Epidemiologist 📊 • Associate Prof at Harvard Med School & School of Public Health • Founding Director LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence • Views=own• Mom of 3 kiddos • she/her + 🏳️🌈
6,949 followers 255 following 188 posts
view profile on Bluesky 
Just in: NIH staff have been instructed to REINSTATE these ~900 grants to comply with the court order, per sources. This comes after staff were also directed to cease any further terminations. You can see the lists grants to be reinstated in my post below.
The sense of relief, vindication, & hope in the courtroom was undeniable—the emotion was so thick you could feel it in the air as justice & the value of our research were finally affirmed
📢BREAKING: Just left the courthouse for our NIH grant termination case Judge ruled terminations are “VOID & ILLEGAL” As a plaintiff, I felt a wave of relief & hope; he acknowledged the discrimination & harm Closed by asking, ‘Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?’
⚖️Heartbroken but proud to stand with fellow researchers in court today⚖️ NIH’s sudden grant cuts: 🚫 Silence lifesaving health equity work ⏳ Undermine years of progress ⚠️ Put vital discoveries at risk We won’t stop fighting for science & justice 🧪 👇More details from our @aclu.org representation👇
From our lawyers @protectdemocracy.org "By excluding entire topics...the NIH divides & polarizes communities, undermines our shared sense of reality, & demonizes marginalized groups. Challenging these actions is vital for science, for equality, & for democracy." 🤞 for tomorrow's hearing
Heartbroken for my colleague @kgamarel.bsky.social After decades of NIH support, HIV research network gets funding back—but Kristi's study on trans youth of color is singled out & cut Essential research for most vulnerable—lost 🙏 Powerful reporting @stephaniemlee.bsky.social in @chronicle.com
✊ How to challenge authoritarianism? 🔥 3 proven approaches 1️⃣ Mockery & salacious humor 🤡 2️⃣ Expose corruption, hypocrisy (& not just calling for ‘democracy’) 💸 3️⃣ Spotlight an individual tragedy (& not sea of oppression) 💔 🔗 👇 Nicholas Kristof @nytimes.com
Sworn testimony & leaked emails: more proof DOGE is hand-picking which NIH grants live or die—screening awards, handing out kill lists, & canceling science in hours 🙌 Shout out to @maxkozlov.bsky.social at @nature.com for breaking the story (again), in part due to brave NIH insiders
🗣️ Tomorrow, our lawyers will ask the court for an injunction to halt the illegal cancellation of NIH research grants They'll argue violations of the Administrative Procedure Act & Constitution Meet the other plaintiffs & listen in on the hearing 👇🔬 #ProtectScience
My @bostonglobe.com quotes 💔 "The scale of what happened is incomprehensible—a bloodbath for research and the wider community. Entire labs are unraveling, and young scientists on training grants may be suddenly adrift. Work that could change lives—or save them—is being brought to a standstill.” 🔬
📍DEVELOPING 🪓 Hundreds of Harvard research grants slashed What I told @bostonglobe.com — full quote follows ⬇️ #AcademicTwitter #HigherEd #Science
13/ If you care about truth 💡 health 🩺 & democracy 🗳️ — fight with us ✊ We need a tidal wave 🌊
12/ That’s why I ran for local office 🗳️ — and won 🏆 We need scientists everywhere: 🔬 In labs 📚 On school boards ⚖️ In courtrooms Not just resisting — leading 🚀
11/ Philanthropy 💸 must step up Congress 🏛️ must act And the public 👥 must understand: this isn’t niche The research you rely on — cancer 🧬, HIV 🦠, vaccines 💉, mental health 🧠 — is next 🔥
10/ I’m proud to be a Harvard faculty member 🎓 — & proud Harvard is also suing to defend academic freedom 📢🧠. More universities 🏛️ & institutions must join now This is DEFCON 1 🚨
9/ I’ve faced hate mail 💌 Disturbing threats 🚫 I've increased security around my office & family 🛑🏠. But the greater danger is silence 😶 We either defend science now — or we watch it vanish 🫥
8/ I’m not alone ✊ Leading researchers, the American Public Health Association 🏥 & others joined our suit — to stop unlawful grant terminations & protect science 🔬📚
7/ This is not just about me It’s about whether truth 🧬 will survive in a democracy 🗳️ — or if science will be rewritten by ideology 📉 That’s why I'm filing a federal lawsuit ⚖️ against RFK Jr. & the NIH
6/ One canceled study found lesbians are 3x as likely to experience stillbirth 🫄 Another studied suicide risk in queer youth under anti-LGBTQ laws 🧒
5/ The government destroyed $16 million in taxpayer-funded science that I was leading 💰 But that’s not what hurts most What hurts is this: vital, life-saving LGBTQ research is now in the trash — defunded, silenced, erased
4/ That’s what makes what happened next so dangerous ⚠️ Dangerous for every American who relies on evidence-based health care
3/ I share this because my work was rigorous & earned the respect of experienced scientists Now, it’s all been erased — because it’s no longer “aligned with agency priorities.”
2/ I’m a Harvard-trained epidemiologist. In the past decade: ✔️ Mentored 75+ rising health leaders ✔️ Published 100+ peer-reviewed papers ✔️ Ranked top 10% in NIH funding across Harvard ✔️ Built one of the largest LGBTQ health research programs in the world 🏥 I don't say this to brag...
📌 THREAD: I’m taking Health & Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. to court ⚖️ Not for me — but to defend science 🧬, LGBTQ health 🏳️🌈 & the future of public research 🏥 Here’s why 🧵 🔗 Full story via my op-ed in @statnews.com #DefendScience #LGBTQHealth #RFKJr #NIH #PublicHealth #AcademicFreedom
🧬 Science is under siege — and so are the systems that protect lives. These aren’t just panel quotes. They’re alarm bells 🔔🔔🔔 #STATBreakthrough
🎙️ "I went to graduate school because I wanted data and facts to drive what we do.” — Indeed, the American scientific engine is built on evidence — not conspiracy theories. That foundation is cracking. #STATBreakthrough
🎙️ “There’s a gap that won’t be filled... when we lose trainees.” — Yes, mentorship and the future of biomedical science are at risk. Misinformation and politicized attacks push young talent away from the field #STATBreakthrough
🎙️ "Science Under Siege" panel via @statnews.com — powerful & urgent “Americans who deserve better — especially those who rely on government systems — will suffer and die because of what RFK Jr & his allies are doing.” 🎯 A few other standout remarks that hit hard👇🧵 #STATBreakthrough
🗞️Grateful for the chance to clearly say in Sunday's @nytimes.com paper— Ending medical research with LGBTQ people doesn’t just hurt our community; it endangers everyone🏳️🌈 “When the people around you are sick, it affects you — even if you think it doesn’t” We're all connected. Always have been 💜
With NIH director Jayanta Bhattacharya dismissing my reporting as "false" and "spreading rumors" hours before releasing a policy that confirmed said "rumors," I feel compelled to respond. Here's an inside look into how this story was reported. It was a weird one. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
To the fellows, mentors & staff—your work echoes in every life not lost. Every cancer prevented. Every survivor who got there sooner 💙 3/🧵
This program trained scientists behind game-changing efforts: 🧬 HPV vaccines 🚭 Tobacco control 🔍 Early detection 💪 Survivorship care Ending this fellowship sends a clear message: 🛑 Prevention still isn’t a priority 🧠💸 2/🧵
After 35+ years, the National Cancer Institute seems to be ending its Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program If my sources are correct, this is a loss for cancer prevention—a field that saves lives before treatment is ever needed 🛡️💔 And also, it's a pipeline of future leaders—gone 1/🧵
🙏 Big thanks to everyone powering this work — especially The Impact Project Director Abby André & the stellar team making these stories visible, shareable, and impossible to ignore 💥 8/🧵
🎯 Also, federal policy changes affect all people (& not just researchers!) Whether you're a student, parent, public servant, or community member impacted by cuts or changes to funding, programs, or services — they want to hear from you 🗣️ Share your story👉 theimpactproject.org/share-your-s... 7/🧵
📣 Have you been impacted by changes in federal funding? 🔍 The Impact Project is collecting stories from affected grant recipients Our voices matter — help them show what data alone can’t 📝 Share your story forms.gle/yz5ygewJSAtN... 6/🧵
🙏 My hope is that The Impact Project helps people see the real-life impact behind policy — bridging the gap between decisions made in D.C. 🏛️ & the communities they reach 🏘️ 5/🧵
📍 The Impact Project connects the dots — using open-source data to show how federal decisions ripple through real lives 🏛️➡️🏠 From D.C. policy to hometown impact, it helps journalists, researchers & everyday people make sense of it all 4/🧵
A crucial additional tool is The Impact Project It makes visible what’s often invisible: the real-world impact of government decisions 🔗👉 theimpactproject.org 3/🧵
I'm so grateful to @scott-delaney.bsky.social & @noamross.net who turned it into something far more powerful 👇👇👇 grant-watch.us/nih-data.html 2/🧵
I started tracking terminated grants in a rudimentary spreadsheet, days after inauguration 🙏 @maxkozlov.bsky.social broke the story about terminations in @nature.com, highlighting my tracking effort
⚖️⚖️ Hearing just ended in Massachusetts v. RFK Jr. about the legality of NIH grant terminations ⚖️⚖️ Court is weighing jurisdiction — meanwhile, judge asked AGs for a list of affected grants & the government for its definition of DEI 👀 These requests are a big deal. Here’s why 🧵
💝 We’re advancing research to advance health equity for LGBTQ communities. 🚫 Unfortunately, our LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence has lost all NIH funding 🙏 You can help make a difference. Support our work: hsph.me/lgbtq-give #episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
📄 Just published: Our team's latest research shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to have an abortion compared to their heterosexual peers #episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
📄 Just published: Our team's latest research shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to have an abortion compared to their heterosexual peers #episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
📄 Just published: Our team's latest research shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to have an abortion compared to their heterosexual peers #episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
📄 Just published: Our team's latest research shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to have an abortion compared to their heterosexual peers #episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
📄 Just published: Our team's latest research shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are more likely to have an abortion compared to their heterosexual peers #episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
🙏 Huge thanks to @anniewaldman.bsky.social of @propublica.org — one of the most thoughtful, dedicated reporters covering NIH Her insight’s been clear since we first connected in March A privilege to see her work — I'm sure there’s more to come
🙌 CHEERS to brave whistleblowers! They’ve confirmed how we were unjustly targeted for NIH grant terminations. But it gets worse... 💥 Newly leaked docs EXPOSE how this administration is violating court orders — and trying to cover it up. #Whistleblower #NIH #Accountability
As I said to @forbes.com, "Science should not be subject to political whims and having certain topics fall into disfavor is a violation of both congressional mandates and the NIH’s own strategic plan.” 🔗 Full article👉 hsph.me/lgbtq-press-...
This exclusive story in @chronicle.com—written by @stephaniemlee.bsky.social—is another standout piece from one of the most trusted & thoughtful voices on this beat 👇👇👇
📣 NIH reinstating some terminated grants Exclusive via @chronicle.com 🔗👇 confirms what we’ve seen for weeks Piece asks: what’s “secret sauce”? As an early-impacted PI, I know strategy matters Now I'm advising orgs on appeals, “orderly” closeout & reinstatements: brittanycharlton.com/consulting
⛔ NIH ended ALL of my grants mid-project, given LGBTQ health focus 🏳️🌈 ⚖️ So what am I doing? Suing RFK, Jr. As one team member shared in this story👇: "The threats to our work don’t just make me fear for my career — they make me fear for my safety.“ #SaveDemocracy #SupportScience #PublicHealth
✨ Here’s how you can help: ▶️ Make a gift to rescue our Center ▶️ Volunteer your time, expertise, or resources ▶️ Organize others in your community ▶️ Sign up for our newsletter to stay connected ✨Join the fight ➡️ hsph.me/lgbtq-gifts
Indeed, the external offers are unlike anything I’ve seen before!
Atmosphere on campuses across the U.S. is bleak — canceled travel, encrypted communication & further layoffs 🎓 As I said to NBC News, “Our funding could come back. But even if it does, irreparable harm has been done.” ⚠️ @nbcnews.com @tktk.bsky.social #HigherEd #CampusCrisis #AcademicFreedom
This isn't just our fight — it's yours 💪🏽🏳️🌈 ▶️ Make a gift to rescue our Center ▶️ Volunteer your expertise, time, or resources ▶️ Organize others in your community ▶️ Sign up for our newsletter to be connected Heroes show up 🦸🏽 ✨Join the fight ➡️ hsph.me/lgbtq-gifts 🧵/23 #SupportScience #StandUp
NIH demands “orderly closure” — after killing our work. 📝💔 Managing it feels futile. Truth replaced by ideology. 🚨 This isn't just an attack on science — it's an attack on democracy itself. 🏛️⚖️ We have a choice: stay silent — or fight back. 🧵/22 #ProtectDemocracy #AntiFascist
I stood up for LGBTQ health 🏳️🌈✊🏽 Result? An onslaught of harassment, escalating into threats at my doorstep🚪🌪️ Speaking the truth shouldn’t come with a target on your back. But here we are. 🧵/21 #ProtectScience #DefendScience #QueerHealth #AcademicFreedom #StopFascism
🧬 Losing these grants doesn’t just hurt science — it hurts people. ➡️ Marginalized communities abandoned. ➡️ Public health & evidence-based medicine under attack. ➡️ Lives put at risk — with no acknowledgment of their right to care. 🧵/20
Will research participants ever trust research again? 🧠💔 They shared their deepest truths — believing it would help others. Ending studies abruptly is a betrayal of trust, ethics, & hope We owe them better 🧵/19 #ResearchEthics
😔 Worst of all: More patients will suffer 🩸 More pregnancies will end in preventable stillbirths ⚰️ Systemic inequities will grow — untouched, unchallenged. 🧡🏥 🧵/18
Here’s what’s at risk without this funding: 🏳️🌈💪 ➡️ Life-saving research on LGBTQ maternal health could stay hidden. 🌱 ➡️ Promising young scientists could lose their futures in medicine and public health. 🌟 Science. Lives. Futures. All on the line. 🧵/17
This wasn’t just research — it was 20+ years of work to tackle #ReproductiveHealth inequities in LGBTQ communities 🏳️🌈📚 The grant trained dozens of faculty/postdocs/students — helping them publish, gain clinical insight & launch careers in medicine & public health 👩⚕️👨⚕️ This is what’s at stake 🧵/16
Our study directly supported NIH’s goals: 🎯 Serve at-risk groups 🎯 Uncover the roots of health inequities It could have saved lives — improving the health of lesbian/bi moms & their children. 🏳️🌈👶🏽 Defunding it? A deadly mistake. 🧵/15
Another one of our studies? Defunded 🚫🏳️🌈 We asked: Do lesbian/bi moms — ~800K U.S. births a year in U.S. — face unique stigma harming their health & their babies? 👶🏽 LGBTQ women face higher risks (e.g., depression) — yet pregnancy outcomes by sexual orientation remain a mystery. 🧠 🧵/14
>1 in 4 young people in the U.S. are LGBTQ 🏳️🌈 Our community faces a mental health crisis. We're being left behind. One of our NIH-funded studies was built to help. It would drive interventions to reduce depression, anxiety, & suicide among LGBTQ youth — and their straight, cis peers 🧠 🧵/13
My salary is gone — and so is funding for 18 incredible team members doing critical research. We need help: opportunities, collaborations, anything Please boost 🙏 🧵/12
📉 At the time, I led 3 NIH grants & co-led 2 other NIH grants (under leadership of Cindy Velhuis at Northwestern U & Andy Tan of UPenn) Just counting the 3 grants led—rather than co-led—this meant ~$16 million destroyed (of this ~$6 million cut midstream) 🧵/11 @cbv.bsky.social @upenn.edu
🚫 Beginning in early March, NIH terminated ALL my research grants — citing only that they "no longer effectuate agency priorities" This is not random It’s the deliberate dismantling 💔 of one of the world’s most federally supported LGBTQ health research programs 🌍. 🧵/10 #LGBTQHealth
Getting a grant isn’t just “winning money” It’s a hard-earned stamp of approval for a project’s: ➡️ Scientific importance ➡️ Methodological rigor ➡️ Real-world power to change lives & improve public health This is about impact — respect the science 🚀 🧵/9
For those who don’t know: The NIH grant process is BRUTAL. ⏳ Prep takes months or years 👩🔬 Teams of experts required 📚 Proposals often 200+ pages 🔥 Must prove urgency, significance, top methods, & an expert team 🧠 Survive ruthless #PeerReview by top scientists No politics, no shortcuts 🧵/8
To put it in perspective: I ranked 51st among all NIH-funded investigators across Harvard’s 13 schools — including Harvard Med School, Harvard Chan School of Public Health, & Harvard College 🎓🏥📚 #ResearchFunding #AcademicResearch #HigherEd #AcademicFreedom #ProtectScience 🧵/7
I had secured continuous NIH funding for almost 2 decades — 15+ grants, including a rare early-career R01 🧠🏛️ With a proven track record of winning & managing NIH grants, I had built what *should* have been a lasting academic center 🧵/6
Less than 1 year ago, I launched LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence at Harvard Chan School of Public Health 🏳️🌈✨ Our mission: advance health equity by training future leaders, driving innovative research, & informing public policy🏛️ 🧵/5 @lgbtqhealthexce.bsky.social #HealthEquity #LGBTQHealth
What have I built? 🚀 Founder of Harvard's LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence 🎓 Mentored 75+ faculty, postdocs, & leaders 📝 Published 100+ papers in top journals like JAMA & BMJ 📚 Been cited 2,600+ times — because facts matter 🧵/4 @lgbtqhealthexce.bsky.social @jama.com @bmj.com #Epidemiology
Who am I now? 📚Harvard-trained epidemiologist 🎓Recruited to faculty of Harvard Med School & School of Public Health before I turned 30 (now 39) 🏳️🌈 International #LGBTQHealth expert 🧵/3 @harvard.edu @harvardmed.bsky.social @hsph.harvard.edu
Where did I come from? 🏥 Proud child of union nurses 👩⚕️ AmeriCorps alum at LGBTQ health center — HIV counseling, physician training, birth doula ⚖️ Worked for NARAL, Sen. Feinstein & Rep. Nadler — fighting for reproductive & civil rights 🧵/2 @reproductivefreedomforall.org @nadler.house.gov
🚨Breaking: Filed declaration in my lawsuit against #RFKJr @ #HHS & #JayBhattacharya @ #NIH I refuse to be silent—silencing science endangers everyone Full declaration: hsph.me/lgbtq-declaration ⬇️ Highlights in🧵 ⬇️ 🙏🏻 @aclu.org @protectdemocracy.org @aclum.bsky.social @cspinet.org #AntiFascist
📉 Why did NSF Director *just* resign? Grant cuts+budget slashed+more. We’re tracking damage—one grant at a time: first NIH, now NSF. 👀 Thanks @nytimes.com spotlight & @noamross.net s.net + @scott-delaney.bsky.social for expanding tracker. We didn’t want to build this. But we won’t look away.
Thanks to fellow panels—Bob Langer, @ashishkjha.bsky.social , and @cbo.bsky.social—and our moderator @akuchment.bsky.social.
🎥 Just dropped: “Science Is at a Crossroads” 📉 At last night's @bostonglobe.com event, I spoke about how science is shrinking—budget cuts, layoffs, rising disparities. , 🎓 Science must be funded. Science must be inclusive. 👇👇Watch + share if you stand for truth, not political agendas. 🔬❤️
Register👉 scienceatacrossroads.splashthat.com
🧬 Reminder: Science is at a crossroads Mass layoffs. Funding cuts. Uncertainty for vulnerable communities. Join our panel & reception by @bostonglobe.com 📍Tonight @6pm | Boston & Online 👇Register; thanks @fenwayhealth.bsky.social for space #Science #Research #Fact #LGBTQHealth #Gay
🧬 Science is at a crossroads Join us for a vital panel hosted by @bostonglobe.com Federal science agencies face mass layoffs, & major institutions are losing key funding Where does science go now? Let’s talk about it. 📍April 22 | Boston & Online Register 🔗 scienceatacrossroads.splashthat.com
🚨 Proud to stand for science & truth — & proud to be suing the NIH. We’re resisting government overreach that prioritizes politics over health & keeps Americans from the facts. Thanks to powerhouse lawyers representing me: @protectdemocracy.org & @aclu.org Help us #KillTheCuts & #SaveOurScience ⬇️
My next read for my kiddos' classes will be Heather Has Two Mommies...an oldie but a goodie!
Also, in case you missed it last week... 🔗 The breaking story in @nature.com that we got to work on with the prodigious @maxkozlov.bsky.social👇
📣 So, what now? It’s time to ask: Are we prioritizing politics over people? How do we rebuild a research system that serves everyone? Let’s talk. Let’s act. Let’s not let this fade. 🌈🧬
7️⃣ We’re not just talking research. We’re talking real-world consequences: ✅People delaying or avoiding healthcare ✅Clinics closing ✅LGBTQ youth shut out by their families
6️⃣ #AcademicFreedom isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the foundation of good science. And it's a topic where I find (some) common ground with my @harvard.edu colleagues like Steven Pinker and Tyler VanderWeele at @causalab.bsky.social (with whom I share an office wall)
5️⃣ Science must be led by evidence, not political agendas. And yet, this shift bypasses expert consensus and rewrites the playbook.
4️⃣ Why does this matter? Because: 🟡 It sidelines real science 🟡 It stigmatizes an already vulnerable group 🟡 It tells researchers like me: You’re not welcome here This is how you kill medical innovation.
3️⃣ I know this firsthand. My ~$16 million research portfolio—focused on LGBTQ health—was gutted exactly 1 month ago *today* 🏳️🌈 This isn’t budgeting. This is ideological targeting.