Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Torie Bosch

@thekibosch.bsky.social

2.3K followers 480 following 130 posts

Opinion editor at STAT. Send your conversation-starting medicine/life sciences opinion pieces my way! https://www.statnews.com/first-opinion-submission

www.statnews.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 18h

This might be my proudest professional accomplishment

imaginationasu.bsky.social @imaginationasu.bsky.social · 18h

In this week's #FreeFictionFriday feature, "Bigfeet" by @thekibosch.bsky.social , a group of scientists successfully brings an extinct species back from the dead: the elusive Bigfoot. The main problem? It never actually existed in the first place!
🔗 slate.com/technology/2...

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 19h

We've updated the opinion submissiong uidelines on @statnews.com to give some more granular information about what we're looking for. You can find them here: www.statnews.com/first-opinio...

Guidelines for writing and submitting essays to First Opinion

First Opinion, STAT’s platform for opinion and first-person essays, welcomes submissions about topics related to the life sciences, including policy,

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

This season of the #STATOpinionPodcast is just getting started. Please subscribe and share your thoughts!

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

Patients who don't pursue treatment often are "driven not by ignorance but by fear, confusion, and a deep sense that no one in the system is really looking out for them," Sam wrote. www.statnews.com/2025/07/07/a...

How the U.S. health care system fails cancer patients like former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis

Ananda Lewis should still be alive. She had access. She had options. What she didn’t have was trust in the system that could have saved her, writes an oncologist.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

After former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis--who I so admired as a teenager--died from breast cancer this summer, oncologist Samyukta Mullangi wrote about how patients refuse treatment because of a broken system www.statnews.com/2025/07/07/a...

How the U.S. health care system fails cancer patients like former MTV VJ Ananda Lewis

Ananda Lewis should still be alive. She had access. She had options. What she didn’t have was trust in the system that could have saved her, writes an oncologist.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

"It was her choice not to be treated. She had the right and the autonomy to make that choice. But it was cancer’s fault that she died," Joy wrote. www.statnews.com/2025/07/21/b...

My mother refused treatment for her breast cancer. Her doctors should have respected her choice

“You know you’re going to die, right?” When Joy Lisi Rankin’s mother decided not to treat her breast cancer, doctors were scornful — and hurtful.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

In a deeply moving piece, Joy Lisi Rankin wrote about her mother's decision not to treat her breast cancer, and how that choice affected her when she faced the disease herself years later. www.statnews.com/2025/07/21/b...

My mother refused treatment for her breast cancer. Her doctors should have respected her choice

“You know you’re going to die, right?” When Joy Lisi Rankin’s mother decided not to treat her breast cancer, doctors were scornful — and hurtful.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

Our conversation was inspired by Joy's and Sam's essays, published weeks apart but somehow in conversation with each other.

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 2d

On this week's episode of the @statnews.com First Opinion Podcast, I spoke with Joy Lisi Rankin and Samyukta Mullangi about when cancer patients decline treatment--and the way oncologists should respond #STATOpinionPod www.statnews.com/2025/10/08/b...

When patients refuse cancer treatment

“When I think of patients who refuse treatment, I don't automatically assume they're uninformed. I kind of assume that they're just informed by different facts.”

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 9d

This season I'll talk to two folks who pushed back against anti-vaccine legislation in a red state, someone who got dysentery for science, and more. Got ideas for who I else I should interview? Let me know!

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 9d

You can find the First Opinion Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. (I'm an Overcast partisan myself.)
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
open.spotify.com/show/3y7p5nB...

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 9d

You can also read his @statnews.com essay on becoming a trusted science communicator online: www.statnews.com/2025/07/01/dr-noc-social-media-science-influencers-tiktok-data-relatability/

I’m a social media scientist with 3.5 million followers. Here’s what I’ve learned about public health communication

“A scientific message will not resonate unless viewers have clear reason to care about the issue and, more importantly, to trust the messenger,” writes popular social media scientist dr.noc.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 9d

Dr. Noc avoids making content for people who already agree with him or are only looking for a fight. "The problem … is you’re not changing people’s minds at that point, you’re just making them emotionally engaged.” www.statnews.com/2025/10/01/d...

Science social media star Dr. Noc on the value of edutainment

“I'm never going to speak to everyone. We need a much greater diversity of science communicators and researchers and experts making content,” Dr. Noc says on the “First Opinion Podcast.”

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 9d

The @statnews.com First Opinion Podcast is back, baby. For this season's premiere episode, I spoke with Morgan "Dr. Noc" McSweeney, who has become a science communication rockstar on social media. www.statnews.com/2025/10/01/d...

Science social media star Dr. Noc on the value of edutainment

“I'm never going to speak to everyone. We need a much greater diversity of science communicators and researchers and experts making content,” Dr. Noc says on the “First Opinion Podcast.”

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 11d

Today @statnews.com launches Neurotransmissions, a new opinion column by @pennmemorycenter.bsky.social's Jason Karlawish. Neurotransmissions will focus on the revolution in dementia diagnosis and treatment, and the questions it raises. Read the first column: www.statnews.com/2025/09/29/d...

The way we talk about dementia is about to change completely

“The more we talk, debate, even sometimes argue, the more we can live well with a mind altered by these progressive, disabling brain diseases,” Jason Karlawish writes.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Torie Bosch

anil oza @aniloza.bsky.social · 17d

& if you don't have access to any of the stories, we are running a promo for STAT+ subscriptions (ends this friday!!)

bsky.app/profile/stat...

STAT @statnews.com · Sep 9

Finally, get a STAT+ subscription at an extraordinary discount!

Our special anniversary sale: 10 months of STAT+ for $10/month

Join us for our next decade and get the most out of our reporting with STAT+
marketing.statnews.com/stat-10th-st...
#STAT10

STAT's 10-year anniversary sale

Join us as we mark a decade of health, medicine, and science reporting and access award-winning journalism, discounted event tickets and merch, and more.

marketing.statnews.com

Reposted by Torie Bosch

J. Emory Parker 🏳️‍🌈 @jaspar.bsky.social · 22d

If you just cancelled Disney+ and you’re wondering what do to with that extra money, one option: STAT is running a big sale right now, you can get 10 months for $10 marketing.statnews.com/stat-10th-st...

STAT's 10-year anniversary sale

Join us as we mark a decade of health, medicine, and science reporting and access award-winning journalism, discounted event tickets and merch, and more.

marketing.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 25d

I have feelings about the phrase "lived experience." Read more about them in the weekly First Opinion newsletter from @statnews.com www.statnews.com/signup/first...

Reposted by Torie Bosch

Josie Glausiusz @josiegz.bsky.social · 26d

On the Trump administration's cruel disbanding of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium: my op-ed @statnews.com

My 12-year-old son died from brain cancer. This research would have helped children like him

www.statnews.com/2025/09/15/p...

The Trump admin’s cruel disbanding of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium

My 12-year-old son died from brain cancer. The defunding of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium will deny treatments to children like him.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · 26d

Thank you so much!

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · Sep 10

Early career journalists, consider applying for Fulbright Germany's Berlin Capital Program. I did it back in 2011 and absolutely loved it. The program culminates with a weeklong trip to Germany in September 2026.

Learn more here: fulbright.de/en/grants/pr...

Berlin Capital Program for Journalists

The Berlin Capital Program is a one-week seminar offering US journalists a closer look at the German media landscape and German and European society.

Reposted by Torie Bosch

Jake Scott, MD @jakescottmd.bsky.social · Sep 9

My thoughts on the unpublished study unveiled at today’s hearing on the state of vaccine safety science.
Big thanks to @thekibosch.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/2025/09/09/a...

RFK Jr. ally’s ‘smoking gun’ study on vaccines and chronic illness is fundamentally flawed

Bogus study on vaccines and chronic illness presented at Senate presents “a dangerous precedent for how science is weighed in policymaking,” infectious disease expert writes.

www.statnews.com

Torie Bosch @thekibosch.bsky.social · Sep 9

I'm so proud to be part of @STATNews, the definitive source for reporting (and dare I say opinion!) on health and medical news at a time when it is very much needed. Happy birthday, STAT!

STAT @statnews.com · Sep 9

STAT is 10!

Join us in reflecting on a decade of reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine.

We’re proud that since 2015 we’ve delivered urgent, authoritative, and impactful journalism.

Celebrate with us: www.statnews.com/stat-10th-an...
#STAT10 🧵

STAT 10 Year Anniversary

When we named ourselves “STAT’’ 10 years ago, we conceded, “It takes a bit of chutzpah to name a digital-age life-sciences publication after a buzzword

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Torie Bosch

Jake Scott, MD @jakescottmd.bsky.social · Aug 13

RFK Jr’s “evidence” doesn’t support ending mRNA vaccine development. It makes the case for expanding it.

Thanks to @thekibosch.bsky.social @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/r...

Kennedy's case against mRNA vaccines collapses under his own evidence

“This isn't scientific disagreement. It's either staggering incompetence or willful misrepresentation,” writes infectious disease physician Jake Scott.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Torie Bosch

Jake Scott, MD @jakescottmd.bsky.social · Jul 3

"Over 660 million pilgrims gathered at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, this past February, and I’m now seeing the downstream consequences in my California clinic."

New piece I wrote. Big thanks to @thekibosch.bsky.social and @statnews.com.

www.statnews.com/2025/07/03/m...

Protecting pilgrims from infectious disease without diminishing their faith

Over 660 million pilgrims gathered at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, this past February, and I'm now seeing the downstream consequences in my

www.statnews.com