Steven Woolf
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shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf
@shwoolf.bsky.social
250 followers 140 following 44 posts

Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Public Health 46%
Medicine 24%
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shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Sep 20
My latest editorial, in the Lancet, on how the Trump administration is affecting health outcomes. Understanding the true impact requires a wide-angle lens. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Evaluating how the Trump administration will affect health outcomes
Discussions about how a government's policies affect health often focus on health ministries or agencies responsible for medical or public health services. This is certainly true in the USA, where con...
www.thelancet.com

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf

ddiamond.bsky.social
Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Feb 8
The White House sent out an email to all reporters on its press list, calling our story “fake news.”

We stand by our story.

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf, Calvin K. Lai, Michael Harris

bakerdphd.bsky.social
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · Feb 11
Here's why your education friends had a real rough one today. It's... it's the entire education data collection apparatus of the United States.

www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
Screenshot of the article that reads: The Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, appears to be the latest agency in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency office. Dozens of researchers and contractors received notices Feb. 10, directing them to immediately stop work on research projects and program evaluations financed by IES, a federal agency with a roughly $800 million budget, sources say. It was not immediately clear which—or how many—of IES’ hundreds of contracts are affected, though one source estimated roughly 170.

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf

alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social · Feb 14
New from FDA on its clinical trial diversity guidance, which was restored because of a court order this week

"Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality"

www.fda.gov/regulatory-i...
A screenshot of text that reads in part: "Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website as of 11:59 PM on February 11, 2025. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it."

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jul 21
Cuts by the Trump administration hurt the labs that are researching future cures to deadly diseases and the scientists keeping us on the cutting edge of innovation.

Go to ProtectScienceAndInnovation.org and tell Congress to reject these funding cuts.

Reposted by Reshma Ramachandran

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jun 30
www.nytimes.com/interactive/... My latest in the New York Times. An attempt to warn the public that their health is about to get much worse.
Opinion | How to Wreck the Nation’s Health, by the Numbers
The administration's cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services are going to do irreparable harm to the nation’s health.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf

jillrose.bsky.social
Jill Rosenthal @jillrose.bsky.social · Jun 27
RFK Jr’s recent upheaval of the CDC’s ACIP is just the latest example of his numerous attempts to replace science with his personal agenda. @shwoolf.bsky.social‬ and I explain why ACIP matters and why calls are growing to remove RFK Jr. as health secretary. www.americanprogress.org/article/rfk-...
RFK Jr. Is Systematically Undermining Vaccine Science and Endangering Health
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent upheaval of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is just one example of numerous attempts to replace science with his personal ag...
www.americanprogress.org

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 14
Word on the street is that big layoffs are occurring at HHS today (Friday afternoon), losing a large number at CDC, NIH, etc.

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 14
This is ridiculous. These web pages are meant for data and scientific updates. This is not a platform for politicians to spew ideology. Take this elsewhere please and let us concentrate on treating our patients.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Trump officials ask CDC, FDA to use gender notice on restored websites
The Trump administration had directed health agencies to place a notice condemning “gender ideology” on health webpages that had been earlier taken down.
www.washingtonpost.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 14
How sad. A serious agency with serious leaders now taken over by ideologues. The scientists at FDA must be demoralized.
alexander-a-tin.bsky.social Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social · Feb 14
New from FDA on its clinical trial diversity guidance, which was restored because of a court order this week

"Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality"

www.fda.gov/regulatory-i...
A screenshot of text that reads in part: "Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website as of 11:59 PM on February 11, 2025. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it."

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 11
www.linkedin.com/posts/george...
George Rust on LinkedIn: For those who are so opposed to DEI, I would ask this -- what are you for?… | 16 comments
For those who are so opposed to DEI, I would ask this -- what are you for? * If you are against inclusion, whom are you for excluding? * If you are against… | 16 comments on LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 11
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Judge orders CDC, FDA to restore websites taken down after Trump gender order
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates granted a restraining order temporarily reversing the Trump administration’s moves to remove scientific data.
www.washingtonpost.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 11
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship
'We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles'
www.medpagetoday.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 11
Now DOGE is going after our nation's best soirc of data on educational outcomes. I guess American schoolchildren are not a priority.
bakerdphd.bsky.social Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · Feb 11
Here's why your education friends had a real rough one today. It's... it's the entire education data collection apparatus of the United States.

www.edweek.org/policy-polit...
Screenshot of the article that reads: The Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, appears to be the latest agency in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency office. Dozens of researchers and contractors received notices Feb. 10, directing them to immediately stop work on research projects and program evaluations financed by IES, a federal agency with a roughly $800 million budget, sources say. It was not immediately clear which—or how many—of IES’ hundreds of contracts are affected, though one source estimated roughly 170.

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 9
The White House statement shows its ignorance about what indirects are for.
ddiamond.bsky.social Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Feb 8
The White House sent out an email to all reporters on its press list, calling our story “fake news.”

We stand by our story.

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 9
It should not fall on a British journal to speak out about threats to science in the United States. Leading US medical journals, such as JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, and others should issue a joint statement in defense of scientific independence.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
American chaos: standing up for health and medicine
Withdrawal from WHO and the Paris Agreements. USAID shuttered and aid halted, ceasing health programmes globally. A freeze on US$3 trillion worth of federal grants and loans, jeopardising the function...
www.thelancet.com

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf, Kavita Patel

ddiamond.bsky.social
Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Feb 8
“A sane government would never do this.” — the former dean of Harvard Medical School

Universities are reeling. Elon Musk’s allies are celebrating.

Looking at the major cut to federal research funding — which many scientists predict will be devastating

With @lenasun.bsky.social and Carolyn Johnson
NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately
The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf

apha.org
APHA @apha.org · Feb 5
THIS ⬇️
"We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language," APHA's Georges Benjamin tells Medpage Today. "We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles." www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo... 🔥
Public Health Journal Won't Be Complicit in Trump Admin's Censorship
'We will publish things under our guidelines, under our ethical principles'
www.medpagetoday.com

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf, Manuela Joore, Emily Evans

jocalynclark.bsky.social
Jocalyn Clark @jocalynclark.bsky.social · Feb 4
Censor CDC scientists and ask them to withdraw papers from medical journals?

This is not how it works, Mr President.

Our response @bmj.com on the Trump Executive Order and his "forbidden words"

www.bmj.com/content/388/...

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 1
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
CDC removes gender, equity references in public health material
Large sets of data are being scrubbed of references to transgender and LGBTQ+ people, among others, which could compromise their use in research.
www.washingtonpost.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Feb 1
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
CDC removes gender, equity references in public health material
Large sets of data are being scrubbed of references to transgender and LGBTQ+ people, among others, which could compromise their use in research.
www.washingtonpost.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 31
Just published this morning in JAMA, on how medicine and public health should respond to the new administration. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
How Should Health Care and Public Health Respond to the New US Administration?
This Viewpoint discusses scientific, medical, and public health actions, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization, taken so far during the first week of the Trump administration.
jamanetwork.com

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 31
The CDC web pages for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) has gone dark. It provided extensive data on the physical and mental youth, including LGBTQ+ youth. Alarming statistics on the poor mental health of trans youth. It's all gone, at least for now. See yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 31
The CDC web pages for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) has gone dark. It provided extensive data on the physical and mental youth, including LGBTQ+ youth. Alarming statistics on the poor mental health of trans youth. It's all gone, at least for now. See yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 31
The CDC web pages for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) has gone dark. It provided extensive data on the physical and mental youth, including LGBTQ+ youth. Alarming statistics on the poor mental health of trans youth. It's all gone, at least for now. See yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov
App Offline
yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 30
RFK Jr, on 2nd day of testimony, again claims (inexplicably) that there was no treatment for chronic disease when John F Kennedy was present. This is absurd. Does he think doctors in 1960 weren't treating heart disease, cancer, etc? Someone this ignorant has no business being head of HHS. #STOPRFK

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 30
It was indeed a disturbing day but glad to have been with you for the experience. Thanks for looking after me.

Reposted by Steven H. Woolf

andreaducas.bsky.social
Andrea Ducas @andreaducas.bsky.social · Jan 29
I don’t even mean this with hyperbole: nearly any other American would be a better choice.
americanprogressaction.org CAP Action @americanprogressaction.org · Jan 29
Sen. Bennet on RFK Jr.: "I hope my colleagues will say to the president, out of 330 million Americans, we can do better than this."

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 29
Asked how he will make America healthier, RFK says the food supply is problem #1. It's important, but what about tobacco use, physical inactivity, guns, and other leading causes of death. This is environmental lawyer is preoccupied with toxins,l. HHS secy needs a broader understanding of the issue.

shwoolf.bsky.social
Steven Woolf @shwoolf.bsky.social · Jan 29
RFK incorrectly claims that NIH is preoccupied with infectious diseases (this will come as a surprise to NCI and NHLBI) and "does nothing" to address chronic diseases. This is blatantly false. Anyone who knows anything about NIH would know this. This man is not qualified to be HHS secy.