Catie Oldenburg, ScD

I just said yes to one because 🤷🏼‍♀️

Will the Senate Save NIH? Rescuing biomedical research is every bit as important as saving Medicaid.

It seems that only the science community is noticing that NIH and NSF budgets are cut 40% and 55% in the budget bill, respectively. If you live in Maine, West Va, Pennsylvania, Alabama, or Louisiana, CALL YOUR SENATOR as they could make a difference. See below.

prospect.org/politics/202...

I just finished Las Madres by Esmeralda Santiago and loved it. Also really enjoyed The Frozen River, Good Dirt, and One Summer in Savannah.

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

📢BREAKING: Just left the courthouse for our NIH grant termination case

Judge ruled terminations are “VOID & ILLEGAL”

As a plaintiff, I felt a wave of relief & hope; he acknowledged the discrimination & harm

Closed by asking, ‘Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?’

After issuing his rulings, Judge Young has some absolutely stark words for the Trump administration.

"This represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community. That's what this is. I would be blind to not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."

Measles infection during pregnancy is dangerous! It’s linked to early pregnancy loss, preterm labor and other pregnancy complications, increased risk of stillbirth, and neonatal mortality.

In this recent case, a newborn with congenital measles has died.

I’m an actual expert (no quotes) volunteering my time to debate (mostly) good ideas with other experts. There fixed it.

NIH killed grants on orders from Elon Musk’s DOGE Court documents and internal correspondence show the cost-cutting force has broad control over the world’s largest public biomedical funder.

Who's calling the shots at NIH?

Sworn testimonies and internal e-mails reveal for the first time the breadth of DOGE's control over the world's largest public biomedical funder.

DOGE has provided lists of hundreds of grants to cut, and DOGE is now reviewing ALL NIH awards before they're released

If by “paying” you mean a $400 honorarium which works out to less than minimum wage but ok - tell me more about how you have no idea how this works 🙄

The grant that funded a large part of my doctoral work - a 40 year cohort study which has been running successfully and learning all sorts of things about disease and wellbeing - was just terminated. Surreal.

@ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social @hsph.harvard.edu

😭😭

I’m not letting them take the joy of seeing the next generation of scientists celebrate today (including 9 new UCSF-trained PhD epidemiologists!) I’m repping the institution that trained me, a public health intervention that has saved millions of lives, and sharing joy today.

… and Molly is not alone. More than $2.6B of ongoing research has been canceled (with much more this week, at Harvard).

With each cancellation: We are losing so much knowledge. Losing the next generation of scientists. Losing our ability to protect our health, both now & for the future. 🧪🩺😷

They told me graduation is a formal event, I’m ready. #vaccinescauseadults

First on CNN: Trump administration cut $2.7 billion in NIH research funding through March, Senate committee minority report says | CNN A Senate committee report by minority staff, and obtained by CNN, slams the Trump administration for terminating some funding for research, firing thousands of federal workers and removing certain sci...

2.7Billion in NIH research funding cuts in the first three months of 2025.
This is not abstract
No NIH funding = fewer new treatments for cancer, fewer new vaccines, fewer discoveries for chronic diseases, lower retention of scientific talent, more brain drain.
www.cnn.com/2025/05/13/h...

How an Enslaved African Man in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox | HISTORY In the early 1700s, Onesimus shared a revolutionary way to prevent smallpox.

An enslaved man, Onesimus, was very likely the person who introduced the lifesaving procedure of inoculation to the US. www.history.com/articles/sma...

‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage Agency will make researchers outside United States seek grants of their own rather than “subawards” from U.S. scientists

Insane is exactly the phrase I would have used!

‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage

www.science.org/content/arti...

I have an 8th percentile R01 that cleared council in Sept 2024 in limbo but has a foreign sub so dead in the water now. Not spending seems to be the point.

NIH halts funding for new projects with foreign collaborators, citing national security concerns NIH announced it will no longer allow subawards to foreign institutions, as part of a national security-minded overhaul to how it manages research funding

More insanity.
1. Collaborative research gave us vaccines for Ebola
2. Drugs for HIV
3. Malaria vaccines
4. Researched and enhanced tracking of emerging infectious disease threats.
And much more
This is another damaging own goal.
www.statnews.com/2025/05/01/n...

I’d love that - I’ll text you

Thank you for making me laugh on a day where all I’ve wanted to do is cry 😂

😭😭

This is a disaster for global public health. I think moving to a model where the IC funds directly could be a not-bad thing, esp if it allows for capacity building re: admin for NIH grants and empowering institutions to lead them, but destroying everything first is not how you achieve that.

🧵1/N New study published in @jama.com on re-emergence of vaccine-eliminated infectious diseases under declining vaccination in the US. We model long-term risk and conditions for return to endemicity for measles, rubella, polio, & diphtheria. Collab w/ @Mathewkiang.com jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

I’m so sorry. It’s unconscionable.

They’re destroying federal science capacity & California needs to step up & expand science capacity at the state level.

I introduced SB 829 to create the California Institute for Scientific Research & authorize the State of California to produce vaccines. It just passed the Senate Health Committee.

Vaccines save lives by the millions, this is not a point of debate.

Do not normalize children dying from measles. Measles was previously eliminated in the US, thanks to vaccines.

When children die from measles, it means that adults have catastrophically failed to protect them because they have rejected basic science.