Trump taps former public health leader Erica Schwartz to run CDC Schwartz's background as a physician with plenty of government service experience will likely be popular among lawmakers.

#CDC has been without a director for most of Trump 2.0. A new nominee was put forward today, Erika Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general. (Nomination was scooped earlier this week by @ddiamond.bsky.social & @lenasun.bsky.social).
Let's see what happens. www.statnews.com/2026/04/16/e...

ACIP conflict is test of Trump's support for RFK Jr.'s vaccine policy overhaul The Trump administration is weighing how to respond to a court ruling on vaccine policymaking, a decision that could come with political risks.

The Trump administration is weighing how to respond to a court ruling on vaccine policymaking, a decision that could come with political risks. www.statnews.com/2026/03/20/k...

National survey of NIH-funded researchers shows precarious state of U.S. science — ‘This is like the Titanic’ A nationwide STAT survey of NIH-funded researchers reveals that, a year after Donald Trump's return to the White House, many scientists are reeling

Thanks to these researchers and 25 others for trusting us with their stories. We've published two initial pieces on the survey, with more coverage in the works. Links to our stories below.

(Main story) www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/n...

(Accompanying piece) www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/n...

Carl Latkin, a Johns Hopkins researcher

Johns Hopkins' Carl Latkin has data from ~ 500 participants in an HIV study sitting in the cloud unanalyzed after NIH shut off his funding. "Right now I cannot, in good faith, encourage the best and the brightest students to go into a career of NIH-funded research," he told @aniloza.bsky.social

Iris Smith

Iris Smith, a staff scientist at Cleveland Clinic, had high hopes for studying endometriosis, a disease that has defined her own life. But NIH cancelled her funding, and her employment contract will expire at the end of March. "This can’t be how it ends,” said Smith, who's figuring out next steps.

Northwestern University researcher Minoli Perera

When NIH terminated a grant for Northwestern's Minoli Perera to study responses to clopidogrel, a blood thinner, in Puerto Ricans, $250,000 "might as well have been flushed down the toilet, because you built all of this to do nothing with it,” she told me. “I find it just sickening to think about.”

Harvard researcher Josiemer Mattei

Harvard's Josiemer Mattei had participants drop out of a diabetes prevention study in Puerto Rico after NIH terminated her funding last year. While funding was restored, the trial site she was working with stopped working with her -- and with academics at all -- in part because of the disruption.

Mariya Sweetwyne, an assistant professor at the University of Washington

Mariya Sweetwyne, an assistant prof at the University of Washington, is down to just 1 lab member after NIH rescinded a grant program through which she'd sought funding. She's reduced her mouse colony by half. Each morning, her daughter hands her a few coins and asks, “Is this going to be enough?”

Our @statnews.com survey of NIH-funded researchers drew nearly 1,000 responses from 45 states (plus DC and Puerto Rico). Here's a short thread on 5 scientists' whose labs and lives have been deeply impacted by federal policies 🧵

STAT FDA reporter @lizzylawrence.bsky.social asks HHS chief counselor Chris Klomp about the turnover at the FDA.

Klomp: “When I see turnover in any organization — could be the FDA, it could be another — it's worrisome…”
#STATBreakthrough

Thank you!

One of many, many jarring statistics from our @statnews.com survey of NIH-funded researchers: Among scientists who'd sought outside money to fill funding gaps, 63% said they didn't get enough support to sustain their work. Chart by @jaspar.bsky.social

Thanks for reading our coverage, and for this kind note.

Researchers surveyed by STAT detail the scientific and personal toll of grant cuts: ‘This can't be how it ends’ STAT interviews with 30 respondents brought the unmistakably human impacts of federal science policy into sharp focus. Here are three of those stories.

Interviews with 30 researchers who responded to our @statnews.com survey on the impacts of federal science policy brought the human toll of changes at NIH into sharp focus. In addition to today's special report, @aniloza.bsky.social & I bring you 3 vignettes. 👇
www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/n...

National survey of NIH-funded researchers shows precarious state of U.S. science — ‘This is like the Titanic’ A nationwide STAT survey of NIH-funded researchers reveals that, a year after Donald Trump's return to the White House, many scientists are reeling

@statnews.com conducted a national survey of NIH-funded researchers and found that, a year after Trump's return, many scientists are reeling, with some closing labs entirely. ‘This is like the Titanic,' one respondent told me. For full details, see our special report
www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/n...

FDA’s top infectious disease regulator to depart agency Adam Sherwat, the director of the Office of Infectious Diseases in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, is leaving the agency.

NEW: FDA’s top infectious disease regulator to depart agency
www.statnews.com/2026/03/18/f...

NIH will spend its full budget this year, agency director promises House appropriators NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya promised a House subcommittee on Tuesday that the agency will spend its full budget by the end of the 2026 fiscal year

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya promised a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday that, despite the sluggish pace of grant awards, the agency will spend its full budget by the end of the 2026 fiscal year. My latest for @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/03/17/n...

Federal judge stalls health secretary RFK Jr.’s overhaul of vaccine policy Breaking: A federal judge on Monday stalled major parts of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to remake vaccine policy in the U.S.

BREAKING: Federal judge stalls RFK's reconstitution of ACIP and childhood vaccine schedule, saying it likely violated the law (APA)

story is developing and will be updated!

www.statnews.com/2026/03/16/k...

5 lessons from Vinay Prasad's turbulent tenure at the FDA Vinay Prasad's unique ability to attract criticism — even when his bosses, including the president, wanted him to keep his head low — did him in at the FDA.

Vinay Prasad's unique ability to attract criticism — even when his bosses, including the president, wanted him to keep his head low — did him in at the FDA. www.statnews.com/2026/03/08/v...

Vinay Prasad, key Makary ally and a focus of controversy at FDA, is leaving the agency Prasad has been involved in several controversial decisions related to rare disease treatments.

BREAKING: Vinay Prasad is leaving the FDA for the second time. First reported by the WSJ
www.statnews.com/2026/03/06/f...

A month in, TrumpRx falls short of president’s grand promises Trump wants to focus on his efforts to lower drug prices, but the TrumpRx website is falling short of his promises.

A month in, TrumpRx falls short of the president’s grand promises for the discount medicines website, @danielpayne.bsky.social reports, with relatively few drugs listed and uneven savings www.statnews.com/2026/03/05/t... via @statnews.com

A new mystery emerges about Epstein's involvement in Harvard genetics study Someone seems to have altered the Personal Genome Project’s profile page believed to belong to Epstein to indicate he provided consent to join the study Jan. 31, 2026.

There’s a new mystery involving Jeffrey Epstein and a Harvard genome sequencing project that he participated in, @mmolteni.bsky.social reports in this @statnews.com exclusive www.statnews.com/2026/03/04/j...

2026 STAT Madness 2026 bracket Welcome to STAT Madness, a bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine. Explore groundbreaking innovations from

It's time to VOTE!
#STATMadness is back! Our bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine.
Help us crown a new champ! Vote now: www.statnews.com/feature/stat...

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary defends rare disease drug rejections, Vinay Prasad FDA Commissioner Marty Makary defended the agency’s recent rejections of rare disease drugs and one of his deputies, Vinay Prasad, in an interview with CNBC.

NEW: FDA Commissioner Marty Makary defended FDA's rare disease drug rejections, Vinay Prasad on CNBC this morning. He also appeared to disparage a Huntington’s disease treatment under review.
www.statnews.com/2026/02/26/m...

A rare disease drug was approvable, then it wasn’t. Inside a surprise rejection by the FDA Drugmakers thought they had the FDA's buy-in to approve a therapy to treat a type of cancer that can quickly turn deadly. The agency, however, rejected it.

A rare disease drug was approvable, then it wasn’t. Inside a surprise rejection by the FDA. Excellent reporting by @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social in this @statnews.com exclusive www.statnews.com/2026/02/25/r...

Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church Exclusive: Harvard geneticist George Church knew more about Jeffrey Epstein's activities than he has previously said, before accepting new donations from the sex offender.

Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church, reports @mmolteni.bsky.social in this @statnews.com exclusive. 13 years later, the whereabouts of the sex offender’s skin cells are a mystery
www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...

Nature Medicine to investigate study that found cancer treatment is better in morning Nature Medicine starts an investigation into inconsistencies in a study that found it was better to have immunotherapy in the morning.

A study suggesting cancer immunotherapy is more effective when given in the morning made headlines -- and raised concerns the findings were too good to be true. A scientific journal is now investigating the study, @angusrohan.bsky.social reports for @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/c...

With federal research funding uncertain, states debate new science initiatives A handful of states are considering initiatives to increase funding for scientific research as uncertainty around federal dollars has grown.

amid uncertainty from the fed govt, states are toying around with the idea of implementing their own funding initiatives

the moves feel necessary to researchers in those states, but some policy experts cautioned it could feed rhetoric about not needing federal $

www.statnews.com/2026/02/20/s...

Key study of Grail’s cancer detection test fails in setback for company A blood test for detecting cancer early being developed by the diagnostics firm Grail failed to meet its main goal in a giant study being conducted with

A key U.K. study of Grail’s multi-cancer detection test has failed, a major setback for the company, @matthewherper.bsky.social writes for @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2026/02/19/g...