Romaine Johnson, MD MPH
@pediairwaydoc.bsky.social
Pediatric ENT Specialist | Professor | UT Southwestern Medical Center | Editor in Chief | Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology | ΑΦΑ
The Belonging Paradox
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
How Our Greatest Strength Becomes Our Gravest Vulnerability
The Belonging Paradox
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The Belonging Paradox
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Hepatitis B vaccine guidance set to be rolled back for US babies: what the science says www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Hepatitis B vaccine guidance set to be rolled back for US babies: what the science says
A panel of US vaccine advisers voted to rescind a recommendation that all newborns should receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
www.nature.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Hepatitis B vaccine guidance set to be rolled back for US babies: what the science says www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The NYT piece on Kennedy’s tenure at HHS highlights a dangerous trend: dismantling evidence-based processes, marginalizing career scientists, and reorienting vaccine policy through ideology rather than data. This is how complex systems become brittle.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
Inside Kennedy’s Methodical Quest to Shake Up America’s Vaccine System
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The NYT piece on Kennedy’s tenure at HHS highlights a dangerous trend: dismantling evidence-based processes, marginalizing career scientists, and reorienting vaccine policy through ideology rather than data. This is how complex systems become brittle.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
Why the Obese Child with "Mild" Sleep Apnea Deserves Your Attention open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Why the Obese Child with "Mild" Sleep Apnea Deserves Your Attention
Two Phenotypes of Pediatric OSA
open.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Why the Obese Child with "Mild" Sleep Apnea Deserves Your Attention open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Graphite is Showing.
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Graphite Is Showing
Peter Marks has written a thoughtful essay in NEJM diagnosing the collapse of public health confidence in America.
open.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:34 PM
The Graphite is Showing.
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Why are 30% of pediatric tracheostomy patients Black when they're only 15% of kids?"
That question only emerged because we compared local data to national data.
Here's the framework for how one observation generates increasingly sophisticated research: open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
That question only emerged because we compared local data to national data.
Here's the framework for how one observation generates increasingly sophisticated research: open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Clinical Research Flywheel: From Volume to Discovery
How surgeon expertise and patient volume create a self-reinforcing ecosystem for generating increasingly sophisticated research questions
open.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Why are 30% of pediatric tracheostomy patients Black when they're only 15% of kids?"
That question only emerged because we compared local data to national data.
Here's the framework for how one observation generates increasingly sophisticated research: open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
That question only emerged because we compared local data to national data.
Here's the framework for how one observation generates increasingly sophisticated research: open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Virtual Versus In‐Person Interviews: The Impact of Perceived Success on the Applicant Experience - Moufarrej - 2025 - Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Virtual Versus In‐Person Interviews: The Impact of Perceived Success on the Applicant Experience
In light of continuing changes to graduate medical education interview approaches, this cross-sectional survey-based study comparatively assesses otolaryngology residency applicant perspectives on vi...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Virtual Versus In‐Person Interviews: The Impact of Perceived Success on the Applicant Experience - Moufarrej - 2025 - Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
After 20+ years, we have finally updated the @atscommunity.bsky.social guidelines for pediatric tracheostomy. Strong recs on ethics, caregiver training, airway endoscopy, and decannulation pathways—built for the real world. Proud to be a co-author. doi.org/10.1164/rccm...
Care of Infants and Children with Tracheostomies. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline | American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine | Articles in Press
doi.org
October 23, 2025 at 12:38 PM
After 20+ years, we have finally updated the @atscommunity.bsky.social guidelines for pediatric tracheostomy. Strong recs on ethics, caregiver training, airway endoscopy, and decannulation pathways—built for the real world. Proud to be a co-author. doi.org/10.1164/rccm...
Happy Birthday to my pops who apparently is having a street named aftet him. What an honor! oaklandside.org/2025/10/20/b...
Bobby Seale, a Black Panther founder, will have an Oakland intersection named after him
The city will host a dedication event Wednesday, Oct. 22 which will be designated "Bobby Seale Day" in Oakland.
oaklandside.org
October 22, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Happy Birthday to my pops who apparently is having a street named aftet him. What an honor! oaklandside.org/2025/10/20/b...
What I would write today if I was applying for ENT again.
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Personal Statement — Romaine F. Johnson, M.D., M.P.H.
Imaging what I would write if I had to apply to ENT again
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 6:19 PM
What I would write today if I was applying for ENT again.
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Research Arms Race. open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Research Arms Race in Residency Applications
A Costly Distraction
open.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The Research Arms Race. open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...
Trump Is Shutting Down the War on Cancer
www.nytimes.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:25 AM
America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...
Do We Celebrate Our Wins Enough?
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Do We Celebrate Our Wins Enough?
Something has been weighing on my mind lately, and I suspect I'm not alone in this reflection.
open.substack.com
September 20, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Do We Celebrate Our Wins Enough?
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open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Adaption Gap.
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open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
The Adaptation Gap
The Mismatch at the Heart of Modern Life
open.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 11:06 AM
The Adaption Gap.
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
There's Box Office and There's Oscars open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
There's Box Office and There's Oscars
A Soliloquy in the Voice of Denzel Washington
open.substack.com
August 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
There's Box Office and There's Oscars open.substack.com/pub/pediairw...
Big Brother doesn't need to rewrite history when our algorithmic feeds do it for us, one swipe at a time.
August 27, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Big Brother doesn't need to rewrite history when our algorithmic feeds do it for us, one swipe at a time.
This piece exemplifies how journalism can serve democracy by recognizing when standard practices (treating each policy as an isolated event) fail to capture systematic threats to democratic norms.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
In Trump’s Ideal Picture of America, Diversity Is Taboo
www.nytimes.com
August 21, 2025 at 11:26 AM
This piece exemplifies how journalism can serve democracy by recognizing when standard practices (treating each policy as an isolated event) fail to capture systematic threats to democratic norms.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
My inner dialogue has become a nonstop Tik Tok fyp. Current loop:
Golden
Darlin hold my hand
Slow mo political satire.
Golden
Darlin hold my hand
Slow mo political satire.
August 12, 2025 at 2:45 PM
My inner dialogue has become a nonstop Tik Tok fyp. Current loop:
Golden
Darlin hold my hand
Slow mo political satire.
Golden
Darlin hold my hand
Slow mo political satire.
It starts with a perfect circle of universal rights. Then, "We must act outside of the law to save it." The erosion is not a single, dramatic event, but a creeping, iterative process until universal protection under the law becomes a fractured reality where the boundary of justice is arbitrary.
August 6, 2025 at 11:55 PM
It starts with a perfect circle of universal rights. Then, "We must act outside of the law to save it." The erosion is not a single, dramatic event, but a creeping, iterative process until universal protection under the law becomes a fractured reality where the boundary of justice is arbitrary.
Excellent writing by Mr. Bouie.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...
Opinion | Donald Trump and John Roberts Have a Lot in Common
www.nytimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Excellent writing by Mr. Bouie.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...
mRNA can produce vaccines much faster than older methods, which are critical in pandemics. Cancelling them only increases the risk when the next pandemic comes. Not to mention vaccines for treatment of cancers and other immune-sensitive disorders.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/h...
Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts
www.nytimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 12:03 PM
mRNA can produce vaccines much faster than older methods, which are critical in pandemics. Cancelling them only increases the risk when the next pandemic comes. Not to mention vaccines for treatment of cancers and other immune-sensitive disorders.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/h...
What's fascinating is how merit gets defined & redefined to maintain a particular hierarchy. Also, we've taken someone's humanity & drilled it down to a single test. It's like buildinf a NFL football team based solely on what the players do at the combine. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/n...
Columbia and Brown to Disclose Admissions and Race Data in Trump Deal
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2025 at 11:11 PM
What's fascinating is how merit gets defined & redefined to maintain a particular hierarchy. Also, we've taken someone's humanity & drilled it down to a single test. It's like buildinf a NFL football team based solely on what the players do at the combine. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/n...
Important article on how attacking education has downstream effects.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/m...
Trump Went to War With the Ivies. Community Colleges Are Being Hit.
www.nytimes.com
August 4, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Important article on how attacking education has downstream effects.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/m...