David M Morens
@davidmmorens.bsky.social
Epidemiologist, Virologist, Medical Historian
Senior Associate, Dept Epidemiology publichealth.jhu.edu
Retired, Senior Advisor to the Director, NIAID, NIH
Former: Virology Branch Chief, CDC; President Am Epidemiol Soc;
Chairman ACAV
Senior Associate, Dept Epidemiology publichealth.jhu.edu
Retired, Senior Advisor to the Director, NIAID, NIH
Former: Virology Branch Chief, CDC; President Am Epidemiol Soc;
Chairman ACAV
Wow! Haven't had a chance to read the whole document (60-some pages and 738 refs!) but at first scan this is a sober "must read". There is even a great short section noting historical antecedents. One Health approaches have rarely been approached in all their complexities. Wonderful! dmm
The Lancet One Health Commission Report published today. A great honor to be a Commissioner since 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic began soon after the Commission formed & strongly underpinned how One Health approaches can help us to leave the pandemic era behind. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
The Lancet One Health Commission: harnessing our interconnectedness for equitable, sustainable, and healthy socioecological systems
Industrialisation, urbanisation, and globalisation have substantially improved human
life expectancy over the past century. In tandem, an expanding array of interlinked
threats to humans, other animal...
www.thelancet.com
July 17, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Wow! Haven't had a chance to read the whole document (60-some pages and 738 refs!) but at first scan this is a sober "must read". There is even a great short section noting historical antecedents. One Health approaches have rarely been approached in all their complexities. Wonderful! dmm
Reposted by David M Morens
Land of the free? Not if you work at EPA & criticize the administrations blatant undermining of environmental protections. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... EPA puts 139 employees on leave after they sign a ‘declaration of dissent’ | US Environmental Protection Agency | The Guardian
EPA puts 139 employees on leave after they sign a ‘declaration of dissent’
Letter from workers, which EPA claims is ‘unlawful’, says agency is no longer living up to its mission
www.theguardian.com
July 4, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Land of the free? Not if you work at EPA & criticize the administrations blatant undermining of environmental protections. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... EPA puts 139 employees on leave after they sign a ‘declaration of dissent’ | US Environmental Protection Agency | The Guardian
Very depressing to hear that. How can this be happening at NIH? It defies belief.
Memoli was taking orders from DOGE.
I previously reported that DOGE has been intimately involved in grant cut decisions at NIH.
Indeed: Brad Smith, a leading DOGE figure, sent acting director Memoli a list of 18 notices of funding opportunities to take down. 25 minutes later, Memoli recommended all 18 be taken down.
Indeed: Brad Smith, a leading DOGE figure, sent acting director Memoli a list of 18 notices of funding opportunities to take down. 25 minutes later, Memoli recommended all 18 be taken down.
July 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Very depressing to hear that. How can this be happening at NIH? It defies belief.
Reposted by David M Morens
"Climate Scientist Michael Mann on Deadly Heat Domes Around the World" via @democracynow.org: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V04...
Climate Scientist Michael Mann on Deadly Heat Domes Around the World
YouTube video by Democracy Now!
www.youtube.com
July 1, 2025 at 8:25 PM
"Climate Scientist Michael Mann on Deadly Heat Domes Around the World" via @democracynow.org: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V04...
Reposted by David M Morens
Hope everyone who cares about science, public health and democracy is signing on to these letters. It only takes a few seconds and reminds people that there is resistance out here. sunshine.optout.news/email/5fe450...
AJI Weekly Update: "Declaration of Dissent", ASIP Disinformation, "Bethesda Declaration"
Dear AJI Community,
Hundreds of workers from the Environmental Protection Agency have issued a statement to administrator Lee Zeldin and Congress members, which outlines the ways in which Zeldin and...
sunshine.optout.news
July 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Hope everyone who cares about science, public health and democracy is signing on to these letters. It only takes a few seconds and reminds people that there is resistance out here. sunshine.optout.news/email/5fe450...
Reposted by David M Morens
If McNutt can’t stand up for science, what is the point of the Academy? Leadership isn’t complicity in your own destruction, nor does “fixing” science mean capitulating to fascism. The pursuit of truth is bigger than the organization or Academy. No confidence vote now.
Amid the Trump administration's attacks on science, the National Academies are undergoing upheaval—a 30% reduction in its 1200-person staff by year's end, and possibly a vote of no confidence for its leader, Marcia McNutt.
Jeff Tollefson & I report: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Jeff Tollefson & I report: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Turmoil at US science academy as Trump cuts force layoffs
Efforts by leaders of the US national academies to adjust to the new political reality have spurred member concerns about capitulation and censorship.
www.nature.com
July 1, 2025 at 4:15 PM
If McNutt can’t stand up for science, what is the point of the Academy? Leadership isn’t complicity in your own destruction, nor does “fixing” science mean capitulating to fascism. The pursuit of truth is bigger than the organization or Academy. No confidence vote now.
OMG, wake me up from this nightmare.
The administration is threatening to strip the citizenship of a man voters chose to serve as the Democratic Party’s nominee for Mayor of New York City because they don’t like his political views.
Just straight up fascist shit, no chaser.
Just straight up fascist shit, no chaser.
Karoline Leavitt indicates the administration is open to a denaturalization-oriented investigation against Zohran Mamdani
June 30, 2025 at 5:49 PM
OMG, wake me up from this nightmare.
Reposted by David M Morens
Our other story this AM:
The NIH Fellows United union has voted to endorse the Bethesda Declaration, an open letter signed by over 500 current and former agency workers decrying the Trump administration’s policies and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya’s leadership.
The NIH Fellows United union has voted to endorse the Bethesda Declaration, an open letter signed by over 500 current and former agency workers decrying the Trump administration’s policies and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya’s leadership.
NIH Fellows Union Endorses Bethesda Declaration Criticizing Agency Leadership
“So far, the director has been unwilling or unable to deliver on his promises.”
www.importantcontext.news
June 30, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Our other story this AM:
The NIH Fellows United union has voted to endorse the Bethesda Declaration, an open letter signed by over 500 current and former agency workers decrying the Trump administration’s policies and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya’s leadership.
The NIH Fellows United union has voted to endorse the Bethesda Declaration, an open letter signed by over 500 current and former agency workers decrying the Trump administration’s policies and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya’s leadership.
yes, true...
Ultimately, WHO considers all hypotheses remain on the table and are calling for data on both the animal trade and Wuhan labs to be shared. Which seems a reasonable position.
June 30, 2025 at 5:17 PM
yes, true...
That's a good point. I remember first encountering Stanley Pruisner's work on prions and doubting it because it was so outside the box. And yes I think there are still doubters. That's a good thing, up to a point, as it hoilds everyone's feet to the fire. dmm
This comment made me think of the search for a causative agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and the concensus around prions that emerged (there may still be doubters). I suppose the difference is that for COVID-19 origins the evidence base is finite.
June 30, 2025 at 5:16 PM
That's a good point. I remember first encountering Stanley Pruisner's work on prions and doubting it because it was so outside the box. And yes I think there are still doubters. That's a good thing, up to a point, as it hoilds everyone's feet to the fire. dmm
I've had the same experience. Especially colleagues who are brilliant scientists who seem to have little trouble remaining unbiased in other contexts. One thing a bit different about this is that being a contrarian instantly puts you in the limelight d
It’s happened with both colleagues I admire and close friends. In the case of the latter, it’s one of the most heartbreaking features of our current reality.
It honestly seems like there's this pipeline of brilliant people into contrarians and I don't really understand how it happens, but each time I see the signs in someone new, it really upsets me.
June 28, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I've had the same experience. Especially colleagues who are brilliant scientists who seem to have little trouble remaining unbiased in other contexts. One thing a bit different about this is that being a contrarian instantly puts you in the limelight d
Indeed it does... But I do wonder after 5 years of looking for lab leak evidence without finding it, what are we to conclude? Is there a point where say we are not likely to find new actionable evidence? Scientissts have been forming concensus about these things for centuries. Now what? dmm
Ultimately, WHO considers all hypotheses remain on the table and are calling for data on both the animal trade and Wuhan labs to be shared. Which seems a reasonable position.
June 28, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Indeed it does... But I do wonder after 5 years of looking for lab leak evidence without finding it, what are we to conclude? Is there a point where say we are not likely to find new actionable evidence? Scientissts have been forming concensus about these things for centuries. Now what? dmm
So true. The problem with the "lab leak theory" is not that scientists are biased against it, just that there is no evidence for it. By all means, if evidence turns up all scientists should consider it fairly. But scientists shy away from making conclusions without facts to support them. dmm
SAGO Report is out:
1️⃣ No new data in report
2️⃣ Not bioweapon, man-made, or engineered
3️⃣ All scientific evidence points to zoonosis
4️⃣ No evidence for lab leak
5️⃣ New evidence could swing the conclusion
In other words, what we concluded in April, 2020. Five years later.
share.google/4I8ac1DJMZOM...
1️⃣ No new data in report
2️⃣ Not bioweapon, man-made, or engineered
3️⃣ All scientific evidence points to zoonosis
4️⃣ No evidence for lab leak
5️⃣ New evidence could swing the conclusion
In other words, what we concluded in April, 2020. Five years later.
share.google/4I8ac1DJMZOM...
WHO Scientific advisory group issues report on origins of COVID-19
The WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a panel of 27 independent, international, multidisciplinary experts, today published its report on the origins of SARS-CoV-...
share.google
June 27, 2025 at 8:49 PM
So true. The problem with the "lab leak theory" is not that scientists are biased against it, just that there is no evidence for it. By all means, if evidence turns up all scientists should consider it fairly. But scientists shy away from making conclusions without facts to support them. dmm
Angie is on target: we should not call the lab leak theory crazy, since so many sane people believe it. Rather, there is just no factual, verifiable evidence for it, just alot of "isn't it curious that?" and "could this be coincidence?", whuch you see in every outbreak investigation.
Disappointing from @janeqiu.bsky.social, who is well aware that scientists haven’t shut down legitimate inquiry into a “lab leak.” No evidence supports it.
Trust is lost not by scientists publishing evidence, but by dishonest actors misrepresenting the evidence.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Trust is lost not by scientists publishing evidence, but by dishonest actors misrepresenting the evidence.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Covid ‘lab leak’ theory isn’t just a rightwing conspiracy – pretending that’s the case is bad for science | Jane Qiu
While figures like Steve Bannon have exploited the issue, scientists have done themselves no favours by shutting down legitimate inquiry, says award-winning science writer Jane Qiu
www.theguardian.com
June 25, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Angie is on target: we should not call the lab leak theory crazy, since so many sane people believe it. Rather, there is just no factual, verifiable evidence for it, just alot of "isn't it curious that?" and "could this be coincidence?", whuch you see in every outbreak investigation.
This is wonderful news! The Phoenix rises from the ashes
Exciting news! Our new nonprofit @naturehealthglobal.bsky.social has signed a 5-yr contract w/ @springernature.com to manage the peer-reviewed journal “EcoHealth”
naturehealthglobal.org/nhg-signs-5-...
naturehealthglobal.org/nhg-signs-5-...
Nature Health Global Signs 5-year Contract With Springer-Nature To Manage The Journal “EcoHealth” - Nature.Health.Global
NHG-Springer’s EcoHealth journal now in its 22nd year of publication.
naturehealthglobal.org
June 24, 2025 at 8:11 PM
This is wonderful news! The Phoenix rises from the ashes
The 1793 epidemic is worth remembering. An historian claimed it forever changed the character of the American people. The first recognized case was in the home of President George Washington. He and Martha fled west to escape it, as did most of the young US government.
“The 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia was one of the most severe in American history, killing around 5,000 people, or 10% of the city's population. The outbreak began in August near the Delaware waterfront and spread rapidly throughout the summer and fall.” The rich fled to the countryside
June 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
The 1793 epidemic is worth remembering. An historian claimed it forever changed the character of the American people. The first recognized case was in the home of President George Washington. He and Martha fled west to escape it, as did most of the young US government.