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Eric Boodman

@ericboodman.bsky.social

2.6K followers 210 following 39 posts

Journalist writing narrative features for @statnews.bsky.social and occasional essays elsewhere.

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Reposted by Eric Boodman

Megan Molteni @mmolteni.bsky.social · 14d

Smart story from @jonathanwosen.bsky.social and @angusrohan.bsky.social on the dangerous new territory Trump waded into Monday as he issued direct medical advice regarding the use of Tylenol. Almost makes one nostalgic for the days of some light bleach-pushing.

www.statnews.com/2025/09/23/t...

In dispensing advice on Tylenol and autism, Trump takes on a new role: doctor in chief

Trump repeatedly and forcefully issued direct medical advice during his autism announcement, in ways that went beyond presidential precedent.

www.statnews.com

Eric Boodman @ericboodman.bsky.social · 16d

"Health care's dirty little secret": To avoid being fined for hospital-acquired infections, some administrators discourage clinicians from testing for them, even when that worsens patient care. Important reporting from @tarabannow.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/h...

Hospitals get dinged for reporting too many infections. In some cases, the solution is not to test

A STAT Investigation: To avoid fines for reporting excessive hospital-acquired infections, some facilities are discouraging testing.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Jonathan Wosen @jonathanwosen.bsky.social · 28d

If you run a life science lab where research has either significantly slowed or shut down completely due to Trump administration policies, I’d like to hear your story. I'm a biotech and life sciences reporter for @statnews.com, and you can reach me at [email protected] #journorequest

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 11

#NIH director Jay Bhattacharya says the #BARDA mRNA contracts were terminated because the platform isn't viable because people don't trust it.
Experts question some of the claims Bhattacharya made. www.statnews.com/2025/08/11/m...

NIH director: mRNA vaccine contracts were canceled because public lacks trust in technology

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya offered an explanation for the cancellation of mRNA vaccine contracts that didn't align with that of his boss, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · Aug 1

NEW: Massive and confusing inconsistencies at NIH. New director says health disparities research is critical yet grants are being cut left and right. With @aniloza.bsky.social and @ericboodman.bsky.social. (Also my last story for STAT. 😢) www.statnews.com/2025/08/01/n...

Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, he’s allowed such research to wither

Jay Bhattacharya’s tenure as NIH director has seen health disparities research swept up in the Trump administration’s attack on DEI

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Aug 1

Incredibly well reported deep dive on NIH and health disparities research in STAT. 🧵

www.statnews.com/2025/08/01/n...

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Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, he’s allowed such research to wither

Jay Bhattacharya’s tenure as NIH director has seen health disparities research swept up in the Trump administration’s attack on DEI

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Jul 30

. @lizzylawrence.bsky.social takes a look at the lead up to Vinay Prasad's abrupt departure from #FDA. The now former #CBER head "wasn’t able to outrun his firebrand persona," she writes.
www.statnews.com/2025/07/30/v...

Inside the fall of Vinay Prasad at the FDA

Prasad's departure followed a campaign by a right-wing activist and a controversy over a rare disease drug.

www.statnews.com

Eric Boodman @ericboodman.bsky.social · Jul 30

He didn't have ALS. At least, not yet. But clearly some of his nerve cells had died. Would an experimental drug prevent him from getting it?

Great piece from @jasonmast.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2025/07/28/a...

Did a drug prevent this man’s ALS?

For over an hour, Jeff Vierstra lay still in Columbia University’s ALS clinic, as a doctor poked him ankle-to-throat with an electric needle. Sometimes,

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Daniel Payne @danielpayne.bsky.social · Jul 1

Senate passes Trump’s tax-cut bill that would slash Medicaid spending

www.statnews.com/2025/07/01/s...

Senate passes Trump’s tax-cut bill that would slash Medicaid spending

The Senate has passed a $4.5 trillion tax cut bill after last-minute changes to its health care provisions, as Republicans scrambled to get their party on board.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Jun 26

You can't make this stuff up.
Fortunately, my brilliant colleague @jasonmast.bsky.social, was around to explain to you all what happened at the first meeting of the new #ACIP. www.statnews.com/2025/06/26/c...

The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, empowered by RFK Jr., is just getting started

The ACIP, the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel newly empowered by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is just getting started.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Usha Lee McFarling @usha.bsky.social · Jun 18

Important story: Native American longevity rates even lower than previously thoughts because their race is often recorded wrong on death certificates. Story by new STAT intern Marissa Russo. www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/l...

Why a lot of Native American deaths are not counted

Native American deaths are significantly undercounted because of errors in death certificates, a new study claims.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Jason Ukman @jasonukman.bsky.social · Jun 18

The newly reconstituted CDC vaccine advisory committee will discuss the combination measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccine, among other things, at its meeting next week. It has been on the CDC’s childhood vaccination schedule for decades.

www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/r...

Vaccine advisers to consider MMRV vaccines, 'thimerosal containing' flu shots in pared-down meeting

RFK Jr.'s handpicked advisers will discuss two long-approved shots at their next meeting

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Lizzy Lawrence @lizzylawrence.bsky.social · Jun 18

NEW: Vinay Prasad will now hold three separate jobs at the Food and Drug Administration, solidifying his position as a top adviser to Commissioner Marty Makary.
www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/v...

Vinay Prasad named chief medical and science officer at FDA

Vinay Prasad is taking on several big roles at the FDA, solidifying his position as a top adviser to Commissioner Marty Makary.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Theresa Gaffney @theresagaff.bsky.social · Jun 18

BREAKING: The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Story here, will be updating: www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/s...

Supreme Court ruling on gender-affirming care delivers major setback for transgender rights

Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors can stand after the Supreme Court ruled that it does not constitute sex-based discrimination, in a 6-3 decision.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Jun 16

Two critical labs at the #CDC were inexplicable targeted for closure in April. The #STD & viral #hepatitis laboratories are among the parts at the agency where terminations have been rescinded. www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/c...

CDC workers fired from prominent STI, hepatitis labs are rehired

The staff of two world-class CDC laboratories that were slated to be closed by the Trump administration have been informed that their terminations have been canceled.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

David Folkenflik @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social · Jun 16

Veteran photographer Michael Nigro was shot in the head with a non-lethal bullet while covering anti-ICE protests in LA. "It felt very very intentional," Nigro tells NPR, "a chilling effect to convince us to go away."

Other reporters say they have been targeted too.

My story below:

NPR @npr.org · Jun 16

The Los Angeles Press Club says law enforcement officers have violated press freedoms of reporters covering anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles more than three dozen times. https://n.pr/3Zw0tPg

Journalists dodge rubber bullets in covering L.A. immigration protests

The Los Angeles Press Club says law enforcement officers have violated press freedoms of reporters covering anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles more than three dozen times.

Reposted by Eric Boodman

anil oza @aniloza.bsky.social · Jun 16

BREAKING: federal judge overrules hundreds of NIH grant terminations

www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/n...

Federal judge rules that hundreds of NIH grant terminations were 'void and illegal'

A federal judge ruled that some of the grant terminations by the National Institutes of Health on DEI grounds are “void and illegal.”

www.statnews.com

Eric Boodman @ericboodman.bsky.social · Jun 16

As Harvard scientists grapple with massive funding cuts, one lab at the school of public health turns to funding from private equity, Allison DeAngelis reports for @statnews.com

www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/h...

Private equity firm will finance Harvard research lab, in possible template for future

A private equity firm will finance a Harvard University research lab, a possible template for the future as schools nationwide absorb federal funding cuts.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Jason Ukman @jasonukman.bsky.social · Jun 13

RFK Jr. said he dismissed an entire vaccine advisory board because of conflicts of interest. But new members appear to have their own conflicts. Many question how the secretary defines COI in the first place.

Via @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social

www.statnews.com/2025/06/13/r...

RFK Jr.’s new vaccine panel raises questions of how Kennedy defines conflicts of interest

The entanglements and strongly expressed views of the new vaccine panel raises questions of how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defines conflicts of interest.

www.statnews.com

Eric Boodman @ericboodman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Wrote about why fallopian tube removals are replacing "tube-tying" — and how pathologists came to believe that the most common kind of so-called ovarian cancer often begins in the tube.

www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/o...

To prevent ovarian cancers, fallopian tube removal is on the rise

To prevent ovarian cancers, fallopian tube removal is on an upsurge — and diagnostic manuals are finally catching up.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Jonathan Lambert @jonlambert.bsky.social · May 28

Last week, Marco Rubio said no one has died from USAID cuts and "No children are dying on my watch."

This mother begs to differ, and researchers suspect there are tens to hundreds of thousands more stories like hers.

By ‪@gabrielleemanuel.bsky.social‬ and me
www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Marco Rubio said no one has died due to U.S. aid cuts. This mom disagrees

Mariam Mohammed says her younger son died when she could not get treatment for him at a U.S.-funded clinic that had temporarily closed. Researchers say that are many thousands of cases like his.

Eric Boodman @ericboodman.bsky.social · May 27

Ethical discussions about genome-editing are inextricable from questions about government funding and regulation of science.

But some experts' assumptions about the workings of government are now up in the air, @mmolteni.bsky.social writes.

www.statnews.com/2025/05/27/g...

Screenshot of this paragraph: "“I’ve always believed we were working, in a slow, mostly linear process, toward more democratization in the world,” she said. “My work on consensus building has largely assumed people engaged in that process would be living in democratic societies, and that’s not a fair assumption anymore.” In March, a Swedish research institute released its annual report finding that for the first time in decades, there are now more people living in autocracies than democracies."

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Lev Facher @levfacher.bsky.social · May 14

New: CDC data released today shows a 27% decrease in drug overdose deaths in 2024 compared to the year prior, as fentanyl deaths plummet but deaths involving stimulants like meth and cocaine increase

www.statnews.com/2025/05/14/d...

Drug overdose deaths fell sharply in 2024, as fentanyl cases dropped but meth spiked

U.S. drug overdose deaths fell 27% in 2024, the lowest since 2019, with fentanyl cases sharply down but methamphetamine up, the CDC reports.

www.statnews.com

Reposted by Eric Boodman

Megan Molteni @mmolteni.bsky.social · May 12

The Trump administration’s vast overhaul of the U.S. scientific enterprise is hitting Chinese-American researchers particularly hard, with big implications for the future of global scientific competition and collaboration, Brian Yang writes for @statnews.com:

www.statnews.com/2025/05/12/n...

Chinese and Chinese-American researchers in the U.S. confront a perilous moment

Chinese and Chinese-American researchers are reassessing their futures in the U.S., potentially shifting the balance in global scientific innovation, as well as in the biopharma industry.

www.statnews.com

Eric Boodman @ericboodman.bsky.social · May 12

A laid-off CDC expert is offering free help to Milwaukee during its lead crisis.

“As far as I know, it’s still a free country, and if you want to volunteer your time to help people in need, I don’t think that’s proscribed," he said.

HHS, though, isn't so sure.

www.statnews.com/2025/05/12/l...

Amid the Milwaukee lead crisis, a laid-off CDC scientist volunteered his expertise. It wasn’t so simple

After his job was cut, a CDC scientist volunteered to help Milwaukee respond to the lead crisis in its public schools. For now, he's in limbo.

www.statnews.com