synthases increases ceramide pools that influence stress and signaling.

•The Kennedy (CDP-choline) pathway couples DAG and PC metabolism; CHKA → PCYT1A → CHPT1 convert choline to PC using DAG as the acceptor.

•DAG activates PKCε and related isoforms, which can shift receptor signaling fidelity.

•Alpha-tocopherol is a lipid-phase peroxyl radical scavenger and is regenerated by ascorbate; reduced carotenoids are consistent with antioxidant consumption.

Ranked, actionable targets

1.SPTLC1/2 or CERS (enzymes) - decrease de novo ceramide synthesis. Low feasibility at present but highly causal if lipid drivers are primary. Risks include effects on myelin.

2.DGAT1/2 modulation - reduce toxic DAG signaling by shunting to neutral storage or titrating flux. Medium feasibility, GI tolerability is the key risk.

3.PKCε inhibition - block DAG-to-signaling step. Currently low feasibility, but mechanistically precise.

4.Dietary carotenoids and vitamin C support - replete antioxidant capacity and aid tocopherol recycling. High feasibility, monitor F2-isoprostanes and carotenoid panel.

5.Trial L-carnitine only if deficiency is confirmed - small signal in carnitine pathway; low-confidence, pilot dosing with monitoring.

Proposed validation experiments and minimal clinical biomarker panel

Validation experiments

•Targeted lipidomics focusing on DAG species, ceramides (chain-length resolved), sphingomyelins, PCs.

•PKCε activity proxies in accessible cells if feasible.

•Antioxidant panel: alpha-tocopherol, carotenoids, vitamin C, plus F2-isoprostanes for lipid peroxidation readout.

•If pilot L-carnitine is considered, measure free and acyl-carnitines and the acyl/free ratio pre-post.

Minimal monitoring panel

•Ceramides: d18:1/16:0, d18:1/18:0, and dihydroceramides.

•DAG class panel with positional isomers if available; report as molar % of total lipids.

•PC class and LPC/PC ratio; choline and phosphocholine to infer Kennedy pathway flux.

•Alpha-tocopherol, beta-cryptoxanthin, carotene diols, vitamin C, and F2-isoprostanes.

[UN Women @UN_Women]

1 million women and girls in #Gaza are starving.

We've run out of words to describe this suffering; only the undeniable truth it must end.

We continue to demand the delivery of urgent lifesaving aid #ForAllWomenAndGirls, an immediate ceasefire, and the release of all hostages.

[Lyn van Rooyen @LynvanRooyen]

As Gaza faces starvation, global religious voices call for immediate aid and respect for human life.
https://t.co/IBslaMWYtz

[UN Women @UN_Women]

1 million women and girls are starving in Gaza
1 million women and girls are starving in Gaza
1 million women and girls are starving in Gaza

We will keep repeating it and demanding delivery of lifesaving aid #ForAllWomenAndGirls in #Gaza, immediate ceasefire, and release of all hostages.