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good morning. We’re down to the final four in the annual STAT Madness competition. In one matchup, Alzheimer’s disease biomarker research has a firm lead against AI cell modeling projects. Another is that smart floss that tracks hormones is tracking research into the link between triglycerides and aneurysms. Vote today and vote tomorrow!
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Taylor Glasscock of STAT
A new special report by several of my STAT colleagues says that many more U.S. scientists are being affected by the Trump administration’s restrictions on research partnerships with foreign institutions. Ten months ago, the NIH announced it would no longer allow researchers to share federal grants with foreign partners. The STAT survey found that a quarter of respondents have been significantly or significantly affected by the move. A further 20% said they were slightly affected.
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya says reducing administrative costs and streamlining the grant application process are some of his top priorities. But researchers in the field say that’s not what’s happening here. One malaria researcher said of the NIH’s new system for foreign sub-awards: “Poor scientific publications are likely to end up creating a tremendous amount of additional work that will be difficult to evaluate.” Read more about how this change is impacting science around the world.
Remember last month, when Daniel Payne and I wrote about the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ new position statement on gender reassignment surgery for young people? Professional associations generally recommend that procedures such as crown surgery be delayed until age 19. Shortly afterward, a comment from the American Medical Association to reporters began to circulate, stating that “the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical intervention in minors should generally be deferred until adulthood unless there is clear evidence.”
However, the AMA Board of Directors’ newsletter sent yesterday asserted that “while some media reports have characterized (the comments) as agreeing with ASPS’ statements, that language did not emanate from the AMA.” I asked the AMA whether it was alleging that the news organization fabricated or otherwise spoiled some of its comments, but the group did not respond to that specific inquiry. According to the newsletter, the AMA specifically requested corrections from the New York Times, asserting that there was no change in policy and that the comments did not support ASPS’s position. I wrote about this confusion in February and received no response from the AMA at the time.
Overall, the board’s newsletter reiterated the AMA’s support for gender-affirming care and said the intent of the comments was “to preserve access, not diminish it.”
Medical school accrediting body eliminates requirement to teach about health equity
A major U.S. medical accrediting agency has removed language requiring schools to teach prospective doctors about health inequities, STAT’s Anil Oza reports. The Medical Education Liaison Committee releases accreditation standards each year, and the latest version now encourages schools to teach “self-directed learning skills, including the ability to self-recognize critical gaps in knowledge,” and removes language about medical disparities and health inequities.
It’s unclear why the LCME made these changes, but the organization has faced political pressure under the Trump administration. And just yesterday, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into three medical schools, asking them to provide admissions data. Read Anil’s article to find out what that means. The LCME did not answer the question, but the psychiatrist who coined the term “structural capacity” did.
(In other medical school elimination news, three nutrition experts wrote in a First Opinion essay about how future doctors need more nutrition education, just “not the MAHA kind.”) Read more.
A Los Angeles jury recently found social media giants Google and Meta responsible for mental health issues and awarded a $3 million verdict to a 20-year-old woman. In this week’s STATus Report video, Alex Hogan speaks with health and science influencers about how social media affects happiness and how it shapes their habits.
“Algorithms are designed for clicks and eyeballs,” says Jessica Malati Rivera. “And the content that performs best is the content that elicits a big, strong emotional response.” Often, that emotion is anger or upset. Watch the video to learn what it’s like to fight misinformation and algorithms at the same time.
A new strategic plan for disability research
The National Institutes of Health has released a five-year plan for disability research in the United States. The document, released yesterday, emphasizes that the federal government is making a far-reaching shift away from the medical model of disability, aiming to “cure” people or make them “normal” and instead focus on how environmental and social barriers impact a person’s disability.
If you think this doesn’t apply to you or a loved one, we encourage you to reconsider. More than a quarter of Americans have a disability, and the NIH has invested more than $619 million in disability health research in 2024. This is a lot of money. Please read the report for yourself. — O. Rose Broderick
How widespread is home health care fraud, really?
Let’s end the week with more news from Rose. The Trump administration has made clear through executive orders, public statements, and social media posts that it specifically targets health care fraud in Medicaid. The administration’s portrayal of home health care as rife with fraud comes at a time when such services have become more expensive and more important to the nation’s health care system.
Experts told Rose that the truth is more complicated than just fraud. “This is being painted with a very broad brush,” said Alison Berkoff, former director of the Department of Community Life. Learn more about what the data actually says here.
what we are reading
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After 10 years as a custodian at Yale University Hospital, she is now a physician there, The Washington Post
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They don’t have lip filler, just lip filler accents, defector
- First opinion: Expanding elective hospitalizations could save lives, strengthen hospitals and reduce health spending, STAT
- Transgender female athletes banned from women’s Olympic games under new IOC policy, Associated Press
- Decades after the Vietnam War, study reports link between Agent Orange exposure and MDS blood cancer, STAT
What word? Test your knowledge with today’s STAT Mini crossword.
