Dr. Phillip Alvelda
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alvelda.bsky.social
Dr. Phillip Alvelda
@alvelda.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.8K following 370 posts
NASA I DARPA | MIT AI Lab | Cornell | Venture Capital | Biosecurity | Neurotech | Emmy winning media technologist | World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer

Founded Brainworks, Infinite Entertainment, Medio Labs, MobiTV, WiseTeachers & MicroDisplay
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alvelda.bsky.social
Dr. Phillip Alvelda @alvelda.bsky.social · Mar 6
Check out my recent interview on the disastrous federal research agency funding cuts.
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
pescado70.bsky.social
October 1, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
samillingworth.com
🧒 Inequality reshapes young brains

A study of more than 10,000 US children found that living in states with greater income inequality is linked to structural brain changes and poorer mental health, regardless of family wealth.

🔗 www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

#SciComm #Inequality 🧪
Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains
Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’
www.theguardian.com
October 1, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
drtomfrieden.bsky.social
For 75 years, every time any U.S. state has requested epidemiologic assistance (an “Epi-Aid”), CDC sent disease detectives. Now, Wisconsin has asked for help to address newly discovered lead poisoning in Milwaukee. But all CDC experts in lead poisoning were just fired.
April 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
drsmith.bsky.social
Would love to see this in Canada.
joffirphd.bsky.social J. Offir, PhD @joffirphd.bsky.social · Apr 9
Here's the CBS News story on far-UVC being used commercially to kill bacteria and inactivate viruses like SARS-CoV-2 & H5N1.

youtu.be/TWNDl336EZo?...
April 9, 2025 at 12:17 PM
alvelda.bsky.social
Yikes!
jonmladd.bsky.social Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · Apr 9
I guess, if you stop collecting much of your tax base and your Supreme Court seems poised to give presidents direct control of your central bank, people are more reluctant to buy your debt.
karl-schamotta.bsky.social Karl Schamotta @karl-schamotta.bsky.social · Apr 9
10-year yield going vertical here. Something’s gonna break.
April 9, 2025 at 7:57 PM
alvelda.bsky.social
An unprecedented assault on higher education.
April 9, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
nanoscaleviews.bsky.social
🧪⚛️ Slashing the number of fellowships awarded in half is awful. This is the clearest sign that NSF leadership is worried that their budget next year will be cut by a similar fraction. Push on your legislators about the negative consequences of such cuts.
dangaristo.bsky.social Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Apr 8
The NSF's flagship fellowship program typically gives offers to 2,000+ young scientists. This year, in the face of looming budget cuts, that number was halved: only 1,000 received an offer. Our story on what that means for the science talent pipeline: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
NSF slashes prestigious PhD fellowship awards by half
US National Science Foundation announces lowest number of Graduate Research Fellowship Programme recipients in 15 years.
www.nature.com
April 9, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
npr.org
Effective immediately, the government says it will begin screening immigrant social media for activity that officials think indicates support for antisemitism.
U.S. says it is now monitoring immigrants' social media for antisemitism
Effective immediately, the government says it will begin screening immigrant social media for activity that officials think indicates support for antisemitism.
www.npr.org
April 9, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
jennifernuzzo.bsky.social
The story gets worse.
April 8, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
meganranney.bsky.social
Why we @yalesph.bsky.social are trying to fill the gaps
megtirrell.bsky.social Meg Tirrell @megtirrell.bsky.social · Mar 31
A CDC spokesperson told @propublica.org the agency decided against releasing a measles assessment that warned the risk of catching the virus is high near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging “because it does not say anything that the public doesn’t already know.” www.cnn.com/2025/03/31/h...
The CDC buried a measles forecast that stressed the need for vaccinations | CNN
Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where...
www.cnn.com
March 31, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
daniellebeckman.bsky.social
He is doing exactly what he said he was going to do back in November 2023, when he was a presidential candidate.

“I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all,” Kennedy said. “Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
RFK Jr. comes ‘home’ to his anti-vaccine group, commits to ‘a break’ for U.S. infectious disease research He has suggested without evidence that researchers and pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit to neglect chronic conditions.
March 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
maddow.bsky.social
Wall Street Journal editorial board:

"Our worst fears about Mr. Kennedy are coming true..."

www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-...
Opinion | RFK Jr. Is Already Vindicating His Critics
Shrinking HHS makes sense, but giving power to antivaccine crusader David Geier doesn’t.
www.wsj.com
March 31, 2025 at 12:59 AM
alvelda.bsky.social
Ugh.
miquai.bsky.social Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social · Mar 29
I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.
March 31, 2025 at 4:56 AM
alvelda.bsky.social
Another disastrous decision for public health.
rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · Mar 28
NEW: HHS Secretary RFK Jr. plans to lay off the entire staff of the federal government’s Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, CBS News reports.

What could possibly go wrong?
March 29, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
betsyladyzhets.bsky.social
Thank you @statnews.com & @rosebroderick.bsky.social for including this piece in the Morning Rounds newsletter today!
Screenshot from STAT's morning newsletter, text reads: "What we're reading Long Covid data are being erased, again, The Sick Times Communities must take the lead in preventing opioid overdoses, Undark With few dentists and fluoride under siege, rural America risks new surge of tooth decay, KFF Health News These 5 words have killed millions in grants and advanced Trump’s agenda, Washington Post The US right is coming for disabled people. Here’s why that threatens everyone, The Guardian"
March 28, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
jessicawildfire.bsky.social
Long Covid is a DEI issue and "The Resistance" might want to start talking about it.
www.the-sentinel-intelligence.com/p/we-dont-ha...
We Don't Have to Let MAHA Goons Kill Long Covid Treatments
It's time for activist medicine.
www.the-sentinel-intelligence.com
March 26, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
erictopol.bsky.social
"The tobacco and ultra-processed food industries
exemplify the detrimental effects of corporate influence
on public health." @thelancet.bsky.social
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
The need to call out corporate corruption in health
The 2023 Lancet Series on the commercial determinants of health1 highlighted how commercial organisations shape health policies, both positively and negatively. Some negative actions, such as spreadin...
www.thelancet.com
March 26, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social
Folks, very bad news for #LongCOVID. Deep breath.

29 awarded grants to do with COVID and Long COVID have been rescinded by NIH. 🧪

www.science.org/content/arti...
Science has learned that grant termination letters went out last night to principal investigators of 29 awards made by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), including nine grants that were part of a program hoping to deliver antiviral drugs to prevent future pandemics. Other terminated grants involved research to develop improved COVID-19 vaccines and to address Long Covid, the mysterious lingering aftermath of some SARS-CoV-2 infections. “The research is being treated like we already have all the answers we will need in the future and that the current vaccines work well enough and don’t need improvement, which we know is not true,” says an investigator involved with one of the NIAID grants who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. “Some of the studies being canceled were attempting to make a pancoronavirus vaccine, which would hopefully be available the next time a novel coronavirus jumps species into humans.”
March 25, 2025 at 11:13 PM
alvelda.bsky.social
Disastrous, leaving millions who already suffer Long COVID unsupported, and abandoning all efforts to prevent more from succumbing to preventable debility and death.
erictopol.bsky.social Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Mar 25
In <24 hours, Covid funding is DOGEd across HHS, CDC, NIH as if it and Long Covid didn't exist and there is no worry for future pandemics
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
www.science.org/content/arti...
March 26, 2025 at 1:33 AM
alvelda.bsky.social
Worse than many third world countries. Who would want to risk delivering a child in TX?
kiswanson.medsky.social Kyle Swanson, MD, FAANS, FCNS @kiswanson.medsky.social · Mar 25
Abortion bans kill women

We need to hammer home that message
propublica.org ProPublica @propublica.org · Mar 24
Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women have died in Texas hospitals since the state banned abortion, our analysis shows.

As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.
March 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
alvelda.bsky.social
If you fire the staff, turn off the phones, and close the offices that allow the Social Security Administration to function, and in so doing, curtail access to payments and reconciliation, that’s effectively a cut in benefits whether you cut the funds themselves or not.
thebulwark.com The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · Mar 25
Trump has long insisted that he would not cut Social Security benefits...which has forced the party to argue that the cuts DOGE is making to the programs aren’t actually cuts

The latest Press Pass from @cheetah.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/musk-slash...
Musk Slashes Social Security as Republicans Debate What a “Cut” Is
Plus: The normalization of law-breaking continues.
www.thebulwark.com
March 25, 2025 at 9:28 PM
alvelda.bsky.social
More irresponsible abandonment of critical Public Health obligations.

States must take up these responsibilities.
luckytran.com Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Mar 25
Trump’s CDC is cancelling $11 billion in COVID funding allocated to health departments and nonprofits, claiming the grants are no longer necessary because the pandemic is over.

This is wrong. COVID is a continuing threat and millions have Long COVID. We still need to do more to mitigate its harms.
March 25, 2025 at 9:13 PM
alvelda.bsky.social
Another disastrous public health decision.
luckytran.com Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Mar 25
The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice will close as soon as this week, according to an internal HHS email obtained by Inside Medicine.

This is the opposite of what you would do if you were genuinely interested in finding treatments for chronic diseases, as RFK claims.
Here is the text of the email: Dear Colleagues, We are writing to let you know that the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice will be closing as part of the administration’s reorganization coming this week. We are proud of what we have accomplished together in advancing understanding, resources, and support for people living with Long COVID. Over the last 3+ years, we have built meaningful connections and fruitful collaborations across the federal landscape to support this work. While our office is closing, we hope that the work we have been dedicated to will continue in some form. Updates will be shared as they become available. Thank you again for your collaboration and commitment. Best regards, Ian Simon, Ph.D. Director, Office of Long COVID Research and Practice Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health et al…
March 25, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Dr. Phillip Alvelda
sundaedivine.bsky.social
Including the wrong recipient is a mistake. Using a non-government platform for classified information is a crime.
March 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
alvelda.bsky.social
Well that’s either extreme incompetence, extreme negligence, or extreme corruption plus a completely transparent coverup.

Any other options in this case?
hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social Hakeem Jeffries @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social · Mar 25
The CIA Director testified today that he is not sure a reporter was on the unclassified national security group chat that recklessly disclosed military plans in Yemen.

The whole world is aware of who was part of Signalgate.

These people cannot be trusted with America’s national security.
March 25, 2025 at 6:30 PM