anil oza

How Stand Up For Science is trying to 'pull every lever' to win over the public Stand Up For Science has become a formal organization and adopted a new strategy that's more confrontational with grassroots tactics

Thank you, @aniloza.bsky.social for covering @standupforscience.bsky.social since it's inception!

www.statnews.com/2026/03/06/s...

link: www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/stark-divide...

when we wrote about this pew data on trust in science came out, some outside experts wished pew had data on figures in the current admin

this @appc.upenn.edu survey released today has data comparing trust in several professional societies, agencies, and officials

RFK Jr. has wide discretion to choose evidence to support vaccine decisions, DOJ argues A Justice Department lawyer argued that the HHS secretary has broad discretion to issue vaccine guidance and choose what evidence to consider

If he wanted to, could RFK Jr. call on Americans to maximize their exposure to measles in a bid to reach herd immunity? Hypothetically speaking, yes, DOJ attorneys argue.

A federal judge's inquiry gets at an interesting question on public health policy.

www.statnews.com/2026/03/04/k...

you’ve got a lot of anils on staff, huh

RFK Jr. has wide discretion to choose evidence to support vaccine decisions, DOJ argues A Justice Department lawyer argued that the HHS secretary has broad discretion to issue vaccine guidance and choose what evidence to consider

~hypothetically~ if RFK encouraged people to get measles, would that be subject to review from a court?

today a DOJ lawyer argued that it would not be — offering insight into the admin's thinking on its powers to remake public health policy

www.statnews.com/2026/03/04/k...

Slow Release Of Federal Science Funds Holds Up Research Podcast Episode · Science Friday · March 4 · 13m

Thanks @scifri.bsky.social for having me on to talk about federal research budgets. TLDL: Congress voted to reject the president's big science cuts, but the White House is slow to release those approved funds. 🧪

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

RFK Jr. wants Dunkin’ to prove drinking its iced coffee is safe - The Boston Globe The warning comes as Kennedy is leaning heavily into his agenda to improve American diets.

RFK Jr. says he wants Dunkin’ to prove drinking its iced coffee is safe:
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/04/n...

UnitedHealth promised transparency. Instead, it’s cutting back key disclosures UnitedHealth used to disclose more than 3,100 subsidiaries. Its latest annual reports shows just 10.

Last year, UnitedHealth Group disclosed 3,100 subsidiaries. This year? Just 10. The health care giant is paring back transparency right as its executives say they are embracing it. www.statnews.com/2026/03/04/u...

How Trump Keeps Withholding Money After Being Sued 198 Times Immigration demands for highway dollars, D.E.I. rules for homeless grants: Trump has tried to wield spending to get his way.

“Anyone in the country who relies on federal dollars is depending on the president to get that money ... And that’s a new thing.”

The times identified 198 cases where the administration's funding disruptions were challenged — and had little effect

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

NEW: The *Independent* Autism Coordinating Committee will hold its first meeting on March 19 — the same day that the newly-reformed federal body, the *Interagency* Autism Coordinating Committee, will meet.

What's this new group's goal? Read on.

www.statnews.com/2026/03/03/a...

2026 STAT Madness 2026 bracket Welcome to STAT Madness, a bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine. Explore groundbreaking innovations from

It's time to VOTE!
#STATMadness is back! Our bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine.
Help us crown a new champ! Vote now: www.statnews.com/feature/stat...

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

A doozy of a quote in this profile of the "godfather of vaccines" by @helenbranswell.bsky.social, as he watches his field trend in the wrong direction

“All I can say is that I’m beginning to regret having lived so long — because we’re going downhill,”

www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

In our latest coverage of the Trump administration and federal science budgets, @maxkozlov.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social & I wrote about how the White House is stalling the release of monies approved by Congress. TLDR: it's not how things normally work. 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

thank you for flagging — I am in the middle of listening!

Screenshot of this morning's morning rounds, including the header of the newsletter, Theresa Gaffney's byline and the text reading "Good morning. The idea of "looksmaxxing" has officially made it into STAT's science team meetings. There's a lot of journalism discussionmaxxing this phenomenon and one of its leaders, Clavicular. I found this essay by trans writer P.E. Moskowitz particularly interesting."

hopefully you are morning roundsmaxxing so you can get the behind the scenes look at our science meetings from @theresagaff.bsky.social

Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church Exclusive: Harvard geneticist George Church knew more about Jeffrey Epstein's activities than he has previously said, before accepting new donations from the sex offender.

At a Harvard lab in 2013, the Personal Genome Project had an odd request.

There was a push to fast-track one person's tissue sample for genome sequencing, ahead of some that had been waiting for years.

When the person's ID was revealed, uproar broke out:

My @rti.bsky.social colleague Ivy Estabrooke and I had the pleasure of discussing state funding of scientific research with @aniloza.bsky.social for his piece in @statnews.com. He details some initiatives we omitted when writing about this for @science.org last month. #sciencepolicy

screenshot reading "Collins is hoping state money would allow him to offer faculty bridge funding while they await NIH funds that have been approved, as well as support to early career faculty by providing them funding to do experiments that would help them gather data to use in applications to the NIH. According to data shared with STAT, UMass Chan has 40 grant proposals pending in the NIH review system that have received fundable scores by both study sections and advisory councils — the two panels that provide peer review for grant applications. They total $152 million — around $30 million in the first year they are awarded. But it’s difficult to say when, or if, that money funds will materialize."

I thought the example of UMass Chan was illustrative — on paper little has changed, and it's technically only down 1.6% in its R01 funding but that number is padded by MYF

in reality it's down 15 million from the previous year — and waiting on millions more because of slowdowns in grant review

With federal research funding uncertain, states debate new science initiatives A handful of states are considering initiatives to increase funding for scientific research as uncertainty around federal dollars has grown.

amid uncertainty from the fed govt, states are toying around with the idea of implementing their own funding initiatives

the moves feel necessary to researchers in those states, but some policy experts cautioned it could feed rhetoric about not needing federal $

www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/s...

thank you!!!

thank you!!

American Science, Shattered An eight-decade partnership between universities and the federal government made U.S. science preeminent. It took Trump less than a year to shred that

So thrilled @lizzylawrence.bsky.social and @statnews.com have won a Polk Award for our coverage of the Trump Administration assault on science+health. I couldn’t be prouder of our powerful coverage and the many stories we were first on. What a team. www.statnews.com/american-sci...

STAT wins fourth Polk Award for reporting on impact of Trump on health STAT has won its fourth Polk Award in five years for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific research, and public health.

Huge congrats to @lizzylawrence.bsky.social for winning a George Polk award for her unrelenting coverage of turmoil at the FDA over the past year. The STAT team was also recognized for our reporting on the Trump admin's impact on health and science.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/s...

STAT wins fourth Polk Award for reporting on impact of Trump on health STAT has won its fourth Polk Award in five years for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific research, and public health.

particularly proud to be part of STAT today, with the Polk awards recognizing the brilliance that is @lizzylawrence.bsky.social for her coverage of the FDA and to many of us for our coverage of the Trump administration — including American Science, Shattered

www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/s...

NIH Director Bhattacharya to lead CDC after O’Neill’s exit He's the third leader of the public health agency since this summer.

@chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social & I on Bhattacharya also leading the CDC:

As 16 of 27 of the IC's are led by acting directors, its top official will now have his attention split between two massive agencies

www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/c...

N.I.H. Director Will Temporarily Run C.D.C. in Leadership Shake-Up

Bhattacharya is set to be leading both NIH & CDC @sherylnyt.bsky.social reports

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/u...

gotta spend that mental energy on editing award-winning journalism...

FDA reverses course, agrees to review Moderna’s flu vaccine The FDA reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday.

BREAKING: FDA reverses course and will now review Moderna's flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/f...

Check out my latest piece in @hechingerreport.org !

First of many as an OpEd Project Public Voices Fellow