Who Is Really in Charge of Public Health?
The report ultimately lands on a clear position: that governments should take responsibility for public health decisions—how risks are assessed, how trade-offs are weighed, and how responses are chosen.
Congress Forces NIH to Reverse Policy
The White House is finalizing Trump’s plan to deal with dangerous gain-of-function virus research as laid out in a May 2025 executive order. The new policy will take a risk-based approached to determine whether a pathogen study will be funded.
The Day the Hospital Disappeared
Forty years ago I watched a hospital disappear. What emerged from its ruins was not simply the physician I would become. It was the understanding that fear is inevitable and the greatest privilege in medicine has never been avoiding catastrophe.
How to Make the CDC Great Again
The experience gave me the opportunity to reflect on what reforms I would like to see at the CDC as it faces a pivot point in the history of public health. Here are six themes that I see as most urgent.
A.J. Cronin on Medical Ethics
We must make form healthcare “Communities of Practice” that are composed of groups of vertically and horizontally integrated professionals. Those just entering, those in active practice, and those in retirement can utilize such a Community of Practice for the transfer of knowledge.
The NIH Emails
A cache of internal emails obtained from within the US National Institutes of Health has exposed years of strategic planning for future pandemics involving governments, foundations, international organisations, and pharmaceutical companies. The documents, stretching back to at least 2016.
Reclaiming the Third Space
Third spaces offer something many of us are now missing: identity flexibility. They are places where we are not reduced to our roles. We are simply human among other humans. Without that middle space, identity collapses inward.
From Healing to Harm
Arguably, the most critical question for medicine is, “How certain are we that our actions are justified?” The response to this question may determine whether medicine continues to honor its commitment to healing or shifts toward the exercise of power.
Covid Cover-Up Excuses: When Following Policy Is Wrong
In our own time, the SARS-CoV-2 origin lies, the coverup, the obvious desire of the over class to avoid the Covid response debacle with no accountability, all set in motion that future moment when an American girl spills out her shame.
Covid Cover-Up Excuses: When Following Policy Is Wrong Continue Reading
The Trouble with Cancer Screening in Healthy Adults
We framed screening as prevention; instead, it has become a factory of medicalization, anxiety, and expense. If medicine’s moral compass is to be preserved, we must close the assembly line.
The Trouble with Cancer Screening in Healthy Adults Continue Reading
The Courage to Remain Uncertain
Every important discovery starts with uncertainty. Uncertainty is not always comfortable, but it is often where truth begins. Maybe the best gift we can give future generations is not a set of answers, but the freedom and courage to keep asking questions.
The Infectious Disease Frenzy
Biotech is in the driver’s seat of global health and public health workers and the media know who butters their bread. Each public health worker who goes along with the narrative is part of the problem.