Jay Hrdlicka

Independent analyses estimate that your actions to dismantle USAID and drastically reduce lifesaving foreign aid have already killed 700,000 people. Here are some of those people. 🧵x.com/elonmusk/statu…

Damage being inflicted by @RobertKennedyJr & his anti-science fanaticism is incalculable. Doctors see it, sane Americans see it; families/parents MUST reject the misguided MAGA mission & prioritize the health & welfare of their children. It's essential. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Outrageous.   Dr. Justin Ryder, a pediatric surgeon and expert at Northwestern, was booted from a conference for sharing an article on federal cuts to biomedical research.   This is the impact of Trump's administration. chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/06…

President Trump's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is proposing new regulations for how NIH grant funding decisions are made and how grant funds can be used and managed that have the potential for dramatic impact on the biomedical research community. federalregister.gov/documents/2026… Someone's summary of key potential implications are as follows: These proposed updates from OMB seek to change the framework from guidance around grants to regulations.  This might not sound significant but has massive implications. OMB also seeks to ensure that it can, on its own, change the regulatory framework regarding federal grants across federal agencies without individual agency involvement.  This would give a lot of authority to OMB.  Also, the change from guidance to regulation would mean that make the changes law, rather than guidance. The proposed rule changes include: 1. Expanded agency discretion in funding decisions, increasing uncertainty in grant awards 2. Change in peer review’s role in the grant award process (Political appointees to review proposals) 3. New restrictions on use of grant funding Limitations on the use of federal funds for publication costs Limitations on the use of federal funds for conference attendance 4. Greater agency authority to suspend and terminate grants on short notice 5. Modified treatment of indirect costs and other allowable expenses, with potential budget impacts 6. The ability to show grant favoritism to institutions with lower indirect cost rates 7. Restrictions on international collaboration and increase oversight requirements for subrecipients 8. Elimination of certain flexible funding mechanism (i.e. fixed-amount awards and subawards), reducing flexibility in how research projects are managed Why This Matters These changes could: 1. Affect how proposals are evaluated and funded Introduce new restrictions on allowable uses of grant funds 2. Result in instability, uncertainty, and an inability to rely on continuation of funding support, given agency ability to terminate 3. Increase administrative burden on investigators and departments 4. Limit collaboration—particularly with international partners 5. Reduce flexibility in managing research budgets and subawards Public comments on the proposed regulations can be made through July 13 from the following link: #open-comment" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">federalregister.gov/documents/2026…

There’s a reason that doctors tell you to get your flu vaccine each and every year. The flu virus changes. So every year, scientists track which strains are spreading around the world, produce hundreds of millions of doses, and get them into pharmacies before flu season hits. It is a complex, coordinated process that has protected this country for decades. RFK Jr. fired every single scientist who served on the committee that has provided vaccine recommendations for generations. For the first time in six decades, there is no functioning vaccine advisory committee to provide them. He is dismantling the science that keeps our families safe.

NEW: Major posts are vacant. Waves of scientists are gone. Ebola looms. How RFK Jr. manages HHS: “If the C.E.O. lacked deep expertise in the company’s business and the leaders of its most important divisions were missing, investors would revolt." nytimes.com/2026/06/07/us/…

@DrJBhattacharya made his name claiming he was silenced during Covid. Will he stand up for these scientists exercising their right to speak? washingtonpost.com/health/2026/06…

Trump’s budget director Russ Vought is the most dangerous person you’ve never heard of. And he just proposed turning every federal grant into a loyalty test. His plan would make funding for cancer research, housing, transportation, and public health depend on one thing: whether it “advances the President’s policy priorities.” Not whether it works. Not whether Congress authorized it. Whether it pleases Trump. This is the appropriations power. It belongs to Congress and to the people. To my Republican colleagues: where are you? Congress passed this funding. You voted for it. Vought is telling you to your faces that your votes do not matter, that he and his enablers will override the law whenever it suits them. Every day you stay silent, you give away the institution you were elected to defend. Grow a spine. This is not about left or right. It is about whether Congress still exists as a coequal branch, or whether we have quietly surrendered the purse to an unelected hack who holds the Constitution in contempt. History will remember who stood up and who looked away. nytimes.com/2026/06/02/us/…

A terrible outcome from RFK and others promoting vaccine skepticism. nytimes.com/2026/06/02/wel…

A major breakthrough in pancreatic cancer offers new hope against one of the deadliest cancers. But, as @CitizenCohn writes, that discovery comes with a bitter warning: Trump is trying to gut the very research machine that made it possible.

@cr2615 I would happily wave at him while I watch the Cards play inside Busch Stadium!

No amount of money gets me up there @TheHrd8 🙅‍♂️ ⚾️

I wanted to say something positive about this- but like so much of what comes out of HHS recently, it is framed in such an unnecessary and counterproductive negative light against doctors and the healthcare system (“the gaslighting is over!”). You’re in charge- you don’t need to keep creating villains, picking fights, and sowing anger and mistrust. Just say you’re prioritizing Lyme disease and will work with any partners who share your goal! 🤦🏽‍♂️

FDA's then-vaccine chief said the agency would acknowledge COVID vaccines had killed at least 10 American children. The analysis behind that claim was kept private for six months. It's now public and doesn't say what he said it said. My new @CIDRAP piece: cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cidra…

The White House is intent on keeping Ebola out, at all costs. The U.S. is planning to send Americans exposed to or infected with Ebola to Kenya, instead of bringing them home for care. Please read and share—this is unbelievable and infuriating. craigaspencer.substack.com/p/keeping-ebol…

‘Why is RFK Jr. attacking vaccines?’ The answer is not what you think. ms.now/opinion/rfk-jr…

Except that…history teaches us that travel restrictions don’t work well. China’s travel restrictions in 2020 merely diverted attention from combating the pandemic and Covid came in from Southern Europe to decimate NYC. If the U.S. wants to protect Americans it needs to help fight the epidemic in DRC, provide support for logistics there, a new vaccine, Mabs, antivirals, diagnostics. Travel restrictions make good soundbites on Fox News, but that’s all they do, they won’t help the public health of Americans nor the rest of the world

Diamantas is like most of the appointees in Trump 2.0, whose unifying characteristic is being woefully unqualified for their job.

BREAKING: Marty Makary has resigned under pressure as FDA commissioner. He came in a reformer, but ran afoul of Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco -- and eventually, the Trump White House. @By_CJewett has the scoop nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/…

Makary is out. Now the US has no CDC Director, No FDA Commissioner, and no Surgeon General. And the NIH Director who is also defacto acting CDC Director never trained in Medicine. During this hantavirus outbreak the US needs steady public health leadership and a authoritative voice to the American people. There currently is no one to fill that role.

As usual, these efforts were announced with no evidence to support them. #MAHA