Marie Will, MD, PhD
marie-will.bsky.social
Marie Will, MD, PhD
@marie-will.bsky.social
Physician Scientist | Oncology Drug Developer in Industry | MSKCC, NYP, Tri-I, AU Alum | Mama to 2 | Passionate about Science, Equity, and Humanity | Views are mine but you are welcome to adopt them
Today, we are one step closer to the next pandemic, just as the people in charge proudly proclaim that they don’t believe in either vaccines or infectious diseases. Without public health communication, we are flying blind.

If I haven’t been posting, it’s because I am literally at a loss for words.
I agree with Scott. This is important because:

1. This shows that cattle are susceptible to other H5N1 viruses, not just B3.13.
2. D1.1 viruses are currently transmitting really efficiently through wild birds in North America, and are very widespread.
...
This is big because:
1. This is evidence of a 2nd avian-->cattle H5N1 introduction.
2. The D1.1 genotype was found in the severe case in British Columbia and the deadly case in Louisiana. It is possible that this genotype has an easier time adapting to human cells.

www.statnews.com/2025/02/05/u...
February 6, 2025 at 1:26 AM
So much is happening so fast that it’s easy to be on outrage overload. But as you pick your battles (and there are so many!), also remember to take care of yourself.

For me, I made my own marshmallow so I could eat my feelings in fluffy, cloud-like, sugar-pillow form.

#medfoodsky
#doctorswhocook
January 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
If COVID-19 taught us anything, it’s that diseases don’t respect borders. We are all in this together.

Withdrawing from a global public health organization - while under new pandemic threats - will not only limit our own access to data/resources but also weaken the global response. 🤦🏻‍♀️
🚨 Withdrawing from WHO again is disastrous.

I worked at WHO during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the damage caused by the prior US withdrawal—undermining global coordination and weakening health security. With H5N1 looming, we can't afford to repeat history.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Withdrawing The United States From The World Health Organization – The White House
WITHDRAWING THE UNITED STATES FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the
www.whitehouse.gov
January 22, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is branded as a “liquid biopsy” - a simple blood test that can detect cancer, bypassing invasive biopsy procedures. Problem is it lacks sensitivity in the early stage. Here, a new ultra-sensitive ctDNA assay that improves early detection and enables outcome prediction.
January 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
6 months after leaving NYC, I have arrived at the stage of making my own bagels at home.

If that catches your attention, please consider donating to the real chefs at World Central Kitchen, who are helping with the California fires, here:
wck.org/relief/calif...

#doctorswhocook
#ChefsForCalifornia
January 13, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Many people who undergo genetic testing for cancer risks will find themselves with a “variant of uncertain significance.” Even when the risk is unclear (as the term implies), seeing a gene like BRCA2 on your report is understandably unnerving. Functional studies like this are so needed for clarity.
Functional evaluation & clinical classification of BRCA2 variants

Study focuses on functional characterization & clinical classification of BRCA2 variants, specifically those within exons 15-26, which encode a DNA-binding domain associated with pathogenic missense variants.

https://buff.ly/4gNgSW0
January 11, 2025 at 6:28 PM
If you, like me, are getting that deja vu feeling reading this news, try not to panic (yet). Instead, tune into the influenza experts. @colincarlson.bsky.social has kindly made a starter pack of people who have had long term research interests in influenza, including H5N1, here:

go.bsky.app/L1vwJPS
Breaking News: The first U.S. bird flu death was reported in Louisiana. The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, officials said. He was exposed to the virus from a backyard flock and wild birds.
First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana
The deceased was over 65 and had other medical conditions, state officials said.
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I feel like I have been on Bluesky long enough to confess to my obsession with cats, specifically this cat, who is constantly claiming all my chairs. Say hello to Thea, the queen cat.

Happy New Year, Bluesky. May we all be such fierce defenders of our territories. We are gonna need it this year.
January 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Back from holidays, and I am still thinking about this discovery of ALAS1 as a global repressor of miRNA and its potential to improve siRNA therapy.

RNA-targeting drugs (including for cancer) has always held huge promise but sluggish progress. These mechanistic studies are crucial for improvement.
the Lai lab got a holiday gift ... so excited to share Seungjae Lee's work on surprising regulation of miRNA pathway at Science!! he did it all, from molecular genetics to biochemistry to genomics. and amazing collab with Makiko Yasuda lab brought it into mice. 1/3

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
January 4, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I feel pretty good about my obsession with Costco today, so I will share an oncologist’s secret: I buy my sunscreens from them so I always have enough of it to slather all over myself and my family in thick, protective layers. Cancer prevention aside, it really helps with the forever-young look.
December 28, 2024 at 6:09 PM
I made a Yule Log cake but let my kids help decorate… and now it has not just flowers and mushrooms, but also black ants and insects because “they are important parts of fallen logs!” 🤦🏻‍♀️

Merry Christmas, Bluesky. May we all be such staunch defenders of the ecosystem.

#medfoodsky, #doctorswhocook
December 25, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Asked my 9yo why his room was a disastrous mess.

Him, straight faced: “Welcome to the new America, Mama. Everything is a mess - it’s not my room. Are you sure this is your priority thing to tackle right now?”

Is sarcasm how teenage years begin?
December 22, 2024 at 3:08 PM
To all the grad students and postdocs spending their weekends studying YFP (Your Favorite Protein) and mulling over scientific problems about which nobody else gives a damn, you are doing important work.

Progress is not often a straight line, but knowledge is always a permanent gain.
People sometimes make fun of science that sounds stupid and random.

Meanwhile, a study of lizard saliva turned into a peptide medication, which was turned into a diabetes medication, which was turned into a GLP1 weight loss drug, that just became the first therapy every approved for … sleep apnea
Breaking News: The FDA approved use of the weight loss drug Zepbound for a common form of sleep apnea. It is the first drug authorized to treat the disorder.
December 21, 2024 at 2:46 AM
Inspired by @thanhneville.bsky.social, I will post the apple frangipane tart (with almond paste) that I made for a recent holiday party. Arguably the wrong season for apple tarts, but we had extra apples!

#DoctorsWhoCook or should I say #DoctorsWhoBake
December 18, 2024 at 6:13 PM
We don’t often see numbers like 100% in oncology. That sort of response is exciting not just because it is practice-changing, but also because it offers a rare & powerful clue about the nature of the disease itself. Excited for the basic scientific studies to come - bedside to bench and back again.
A small but heralded clinical trial at MSK that saw #rectalcancer disappear in 100% of people who took part has taken a step towards approval by the @fda.gov.

Learn more about the clinical trial led by MSK's Dr. Andrea Cercek that is now an FDA Designated Breakthrough therapy. ⬇️
Rectal Cancer Disappears After Experimental Use of Immunotherapy, Now an FDA Designated Breakthrough Therapy
Rectal cancer patients saw their tumors disappear in a clinical trial involving immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center—without surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.
www.mskcc.org
December 18, 2024 at 6:07 PM
More and more, oncologists will need to find innovative ways to incorporate AI into both research and patient care. Here, Pedram Razavi from @mskcancercenter.bsky.social showed us a powerful example of how such technology can be utilized to predict therapy responders in breast cancer.

#SABCS24
Fabulous plenary from Dr. Pedram Razavi #sabcs2024 on robust and innovative ai models to separate cdk4/6i responders from non-responders.
December 14, 2024 at 5:03 PM
Congratulations to @caiy0219.bsky.social who demonstrated that NR2F2 is an important target in endocrine-resistant breast cancer!

#SABCS24
Congratulations to @caiy0219.bsky.social for an excellent poster presentation today! 👏🏽
Also, so happy to be reunited with @reikudo.bsky.social to represent the translational team in @saratchandarlapaty.bsky.social’s lab at #SABCS2024!
December 14, 2024 at 4:52 PM
This is a dream team for the amazing work on DREAM complex!

#SABCS24
Congratulations to @reikudo.bsky.social for the beautiful work inspiring current+future studies! #SABCS24
December 14, 2024 at 4:50 PM
What’s the point of social media if you can’t brag about your friends?

So proud of @avantikagupta.bsky.social and @saratchandarlapaty.bsky.social for their groundbreaking work showing how APOBEC-driven mutagenesis ➡️ key genomic alterations ➡️ therapy resistance in breast cancer.

#SABCS24
So honored to have gotten the opportunity to present our work showing a prevalent role of APOBEC3 mutagenesis in driving therapy resistance in breast cancer at #SABCS24!
December 14, 2024 at 4:45 PM
I still remember when @saratchandarlapaty.bsky.social & team discover ESR1 mutations in breast cancer by painstakingly analyzing patient samples and building lab models. Over a decade later, SERDs like imlunestrant show clear survival benefits in this population.

Follow the science.
#sabcs24
nejm.org NEJM.org @nejm.org · Dec 11
The selective estrogen-receptor degrader imlunestrant plus abemaciclib led to a median progression-free survival of 9.4 months among patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (vs. 5.5 months with imlunestrant alone). Full EMBER-3 trial results: nej.md/4fZ74HX

#MedSky #SABCS24
December 12, 2024 at 4:03 AM
Great story of oncology progress over the decades.

Look at the curves. Success came via a couple of breakthroughs, yes, but also via smaller improvements that together make a steady progress. You often hear studies dismissed as “incremental,” but keep chipping away, every incremental step counts.
I never tire of seeing these progressively improved pediatric ALL survival curves, which represent one of the most remarkable achievements in all of medicine.

Amazing to see even more improvement with bispecific antibody #immunotherapy presented in the #ASH24 Plenary session. #hematology #leukemia
December 9, 2024 at 3:52 PM
Overall response rate (ORR) of 100%! Now with long term data showing 5-yr-Progression Free Survival (PFS) of 91%.

Neither Pembro nor GVD alone is as efficacious, begging the mechanistic question of “synergy” - that is, how do immunotherapy and chemotherapy combine to become more than either alone?
Excellent data with PEMBRO-GVD in relapsed #Hodgkin lymphoma in study by @mskcancercenter.bsky.social Alison Moskowitz - she will present additional data tomorrow #ash24 #lymsm
December 7, 2024 at 11:37 PM
OMG - the pediatricians are not messing around! Have you heard about their very deep pockets? No! All they’ve got is unlimited super power, boundless enthusiasm, and eternal kid love! So how come we are in 2nd place??

Come on, onc team #DiagnoseAndTreats, diagnose and treat this!

#HCWvsHunger
December 3, 2024 at 8:18 PM
Hey onc peeps! Our team this year for #HCWvsHunger is #DiagnoseAndTreats - let’s go!

Yes, poverty/food insecurity is a policy issue - even a policy *choice* in our society - and should be addressed as a system.

But.. look around…policies won’t get fixed anytime soon and people need our help now!
🧵 Brief user guide to #HCWvsHunger:
🍎Who: Healthcare workers & anyone who wants to fight hunger w/ us
🍎What: friendly annual competition btwn #MedTwitter teams to see who can raise the most 💰for food banks/hunger orgs
🍎When: 11/28-12/3
🍎Where: HCWvsHunger.org
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December 2, 2024 at 3:33 PM
Vaccines are being attacked left and right BECAUSE they work so well that people have conveniently forgotten about polio and poxes.

Here is a contemporary example in oncology. Vaccines prevent cancer and reduce cancer deaths - do you know how hard THAT is??

Spread the words - vaccine save lives!
November 30, 2024 at 2:24 PM