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Brittany Charlton

@britshmit.bsky.social

7K followers 260 following 190 posts

Epidemiologist 📊 • Associate Prof at Harvard Med School & School of Public Health • Founding Director LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence • Views=own• Mom of 3 kiddos • she/her + 🏳️‍🌈

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · Apr 2

🚨 BREAKING: I'm suing #RFKJr @ #HHS & #JayBhattacharya @ #NIH

Canceling medical research grants threatens innovations benefiting ALL Americans, no matter your politics! 🇺🇸

Thanks to my lawyers @aclu.org @aclum.bsky.social @protectdemocracy.org & @cspi.bsky.social

Long 🧵 on why I'm suing 👇

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Reposted by Brittany Charlton

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · Jun 25

Just in: NIH staff have been instructed to REINSTATE these ~900 grants to comply with the court order, per sources. This comes after staff were also directed to cease any further terminations.

You can see the lists grants to be reinstated in my post below.

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · Jun 18

The judge intends to limit his order to universities in the plaintiff states (CA, MD, WA, AZ, CO, DE, HI, MA, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, WI), members of the plaintiff orgs (APHA, UAW), and the researchers named directly, he said today.

His written opinion will come in the coming days.

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · Jun 16

🚨 BREAKING: Nearly 4 months the NIH cut its first grants, a judge has ruled that the directives and process that led to cuts are arbitrary and capricious.

"The explanations are bereft of reasoning — virtually in their entirety... unsupported by [facts]."

Each of them are VOID and ILLEGAL, he says.

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · Jun 16

The sense of relief, vindication, & hope in the courtroom was undeniable—the emotion was so thick you could feel it in the air as justice & the value of our research were finally affirmed

Protect Democracy @protectdemocracy.org · Jun 16

🚨BREAKING: In a huge win for public health and democracy, a federal court ruled that the NIH’s ideological purge of life-saving research grants is unlawful.

Today, the rule of law prevailed — and science, once again, belongs to everyone.

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · Jun 16

📢BREAKING: Just left the courthouse for our NIH grant termination case

Judge ruled terminations are “VOID & ILLEGAL”

As a plaintiff, I felt a wave of relief & hope; he acknowledged the discrimination & harm

Closed by asking, ‘Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?’

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 22

⚖️Heartbroken but proud to stand with fellow researchers in court today⚖️

NIH’s sudden grant cuts:
🚫 Silence lifesaving health equity work
⏳ Undermine years of progress
⚠️ Put vital discoveries at risk

We won’t stop fighting for science & justice 🧪

👇More details from our @aclu.org representation👇

‘Devastated’ and ‘Hopeless.’ Researchers Speak Out on Funding Cuts | ACLU

www.aclu.org

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 22

From our lawyers @protectdemocracy.org

"By excluding entire topics...the NIH divides & polarizes communities, undermines our shared sense of reality, & demonizes marginalized groups.

Challenging these actions is vital for science, for equality, & for democracy."

🤞 for tomorrow's hearing

Challenging politically-driven attacks on science and medical research - Protect Democracy

Protect Democracy is challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful termination of $400 million in federal funding.

protectdemocracy.org

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 22

Heartbroken for my colleague @kgamarel.bsky.social

After decades of NIH support, HIV research network gets funding back—but Kristi's study on trans youth of color is singled out & cut

Essential research for most vulnerable—lost

🙏 Powerful reporting @stephaniemlee.bsky.social in @chronicle.com

An NIH Grant Is Restored, With a Catch: Cut a Study on Trans Youth

HIV scientists were given a choice: eliminate a study of transgender youth or lose a shot to recover a larger series of grants. They chose the former.

www.chronicle.com

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 22

✊ How to challenge authoritarianism?

🔥 3 proven approaches

1️⃣ Mockery & salacious humor 🤡
2️⃣ Expose corruption, hypocrisy (& not just calling for ‘democracy’) 💸
3️⃣ Spotlight an individual tragedy (& not sea of oppression) 💔

🔗 👇 Nicholas Kristof @nytimes.com

Opinion | Three Well-Tested Ways to Undermine an Autocrat

www.nytimes.com

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 22

Sworn testimony & leaked emails: more proof DOGE is hand-picking which NIH grants live or die—screening awards, handing out kill lists, & canceling science in hours

🙌 Shout out to @maxkozlov.bsky.social at @nature.com for breaking the story (again), in part due to brave NIH insiders

NIH killed grants on orders from Elon Musk’s DOGE

Court documents and internal correspondence show the cost-cutting force has broad control over the world’s largest public biomedical funder.

www.nature.com

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 21

🗣️ Tomorrow, our lawyers will ask the court for an injunction to halt the illegal cancellation of NIH research grants

They'll argue violations of the Administrative Procedure Act & Constitution

Meet the other plaintiffs & listen in on the hearing 👇🔬

#ProtectScience

The faces of the NIH cuts

What sort of research is being slashed?

www.ifyoucankeepit.org

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

My @bostonglobe.com quotes 💔

"The scale of what happened is incomprehensible—a bloodbath for research and the wider community.

Entire labs are unraveling, and young scientists on training grants may be suddenly adrift. Work that could change lives—or save them—is being brought to a standstill.” 🔬

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

📍DEVELOPING

🪓 Hundreds of Harvard research grants slashed

What I told @bostonglobe.com — full quote follows ⬇️

#AcademicTwitter #HigherEd #Science

‘A bloodbath’: Trump administration moves to terminate hundreds of federal grants at Harvard - The Boston Globe

Harvard researchers who rely on federal grants to study cancer, infectious diseases and a range of other topics began receiving termination notices en masse on Thursday from a number of federal agenci...

www.bostonglobe.com

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

13/ If you care about truth 💡 health 🩺 & democracy 🗳️ — fight with us ✊

We need a tidal wave 🌊

Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

12/ That’s why I ran for local office 🗳️ — and won 🏆

We need scientists everywhere:

🔬 In labs

📚 On school boards

⚖️ In courtrooms

Not just resisting — leading 🚀

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

11/ Philanthropy 💸 must step up

Congress 🏛️ must act

And the public 👥 must understand: this isn’t niche

The research you rely on — cancer 🧬, HIV 🦠, vaccines 💉, mental health 🧠 — is next 🔥

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

10/ I’m proud to be a Harvard faculty member 🎓 — & proud Harvard is also suing to defend academic freedom 📢🧠.

More universities 🏛️ & institutions must join now

This is DEFCON 1 🚨

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

9/ I’ve faced hate mail 💌 Disturbing threats 🚫

I've increased security around my office & family 🛑🏠.

But the greater danger is silence 😶

We either defend science now — or we watch it vanish 🫥

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

8/ I’m not alone ✊

Leading researchers, the American Public Health Association 🏥 & others joined our suit — to stop unlawful grant terminations & protect science 🔬📚

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

7/ This is not just about me

It’s about whether truth 🧬 will survive in a democracy 🗳️ — or if science will be rewritten by ideology 📉

That’s why I'm filing a federal lawsuit ⚖️ against RFK Jr. & the NIH

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

6/ One canceled study found lesbians are 3x as likely to experience stillbirth 🫄

Another studied suicide risk in queer youth under anti-LGBTQ laws 🧒

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

5/ The government destroyed $16 million in taxpayer-funded science that I was leading 💰

But that’s not what hurts most

What hurts is this: vital, life-saving LGBTQ research is now in the trash — defunded, silenced, erased

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

4/ That’s what makes what happened next so dangerous ⚠️

Dangerous for every American who relies on evidence-based health care

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

3/ I share this because my work was rigorous & earned the respect of experienced scientists

Now, it’s all been erased — because it’s no longer “aligned with agency priorities.”

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

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I’m a Harvard-trained epidemiologist.

In the past decade:

✔️ Mentored 75+ rising health leaders

✔️ Published 100+ peer-reviewed papers

✔️ Ranked top 10% in NIH funding across Harvard

✔️ Built one of the largest LGBTQ health research programs in the world 🏥

I don't say this to brag...

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 16

📌 THREAD: I’m taking Health & Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. to court ⚖️

Not for me — but to defend science 🧬, LGBTQ health 🏳️‍🌈 & the future of public research 🏥

Here’s why 🧵

🔗 Full story via my op-ed in @statnews.com

#DefendScience #LGBTQHealth #RFKJr #NIH #PublicHealth #AcademicFreedom

Science is under attack. So I’m taking RFK Jr. to court

“After losing every one of my grants — and seeing the human cost to my team, patients, and society — I knew silence was not an option,” writes Brittany Charlton.

www.statnews.com

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Brittany Charlton @britshmit.bsky.social · May 14

🧬 Science is under siege — and so are the systems that protect lives.

These aren’t just panel quotes. They’re alarm bells 🔔🔔🔔

#STATBreakthrough