Therese Rajasekera, PhD
@thereseraj.bsky.social
Research Fellow at Connors Center for Women’s Health/Dept. of Psychiatry at Brigham & Women's Hospital | OSU alumna
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
I'm starting to look into how inflammation is being misused by MAHA types in a way that very much distracts from chronic illness-inflammation problems people actually have. If you're an academic, doctor, immunologist etc with thoughts on this, please be in touch at jmetraux@motherjones.com
September 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I'm starting to look into how inflammation is being misused by MAHA types in a way that very much distracts from chronic illness-inflammation problems people actually have. If you're an academic, doctor, immunologist etc with thoughts on this, please be in touch at jmetraux@motherjones.com
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Quick boost: if you are troubled by RFK’s new remarks about AI in drug development, great news, there’s an open comment period on that very subject at NIH right now! Let *them* know your thoughts.
Late notice (due July 14th) but this RFI should be on people's radars:
"NIH is developing an institute-wide AI strategy that charts a progression from today’s data-science-driven analytics through semi-autonomous AI agents to fully autonomous, self-documenting biomedical AI beings."
#MedSky #MLSky
"NIH is developing an institute-wide AI strategy that charts a progression from today’s data-science-driven analytics through semi-autonomous AI agents to fully autonomous, self-documenting biomedical AI beings."
#MedSky #MLSky
NOT-OD-25-117: Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments on the NIH Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments on the NIH Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy NOT-OD-25-117. OD
grants.nih.gov
July 1, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Quick boost: if you are troubled by RFK’s new remarks about AI in drug development, great news, there’s an open comment period on that very subject at NIH right now! Let *them* know your thoughts.
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
I learned so much 🤯 and appreciated the supportive environment for relatively new learners like me 🙋♀️🦠
Our lab recently organized a week-long course on Microbiome data analysis using the bioBakery suite. We had almost 60 participants from around the world, eagerly participating and learning. Huge shoutout to Kelsey for spearheading the course and all instructors for teaching fabulously! 🎉
June 20, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I learned so much 🤯 and appreciated the supportive environment for relatively new learners like me 🙋♀️🦠
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
I've spent the last few months examining the +1,450 grants terminated at the NIH, including reading hundreds of abstracts.
Many were studying how to solve or improve health disparities – not just identify or explain them.
Some of the terminated grants (h/t to @scott-delaney.bsky.social + team)
Many were studying how to solve or improve health disparities – not just identify or explain them.
Some of the terminated grants (h/t to @scott-delaney.bsky.social + team)
June 13, 2025 at 10:56 PM
I've spent the last few months examining the +1,450 grants terminated at the NIH, including reading hundreds of abstracts.
Many were studying how to solve or improve health disparities – not just identify or explain them.
Some of the terminated grants (h/t to @scott-delaney.bsky.social + team)
Many were studying how to solve or improve health disparities – not just identify or explain them.
Some of the terminated grants (h/t to @scott-delaney.bsky.social + team)
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
🧪Check out this great thread of resources, plus don't forget we have state-by-state info cards for you at bit.ly/NSF_bystate -- each card has your Senators & their phone # PLUS how NSF activities impact your state #SaveNSF #resist
May 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
🧪Check out this great thread of resources, plus don't forget we have state-by-state info cards for you at bit.ly/NSF_bystate -- each card has your Senators & their phone # PLUS how NSF activities impact your state #SaveNSF #resist
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Not the headline I want to post. But for everyone trying to understand what’s happening at UMass Chan, why things are so difficult, this is what’s happening. We are a service institution. We educate; we care; we give; we serve rural MA. We dont make money. Our own govt is crushing us. Link below
April 17, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Not the headline I want to post. But for everyone trying to understand what’s happening at UMass Chan, why things are so difficult, this is what’s happening. We are a service institution. We educate; we care; we give; we serve rural MA. We dont make money. Our own govt is crushing us. Link below
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Folks, while much of the attention is on Harvard and Columbia's response to the Trump/Musk/RFK Jr. administration, I'd like to point out how #NIH terminations and funding cuts go far beyond this war with the nations' elite universities. 🧵🧪
April 14, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Folks, while much of the attention is on Harvard and Columbia's response to the Trump/Musk/RFK Jr. administration, I'd like to point out how #NIH terminations and funding cuts go far beyond this war with the nations' elite universities. 🧵🧪
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
If H5N1 starts spreading human to human, we need to detect it fast to stop a pandemic.
To detect H5N1 spread between humans, we need to test people at high exposure risk.
To test those people, we need to ensure they aren’t risking being permanently disappeared to a foreign torture prison.
To detect H5N1 spread between humans, we need to test people at high exposure risk.
To test those people, we need to ensure they aren’t risking being permanently disappeared to a foreign torture prison.
🚨My latest: Trump's deportation tactics are undermining the bird flu response, outreach workers say.
Detecting cases is key but farmworkers at highest risk - mainly immigrants - are afraid to leave home for care. @kffhealthnews.org / ABC
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Detecting cases is key but farmworkers at highest risk - mainly immigrants - are afraid to leave home for care. @kffhealthnews.org / ABC
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Trump’s Immigration Tactics Obstruct Efforts To Avert Bird Flu Pandemic, Researchers Say - KFF Health News
Preventing and detecting bird flu infections among farmworkers is a key defense against a potential pandemic. Immigration raids and threats have undermined these efforts, researchers say.
kffhealthnews.org
April 12, 2025 at 3:42 PM
If H5N1 starts spreading human to human, we need to detect it fast to stop a pandemic.
To detect H5N1 spread between humans, we need to test people at high exposure risk.
To test those people, we need to ensure they aren’t risking being permanently disappeared to a foreign torture prison.
To detect H5N1 spread between humans, we need to test people at high exposure risk.
To test those people, we need to ensure they aren’t risking being permanently disappeared to a foreign torture prison.
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Open letter from nearly 2000 NAS member scientists: "We see real danger in this moment. We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united (...) in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated."
Public Statement on Supporting Science for the Benefit of All Citizens
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE We all rely on science. Science gave us the smartphones in our pockets, the navigation systems in our cars, and life-saving medical care. We count on engineers when we drive acr...
docs.google.com
March 31, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Open letter from nearly 2000 NAS member scientists: "We see real danger in this moment. We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united (...) in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated."
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Over 2000 protest in wake of student detainment at Tuft's www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025...
Over 2000 protest in wake of student detainment - The Tufts Daily
Students and local activists gathered on Wednesday evening at Powder House Park to protest the detainment of Tufts graduate student, Rumeysa Ozturk, by federal authorities on Tuesday. The protest...
www.tuftsdaily.com
March 27, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Over 2000 protest in wake of student detainment at Tuft's www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Last Friday, 1,000 more NIH biomedical research projects were defunded with no notice
Here’s a word cloud of canceled grants, based on their titles
Here’s a word cloud of canceled grants, based on their titles
my word cloud on these titles (minus Columbia) - any patterns emerge?
March 23, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Last Friday, 1,000 more NIH biomedical research projects were defunded with no notice
Here’s a word cloud of canceled grants, based on their titles
Here’s a word cloud of canceled grants, based on their titles
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
The fed gov terminated grants addressing Black maternal mortality, which is 3 x's higher than the maternal mortality rate of Whites.
Here's the thing, the MAHA plan talks about addressing disparities. The implementation of policies shows us whose disparate health outcomes they don't care about.
Here's the thing, the MAHA plan talks about addressing disparities. The implementation of policies shows us whose disparate health outcomes they don't care about.
March 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
The fed gov terminated grants addressing Black maternal mortality, which is 3 x's higher than the maternal mortality rate of Whites.
Here's the thing, the MAHA plan talks about addressing disparities. The implementation of policies shows us whose disparate health outcomes they don't care about.
Here's the thing, the MAHA plan talks about addressing disparities. The implementation of policies shows us whose disparate health outcomes they don't care about.
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
We've been tracking unlawful NIH grant terminations for 3 weeks. Spread the word👇!
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Cancelled NIH grant information submission form
Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NIH grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025.
Data from this form will be used to update the Rescinded NIH...
docs.google.com
March 21, 2025 at 10:38 AM
We've been tracking unlawful NIH grant terminations for 3 weeks. Spread the word👇!
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Today is the 35th anniversary of the Capitol Crawl, in which disabled activists discarded their mobility aids at the foot of the Capitol steps to climb them in support of passage of the Americans with Disabilities Ac. Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, 8, told reporters "I'll take all night if I have to!"
March 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Today is the 35th anniversary of the Capitol Crawl, in which disabled activists discarded their mobility aids at the foot of the Capitol steps to climb them in support of passage of the Americans with Disabilities Ac. Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins, 8, told reporters "I'll take all night if I have to!"
I am so inspired by these students ✊🏾
Students jeered. Faculty members sharpened their words like weapons. Carter attempted to soften the blow offering reassurances that Ohio State was still a place for all. The room erupted into laughter. #OhioState #DEI #Ohio @redguju.bsky.social @osuaaup.bsky.social @cgsosu.bsky.social bit.ly/3XuX8im
"We Rise": Ohio State Students Fight Back as University Dismantles
The tension in the room was palpable. A majority-minority crowd of Ohio State students, faculty, and staff packed the meeting space, faces tight with frustration, hands ready to clap in defiance. As
bit.ly
March 4, 2025 at 8:41 PM
I am so inspired by these students ✊🏾
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
This is a serious immediate danger to abortion clinic workers and volunteer escorts. Anti-abortion activists spent decades conducting a campaign of terrorism, bombings and murder targeting doctors and abortion clinic workers. This is a green light from the administration
Many of the anti-abortion activists serving felony sentences for breaking into/blocking the entrances of clinics pardoned by Trump say they're eager to resume their efforts to eliminate access to the procedure. Clinics are already reporting an uptick in incidents. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
‘It emboldened us’: Pardoned anti-abortion activists vow more protests
Trump’s FBI and DOJ dropped several ongoing investigations into threats against abortion clinics and issued a new memo signaling reduced enforcement going forward against such acts.
www.politico.com
March 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
This is a serious immediate danger to abortion clinic workers and volunteer escorts. Anti-abortion activists spent decades conducting a campaign of terrorism, bombings and murder targeting doctors and abortion clinic workers. This is a green light from the administration
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Please distribute widely! This is a great opportunity to receive a novel eating disorder treatment specifically tailored to the LGBTQ+ community and developed by an LGBTQ+ eating disorder research lab!
February 28, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Please distribute widely! This is a great opportunity to receive a novel eating disorder treatment specifically tailored to the LGBTQ+ community and developed by an LGBTQ+ eating disorder research lab!
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
One of the main things keeping me going is feeling like these students deserve such a better world than the one we're giving them.
Ohio State University students protest decision to close diversity and inclusion offices
Dozens of students and some faculty protested the decision by Ohio State University President Ted Carter to close the university's diversity, equity and inclusion offices. Many said Carter is closing ...
www.wosu.org
February 28, 2025 at 11:39 PM
One of the main things keeping me going is feeling like these students deserve such a better world than the one we're giving them.
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
So.
It has officially happened. I have been officially let go from my position at CDC. I wasn’t a probationary employee. I had stellar performance reviews every year.
I’ll be ok. But please understand that many worked HARD to get into these positions and were doing great public health work.
It has officially happened. I have been officially let go from my position at CDC. I wasn’t a probationary employee. I had stellar performance reviews every year.
I’ll be ok. But please understand that many worked HARD to get into these positions and were doing great public health work.
February 21, 2025 at 8:14 PM
So.
It has officially happened. I have been officially let go from my position at CDC. I wasn’t a probationary employee. I had stellar performance reviews every year.
I’ll be ok. But please understand that many worked HARD to get into these positions and were doing great public health work.
It has officially happened. I have been officially let go from my position at CDC. I wasn’t a probationary employee. I had stellar performance reviews every year.
I’ll be ok. But please understand that many worked HARD to get into these positions and were doing great public health work.
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
For 38 years, PRAMS has collected critical data on maternal-child health with the goal to reduce infant morbidity and mortality. CDC has officially halted the 2024 PRAMS data collection for the participating 46 states and the future is uncertain.
PRAMS
Surveillance project of CDC and health departments used to improve maternal and infant health.
www.cdc.gov
February 20, 2025 at 7:34 PM
For 38 years, PRAMS has collected critical data on maternal-child health with the goal to reduce infant morbidity and mortality. CDC has officially halted the 2024 PRAMS data collection for the participating 46 states and the future is uncertain.
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Science Homecoming
sciencehomecoming.com
February 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠
sciencehomecoming.com
sciencehomecoming.com
Reposted by Therese Rajasekera, PhD
Over 650 political scientists who have dedicated our lives to the study of democracy & government, have signed this letter enumerating our deep concerns about this administration’s actions that undermine the Constitution and the rule of law. Please share.
urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=htt...
urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=htt...
Political science statement.pdf
urldefense.proofpoint.com
February 18, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Over 650 political scientists who have dedicated our lives to the study of democracy & government, have signed this letter enumerating our deep concerns about this administration’s actions that undermine the Constitution and the rule of law. Please share.
urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=htt...
urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=htt...