Rachel Peterson

@rachelpeterson.bsky.social

1.1K followers 520 following 27 posts

PhD, MPH, MA. Faculty @umontana. #SocialEpi #dementia and #PublicHealth #gerontology. I study how lifelong social contexts shape health disparities. First gen college grad. She/her. Posts mine.

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Psychology 26%

Medicine 18%

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Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Mar 8

I am guest editing a special issue on Social and Geographic Disparities in Healthy Aging for IJERPH! Please consider contributing to keep the science on health disparities moving forward. Details linked below.
www.mdpi.com/journal/ijer...
#socialepi #healthyaging #episky

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, an international, peer-reviewed Open Access journal.

www.mdpi.com

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Alzheimer's Association @alzassociation.bsky.social · Jul 28

BREAKING: Results from U.S. POINTER, reported at #AAIC25, show that lifestyle interventions that simultaneously target risk factors protect cognitive function in older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline and dementia. bit.ly/USPointerRel...

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Apr 16

Packed house with 7500 people and at least 1500 more outside. #fightoligarchy

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Apr 16

Standing ovations for Tracey Stone-Manning and the Wilderness Society at #fightoligarchy #montana

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Apr 16

Waiting for Bernie and AOC to speak to a packed house in Montana! #fightoligarchy

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · Mar 19

The Trump Regime has deleted DOJ guidance to businesses on complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

25% of Americans live with a disability.

Trump cannot delete the ADA, and he cannot delete disabled Americans. We are not going back to asylums and sanitariums.

The ADA Is Still Law | Matthew Cortland

www.patreon.com

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Mar 19

I am angered and frustrated to share that my friend and colleague recently had her NIH R01 canceled. Her work focuses on vaccine service delivery barriers for people who want vaccines. Who's accusing whom of politicizing science?
#publichealth #episky
www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...

This Vaccine Researcher Was Caught in the NIH Funding Cut Crossfire

Her research focuses on immunization services delivery, not parental attitudes

www.medpagetoday.com

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · Feb 26

2. ECONOMIC BLACKOUT. We support the economic boycott occurring this Friday, Feb. 28, of any entity that has dismantled their DEI programs and pandered to this administration. The buck will stop with us!

Poster saying "Economic boycott - don't buy stuff on Friday, Feb 28. We have power. No: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Fast Food, Gas. Ok: Small business. Use cash"

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · Feb 14

Seems useful!! secure.ucsusa.org/a/2025-02-26...

Protecting Scientists Engaging in Advocacy

The Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to a webinar to help scientists and experts understand their first amendment rights, enhance their digital privacy, and navigate the risks involved in eng...

secure.ucsusa.org

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Margaret Crane, PhD @margaretcrane.bsky.social · Jan 24

And the funding announcement for diversity supplements now has been updated to expire today. Supplements are so important to the careers of junior scientists. This is crushing for post docs and early career faculty

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 23

NIH grants also provide research assistantships that offset tuition and living expenses for students, without which many would not be able to attend. This is especially true for my students at the University of Montana, where many come from rural communities and are first gen college students.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 23

Indirect funds from research grants have become an essential way to balance the budget at public universities that have continued to endure budget cuts enacted by state legislatures (read: every public universityin the U.S.).

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 23

This is because federal research grants also come with an "indirect" cost allocation, which provides an important source of funding for Universities to keep the lights on and pay living wages in staff jobs that support the mission of educating.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 23

I'm not sure that the broader public recognizes this freeze impacts many, many more people than career civil servants at NIH and PhDs at elite research institutions. It will impact those who live in college towns and those who hope to become the first person in their family to go to college.

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · Jan 23

Pick your focus and stick with it. We cannot fight in all fronts or we will become overwhelmed. But we can all peel off a corner in our area of expertise and begin to reveal effective strategies for resisting the chaos. Every single one of us has something to offer.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 23

This announcement landed in my inbox on Tuesday as a beacon of hope.✊🏻
www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

Systems for Action: Community-Led Systems Research to Address Systemic Racism

The Systems for Action CFP will fund a cohort of community-led pilot studies to produce new, actionable evidence about how to help medical, social, and public health systems work together to address f...

www.rwjf.org

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 15

No one in public health is satisfied with the current status quo, but let's at least recognize the successes made for the health of the average American.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 15

Like when open sewage ran down city streets? Or, when it was common to know someone with lifelong disability from Polio and most kids suffered measels? Or, when I was growing up and restaurant smoking "sections" were about as effective as having a peeing section in a swimming pool?

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Jan 15

Yes -- the absurdity of RFK Jr's MAHA claim and the American nostalgia for a fictionalized history when things were "better."

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/h...

RFK Jr.’s MAHA Movement Obscures America’s Unhealthy Past (Gift Article)

Medical historians say that the phrase “Make America Healthy Again” obscures a past during which this country’s people ate, smoked and drank things that mostly left them unwell.

www.nytimes.com

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 24

Even while Walmart doesn't dominate corporate reporting in the same way today, it was certainly a harbinger for our post-Citizens United world and the rise of both corporate facism and, ultimately, Trumpism.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 24

When I reported on it as a writer for the AZ Daily Sun (where the ad was published), Walmart's corporate PR machine refused comment, local Walmart employees (there was a normal-sized store in town) were threatened with their jobs if they talked to me, and I was effectively banned from the store.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 24

Walmart degrades more than local economies. 20 years ago in Flagstaff, Ariz a Walmart-backed campaign published an ad that depicted a Nazi-era book burning and stated a referendum that would ban the super-sized big boxes in city limits was facism: it limited mass consumption "choices".

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 18

Such a critical point. I've heard many in the public health world try to anticipate future policy under RFK, as if there will be clear, cohesive and decisive positions -- even if non-scientific.
But it will more likely be chaos, and we should be prepared to push back in an organized/coordinated way.

Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · Nov 19

Trump is a rolling shock machine, which a recipe for keeping us scattered and reactive to the latest shocking news. There will be moments when we need to react forcefully and meaningfully to protect one another.

(2/8)

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 1

I do wonder about the 12% deemed inauthentic. After all, AI is highly attuned detect sarcasm.

Persona Analysis: The Informed Advocate with 88% authenticity!

blueskyroast.com/roast/rachel...

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 1

Think sanitation. Think food and drug safety. Think clean air and water. These are the very things that will be dismantled under Trump/RFK and replaced with even more rhetoric on individual choice and blaming individuals for their poor health.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Dec 1

I will not defend RFK as a good choice to lead public health. But his individual health behaviors are irrelevant. Where public health is most effective is at providing the regulatory systems and environments that support health.

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Nov 28

Also, calling out this point: "please make space for your colleagues, especially junior ones, who are going to be outright political, outright partisan, loud, in the streets, critiquing specific people with power. They need your protection more than ever."

Rachel Peterson @rachelpeterson.bsky.social · Nov 28

So many great points in this thread! We need to remember that a core public health skill set is community organizing and partnership building. We must leverage our strengths and multisector collaborations in radical new ways.

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Nov 27

There's a huge tension building within public health over collaboration: can we work with the Trump Administration, at whatever few points of overlap in mission exist, to make people healthier? What this misses is the visibility and transparency of that play to the public, and its impact on trust

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Nov 27

Reposted by Rachel Peterson

Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · Nov 19

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