not an exaggeration, I would not be working in science today if this had been the situation at NIH when I started my lab

Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted. What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards. Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

Our team found that, for wt loss maintenance, extended-care delivered on an individually-adapted schedule did not out perform our gold standard 1x/month program. Although null results are never fun, the clinician in me was ecstatic that BOTH groups did so well! Link: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Adaptive vs Monthly Support for Weight-Loss Maintenance

This randomized clinical trial evaluates whether weight regain is reduced via provision of telephone-based extended care on an adaptive schedule, triggered by a study algorithm that estimates when ind...

jamanetwork.com

RCT: Providing extended care via telephone—whether on an adaptive or static monthly schedule—resulted in similar long-term weight-loss maintenance among adults with obesity. ja.ma/3KDhMZK

Yep, just found out our NIDDK R01 scored at 7th percentile (which had been sent to GMS/got a JIT request which we dropped everything to response to) didnt make it past the new cut

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist@princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 12mo ago

This is a VERY important read about the status of NIH funding & how funding works. Labs all over the country are feeling the effects of this policy change. Last year, 10% of grants got funded. The number will be reduced this year & beyond. 🧵 🧪 scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com/p/a-quiet-po...

Thank you @jackmbirch.bsky.social for summarising your experiences at our recent #DigitalHealthDivide2025 workshop at @univie.ac.at!

NIHR PRU Behavioural and Social Sciences@nihr-pru-bass.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Our researcher @jackmbirch.bsky.social recently attended a workshop on the digital health divide at the University of Vienna @univie.ac.at. Read about how they considered how research practice can be improved when considering the digital health divide ⬇️ behscipru.nihr.ac.uk/3207-2/

At #ICBM2025 : Dr. Roberto Benzo from OSU finds a high ownership of fitness trackers in cancer survivors. Number one barrier to ownership: cost!

At #ICBM2025 ? Stop by my talk tomorrow in the 11:45-1:15 session (OP06, room HS03) — I’m excited to present the primary outcomes of the Project STAR trial!

So how are bigger research teams dealing with journals now saying we have to pay APCs (of several thousand dollars each) for ALL papers coming out of NIH-supported projects? Who has this kind of $$?!

At #ISBNPA2025 in a wonderful session on ultra-processed foods that has turned into a deep discussion on gender inequities and time scarcity; when focusing on the food system alone we may be ignoring much bigger probs. How do we make it so we have the time & resources to cook & eat healthy foods?

At #ISBNPA2025? Stop by this mHealth/eHealth paper session later today to hear me talk about our pilot of a novel, microrandomized factorial trial design aimed at optimizing feedback for self-monitoring (Waitakere 1)

I was honored to be asked to write a commentary for Dr. Tricia Leahey's recent trial focused on using mentor/peer support to promote long-term weight loss maintenance, published in JAMA Internal Medicine! Gift link to the article below: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Mentor and Peer Support for Long-Term Weight Loss Maintenance

Obesity remains a substantial public health challenge in the US, affecting more than 40% of US adults.1 There exist a range of effective weight loss treatments, including comprehensive lifestyle inter...

jamanetwork.com

“You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.” ― Jodi Picoult #WritingSky #AcademicSky

For a big job update: I've enjoyed my time at UF, but as of May 12 I'll be starting as a Senior Scientist at the Advocate Aurora Research Institute, with a faculty appointment at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. I'm excited for new collaborations & having much more time to focus on research!

It’s almost time for #SBM2025 ! One of our UFHPL grad students made this handy guide to our team’s presentations! (And a plug to vote for me for member delegate if you still haven’t voted in the board election!)

I've been told that being a successful researcher will require pivoting, adapting, & a willingness to "scrub" grants of "contentious" words. But I worry that as researchers self-censor, we will also inadvertently promote this administration’s misguided agenda. This isn't how science works.

Studies show that funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contributed to 354 of 356 drugs (99.4%) approved by the FDA from 2010 to 2019. Recklessly slashing NIH funding will mean that patients will be waiting much longer for life-saving treatments.

Some good-ish news from NIH “Federal Register notices for study sections run by CSR (but not those by ICs) will start being permitted again” As far as I know, the timing for this is not clear, but I will be checking the Federal Register.

a man in a red suit and tie is holding a piece of paper that says breaking news on it

ALT: a man in a red suit and tie is holding a piece of paper that says breaking news on it

media.tenor.com

Congratulations to our outgoing PhD Clinical Psychology Trainees as they move on to finish their final clinical training year! Once again our department gets to celebrate a 100% match rate!

In clinical research, you will often receive feedback on study design, stats, and/or data analysis from an editor or reviewer that is simply wrong. Here is a list of common "statistical myths" and references you can use to push back. discourse.datamethods.org/t/reference-...

Reference Collection to push back against "Common Statistical Myths"

Note: This topic is a wiki, meaning that this main body of the topic can be edited by others. Use the Reply button only to post questions or comments about material contained in the body, or to sugge...

discourse.datamethods.org

UF has 520 NIH grants totaling $212,488,586. Do the math. And check your school here: report.nih.gov/award/index....

The NIH capping the indirect cost rate (IDC) for grants at 15% can best be described as a direct assault on Universities. It’s such a bureaucratic, innocuous sounding thing that actually means that research universities will be kneecapped. Thousands of employees across the US will lose their jobs.

8. It is difficult to overstate what a catastrophe this will be for the US research and education systems, particular in biomedical fields. It is deliberate and wanton devastation entirely out of scale with any concern about DEI activities on campuses. The goal is destroy US universities.

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

“We at the American Journal of Public Health have no interest in following the president's prohibitions on language," said Georges Benjamin, MD, publisher of AJPH 👏👏👏 www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...

A Comment article in Nature Medicine argues that clinical research should recruit participants from LGBTQIA+ populations, which requires specific actions and policies to create affirming and welcoming environments. https://go.nature.com/3WILuQi 🧪

I hope you will all join me in expressing your thanks to the NIH and NSF staff who are working in an impossibly difficult and chaotic environment to keep science going in our country.

Data point: I heard from the SRO on a grant application that should have been reviewed last week. He indicated that they were allowed to start rescheduling study section meetings as of this afternoon.

The entire archive of CDC datasets can be found here. HUGE shoutout to data archivists- this work is important 👏🙌🏻 archive.org/details/2025...

I’ve now posted the National YRBS data, 2015-2023, here. I’ll add the state and district data soon. www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr...

Joel Mittleman@joeljm.bsky.social · 2y ago

The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey has monitored the wellbeing of America’s high school students since 1991. Since 2015, it’s been a vital source of data on LGBQ youth. In 2023, it provided the first ever nationally representative sample of transgender teens. As of this morning, it’s gone.

The OSF is available for preservation of datasets that need saving. osf.io Contact support@osf.io if you need assistance

Deborah Blum@deborahb.bsky.social · 2y ago

From a journalist friend: Just spreading the word. The CDC is purging data, so people should archive their favorite CDC datasets today, namely ones around race/ethnic diversity, LGBTQ, and reproductive health. Also health data involving climate. The youth risk behavior survey has already gone down.