Michael Nosofsky

Go Hoosiers!

[Sheryl Gay Stolberg @SherylNYT]

NEW: NIH spending on new medical research has fallen roughly $1 billion behind the pace of years past, delaying thousands of scientific projects.
@benjmueller @irenatfh

https://t.co/heHMEJlILE

[TMZ @TMZ]

🕊️ Exclusive: Catherine O'Hara has died.

[Indiana Football @IndianaFootball]

THE INDIANA HOOSIERS ARE FLIPPIN’ CHAMPS ‼️

[Tyrese Haliburton @Hali]

A state has never deserved something more. Congrats @IndianaFootball❤️

[Indiana Men's Soccer @IndianaMSOC]

Indiana men’s soccer congratulates Kevin Robson on his appointment as head coach of @RamblersMSOC.

Robson served #IUMS for 18 years as a coach and player, winning two NCAA & 16 Big Ten titles. We are grateful for his impact on a generation of Hoosiers.

All the best, @kprobson16! ❤️

[Big Ten Women's Basketball @B1Gwbball]

Rhet Wierzba means everything to @IndianaWBB ❤️

After being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2024, Rhet shows up for his team every single day - bringing heart, strength, and unwavering dedication while continuing to do what he loves and inspire everyone around him.

On the Court x @IndianaWBB

[The Players’ Tribune @PlayersTribune]

Hello, this is Fernando’s mom, Elsa! What a joy it is to have him as a son.

Fernando — I wrote you this with all my love. https://t.co/TNLn3uP2Gb

[Chronic Hoosier @ChronicHoosier]

This is the greatest coaching job in the history of NCAA football. Period. Full stop. Curt Fucking Cignetti, y'all.

[Michael Nosofsky @mnosofsk]

LFG

[Indiana Football @IndianaFootball]

A Hoosier through & through.

Our coach, @CCignettiIU. 🎥

[Indiana Men's Soccer @IndianaMSOC]

Three points on the road.

[Big Ten Soccer @B1GSoccer]

“He’s the Godfather of College Soccer for a reason.” ❤️

With numerous @NCAASoccer championships, Jerry Yeagley laid the foundation for Indiana’s greatness. His presence still inspires the Hoosiers and his influence remains as powerful as ever.

On the Pitch x @IndianaMSOC

[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)

[Michael Nosofsky @mnosofsk]

@charliekirk11 Bj

[(((Charles Fishman))) 💧 @cfishman]

The federal government doesn’t ‘give’ money to Harvard. The $2.2 billion in frozen payments isn’t for Harvard sophomores’ tuition or library books.

The US government is buying services from Harvard: scientific & medical research & development.

These aren’t ‘woke donations.’

They are contracts. Proposed, reviewed, awarded, with metrics and deadlines and standards of performance.

Harvard is a government contractor in that sense — lab by lab, scientist by scientist — just the way any other company is a contractor.

That’s true of Columbia’s $400 million in ‘frozen’ contracts — and all the rest.

R1 research universities do crucial research the federal government can’t do itself, but that we as a nation have decided we need done.

Mission driven. Pioneering. Essential.

They can’t be done — as Sean Hannity just suggested — at community colleges & vocational schools.

That’s not what the $2.2 billion is being spent on.

…You could Google it. Of course.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

We've got a youth mental health epidemic.

Part of the reason? Without being aware of it, adults are training kids to have hypersensitive threat alarms, without the tools or resources to handle any sort of challenge.

The consequences are dire:
https://t.co/ZkkJyjMq7H

[The Bulwark @BulwarkOnline]

An appendix in the document lists several types of studies that would be subject to termination, and includes “vaccine hesitancy” among the “examples for research activities that NIH no longer supports.” https://t.co/R0TtL4QBqY

[Indiana Women’s Basketball @IndianaWBB]

Lace up your shoes, it's time to go dancin'.

[Luke Timmerman @ldtimmerman]

NIH cuts are hitting young scientists the hardest. By David Baker. https://t.co/mwFPkbp9OA

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Elon Musk says that no one has died because he slashed humanitarian aid. I went to South Sudan to check if that's true. It's not. Within an hour of starting interviews, I had the names of a 10-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who had died because of decisions by wealthy men in Washington.
The visit that moved me the most was to a remote area that used to have no health care, where women routinely died in childbirth. Then a US-funded maternity clinic opened through @UNFPA in December, and not one woman has died since. I showed up, and people mistakenly thought I was responsible for the clinic. One new mom wanted to name her baby for me, and the village elders thanked me and hailed America's generosity. What they didn't know was that Trump/Musk had cut all funding for UNFPA and that as a result the maternity clinic will close this month, and women will once again be bleeding to death in the dust.
Here's a giftlink to my report from ground level about what the shutdown of USAID means: https://t.co/tbgKk7ESqj