Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Esther Choo

@choo.bsky.social

17K followers 1.5K following 320 posts

Emergency Medicine Doc | Mom | Writer | Health Services Research | Public Health Preserving a modicum of peace where I can. If engagement is not respectful, I will block.

Videos

Esther Choo is an emergency physician and professor at the Oregon Health & Science University. She is a popular science communicator who has used social media to talk about racism and sexism in healthcare. She was the president of the Academy of Women in Academic Emergency Medicine and is a member of the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians. She was a co-founder and a board member of Time's Up. On February 26, 2021, Choo was named in a lawsuit against OHSU alleging that Choo failed to take action when she was made aware of an alleged sexual assault involving Dr. Jason Campbell, who became popular on TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic. .. more

Public Health 60%

Medicine 25%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

From nine former CDC directors, who collectively worked at the agency for more than 100 years:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Read every word.

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

www.nytimes.com

3 15 50

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 3d

“The Empire is strong because it recognizes the value in all our people. Including you, Dinios Kol. And when the Empire is weak, it is often because a powerful few have denied us the abundance of our people.”

The Tainted Cup, by Robert Bennett

Art has so much truth for us in every era.

1 13

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 8d

And that it was specifically in response to these kinds of shitty beliefs about “people like this don’t get care here”!

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 8d

Wait until he hears that the rule is that we see people in order of acuity and time in department. Period.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Vance: "If you're an American citizen & you've been to the hospital in the last few years, you've probably noticed wait times are especially large & very often somebody who's there in the ER is an illegal alien. Why do those people get healthcare benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?"

1 3 41

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

1.2K 170 1K

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 9d

Just keep fighting those cat wars

1 1

Reposted by Esther K. Choo

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 9d

Bin-go

100 960 3.2K

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 9d

Make it make sense

1 1 10

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 9d

Soothing the pain with matcha bubble tea and whimsical donuts, of course

1 2

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 9d

If you get shot your assailant’s gun was a right

If you come to the ER afterwards, your healthcare for that visit is a privilege

2 8 46

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 11d

I work in the ER and have gotten no alerts about backup staffing needs. Today my kid’s trumpet lesson got canceled because his teacher is under the weather. Went to the carwash instead. Sun is out. What were we talking about?

4 2 28

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 11d

Update from the Portland suburbs. Yesterday went to a peaceful rally where there were adorable little girls dressed as princesses holding signs that read, “NO KINGS ONLY PRINCESSES.”

1 10 66

Reposted by Will Jennings, Juliet B. Schor, Tom Clark , and 12 more Will Jennings, Juliet B. Schor, Tom Clark, Philip Nel, Esther K. Choo, Juan Cole, Sanford F. Schram, John Foot, Daniel W. Drezner, Melanie C. Green, Alan Richardson, Beatriz Gallardo Paúls, Michael D. McDonald, Brandon Whitcher, Timothy D. McBride

Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 12d

Taken just a few minutes ago outside the ICE facility in Portland that Trump claims is under siege. My message to Donald Trump is this: we don’t need you here. Stay the hell out of our city.

510 5K 13K

Reposted by Esther K. Choo

Sophie Labelle @assignedmale.bsky.social · 12d

Visit... War-Ravaged Portland

36 370 1.3K

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 21d

What struck me is how much these women’s advocacy is grounded in love for their patients. So it is mutual 💕

2 5

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 21d

Here are some heroes for today: Idaho physicians fighting for women’s health in a heartbreaking practice environment (35% of the ob/gyn workforce have left since Dobbs) after realizing that there was no cavalry coming #WIMS

An ob/gyn, a family med doc, and an ER doc sit on a stage at a women in medicine conference

2 18 39

Reposted by Esther K. Choo

Retiredrph @retiredrph.bsky.social · 21d

Oregon will allow pharmacists to administer Covid and other vaccines, starting TODAY. Whew! Thank you Gov. Kotek, West coast Gov’s, Oregon BOP. Get ‘em now, folks! www.oregon.gov/pharmacy/Doc... #covid19 #medsky #pharmsky @choo.bsky.social @jeremyfaust.bsky.social @tinakotek.bsky.social

www.oregon.gov

1 2 8

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · 29d

Sickening. I’m sick of it and we all should be.

3 40

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 6

“And so my state of Oregon, along with Washington, California and Hawaii, wisely decided to step away from a dysfunctional enterprise and establish its own evidence-based health alliance.”

www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rc...

West Coast Health Alliance is a noble effort to offset RFK Jr.'s damage at the CDC

Attempting to create a system that will issue public health guidelines like the CDC will be a monumental task for Western states in a new alliance.

www.msnbc.com

7 41

Reposted by Esther K. Choo

Ari B Friedman @abfriedman.com · Sep 2

We are excited to launch our new talk series: Care, Outcomes, and Reform of Emergency Systems (CORE) Talks. Free Zoom seminars on policy-relevant evidence about EDs, telemedicine, and urgent care.

www.coretalks.org

Today at 11a EST, Dr. Jesse Pines, “How AI May Transform Emergency Care.”

Dr. Jesse Pines stands in an emergency department room.

6 14 33

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“We are worried about the wide-ranging impact that all these decisions will have on America's health security.”

1 2 8

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“And he championed federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage. Firing Dr. Monarez — which led to the resignations of top C.D.C. officials — adds considerable fuel to this raging fire.

1 1 7

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements.

1 6

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill prepared for future health emergencies. He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views.

1 4

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused onunproven treatments while downplaying vaccines.

1 4

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“Mr. Kennedy has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakenedprograms designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more.

1 4

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Sep 1

“What the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months … is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced.

1 4

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Michael Barnett , and 38 more Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Michael Barnett, Elizabeth Saunders, Matthew Bunn, Nancy Kanwisher, Anna Nagurney, Jennifer A. Richeson, Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Benjamin Mason Meier, Michael A. Clemens, Shawn Cole, Andrew Curry, Michael D. Green, Esther K. Choo, Cathy N. Davidson, Daniel S. Goldberg, Robert C. Richards, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Victor Galaz, Naazneen H. Barma, Mark Rice, Michael J. Hicks, Mary Jane Curry, Christina Ho, Greg Linden, Ted Temzelides, Sean P. Corcoran, Michael S. Roth, Meredith Farkas, Jason A. Heppler, Christina Pagel, Manisha Sinha, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Colin Woodard, Andrew Kydd, Fiona Armstrong, Timothy D. McBride, David Darmofal

Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Sep 1

9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

www.nytimes.com

330 5.2K 12K

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Aug 28

One of my mentors says to think of every patient like they are a member of your family — then what you do for them is clear.

These deaths are happening to us, our families. So what we do is clear. Mourn. And then do all we can to keep the next family member from going through this.

2 20

Esther Choo @choo.bsky.social · Aug 28

I wrote this after the Uvalde school shooting. All of the same applies. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/nc...

Texas school shooting victims show the tragedy of gun violence

Here in the hospital, we will always be waiting to receive those who make it to us. But our best will always be a worse option than prevention.

www.msnbc.com

2 4 13