Rebecca O’Connell
@rebeccaoconnell.bsky.social
London
Books and coffee
She/her
Books and coffee
She/her
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Just another of those days when I hate this government
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum system in UK ‘out of control’ and dividing country, home secretary says
Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Just another of those days when I hate this government
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Do NOT allow them to rewrite history with disinformation. #COVID vaccines worked remarkably well and allowed us to come out of a global pandemic. A picture is worth a thousand words.
August 28, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Do NOT allow them to rewrite history with disinformation. #COVID vaccines worked remarkably well and allowed us to come out of a global pandemic. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
It may be September but have you read one of @theipaper.com best paperbacks of July, Unheard?
Currently in good bookshops and on special offer here
www.amazon.co.uk/Unheard-Prac...
Currently in good bookshops and on special offer here
www.amazon.co.uk/Unheard-Prac...
September 2, 2025 at 6:35 AM
It may be September but have you read one of @theipaper.com best paperbacks of July, Unheard?
Currently in good bookshops and on special offer here
www.amazon.co.uk/Unheard-Prac...
Currently in good bookshops and on special offer here
www.amazon.co.uk/Unheard-Prac...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Being heard is an important part of what makes us human. When we are not heard in healthcare, we become dehumanised. How can we ensure the voices of most powerless in medicine are listened to and valued?
I explore this in my book ‘UNHEARD: The Medical Practice of Silencing’ out now.
I explore this in my book ‘UNHEARD: The Medical Practice of Silencing’ out now.
July 27, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Being heard is an important part of what makes us human. When we are not heard in healthcare, we become dehumanised. How can we ensure the voices of most powerless in medicine are listened to and valued?
I explore this in my book ‘UNHEARD: The Medical Practice of Silencing’ out now.
I explore this in my book ‘UNHEARD: The Medical Practice of Silencing’ out now.
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Thread of the day
I get quite emotional about the USPSTF—they represent the BEST of science, the BEST of evidence, a kind of “church/shul/temple” when it comes to transparency, rigor & conflicts of interest
RFK Jr is doing SO MUCH to make people sicker & at ⬆️ risk of death—he makes my blood boil
I get quite emotional about the USPSTF—they represent the BEST of science, the BEST of evidence, a kind of “church/shul/temple” when it comes to transparency, rigor & conflicts of interest
RFK Jr is doing SO MUCH to make people sicker & at ⬆️ risk of death—he makes my blood boil
1/ This is a long 🧵, so buckle up & I hope you read till the end.
The HHS Secretary, is planning to remove all 16 members of the USPSTF the expert panel that decides which preventive services (cancer screenings, HIV prevention meds) must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
The HHS Secretary, is planning to remove all 16 members of the USPSTF the expert panel that decides which preventive services (cancer screenings, HIV prevention meds) must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act.
July 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Thread of the day
I get quite emotional about the USPSTF—they represent the BEST of science, the BEST of evidence, a kind of “church/shul/temple” when it comes to transparency, rigor & conflicts of interest
RFK Jr is doing SO MUCH to make people sicker & at ⬆️ risk of death—he makes my blood boil
I get quite emotional about the USPSTF—they represent the BEST of science, the BEST of evidence, a kind of “church/shul/temple” when it comes to transparency, rigor & conflicts of interest
RFK Jr is doing SO MUCH to make people sicker & at ⬆️ risk of death—he makes my blood boil
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Susie Freeman, Jubilee, 2000, wedding dress with (a lifetime average) 6,279 contraceptive pills, from a women’s health exhibition #womensart
July 5, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Susie Freeman, Jubilee, 2000, wedding dress with (a lifetime average) 6,279 contraceptive pills, from a women’s health exhibition #womensart
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
The federal HIV guidelines face a shutdown.
A trusted, living resource -- used by clinicians, programs, and public health agencies for decades -- may disappear due to “budget decreases and revised priorities.”
Big mistake. #IDSky blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...
A trusted, living resource -- used by clinicians, programs, and public health agencies for decades -- may disappear due to “budget decreases and revised priorities.”
Big mistake. #IDSky blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...
Federal HIV Guidelines Face a Shutdown — A Critical Loss for Clinicians and Patients
Each week, our HIV clinical group gathers to review active patients, share updates, and celebrate good news. On our whiteboard, we list four columns: Inpatients, Outpatients, Issues, and Celebrations....
blogs.jwatch.org
June 20, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The federal HIV guidelines face a shutdown.
A trusted, living resource -- used by clinicians, programs, and public health agencies for decades -- may disappear due to “budget decreases and revised priorities.”
Big mistake. #IDSky blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...
A trusted, living resource -- used by clinicians, programs, and public health agencies for decades -- may disappear due to “budget decreases and revised priorities.”
Big mistake. #IDSky blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
It's been a privilege to serve as an expert on NIH HIV guidelines panel alongside many dedicated colleagues. We do this work pro bono because it matters. This resource ensures a high level of care for people with HIV. Another short sighted pro disease move.
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
Administration to phase out NIH support of HIV clinical guidelines
The National Institutes of Health will phase out its support of the clinical practice guidelines that advise doctors how to diagnose and treat HIV.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 21, 2025 at 11:35 PM
It's been a privilege to serve as an expert on NIH HIV guidelines panel alongside many dedicated colleagues. We do this work pro bono because it matters. This resource ensures a high level of care for people with HIV. Another short sighted pro disease move.
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
The People-First Liver Charter - opportunities for improving awareness, tackling stigma, building accessible care pathways, maintaining linkage to treatment/monitoring, & reducing health inequities.
🧪
Led by @jvlazarus.bsky.social
#NoHep #MedSky #HepSky #LiverSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪
Led by @jvlazarus.bsky.social
#NoHep #MedSky #HepSky #LiverSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The People-First Liver Charter - Nature Medicine
Reducing the stigma and discrimination that people living with liver conditions experience requires rethinking how diagnoses, diseases, etiologies and circumstances are perceived — a shift that begins...
www.nature.com
June 9, 2025 at 8:37 AM
The People-First Liver Charter - opportunities for improving awareness, tackling stigma, building accessible care pathways, maintaining linkage to treatment/monitoring, & reducing health inequities.
🧪
Led by @jvlazarus.bsky.social
#NoHep #MedSky #HepSky #LiverSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪
Led by @jvlazarus.bsky.social
#NoHep #MedSky #HepSky #LiverSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅
June 6, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
June 7, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Ah sad loss
Edmund White, novelist and great chronicler of gay life, dies aged 85
Edmund White, novelist and great chronicler of gay life, dies aged 85
The American essayist, playwrightauthor of books including A Boy’s Own Story and The Married Man, has died
www.theguardian.com
June 4, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Ah sad loss
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
1 in 5 of the UK’s care workforce have a non-British passport.
Starmer would have us believe these carers are the “squalid” result of a “failed experiment”.
I say they do vital, necessary, humane, skilled work and they are worth their weight in gold.
Starmer would have us believe these carers are the “squalid” result of a “failed experiment”.
I say they do vital, necessary, humane, skilled work and they are worth their weight in gold.
May 12, 2025 at 12:51 PM
1 in 5 of the UK’s care workforce have a non-British passport.
Starmer would have us believe these carers are the “squalid” result of a “failed experiment”.
I say they do vital, necessary, humane, skilled work and they are worth their weight in gold.
Starmer would have us believe these carers are the “squalid” result of a “failed experiment”.
I say they do vital, necessary, humane, skilled work and they are worth their weight in gold.
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
I wrote about the devastating impact that international aid cuts will have on the HIV sector globally for @the-independent.com
“We cannot sit back and watch this humanitarian disaster unfold. We must act.”
www.independent.co.uk/voices/labou...
“We cannot sit back and watch this humanitarian disaster unfold. We must act.”
www.independent.co.uk/voices/labou...
I’m a doctor specialising in HIV – we should be very afraid of cuts to Aids funding
Hospitals will see a surge of people with Aids-related conditions that we should no longer see in this age of effective treatment, warns Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan
www.independent.co.uk
April 26, 2025 at 6:09 AM
I wrote about the devastating impact that international aid cuts will have on the HIV sector globally for @the-independent.com
“We cannot sit back and watch this humanitarian disaster unfold. We must act.”
www.independent.co.uk/voices/labou...
“We cannot sit back and watch this humanitarian disaster unfold. We must act.”
www.independent.co.uk/voices/labou...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
I love him I must marry him.
April 23, 2025 at 2:50 PM
I love him I must marry him.
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Short BHIVA statement following UK Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman.
Upholding the rights of women does not need to erode the rights of our trans peers.
We all face many intersecting issues, often stemming from the same misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-trans groups.
1/2
Upholding the rights of women does not need to erode the rights of our trans peers.
We all face many intersecting issues, often stemming from the same misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-trans groups.
1/2
April 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Short BHIVA statement following UK Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman.
Upholding the rights of women does not need to erode the rights of our trans peers.
We all face many intersecting issues, often stemming from the same misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-trans groups.
1/2
Upholding the rights of women does not need to erode the rights of our trans peers.
We all face many intersecting issues, often stemming from the same misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-trans groups.
1/2
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Solidarity with trans women after today’s Supreme Court ruling.
The rollback of LGBT rights — especially trans rights — is global, bankrolled by billionaires and the far-right.
Trans rights are human rights. We must defend the Equality Act and its protections for trans people.
The rollback of LGBT rights — especially trans rights — is global, bankrolled by billionaires and the far-right.
Trans rights are human rights. We must defend the Equality Act and its protections for trans people.
April 16, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Solidarity with trans women after today’s Supreme Court ruling.
The rollback of LGBT rights — especially trans rights — is global, bankrolled by billionaires and the far-right.
Trans rights are human rights. We must defend the Equality Act and its protections for trans people.
The rollback of LGBT rights — especially trans rights — is global, bankrolled by billionaires and the far-right.
Trans rights are human rights. We must defend the Equality Act and its protections for trans people.
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
‼️We have four new #vacancies, all part of same work stream aiming to shape and deliver an exciting new #peersupport service across #EastAnglia.
More information - positivelyuk.org/about-us/vac...
Share across your networks or apply yourself!
More information - positivelyuk.org/about-us/vac...
Share across your networks or apply yourself!
April 14, 2025 at 1:20 PM
‼️We have four new #vacancies, all part of same work stream aiming to shape and deliver an exciting new #peersupport service across #EastAnglia.
More information - positivelyuk.org/about-us/vac...
Share across your networks or apply yourself!
More information - positivelyuk.org/about-us/vac...
Share across your networks or apply yourself!
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Why it’s important to look at health outcomes stratified by sex (even though our government is no longer interested)—this is how we discovered female patients accounted for more heart disease deaths than male patients and started investigating why.
April 9, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Why it’s important to look at health outcomes stratified by sex (even though our government is no longer interested)—this is how we discovered female patients accounted for more heart disease deaths than male patients and started investigating why.
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Calling the #hepatitis #HBV #NoHep community worldwide - help us understand the impact of cuts.
We can speak out better if we collate experiences.
Takes 2 minutes. You can remain anonymous.
Please share.
@who.int @whoeurope.bsky.social @altcdc.altgov.info
#MedSky #EpiSky #HepSky #USAID #CDC 🧪
We can speak out better if we collate experiences.
Takes 2 minutes. You can remain anonymous.
Please share.
@who.int @whoeurope.bsky.social @altcdc.altgov.info
#MedSky #EpiSky #HepSky #USAID #CDC 🧪
Coinciding with the #GlobalHepatitisSummit #GHS2025 we are calling for anyone living or working with experience in #HBV, anywhere in the world, to fill in this short survey... & please share.
#HepSky #LiverSky #MedSky #NoHep
@who.int @altcdc.altgov.info @ecdc.europa.eu
forms.gle/XUKQd4Z7W1Ef...
#HepSky #LiverSky #MedSky #NoHep
@who.int @altcdc.altgov.info @ecdc.europa.eu
forms.gle/XUKQd4Z7W1Ef...
'Plan-B': Impact of changes in the global funding landscape for Hepatitis B clinical and research programmes
We are a team of clinicians and researchers based at the Francis Crick Institute in London, and working with international partners and collaborators to advance progress towards hepatitis B eliminatio...
forms.gle
April 7, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Calling the #hepatitis #HBV #NoHep community worldwide - help us understand the impact of cuts.
We can speak out better if we collate experiences.
Takes 2 minutes. You can remain anonymous.
Please share.
@who.int @whoeurope.bsky.social @altcdc.altgov.info
#MedSky #EpiSky #HepSky #USAID #CDC 🧪
We can speak out better if we collate experiences.
Takes 2 minutes. You can remain anonymous.
Please share.
@who.int @whoeurope.bsky.social @altcdc.altgov.info
#MedSky #EpiSky #HepSky #USAID #CDC 🧪
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Cannot agree more...
April 1, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Cannot agree more...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
I’m finding it very hard to understand the stance of the Royal Society here. Science is part of society, not separate from it, existing in some strange metaphysical bubble. I look across the Atlantic, aghast at the damage being done to science and scientists.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Royal Society decides not to take disciplinary action against Elon Musk
Exclusive: Fellows argue Musk has violated code of conduct but council believes investigation ‘could do more harm than good’
www.theguardian.com
March 26, 2025 at 8:44 AM
I’m finding it very hard to understand the stance of the Royal Society here. Science is part of society, not separate from it, existing in some strange metaphysical bubble. I look across the Atlantic, aghast at the damage being done to science and scientists.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Rebecca O’Connell
Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
March 22, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.