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Dr. Sarah Thomas

@sarahathomasphd.bsky.social

2.7K followers 1.9K following 26 posts

Clinical psychologist. Asst. Professor (Research) at Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Psychiatry and Human Behavior. I study adolescent cannabis use, reward, mental health, the brain, and parent-adolescent interactions. Views are my own

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Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Nov 12

👋 I research adolescent cannabis use in the context of brain development, and how it poses risk for depression, suicidality, sleep disruption, and addiction. I also work with the ABCD Study dataset 👇

🧠👩‍🔬

Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Oct 31

I'm excited to share our new article on the link between resting state connectivity and out-of-scanner cognitive flexibility performance in children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study 🧠 🧲💻🧒

authors.elsevier.com/a/1i0GA6TBF%...

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 21h

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Biological Psychiatry @biologicalpsych.bsky.social · 7d

In this review, @lucinauddin.bsky.social and Hugh Garavan examine how task and resting-state fMRI can reveal brain-behavior relationships in youth, highlighting current controversies and challenges, outlining solutions, and proposing future directions in developmental neuroscience research.

Task and resting state fMRI modelling of brain-behavior relationships in developmental cohorts

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data are often used to inform individual differences in cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric phenotypes. These so-called “brain-behavior” association stu...

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

U.S. Senator Jack Reed @reed.senate.gov · 27d

NEW: $8M for Bradley Hospital’s dedicated mental health professionals to boost research & strengthen services.

This federal grant will help build a new facility to improve pediatric psychiatric research & make it easier to access top-notch services in one centralized, modern facility.

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 14

Sign the petition to call for the removal of RFK, Jr.

www.standupforscience.net/rfk-impeachm...

Sign the IMPEACH RFK Citizens' Petition to Congress — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

Join with us to sign our Citizens' Petition to the US Congress to choose the people over Trump and Impeach RFK Jr Now!

www.standupforscience.net

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Jul 28

this ends with a description of what YOU can do.

Please get involved now.
Everyone can take one of these actions.

you are a lab head, this affects you; if you are a student, this
threatens your future The NIH grant system was already hyper- competitive before Trump. This policy will make it brutal. Without immediate resistance from the research community, this policy will go forward with devastating consequences for
US science.
What can you do? • Contact your Congressional representatives. It is best to show up in person. Explain and tell them to oppose this forward funding mandate. Share this article if it helps! Tell them to protect NIH
funding. • For researchers: Make noise within your institution. Ask your research office what they re doing to push back. Talk to your
program officers. Demand transparency. • Tell your local press that Trump is destroying US medical research, and find
local activist groups to reach out to. • There are many engaged citizens across the country affected by cancer, or Alzheimer's, that want more information from scientists to help them advocate to
their elected officials and to the press.
Offer to talk to them, and help them do

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Leslie Brick @lesliebrickphd.bsky.social · Jul 1

We’re heading in to Day 2 of our pre-college summer course at Brown 🧬 🧠 Conducting Research at the Forefront of Science: Mental Health, Policy, and Social Implications of Cannabis Use in the U.S.

It’s always a blast teaching with @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social

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Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Jul 1

Right back at you!! 🪴 💚

Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · Jun 25

So important! Please contact your Republican senators, especially Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). 🙏 amplify!

Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · Jun 24

As Robert Kuttner writes, the NIH will need support from Republican Senators to avoid draconian cuts to its FY2026 budget.

prospect.org/politics/202...

Will the Senate Save NIH?

Rescuing biomedical research is every bit as important as saving Medicaid.

prospect.org

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Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Jun 9

Thank you so much!!

Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Jun 4

I am hiring a clinical research assistant for a project on adolescent cannabis use that will use MRI 🧠 and behavioral tasks 🎮 More information is available in the link below, and applicants can send a CV and cover letter to me. Please share—thank you!

tinyurl.com/msn8h2ce

Thomas_TEDS Lab RA Position.pdf

tinyurl.com

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Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Jun 6

Bloomingdale’s at Chestnut Hill

Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · Jun 4

Thomas_TEDS Lab RA Position.pdf

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · May 30

Here's the NIH's proposed budget - from $48 billion to $27 billion. NIAID, current ~$7 billion cut to ~$4.2 billion.

The proposed 15% cap on indirect costs remains.

Again, these budgets are passed, and our leadership in science, technology, and innovation is gone.

www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul...

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · May 23

The original deadline for comments of May 23 has been extended to June 7 in response to requests from the public for more time to weigh in, an OMB spokesperson told STAT.

4/n

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · May 23

Please comment. The Administration is trying to turn the NIH IC Directors and program staff roles into political appointees that serve at the whim of the President. Imagine if each change in administration brought sweeping changes in professional NIH staff across your favorite ICs.

@KayTrue (Sarah L. Keller) @kaytrue.bsky.social · May 21

Here are details about OPM-2025-0004. This would replace NIH Directors (non-partisan civil servants) with political appointees. Jeremy Berg has quick text to use: bsky.app/profile/jere.... A direct link for your comments is at: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20.... Cite Docket ID OPM-2025-0004

Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduc...

www.federalregister.gov

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · May 22

If you do in fact want Covid boosters for yourself or anyone, you can submit public comment to the FDA here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

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Jon Freeman @freemanjb.bsky.social · May 21

🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees

Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday

📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful

Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj

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Dr. Sarah Thomas @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social · May 20

I hope this isn’t true. We all need to contact our elected officials and get them to do more to support research right now

Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · May 19

@joshtpm.bsky.social reports today that defenders of science research have proposed that senators visit the NIH (and invite the media) to hear about the research on cures being shut down there. Yet Democratic Senate staff have declined, saying it doesn't fit with their comms strategy. [head desk]

Fight or Don’t Fight and Take the Consequences

It’s become almost commonplace in recent years, and especially in the last...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · May 16

A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical Research talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-pat...

A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical Research

Over the past four months I’ve spoken to dozens of biomedical researchers...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · May 9

New from me: Everything feels overwhelming. But here is a tangible thing you can do: write a comment to oppose Trump's plan to convert 50,000 career civil servants into political appointees. Deadline is May 23. Please share!
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/here-is-a-...

Here is a specific thing you can do to fight Trump's politicization of public services

Plus: what I wrote in Science about the revised Schedule F

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Association for Psychological Science @psychscience.bsky.social · May 2

Contact your Representative and Senators & urge them to support investments in NSF and NIH.

The Administration’s proposed cuts to these vital agencies will harm #science and hinder our prosperity, health, and well-being.

www.psychologicalscience.org/act-now

Act Now: Share your Concerns with Your Representative and Senators

It does not matter whether your Representative or Senators agree with you. They must hear from you to understand how federal policy changes are influencing the people they were elected to represent.

www.psychologicalscience.org

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · May 1

“However bad everyone on the outside thinks it is, it is a million times worse. They’re dismantling and destroying everything.”

Read, share, respond. Call your representatives.

The health and well-being of Americans & America's innovation economy are at stake.

www.science.org/content/arti...

NIH insiders: Trump is ‘dismantling and destroying everything’

After just 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding

www.science.org

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Apr 30

A 50% cut to science funding (which is close to what Trump is proposing for NIH) would result in huge negative long-term economic outcomes:
*7.6% cut in GDP
*8.6% cut in federal revenues
*equivalents of making the average American $10,000 poorer

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · Apr 30

"If you look at a long period of time, a lot of our increase in living standards seems to be coming from public investment in scientific research."

The devastating cuts to science funding aren't just academic, they threaten our livelihoods and wellbeing. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b...

Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows (Gift Article)

Reducing federal support for research and development could cause long-run economic damage and reduce government revenue.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Dr. Sarah Thomas

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Apr 28

Here is a link to 60 Minutes NIH segment...

www.cbsnews.com/news/scienti...

Scientists fear Trump administration cuts to NIH could impact the health of Americans for generations

Former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, who abruptly left his NIH research lab in February, fears aggressive downsizing could impact Americans' health.

www.cbsnews.com

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