Usha Lee McFarling

Scoop with @mercohn.bsky.social: Johns Hopkins University is laying off more than 100 employees in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Carey Business School and central administration. Hopkins is suffering "debilitating" decreases in federal research funding www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

School's out for summer but @ksjatmit.bsky.social, we're hard at work training the next generation of science journalists. KSJ HBCU Summer Camp led by the amazing @ashleythesmart.bsky.social

In another smart piece of reporting for @science.org , former KSJ Fellow @kakape.bsky.social speaks to the experts trying to understand how the cruise ship hantavirus started — and what that says about the only hantavirus documented to transmit from person to person. www.science.org/content/arti...

Terrible and sad news. The number of journalists covering science at a time that coverage is so desperately needed continues to decline.

Excellent and thorough story by the amazing @aniloza.bsky.social “One problem is that such a meritocracy has never existed, and it’s ahistorical to believe that one could exist in the U.S., particularly by dismantling race-conscious policies.” www.statnews.com/2026/05/15/t... via @statnews.com

Follow @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social She’s fighting for science and freedom of speech And science — like work on racial disparities — that isn’t considered “clean.” As she says, language matters.

This was fitting news to receive on May 1, international workers day. I will be returning to work on Monday after being kept on retaliatory administrative leave for 5 months and 3 weeks. I return along with the brave Katrina Declaration signers from FEMA, also reinstated this week. 🧵1/?

So honored to receive a Polk award today with STAT colleagues @mmolteni.bsky.social @aniloza.bsky.social @angusrohan.bsky.social @jonathanwosen.bsky.social @isabellacueto.bsky.social @lizzylawrence.bsky.social @jaspar.bsky.social @rickberke.bsky.social Gideon Gil Laura Chang+Sarah Todd. What a team.

Announcing the stellar new class of @ksjatmit.bsky.social fellows who will join us this fall. 💪🏽🧠✍️ Can’t wait to get started! ksj.mit.edu/news/2026/04...

I’m incensed that immigration policies are removing foreign doctors from their hospitals and jobs. We face a critical physician shortage. Many of these doctors treat the poor and underserved. This decision will cost lives. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/04/u...

I will say this again: Science isn’t just something that nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world. It’s why this app exists. It’s why child mortality rate isn’t 50% anymore. It’s how we’re able to launch people to the moon. It’s how we’re able to grow food that feeds half the world.

My only guess is NYT wanted a way in on the FEMA teleportation traffic and sent intrepid correspondent to figure it out and well that story is gonna stretch no matter what.

So honored to host journalist, professor, and maritime explorer Michael Cottman this week @ksjatmit.bsky.social to discuss his work on studying the wreck of the slave ship Henrietta Marie. Powerful to learn about the network of Black scuba divers who continue this critical historical work.

The term “gold standard science“ is so insidious. As Harvard’s Nancy Krueger wrote recently, “The reality is that federal agencies under this current administration are brandishing this ‘gold standard science’ as a cudgel, to make data, people, and problems disappear.”

and if you haven't read this backstory on the messy, contentious fight to remove race from eGFR by @usha.bsky.social & @katiepalmer.bsky.social, you really should www.statnews.com/2024/09/05/e...

Amazing to see the change that can be possible to reduce longstanding racial health disparities. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽Story by @aniloza.bsky.social Comments from @thenephrologist.bsky.social whttps://www.statnews.com/2026/03/10/kidney-transplants-black-americans-race-based-test-discarded/ via @statnews.com

Have you seen this one? Dubbed the mad hatterpillar, it wears it's own old heads as a hat. www.newscientist.com/article/mg24...

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there. They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

@mmolteni.bsky.social of @statnews.com with the scoop on #Epstein and Harvard geneticist George Church. "Thirteen years later, the whereabouts of the sex offender’s skin cells are a mystery." www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...

Who will be the first reporter to ask Trump for a comment? Lawrence Summers Will Resign From Harvard After Epstein Revelations www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

New from @katherineeban.bsky.social in @rollingstone.com: CDC appointees bypassed the agency’s scientists to rush-fund a study questioning the hep B birth dose. The ethics committee president says his name was used on the approval without his knowledge. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

it’s very difficult for me to reread old pieces of mine, but I am sharing this for the Olympics, for nostalgia, for Asian American women of a certain age, for little Asian girls everywhere gift link:

The $100 whole human genome sequence finally reached! www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/02/19/s...

Hilarious

This is perhaps the most tragic of the consequences of the attack by Trump and colleagues on NIH. Gutting the next generation of American science 🧪

@lataco.bsky.social is raising money to launch a dedicated investigative news desk. If you've relied on their immigration coverage this year like I have, you know this is a worthy cause to support. givebutter.com/la-taco-inve...

This is the agency that is charged by law with preventing sexual assault in the workplace

Very strong "Al Capone arrested and in custody on suspicion of tax evasion" vibes.

ProPublica published children's letters and drawings documenting their sadness and suffering at Dilley. And Dilley staff are now retaliating by confiscating kids' letters and drawings. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...

If you're an environmental journalist in the UK or Europe, the biggest gathering of ocean scientists in the world is happening in Glasgow next week, and you should consider coming to cover some of the most important findings about our life support system. #OSM26

A lot of institutions looks mighty foolish and boy is the damage already done. Have principles.

"I’m gratified that such a prestigious award can help this important, heartrending story find an even wider audience,” says editor in chief Ross McCammon. https://www.texasmonthly.com/press-room/texas-monthly-contributor-elliott-woods-wins-polk-award/

So proud of my niece, @lizzylawrence.bsky.social, an intrepid FDA reporter @statnews.com who has won a Polk award. A few months ago I sent her off in an Uber after dinner, then a half-hour later saw her name on a news alert. "Did you write that in the *car?*" I asked, amazed. But of course she did.😂

I believe O’Neill would be the second director in NSF history without a PhD, and the first without any sort of research background. (Eric Bloch, director from 1984-1990, was an engineer who worked at IBM.)

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

STAT has won a prestigious George Polk Award for documenting the Trump administration’s shakeup of the FDA, scientific research, and public health. www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/s...

just renewed my stat subscription (and congrats to all the polk winners today!)

So thrilled @lizzylawrence.bsky.social and @statnews.com have won a Polk Award for our coverage of the Trump Administration assault on science+health. I couldn’t be prouder of our powerful coverage and the many stories we were first on. What a team. www.statnews.com/american-sci...

The FDA reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday. www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/f...

It's been a year since Kennedy became health secretary. What has he accomplished? We updated our tracker: www.statnews.com/2025/09/10/r...

”The information ecosystem is massively polluted, people are pickled in propaganda.” @laurahelmuth.bsky.social on misinformation and low public trust in science @aaas.org. “We‘re fighting an unfair fight.”

For a panel this morning at the #aaasmtg, the other speakers and I will share ideas and examples for improving trust in science. Here are a few I'll mention if I get a chance (we have a LOT to talk about). I'd love to hear yours. (1/7)

“Safe care is equitable care,“ said @shaziamsiddique.bsky.social at our @aaas.org panel on removing harmful racial algorithms from medicine. “Think racism not race,” advised Joseph Wright. “There is complexity and the need for humility here,” said @helenburstinmd.medsky.social

“I was used to being discriminated against on the basis of race … all the sudden I had new ism.” The legend Shirley Malcolm speaks @aaas.org about confronting #sexism and #racism as she left the South for college and made her way through her science education.