Kara Gavin
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karagavin.bsky.social
Kara Gavin
@karagavin.bsky.social
Science/medical writer & media relations for University of Michigan (Michigan Medicine/Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation) focusing on #primarycare, #mentalhealth, aging & #healthpolicy Mom, wife, baker, French horn player, AAAS Fellow, J! bronze
Pinned
It’s great to see a growing community of #medsky folks from the Univ. of Michigan on this platform! Here’s a starter pack I’ve begun to compile - please share and ask to be added if you’re in any role at the Med School or the clinical world! go.bsky.app/NKhdFPM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
The world’s oldest known example of cave art, dating back at least 67,800 years, has been discovered by researchers studying handprints in Indonesia.
Hand stencil made almost 68,000 years ago is the oldest cave art ever found
“It really just shows how long people have been making rock art in that part of the world,” Adam Brumm, a professor of archaeology, said of the find in Indonesia. “It’s a very long time.”
nbcnews.to
January 24, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
🧵 Why even suggesting that polio vaccination should be optional is dangerous.
www.contagionlive.com/view/acip-ch...
ACIP Chair Says Polio Vaccine Should be Optional | Contagion Live
Kirk Milhoan, MD, PhD, said vaccine choice is the most important element to the public even with the possibility of people contracting this disease or others when given the right to opt out of vaccina...
www.contagionlive.com
January 24, 2026 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
Behavioral Health Parity Takes Step Backward Under Trump
| Commonwealth Fund
www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2026/be...
Behavioral Health Parity Takes Step Backward Under Trump
Lack of enforcement by the Trump administration of a rule that strengthens the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act has put the updated rule in limbo.
www.commonwealthfund.org
January 24, 2026 at 7:36 AM
This Sunday, an orchestra of doctors, scientists, nurses, dentists, engineers, pharmacists, and people training to be all of the above will play an amazing concert - come hear it live or watch online! events.umich.edu/event/143129
(I'll be playing the role of stage manager.)
January 23, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
The Washtenaw County Commission passed a resolution banning #ICE from using county property. My latest from Current:

www.ecurrent.com/feature/wash...

Washtenaw County Building. Image credit Ann Arbor District Library creative commons

#washtenawcounty #a2 #annarbor #michigan #immigration #politics
Washtenaw County Commission Passes Resolution Banning ICE From Using County Property - Current Magazine
Immigration and how immigration laws are enforced in this country has defined much of the last decade of America’s political and cultural life. The latest chapter in it in the context of Washtenaw Cou...
www.ecurrent.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
80% of Success is Showing Up
January 23, 2026 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
Prepare now. Prepare now. Prepare now. Prepare now. Prepare now. Prepare now. Prepare now. Prepare now.
⚠️~132 million: Number of people under alerts for snow, sleet, & freezing rain.

A large, long-duration winter storm is expected to bring widespread heavy snow, sleet, & freezing rain from the Southern Rockies & Plains beginning Friday (Jan. 23), spreading eastward toward New England this weekend.
🧵
January 22, 2026 at 6:28 PM
So if kids flush ice cubes down the toilet and put white crayons on the windowsill to try to get a snow day, what are they supposed to do in order to get a cold day?
January 22, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
Here’s the deal with the FY26 NIH funding bill:

One line in the 1000+ pg bill = significantly less science.

The increase to ~40% of grants moving to MYF is estimated to result in a 35% decrease in the NUMBER of NIH grants funded annually—moving the paylines from 10% to around 4%.

THIS IS BAD.
January 21, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
Please join us at U-M CDHW on 1/22/26 as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and co-create solutions for how his message of social justice can inform healthcare for people with #disabilities.
WHEN: Thurs, Jan 22, 2026, from 12 to 2 p.m. ET
WHERE: Online on Zoom, register here: michmed.org/3Gz82
January 21, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
An administration that pushes "law and order" has pulled over $1 billion from gun violence prevention, mental health and public safety programs. More details on the numbers from @bychipbrownlee.com
Trump Has Slashed Federal Funding for Gun Violence Prevention. But How Much Exactly?
For a new analysis, The Trace catalogued how many grants were canceled or redirected during Trump’s first year in office.
www.thetrace.org
January 21, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Of all the weeks for @jeopardyofficial.bsky.social to ask about these island nations…
January 22, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Today I learned the @nws.noaa.gov now has something called an "extreme cold watch/warning" (i.e. no wind required, just dangerously cold air) and we're now in one in Michigan. (Thanks @mlive.com weather guru!)

Now accepting bets on Fri. school/university closures...
www.mlive.com/weather/2026...
Dangerous wind chills heading toward all of Michigan, Extreme Cold Watch already issued for Upper Peninsula
Here's a look at how cold we will get here in Michigan. There is a new type of winter weather watch, called an Extreme Cold Watch, and one has been issued.
www.mlive.com
January 21, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
Please share - multiple summer 2026 in-person undergrad internship opportunities at @pewresearch.org!
- religion
- digital
- social trends
- data journalism
- global
- news
- internet
- AI
- admin
- race
- science
- methods
- politics

Apply soon!
pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...
January 20, 2026 at 7:50 PM
It’s 3 degrees with a wind chill of -12 in Ann Arbor right now.

I just saw a guy in shorts and a Carhartt jacket.
#puremichigan @midwestvseverybody.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Probably won’t get to see the aurora in light-polluted metro Detroit so this will have to do!
For any of y'all who are interested, there's an aurora livestream out of Upper Michigan and not only is it stunning on its own, but there are occasional meteors too! 🤩🥰

youtu.be/CvxylXsyPVs
Lake Superior Aurora web cam -Marquette, MI - 01.19.2026
YouTube video by LakeSuperiorPhoto - Gallery /Studio
youtu.be
January 20, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Kara Gavin
EXCLUSIVE: A quiet revolution happened at Great Ormond Street Hospital last week. A girl with a rare fatal condition received a custom drug under a new MHRA protcol that is 1st step towards process approval, a shift that could one day save millions of lives. www.economist.com/science-and-...
Treatment of a teenager with an ultra-rare condition is a medical milestone
It will change regulators’ rule books
www.economist.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:42 AM
Kudos to the journalists covering the mistaken arrest & release of the Hmong-American _citizen_ in Minneapolis.

But please note:
A) 57 is not “elderly”
B) “elderly” is not a preferred term even for someone much older than 57
C) no person should be dragged from their home unclothed in freezing temps
January 20, 2026 at 1:53 AM
Seeing RFK in the funeral crowd for #MLK and thinking many thoughts… #TCMParty
January 20, 2026 at 12:32 AM
January 19, 2026 at 11:41 PM
The choir was just a warmup - the NAACP president and MLK's godchild are issuing strong challenges to U-M and academia as a whole in their remarks. Please watch later if you can't watch live. #MLKDay
The Detroit Youth Choir is giving an absolutely amazing performance as part of the @umich.edu #MLKDay Symposium right now: oami.umich.edu/mlk-symposium/

Keep on keeping on.
MLK Symposium - OAMI
oami.umich.edu
January 19, 2026 at 4:05 PM
The Detroit Youth Choir is giving an absolutely amazing performance as part of the @umich.edu #MLKDay Symposium right now: oami.umich.edu/mlk-symposium/

Keep on keeping on.
MLK Symposium - OAMI
oami.umich.edu
January 19, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Hey everyone interested in #healthpolicy and improving #healthcare through data-driven research and implementation science, follow this account! It used to be branded as the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, but it's now in the IHPI director's name and voice, with help from staff.
As of January 16, 2026, this account will continue to post updates & news from IHPI, highlighting the work of our members & initiatives.

But it will now do so on behalf of IHPI director John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, with help from staff.

See our Starter Pack of IHPI members: go.bsky.app/NFo2BNF 🩺📊 🛟
January 19, 2026 at 2:08 PM
@statnews.com Your STAT Madness submission form is not working and I have some great @umich.edu research to submit before the deadline! Have tried two browsers, deleting cookies, etc. Please advise!
a picture of a ghost with the words help me obi wine kenobi , you 're my only hope
Alt: Princess Leia sends a message via hologram to try to get help
media.tenor.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Some important context for the new federal dietary guidelines…
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Some of the experts who advised on the development of the most recent national dietary guidelines told MedPage Today that their work wasn't considered, and that the final guidance is riddled with errors.

Read more at: https://www.medpagetoday.com/primarycare/dietnutrition/119457?trw=no
Experts Who Advised on Diet Guidelines Say RFK Jr.'s Version Is Full of Errors
New dietary guidelines riddled with mistakes, sloppy language, and cherry-picked evidence
www.medpagetoday.com
January 19, 2026 at 8:54 AM