Emily Ricotta, PhD

I love the #epipizza crew!!

For the record: Memoli believes in old vaccine tech.

That he awarded himself a ton of money to continue studying earlier this year (see a previous post of mine for deets) despite the rest of NIAID not being able to spend $$.

He’s never supported mRNA tech because it competes w/ his research.

a man is riding a statue of a dog in a room ALT: a man is riding a statue of a dog in a room

It was honestly such a treat, and I’m not even saying that because I organized it. Eric, Laura, and Kerollos absolutely killed it.

We got to talk about how we still do the best #epidemiology we can, even when life gets in the way of making perfect datasets (or even somewhat clean ones…) This is the hard stuff no one ever wants to discuss out loud.

Thank you to the INCREDIBLE speakers in my Assumption Dysfunction symposium at #SER2025. The talks were fantastic and the meme game was strong. @faustobustos.bsky.social @germsandnumbers.bsky.social Laura Balzer and Kerollos Wanis!!!

Admit nothing. Deny everything. Make counter accusations.

Exactly what we love to see in federal leadership. 👌

My worry is that even if we do get that far, what's the damage already done and how irreparable is it to the entire scientific enterprise? It's unfathomable.

IMO it makes more sense to spend money targeting new pathogens for whom we don't have effective prevention than going back & spending money on remaking vaccines that we know work really really well and are incredibly safe.

Hope that helps!!

Also, it takes a lot of time & effort to make vax using these older platforms. So if a vax isn't effective, it doesn't make sense to continue using that platform. That's why we should be trying new tech for pan-flu & other novel pathogens - for whom we don't already have effective vaccines.

There are several reasons why we'd choose a certain type (more below). The important thing is vax for MMR, polio, etc are HIGHLY effective. This is NOT the case for flu vaccines + flu mutates rapidly, while MMR/polio don't. www.hhs.gov/immunization...

Great question! Older vaxs typically use either: killed pathogen ("inactivated" vaccines) or weakened live pathogen ("live attenuated"). MMR & oral polio use LA; injectable polio is inactivated. LA provide better protection but can cause strong reactions &/or mild infection (which can be contagious)

Yep, honestly the majority of the time it works. There are layers of oversight that make sure money is going toward institute priorities.

But sometimes you get this *intense mediocrity* that won’t go away & sucks up the resources for newer/different ideas.

A screenshot from the CDC website showing that the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer is closed

The entirety of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health was wiped out last night in a form letter sent by RFK Jr.

NIOSH is an agency in the CDC that investigates workplace hazards and finds solutions. It protects workers, so it’s gone. Even firefighters.

I miss Dr. Fauci at the helm of NIAID, and public health in general.

BSC committees are composed of external experts from around the globe. But again, rarely do those ever result in closure of an ongoing study.

And Memoli is protected by the Old Guard at NIH, so he’s always been untouchable, even when leadership has been informed about his poor performance.

Once a protocol is approved, it’s basically off to the races. Very rarely are study approvals revoked at the SRCs I attended over 7 years as a former NIH employee. Every 4 years each investigator must submit to Board of Scientific Counselors review (akin to tenure committee review)…

This one specifically? No. Typically, intramural researchers have annual funding allocations derived from Congress that trickle down through the Institutes > Divisions > Labs > Sections/Units. There are internal scientific review committees that review/approve new protocols & conduct annual revs.

Scientists question NIH project’s use of 20th century technology to make a universal flu vaccine $500 million NIH program to make vaccines against pathogens that can trigger pandemics uses approach pioneered in last century

This is 0% surprising to those of us who know Matt Memoli personally. He’s a bad scientist (and a lot of other things too). He’s absolutely unqualified to be anywhere near NIH leadership.

www.statnews.com/2025/05/03/n...

Cooool. This is... great. Just great.

Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's

I don't know if I'd call it public health, more state of science in general, but everyone should read this one: bookshop.org/p/books/doct...

Not for that year of data, unfortunately. 😕

Hello! I know @johnkubale.bsky.social has been hunting down some of the earlier years. I only have phase 8.

NIH science is still making it into the world. Really enjoyed the conversations behind this paper - lots of big-picture questions about what makes research ethical and beneficial to the people involved, especially in a time of crisis, when "don't do the research" is sometimes the (difficult) answer

Well that's absolutely horrible news.

Gosh I love just starting my NIH Grant Writing era at this moment in history. 😭

Thanks to my amazing experts & coauthors (tagging who I can find): @faustobustos.bsky.social @ethnography911.bsky.social @colincarlson.bsky.social @mmfill.bsky.social @nlintonepi.bsky.social @mlipsitch.bsky.social @alexandraphelan.bsky.social @lsauer.bsky.social

So many missing!

In Sept ‘23 I gathered a group of experts @niaidnews.bsky.social to discuss this topic & recommend *easily achievable* improvements!

See Table 1 of the paper for a quick overview of challenges & solutions.