DEI Virologist
@kyt-thatsme.bsky.social
Virologist | Microbe Enthusiast | Book lover | WOSO enthusiast | This a personal account.
Pinned
I know that y’all are anxious and overwhelmed and like to pretend American history starts in the 20th century, but I’m gonna need folks to stop saying things about this being a lowest point when speaking about a nation that engaged in Native genocide and chattel slavery for hundreds of years
I am begging y’all to read at least one book. I promise it will help yall put these things into context. I think a really great one that threads the needle for how many shitty ppl with shitty beliefs have been president is “To Make Men Free” by Heather Cox Richardson
It’s starts with Lincoln.
It’s starts with Lincoln.
I had an idea for a sci-fi novel that is in many ways now real life and now I’m like … well what’s the point ? 🤣😭
December 21, 2025 at 3:15 AM
I had an idea for a sci-fi novel that is in many ways now real life and now I’m like … well what’s the point ? 🤣😭
Reposted by DEI Virologist
I know people are rightly going to be worried about child health, their own health. But we also can't afford this. Like, John Hopkins did an estimate (next link) and every measles case during outbreaks cost on average $43,000 to treat. That kid who got tetanus cost $1 million dollars to treat /1
BREAKING: RFKJr directs that the US instantly stop recommending all vaccinations for children. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Under RFK Jr., U.S. plans to stop recommending most vaccines, defer to doctors
The plan, which is not finalized, suggests children get fewer shots and shifts to a model telling parents to consult doctors to make their own vaccine choices.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 20, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I know people are rightly going to be worried about child health, their own health. But we also can't afford this. Like, John Hopkins did an estimate (next link) and every measles case during outbreaks cost on average $43,000 to treat. That kid who got tetanus cost $1 million dollars to treat /1
Reposted by DEI Virologist
In these turbulent times, light persists. Take a moment to watch this beautiful celebration. It will brighten your day.
Hanukkah blessings for A New Era for New York City (and for the galaxies?!).
Hanukkah blessings for A New Era for New York City (and for the galaxies?!).
It was such a joy to celebrate Hanukkah with Mandy, Kathryn and their son, Gideon. As Jewish New Yorkers across our city prepare to light candles and mark the seventh night today, I wish you and your families a Hanukkah full of light and love.
youtu.be/KIxAKyioXng
youtu.be/KIxAKyioXng
Happy Hanukkah
YouTube video by Zohran Mamdani for NYC
youtu.be
December 20, 2025 at 2:38 PM
In these turbulent times, light persists. Take a moment to watch this beautiful celebration. It will brighten your day.
Hanukkah blessings for A New Era for New York City (and for the galaxies?!).
Hanukkah blessings for A New Era for New York City (and for the galaxies?!).
Reposted by DEI Virologist
I am not sorry. This is simply true. Academics should be able to write fluently and express themselves clearly and academics should do their own work. It’s literally our job. It’s what we trained until 22nd grade to do. This is a simple observation that should require no explanation or defense.
I’m sorry, but it is disgraceful to be an academic who uses this technology to conduct research. It should be prohibited in all of our scholarly institutions, including universities and journals.
December 20, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I am not sorry. This is simply true. Academics should be able to write fluently and express themselves clearly and academics should do their own work. It’s literally our job. It’s what we trained until 22nd grade to do. This is a simple observation that should require no explanation or defense.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
BRUHHHHH!!!!! They thought that man was unfit to lead. I was in middle school.
I still remember when Howard Dean getting a little too excited was a scandal.
Screaming, crying, throwing up as I realize that the very youngest person who voted in a Presidential election where Trump wasn't a candidate is now 31 years old.
December 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
BRUHHHHH!!!!! They thought that man was unfit to lead. I was in middle school.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
December 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by DEI Virologist
I get a few messages from students every semester and I cannot overemphasize how much they always make my whole week so much better ❤️
I can’t tell y’all how desperately I needed to hear this.
The past few weeks have really beaten down my morale.
But remembering how every one of my office hours this semester was full with students and receiving this email reinforced that all my effort really is worth it ❤️✨
The past few weeks have really beaten down my morale.
But remembering how every one of my office hours this semester was full with students and receiving this email reinforced that all my effort really is worth it ❤️✨
December 20, 2025 at 3:17 AM
I get a few messages from students every semester and I cannot overemphasize how much they always make my whole week so much better ❤️
Reposted by DEI Virologist
rfk jr. is a predator, and this is how he implements his policies. by pushing a little further each time, stepping away when there’s too much heat, and then circling back to go even further.
December 20, 2025 at 2:46 AM
rfk jr. is a predator, and this is how he implements his policies. by pushing a little further each time, stepping away when there’s too much heat, and then circling back to go even further.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
i think it’s more helpful to think about the vaccine rec news like it’s a step in a project instead of an immediate crisis. they are chipping away at the foundation for vaccine access. but many states/coalitions will fight. remember, drops in vaccination rates are inherently slow (years to decades)
December 20, 2025 at 2:39 AM
i think it’s more helpful to think about the vaccine rec news like it’s a step in a project instead of an immediate crisis. they are chipping away at the foundation for vaccine access. but many states/coalitions will fight. remember, drops in vaccination rates are inherently slow (years to decades)
Nice note from student I had this semester has made me cry.
December 20, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Nice note from student I had this semester has made me cry.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
rfk will not rest until your kid is dead wapo.st/4s2l2zn
U.S. plans to stop recommending most childhood vaccines, defer to doctors
The plan, which is not finalized, suggests children get fewer shots and shifts to a model telling parents to consult doctors to make their own vaccine choices.
wapo.st
December 20, 2025 at 12:25 AM
rfk will not rest until your kid is dead wapo.st/4s2l2zn
Reposted by DEI Virologist
Congratulations to everyone who wrote an op-ed about how he just wants americans to eat better
BREAKING: RFKJr directs that the US instantly stop recommending all vaccinations for children. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Under RFK Jr., U.S. plans to stop recommending most vaccines, defer to doctors
The plan, which is not finalized, suggests children get fewer shots and shifts to a model telling parents to consult doctors to make their own vaccine choices.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Congratulations to everyone who wrote an op-ed about how he just wants americans to eat better
Reposted by DEI Virologist
Republicans voted to install a documented anti-science, anti-vaccine lawyer as head of HHS.
Republicans sit by as he destroys public health and makes decisions that are already killing infants and will only kill more.
All of what is about to happen is preventable. Remember who did this.
Republicans sit by as he destroys public health and makes decisions that are already killing infants and will only kill more.
All of what is about to happen is preventable. Remember who did this.
December 20, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Republicans voted to install a documented anti-science, anti-vaccine lawyer as head of HHS.
Republicans sit by as he destroys public health and makes decisions that are already killing infants and will only kill more.
All of what is about to happen is preventable. Remember who did this.
Republicans sit by as he destroys public health and makes decisions that are already killing infants and will only kill more.
All of what is about to happen is preventable. Remember who did this.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
No one ever talks about the academic jobs that marginalized folks won’t apply to because of state or institutional reputation for hostility towards their group. Again, who it really at a disadvantage in any job market? 🙃
December 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM
No one ever talks about the academic jobs that marginalized folks won’t apply to because of state or institutional reputation for hostility towards their group. Again, who it really at a disadvantage in any job market? 🙃
Reposted by DEI Virologist
Why did I not apply to over 100 jobs? Because there were not 100 jobs in environments I was comfortable raising my son in. Seriously. I thought about that a lot.
December 19, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Why did I not apply to over 100 jobs? Because there were not 100 jobs in environments I was comfortable raising my son in. Seriously. I thought about that a lot.
I am in the first group. Do not email me 🤣🤣🤣
You’re forgetting the third half who are trying to submit an NSF grant on Monday.
December 20, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I am in the first group. Do not email me 🤣🤣🤣
Reposted by DEI Virologist
14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.
Post-doc positions:
"Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..."
uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...
"Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..."
uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...
Call for Applications: Early Career Rescue Fellowship – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies
uni-freiburg.de
December 19, 2025 at 5:19 PM
14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
That’s the thing man. If they are to be taken at their word the only takeaway is that there should be no black people in any job any other white person wants. One quick Google search for any of these jobs would show there are usually one or two minorities are best in a unit of 20 or 30 or more.
UAlbany, one of those, NY state universities, has been hovering around 4 percent tenure track Black faculty since ever. I am THE Black tenure track political scientists. These folks are just little liars.
You’ll never guess who else experienced ‘racism’ on the job market despite their unimpeachable academic credentials.
December 18, 2025 at 11:56 PM
That’s the thing man. If they are to be taken at their word the only takeaway is that there should be no black people in any job any other white person wants. One quick Google search for any of these jobs would show there are usually one or two minorities are best in a unit of 20 or 30 or more.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
Unfortunately the drop in ESI funding rates is not paired with changes in funding required to get tenure. It’s not just the next three years of our labs at risk, but the rest of our careers. We are also the cohort that started in the COVID pandemic- it’s been nothing but “unprecedented times”…
December 19, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Unfortunately the drop in ESI funding rates is not paired with changes in funding required to get tenure. It’s not just the next three years of our labs at risk, but the rest of our careers. We are also the cohort that started in the COVID pandemic- it’s been nothing but “unprecedented times”…
Reposted by DEI Virologist
Because, again, the federal fucking government is trying to stop companies from selling binders. Not because of any concerns about safety or possible harm, but specifically because trans men use them to mitigate dysphoria.
They're saying this openly, explicitly.
They're saying this openly, explicitly.
TomboyX, PBC - 720849 - 12/16/2025
Failure to Register and List/Misbranded
www.fda.gov
December 19, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Because, again, the federal fucking government is trying to stop companies from selling binders. Not because of any concerns about safety or possible harm, but specifically because trans men use them to mitigate dysphoria.
They're saying this openly, explicitly.
They're saying this openly, explicitly.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
Reposted by DEI Virologist
This is the most unrealistic thing. Some don’t even bother to send you a rejection after interviewing you.
She expects us to believe that a university communicated anything of substance to an unsuccessful job candidate.
December 19, 2025 at 12:31 AM
This is the most unrealistic thing. Some don’t even bother to send you a rejection after interviewing you.
Reposted by DEI Virologist
We may have a new winner
She expects us to believe that a university communicated anything of substance to an unsuccessful job candidate.
December 18, 2025 at 11:56 PM
We may have a new winner
Reposted by DEI Virologist
Muting a Black woman to claim the vote was unanimous is so incredibly on the nose
The White House claims the vote to rename the Kennedy Center was “unanimous.” That is false. I was muted on the call and denied the opportunity to speak or register my opposition. That is not consensus. That is censorship.
December 18, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Muting a Black woman to claim the vote was unanimous is so incredibly on the nose
The whole thing is funny bc I’ve been on faculty for 1.5 years, we have 5 or 6 searches including mine since 2023 and guess what all the other successful candidates were ? By these stories I should be surrounded by POC. In reality we are like less than 1/10 in the department.
You’ll never guess who else experienced ‘racism’ on the job market despite their unimpeachable academic credentials.
December 19, 2025 at 12:27 AM
The whole thing is funny bc I’ve been on faculty for 1.5 years, we have 5 or 6 searches including mine since 2023 and guess what all the other successful candidates were ? By these stories I should be surrounded by POC. In reality we are like less than 1/10 in the department.