Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 12h

My TikTok feed is full of videos of AI-generated MLK Jr. and Michael Jackson doing a bunch of outrageous stuff (and it looks super realistic).

Delete Facebook off your parents’ phones TODAY. Report their account to get it banned if necessary

Reposted by Michael D. Green

Sudarshan Krishnamurthy @sudkrishnamurthy.bsky.social · 3d

Not a typical post (🧵) on here, but just over 6 months ago, I successfully defended my dissertation alongside friends, family, my committee, and many loved ones. It was a wonderful day, and I have so many people to thank for their support over the past 3 years and more!

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Front page of Sud’s dissertation titled ‘Investigating the Relationships of Place-based Social Determinants of Health and Structural Racism with Measures of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias”.

The rest of the text on the title page reads as follows:
BY
SUDARSHAN KRISHNAMURTHY
A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Molecular Medicine and Translational Science
May 2025
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Approved By:
Timothy M. Hughes, PhD, MPH, Advisor
James R. Bateman, MD, MPH, Chair
Sarah N. Forrester, PhD, MS
Da Ma, PhD
Ellen Quillen, PhD
Christopher Whitlow, MD, PhD

Sud standing in a dark blue suit and blue shirt grinning as he wears a sash that reads “Ph.inisheD”.

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 4d

Initial submission of my dissertation is out the door 🫡. Clearly an easy task during these lighthearted and untroubling times.

I’m even hearing this is the best time in a while to be an expert in something!

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 11d

Curious about the implications of this for Masters students?? A lot of people don’t go straight from undergrad…

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · 12d

Latest horrifying news on Trump administration erasing national data: they're ending data collection on food security by Census. Explanation of why this is a big deal: updates.dataindex.us/archive/fors... @npi.ucanr.edu @donmoyn.bsky.social @centeronbudget.bsky.social @popassocamerica.bsky.social

Forsaking Food Security

by Chris Dick and Beth Jarosz How often are Americans concerned that their food will run out before they have money to buy more? Or that they did not have...

updates.dataindex.us

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Max Jordan Nguemeni @maxjordan.bsky.social · 12d

As a physician-scientist who was recently on an H-1B, studying many things including the physician workforce, last week’s executive order hit home. I wrote about it, and what it could mean for healthcare in the US, especially in Rural America. On Adverse Reaction! open.substack.com/pub/adverser...

Killing Rural Hospitals by Executive Order

The government claims it cares about rural healthcare. Its actions say otherwise.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · 14d

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 20d

Wouldn’t even have a prototype out yet, and we’d probably raise $100 million in funding 😭😭

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 20d

New idea for if I can’t get an academic job when I hit the market because of ~everything~

A scanner for babies that tells you y they’re crying. Will call it “Baby OB2” - the check engine light scanner for your newborn. It wont work but I’ll claim it was designed w/ AI and prob raise a lot of money

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 20d

That’ll show them!

Matt Pearce @mattdpearce.com · 20d

I’m hearing the left is responding with an abundance strategy, Universal Basic Kimmel to ensure community-rooted Kimmel needs are met.

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 22d

Thinking about how my family immigrated from Jamaica to the US to avoid corruption and give future generations a chance to succeed. Well, I certainly have some news for them!

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Matt Pearce @mattdpearce.com · 22d

Seems like there’s an opening for a political movement concerned about free speech and cancel culture.

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 23d

Another important thing to remember about the model of federal funding that has existed is that it was decentralized and there was no assumption about where discoveries could be made. Despite all the double speak about “gold standard science,” the current regime wants to politicize and centralize it

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 23d

The VC model is the antithesis of good basic science.

Basic science is best when many labs are funded over the long-term, when many different scientists pursue their own ideas. Let a thousand flowers bloom —and support them.

VC investment is about relentless, exponential growth.

But starting in the late 1980s, that investment in basic science began to pay
off, driving a revolution in the molecular biology of cancer. Though it took decades, the cancer investment increase in the
1970s has led to a cornucopia of new cancer cures today. Immunotherapies,
CAR-T cell treatments, checkpoint inhibitors, and precision drug targeting are all a product of that basic science work.
And that progress has contributed to increased quality of life. Between 1991 and 2019, the risk of dying of cancer dropped by 31%. This is a common story for basic scientific research: it's a long-term investment, one that only governments have the time horizon to make, and it brings enormous payoffs. The payoffs are both economic, generating jobs, and in better health, generating cures. And the US scientific research system is complex, painstakingly constructed, and easy to

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 23d

A lot of prospective PhD candidates reach out to me for advice.

Pursuing a PhD really will test your sense of “why am I doing this” and bring out self-doubt (even in ideal circumstances). Now more than ever people need to think about if it is worth their time, given the demands of being a trainee

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 24d

"Everything has gotten worse and nothing has gotten better when it comes to U.S. doctoral admissions or the likely experience of a five- to seven-year commitment during the Trump administration...Sometimes, there are lost generations; this will be one of those times." 💔

Don't Do a Ph.D. Now

At least in the United States

musgrave.substack.com

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Rachael Sirianni, PhD @docsirianni.bsky.social · 23d

This breaks my heart. I’ve had many similar discussions with students, esp bc I lead a research ed program for undergrads to support biomed workforce. It’s hard to know what to say. Should they (pre 2025)? Should they (post 2025)? Two entirely different convos 😢 We are losing a gen of scientists

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 24d

"Everything has gotten worse and nothing has gotten better when it comes to U.S. doctoral admissions or the likely experience of a five- to seven-year commitment during the Trump administration...Sometimes, there are lost generations; this will be one of those times." 💔

Don't Do a Ph.D. Now

At least in the United States

musgrave.substack.com

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 24d

"Everything has gotten worse and nothing has gotten better when it comes to U.S. doctoral admissions or the likely experience of a five- to seven-year commitment during the Trump administration...Sometimes, there are lost generations; this will be one of those times." 💔

Don't Do a Ph.D. Now

At least in the United States

musgrave.substack.com

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · 25d

Thrilled to co-author 2 recent qualitative papers that perfectly demonstrate the importance of mixed methods research to inform US policy. In the first aptly titled "It's confusing as hell" we examined lived experiences of low-income people applying for the EITC. academic.oup.com/healthaffair... 1/

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Save Health Research @savehealthresearch.bsky.social · 26d

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Utibe R. Essien, MD, MPH @uressien.bsky.social · 26d

My patient recently lost his Medicaid insurance and couldn’t afford his meds.

Just calculated the cost of his 13 💊 which would be $2300/month. That’s around $27,500/year.

The FPL for a family of 4 is ~$32,000.

This is not sustainable for the health and lives of our patients!

#Pharmacoequity

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Robert Califf @robcaliff.bsky.social · 27d

Important and direct. I hope this gets the air time it needs.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/o...

Opinion | It’s Not You. It’s the Food.

www.nytimes.com

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 28d

Aka the list of words we have to figure out solutions for in a few years after we’ve hemorrhaged all the scientists and training programs that focus on these things 💔🥀🤦🏿‍♂️

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 28d

Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.

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A word cloud with dominant words "equity", "disparity", "diverse", and similar words.

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Reposted by Michael D. Green

Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 28d

The people whipping up panics about "academic freedom" rarely speak up when academic freedom is actually imperiled.

This is absolutely chilling.

Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 28d

Texas A&M’s President just removed a dean and department head from their positions after they supported a professor whose lesson on gender was challenged by a student. www.kbtx.com/2025/09/09/a...

A&M Dean removed following student complaints over curriculum

The Department of Justice has also acknowledged the situation and said it would be investigating.

www.kbtx.com

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · 29d

+1 for Nihao

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · Sep 7

Agreed, the hard part is knowing when the story is going to catch on and have the most narrative power.

In many ways being less online is probably better for us all, but being more present and involved in these spaces also increases your likelihood of having a story picked up.

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Michael D. Green @michaeldgreen.com · Sep 7

Social media is a tool, but I’m unsure we can really use social media to influence people. Maybe podcasts and medium form videos so people can get to know you, you build trust, AND present a nuanced argument? Algorithms are also a tricky part of this…

Maybe @chrislhayes.bsky.social has thoughts?

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