Lou Woodley (she/her)

It was so good to celebrate our first two CSCCE- certified community managers yesterday! Congrats to Erin and Miriam!

Later this month, CSCCE’s founder and director @louwoodley.bsky.social will be delivering the keynote address at the annual NORDP Research Development Conference: nordp.org/page/2025_co...

Dr. Collins noted that when he was recruited to the institutes, and through many of the years that followed, “investment in medical research was seen as a high priority and a nonpolitical bipartisan effort — saving countless lives, relieving human suffering and contributing substantially to the U.S. economy.” “N.I.H. is the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world,” he wrote. “It is the main piston of a biomedical discovery engine that is the envy of the globe. Yet it is not a household name. It should be.” He went on: “When you hear about patients surviving stage 4 cancer because of immunotherapy, that was based on N.I.H. research over many decades. When you hear about sickle-cell disease being cured because of CRISPR gene editing, that was built on many years of research supported by N.I.H.”

Francis Collins led the mapping of the human genome, and chose to do big scientific to benefit the public. He is a a former NIH Director.
He just resigned his position in government. His resignation letter:
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

I also fear there will be a Lost Generation of scientists & researchers w/ these massive cuts, esp current trainees & #ECR

Stripping away funding is quick, but short-sighted. It will set us back many years

We must support #science, it is one of the very best things #America does!

#Medsky
#Scisky

Inside the Collapse at NIH Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

By @katherinejwu.com

"The NIH... supported 99 percent of the drugs approved in the U.S. from 2010 to 2019. The agency has had a hand in “nearly all of our major medical breakthroughs over the past several decades,”

The NIH is in a struggle for its (and our) lives. This is existential to America:

Free freelance coaching tomorrow 3-4 ET. I'll be talking about how I run my freelance #SciComm business and nothing's off the table, including discussing my real $ numbers.

This is a casual Q&A seeded by someone with questions. Register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

I’ve seen children die of

-influenza
-COVID
-pertussis

And wouldn’t wish those experiences on anyone.

Know what these things have in common?!

Effective vaccines that save lives.

Measles – NFID Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can result in severe, sometimes permanent, complications including pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and even death

Sharing these numbers because I wasn't aware of them myself. In the US:

* 1 in 5 unvaccinated people who get measles are hospitalized

* 1 in 20 children with measles get pneumonia

* 1 to 3 in 1000 die

If you're not immune, close contact with an infected person gives you measles 90% of the time

oh cool I’ve been meaning to learn anxiety

let’s see how it plays out, but the media coverage of the past week meant that the policy couldn’t linger in the shadows anymore

keep talking to non-scientists about what you do and why it matters to them

A black and white Australian shepherd dog sits on a rug with four large, brightly colored press buttons in front of her. She stares at the camera as if to say “I know that when I press one of these you have to do what I request”.

Pup in full control of the buttons! (Thankfully pressing the red one just says “yes!”)

An important reminder to keep talking about what is happening right now in your area of expertise with connections who aren’t.

Some folks have asked, given recent news, “how do I show my friends/family the impact of NSF?” We have some easy Fact Sheets for you! Here’s a brief thread about this website: new.nsf.gov/about/fact-s... which hosts a ton of useful one-pagers.

Others have said it better before, but:

Doing the best science *requires* considering "DEIA principles and frameworks."

Science is done by communities. Science affects communities. Communities are diverse. If you ignore that diversity, you are doing worse science than someone who includes it well.

M4.1 #earthquake detected 13 km SE of York Harbor, Maine at 1/27/2025 7:22:56 AM PST

This reflects data from the U.S. Geological Survey that is subject to change. Visit the USGS page linked below for the latest #quake information

Of all the ways I didn’t expect to start Monday morning…!

Earthquake in Maine?

Social media platforms have become essential tools for communication, civic engagement, and information sharing, akin to roads, utilities, and other public services. They are becoming public infrastructure. We should treat them as such.

‘Open Source And Ethical’ TikTok, WhatsApp And Instagram Alternatives Could Transform Social Media As major platforms face mounting scrutiny over content moderation and user privacy, a developer's vision for ethical social media draws support

"‘Open Source And Ethical’ TikTok, WhatsApp And Instagram Alternatives Could Transform Social Media" ... Or not www.forbes.com/sites/esatde...

NIH In Your State - United For Medical Research Select a state on the map to see the impact of NIH funding across America.

You can use this website to look up how much money goes into your state from NIH, how many jobs are supported, and more.

www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...

Bluesky hits its first million mentions of research as found by Altmetric.

Portland Head Light - a white, brick lighthouse, stands tall above the sea on rocks that have a light dusting of snow.

Happy Christmas - we finally got a little snow!

Be lovely to see you sometime soon!

We hosted a really lovely online community potluck earlier today where we scaffolded out different activities for each of the three courses to provide opportunities to share, celebrate, and commiserate. It’s the sixth time we’ve hosted this - and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy every year!

Project Management for Scientists: A new training course from CSCCE! - CSCCE We’re excited to end the year by announcing two new trainings in the CSCCE training portfolio that focus on project management!

Excited to (almost) end the work year by announcing two new trainings in project management for scientists! Register for our mini-workshop on Feb 26 and tell us when you’d like the longer-form training in 2025! www.cscce.org/2024/12/17/p...

Beautiful morning to take pup for a walk along the beach.

New report highlights the scientific impact of open source software Two of the scientists who won this year’s Nobel Prize for cracking the code of proteins’ intricate structures relied, in part, on a series of computing

“We don’t value software, data, and methods in the same way we value papers, even though those resources empower millions of scientists” 💯

www.statnews.com/sponsor/2024...