Andrea Pauls Backman
@andreaalsstrategy.bsky.social
ALS strategist| former caregiver| ex-CEO and board member| aligning interests of the lived experience ALS/MND community with research, clinical care, regulators, funders, and industry.
And American parents should be terrified also.
New: The Trump administration is plotting what could be its most disruptive vaccine policies yet.
Internally, major vaccine manufacturers are terrified.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/18/t...
Internally, major vaccine manufacturers are terrified.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/18/t...
Trump and RFK Jr. are mulling their most disruptive vaccine policies yet — alarming manufacturers
Trump and Kennedy are considering removing aluminum from vaccines and breaking up shots that protect against multiple diseases.
www.statnews.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:00 PM
And American parents should be terrified also.
And the brain drain begins.
Living costs and politics have lead to PhD students studying abroad
Read the full story: go.nature.com/3Xx4G3t
Read the full story: go.nature.com/3Xx4G3t
November 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
And the brain drain begins.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Trump and RFK Jr. are mulling their most disruptive vaccine policies yet — alarming manufacturers www.statnews.com/2025/11/18/t... via @statnews
🚨 Key: Suggested policy changes, about schedule & ingredients, "run contrary to evidence around their safety and efficacy."
#ScienceMatters
🚨 Key: Suggested policy changes, about schedule & ingredients, "run contrary to evidence around their safety and efficacy."
#ScienceMatters
Trump and RFK Jr. are mulling their most disruptive vaccine policies yet — alarming manufacturers
Trump and Kennedy are considering removing aluminum from vaccines and breaking up shots that protect against multiple diseases.
www.statnews.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Trump and RFK Jr. are mulling their most disruptive vaccine policies yet — alarming manufacturers www.statnews.com/2025/11/18/t... via @statnews
🚨 Key: Suggested policy changes, about schedule & ingredients, "run contrary to evidence around their safety and efficacy."
#ScienceMatters
🚨 Key: Suggested policy changes, about schedule & ingredients, "run contrary to evidence around their safety and efficacy."
#ScienceMatters
Great article describing how young women cope with ALS in their own way. The Young Women Grappling With an ‘Old Man’s Disease’ www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/h...
The Young Women Grappling With an ‘Old Man’s Disease’
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Great article describing how young women cope with ALS in their own way. The Young Women Grappling With an ‘Old Man’s Disease’ www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/h...
Nice rebrand for NEALS!
October 8, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Nice rebrand for NEALS!
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
The United States has swiftly retreated from global health leadership. In @lemonde.fr, I share why this retreat will have serious repercussions worldwide.
Tom Frieden, former CDC director: 'The US is dismantling its own health infrastructure and retreating from global health leadership'
OP-ED. The physician and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that by 2030, the new US health policy could cause the deaths of more than 14 million people.
www.lemonde.fr
September 25, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The United States has swiftly retreated from global health leadership. In @lemonde.fr, I share why this retreat will have serious repercussions worldwide.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
However bad you think things are at the CDC they are worse.
That's the takeaway from this well-reported story from Daniel Payne w/back-up from an all-star STAT team.
Must-read.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...
That's the takeaway from this well-reported story from Daniel Payne w/back-up from an all-star STAT team.
Must-read.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...
Inside the CDC director's ouster: Kennedy demanded acceptance of new vaccine policies; Susan Monarez refused
Susan Monarez’s resistance to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s moves to assert control over vaccine guidance is at the center of her dismissal as CDC director
www.statnews.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:41 PM
However bad you think things are at the CDC they are worse.
That's the takeaway from this well-reported story from Daniel Payne w/back-up from an all-star STAT team.
Must-read.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...
That's the takeaway from this well-reported story from Daniel Payne w/back-up from an all-star STAT team.
Must-read.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...
I was delighted to have another opportunity to speak with @RepMikeQuigley today about the reauthorization of the #ACTforALS.
Stay tuned for more to come on this important piece of #ALS legislation.
Stay tuned for more to come on this important piece of #ALS legislation.
August 28, 2025 at 11:20 PM
I was delighted to have another opportunity to speak with @RepMikeQuigley today about the reauthorization of the #ACTforALS.
Stay tuned for more to come on this important piece of #ALS legislation.
Stay tuned for more to come on this important piece of #ALS legislation.
What a great meeting!! I’m honored to be on the ALL #ALS Steering Committee and delighted to see the progress and innovations this natural history study is making.
Learn more at all-als.org
Learn more at all-als.org
June 10, 2025 at 8:54 PM
What a great meeting!! I’m honored to be on the ALL #ALS Steering Committee and delighted to see the progress and innovations this natural history study is making.
Learn more at all-als.org
Learn more at all-als.org
In honor and memory of all those we have lost to #ALS this #2025MemorialDay.
May 26, 2025 at 10:14 PM
In honor and memory of all those we have lost to #ALS this #2025MemorialDay.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Have you ever had a vaccine-preventable illness? I'm collecting stories for First Opinion on @statnews.com. Email me a paragraph about your experience at first.opinion@statnews.com.
April 6, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Have you ever had a vaccine-preventable illness? I'm collecting stories for First Opinion on @statnews.com. Email me a paragraph about your experience at first.opinion@statnews.com.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Each of us working in public health is motivated by a drive to make the world safer and healthier. Never lose that core purpose. Hold true to the personal stories that have inspired you.
Inside the C.D.C., a Final ‘Love Letter’ Before Mass Layoffs (Gift Article)
The agency’s injury center was among the departments that were largely gutted in Tuesday’s wave of dismissals. Read a staff member’s letter to colleagues while they awaited their fates.
www.nytimes.com
April 4, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Each of us working in public health is motivated by a drive to make the world safer and healthier. Never lose that core purpose. Hold true to the personal stories that have inspired you.
Looks like the CDC National ALS Registry will become part of the Agency for a Healthy America (AHA).
Five Agencies Being Merged Into AHA: Here's What They Do
www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
includes the ALS Registry
www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...
includes the ALS Registry
Five Agencies Being Merged Into AHA: Here's What They Do
Some raise concerns about disruption in services
www.medpagetoday.com
April 4, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Looks like the CDC National ALS Registry will become part of the Agency for a Healthy America (AHA).
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
#Breaking: Top FDA official Peter Marks was forced to resign as the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine regulator, forced out
Top FDA official Peter Marks was forced to resign as the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
buff.ly
March 29, 2025 at 2:46 AM
#Breaking: Top FDA official Peter Marks was forced to resign as the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Do scientists put themselves at risk by speaking out against the Trump administration?
“Hell yes,” said Jonathan Jackson.
“Hell yes,” said Jonathan Jackson.
‘We’re living in the Twilight Zone’: Researchers decry Trump administration assault on science
At the STAT Summit on Thursday, researchers called for a "full-throated defense" of university research again the attacks by the Trump administration.
buff.ly
March 23, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Do scientists put themselves at risk by speaking out against the Trump administration?
“Hell yes,” said Jonathan Jackson.
“Hell yes,” said Jonathan Jackson.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
A pie graph worth keeping in mind as the NIH budget plummets jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... for 356 new FDA drugs approved
March 23, 2025 at 4:17 PM
A pie graph worth keeping in mind as the NIH budget plummets jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... for 356 new FDA drugs approved
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Happy St Patrick’s Day, everyone, whatever your nationality, so long as you stand up for truth and decency.
Showering you with good luck and joy
Showering you with good luck and joy
a green leprechaun hat with clovers coming out of it and the words happy st. patrick 's day on the bottom
ALT: a green leprechaun hat with clovers coming out of it and the words happy st. patrick 's day on the bottom
media.tenor.com
March 17, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Happy St Patrick’s Day, everyone, whatever your nationality, so long as you stand up for truth and decency.
Showering you with good luck and joy
Showering you with good luck and joy
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
#Breaking - WHO issues starkest warning yet on fallout from U.S. withdrawal of aid for global health
WHO issues starkest warning yet on fallout from U.S. withdrawal of aid for global health
Breaking: The WHO issued its starkest warning yet on the consequences of the abrupt cessation of U.S. global health funding, saying it is threatening to reverse years of progress worldwide.
buff.ly
March 17, 2025 at 4:29 PM
#Breaking - WHO issues starkest warning yet on fallout from U.S. withdrawal of aid for global health
An important read in @nature.com from Dr. Arthur Caplan on the importance of #DEI in science. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Don’t wait out four hard years: speak truth to power
The importance of diversity in science is an unshakeable reality that the scientific community must stand by.
www.nature.com
March 17, 2025 at 4:51 PM
An important read in @nature.com from Dr. Arthur Caplan on the importance of #DEI in science. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What a beautiful calling. Bless these death doulas who help the last stage of life go more smoothly.
For the Rev. Beth Stotts, death is a natural part of her ministry, where she embraces "humbling and powerful" work of guiding people at the end of life.
The end-of-life doula: Making smooth the paths of people on the journey to death
For the Rev. Beth Stotts, death is a natural part of her ministry, where she embraces "humbling and powerful" work of guiding people at the end of life.
buff.ly
March 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
What a beautiful calling. Bless these death doulas who help the last stage of life go more smoothly.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
RFK Jr. misleads, deceives or simply lies when he claims the measles vaccine "routinely" causes deaths. IT DOES NOT.
@matthewherper.bsky.social lays out the facts.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/r...
@matthewherper.bsky.social lays out the facts.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/r...
RFK Jr. says measles vaccine routinely causes deaths. That's not true
RFK Jr.'s claims on the safety of vaccine safety aren't backed by the data.
www.statnews.com
March 14, 2025 at 2:34 PM
RFK Jr. misleads, deceives or simply lies when he claims the measles vaccine "routinely" causes deaths. IT DOES NOT.
@matthewherper.bsky.social lays out the facts.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/r...
@matthewherper.bsky.social lays out the facts.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/r...
Take action today to call your Member of Congress to demand the reinstatement of the CDMRP.
March 11, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Take action today to call your Member of Congress to demand the reinstatement of the CDMRP.
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Are we surprised? No.
Horrifying? Yep.
Dark Age 2.0.
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake wapo.st/3Dw7WG0
Horrifying? Yep.
Dark Age 2.0.
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake wapo.st/3Dw7WG0
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake
The order covers more than 40 awards to researchers around the country seeking to understand why vaccine acceptance has declined.
wapo.st
March 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Are we surprised? No.
Horrifying? Yep.
Dark Age 2.0.
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake wapo.st/3Dw7WG0
Horrifying? Yep.
Dark Age 2.0.
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake wapo.st/3Dw7WG0
Reposted by Andrea Pauls Backman
Research support for rare diseases, which cumulatively affect ~30 million Americans, is primarily derived from NIH.
Such work is exemplified by Prof Anna Greka @broadinstitute.org in a new Ground Truths podcast.
Open-access, w/ transcript, video, no ads
erictopol.substack.com/p/anna-greka...
Such work is exemplified by Prof Anna Greka @broadinstitute.org in a new Ground Truths podcast.
Open-access, w/ transcript, video, no ads
erictopol.substack.com/p/anna-greka...
Anna Greka: Molecular Sleuthing for Rare Diseases
Listen now | Finding the Mechanisms and the Basis for Potential Cures
erictopol.substack.com
March 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Research support for rare diseases, which cumulatively affect ~30 million Americans, is primarily derived from NIH.
Such work is exemplified by Prof Anna Greka @broadinstitute.org in a new Ground Truths podcast.
Open-access, w/ transcript, video, no ads
erictopol.substack.com/p/anna-greka...
Such work is exemplified by Prof Anna Greka @broadinstitute.org in a new Ground Truths podcast.
Open-access, w/ transcript, video, no ads
erictopol.substack.com/p/anna-greka...