Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
@rrapaka.bsky.social
Physician-scientist, mom, global public health & justice seeker. #progress #ID
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
Thousands of you shared heartbreaking and maddening stories with me about rising health care costs. But the fight is far from over.
If you're willing to record your story, we can make sure GOP lawmakers see and hear the direct impact of their policy failures: wintheera.myctbl.com/share-your-s...
If you're willing to record your story, we can make sure GOP lawmakers see and hear the direct impact of their policy failures: wintheera.myctbl.com/share-your-s...
October 31, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Thousands of you shared heartbreaking and maddening stories with me about rising health care costs. But the fight is far from over.
If you're willing to record your story, we can make sure GOP lawmakers see and hear the direct impact of their policy failures: wintheera.myctbl.com/share-your-s...
If you're willing to record your story, we can make sure GOP lawmakers see and hear the direct impact of their policy failures: wintheera.myctbl.com/share-your-s...
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
October 31, 2025 at 6:50 PM
My heart drops reading this article.
A child dying from an easily preventable disease is a moral failure for all of us. We are all responsible to change this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/h...
A child dying from an easily preventable disease is a moral failure for all of us. We are all responsible to change this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/h...
Diphtheria, a Once Vanquished Killer of Children, Is Resurgent
www.nytimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
My heart drops reading this article.
A child dying from an easily preventable disease is a moral failure for all of us. We are all responsible to change this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/h...
A child dying from an easily preventable disease is a moral failure for all of us. We are all responsible to change this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/h...
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
I'm old enough to remember when polio put my friends into iron lungs.
We dutifully lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives.
What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.
We dutifully lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives.
What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.
September 7, 2025 at 1:58 AM
I'm old enough to remember when polio put my friends into iron lungs.
We dutifully lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives.
What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.
We dutifully lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives.
What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.
Says an actual immunologist — this is hilarious la la land. Good luck with that one. It is simultaneously terrifying that this person with such power believes this is possible…
RFK has announced that he is developing a vaccine against all viruses. Yes, every single one. The whole, uh, "phylum"
August 8, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Says an actual immunologist — this is hilarious la la land. Good luck with that one. It is simultaneously terrifying that this person with such power believes this is possible…
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
A moment of silence please for #USAID, which is officially shuttered after months of dismantling.
Why a moment of silence? Not only for the employees. But also for the estimated 14 MILLION deaths by 2030 predicted without the agency.
@altusaid.altgov.info
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Why a moment of silence? Not only for the employees. But also for the estimated 14 MILLION deaths by 2030 predicted without the agency.
@altusaid.altgov.info
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality
across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates
show that, unless the a...
www.thelancet.com
July 4, 2025 at 1:25 AM
A moment of silence please for #USAID, which is officially shuttered after months of dismantling.
Why a moment of silence? Not only for the employees. But also for the estimated 14 MILLION deaths by 2030 predicted without the agency.
@altusaid.altgov.info
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Why a moment of silence? Not only for the employees. But also for the estimated 14 MILLION deaths by 2030 predicted without the agency.
@altusaid.altgov.info
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
In case you were wondering…
June 14, 2025 at 3:41 AM
In case you were wondering…
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
LATER THIS HOUR: @ezralevin.bsky.social will join @maddow.msnbc.com to talk about No Kings Day, how Saturday’s nationwide mobilizations are looking even bigger than Hands Off!, and much more. Tune into @msnbc.com.
June 10, 2025 at 1:11 AM
LATER THIS HOUR: @ezralevin.bsky.social will join @maddow.msnbc.com to talk about No Kings Day, how Saturday’s nationwide mobilizations are looking even bigger than Hands Off!, and much more. Tune into @msnbc.com.
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
This is what Republicans do. It’s the difference between electing LePage vs Golden or Dunlap. #mepolitics
The House GOP last night approved Medicaid cuts that will kick millions off insurance & shrink after-tax income for many families in the bottom income quintile
Hard to fathom how unpopular this is. Just 14% of voters wants to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-a...
Hard to fathom how unpopular this is. Just 14% of voters wants to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-a...
May 19, 2025 at 3:29 PM
This is what Republicans do. It’s the difference between electing LePage vs Golden or Dunlap. #mepolitics
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
Promoting the lab leak theory for COVID without evidence is unconscionable. The government website is propaganda that goes against the strongest scientific evidence. COVID had a natural origin, and so can the next pandemic. Viruses don’t care about politics. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
The harms of promoting the lab leak hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 origins without evidence | Journal of Virology
On Monday, June 3, 2024, Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institutes
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a dedicated public health professional for
over 40 years, testified volunt...
journals.asm.org
April 19, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Promoting the lab leak theory for COVID without evidence is unconscionable. The government website is propaganda that goes against the strongest scientific evidence. COVID had a natural origin, and so can the next pandemic. Viruses don’t care about politics. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
It's National Public Health Week, the saddest one in memory.
We have lost a generation of scientists and public servants, whose institutional memory and works in progress will be lost to our nation with their abrupt dismissals www.bmj.com/content/389/...
We have lost a generation of scientists and public servants, whose institutional memory and works in progress will be lost to our nation with their abrupt dismissals www.bmj.com/content/389/...
A sad week for public health in the US
The latest mass firings in critical US health services are short sighted, cruel, and ignorant, writes Esther Choo
This week is National Public Health Week in the United States and perhaps the saddes...
www.bmj.com
April 8, 2025 at 3:33 PM
It's National Public Health Week, the saddest one in memory.
We have lost a generation of scientists and public servants, whose institutional memory and works in progress will be lost to our nation with their abrupt dismissals www.bmj.com/content/389/...
We have lost a generation of scientists and public servants, whose institutional memory and works in progress will be lost to our nation with their abrupt dismissals www.bmj.com/content/389/...
March 11, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
The Boreal owl. A lite of cuteness in this 8” bird with a wingspan that goes up to 24 inches. Still dreaming about this moment!
📸 swnaturephoto
#littleowl
📸 swnaturephoto
#littleowl
March 10, 2025 at 8:47 PM
The Boreal owl. A lite of cuteness in this 8” bird with a wingspan that goes up to 24 inches. Still dreaming about this moment!
📸 swnaturephoto
#littleowl
📸 swnaturephoto
#littleowl
Reposted by Rekha Rapaka MD PhD
Hearing from the NIH clinical center:
"NIH has a freeze on all purchasing cards [as of yesterday]. No exceptions for most hospital supplies. Clinical center ran out of cups and now is having patients wash down their pills with water from tiny medicine cups."
"NIH has a freeze on all purchasing cards [as of yesterday]. No exceptions for most hospital supplies. Clinical center ran out of cups and now is having patients wash down their pills with water from tiny medicine cups."
March 4, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Hearing from the NIH clinical center:
"NIH has a freeze on all purchasing cards [as of yesterday]. No exceptions for most hospital supplies. Clinical center ran out of cups and now is having patients wash down their pills with water from tiny medicine cups."
"NIH has a freeze on all purchasing cards [as of yesterday]. No exceptions for most hospital supplies. Clinical center ran out of cups and now is having patients wash down their pills with water from tiny medicine cups."