Xilma Ortiz-Gonzalez MD PhD
@drxilma.bsky.social
Boricua 🇵🇷 physician neuroscientist; Mom, Peds Neurogenetics 🧠🧬 @CHOP/UPenn, mitochondriac, my lab works on mechanisms of pediatric neurodegeneration #raredisease #TBCK https://www.med.upenn.edu/oglab/ opinion = my own
NIH funding decisions should be made by scientific experts, not political appointees. Protecting rigorous peer review safeguards public trust, biomedical progress and U.S. scientific leadership. ➡️Learn more: www.asbmb.org/advocacy/pos... #ScienceServesUsAll #ASBMBAdvocates
When Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested by immigration authorities, his son was entering his ninth month on the USS Abraham Lincoln with the Navy. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/he-was-waiting-for-his-son-to-return-from-the-uss-lincoln-then-border-patrol-arrested-him
He was waiting for his son to return from the USS Lincoln. Then Border Patrol arrested him.
Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was arrested after leaving his house to take his car to the mechanic, according to his wife, Argelia Aviles. She said her husband, a handyman in Key West, Florida, has a permit...
pbs.org
“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.” ysph.yale.edu/news-article...
Universal Health Coverage Could Save $1 Trillion and 114,000 Lives Every Year, Yale Study Projects
A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it
ysph.yale.edu
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
thenation.com
Astonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.
FDA Panel Supports Lifting Restrictions on Four Peptides (Gift Article)
In an all-day hearing, the agency’s scientists argued against allowing broad access to unproven drugs that the agency had banned three years ago.
nytimes.com
"The National Institutes of Health admitted to using an internal search tool to flag UC grants that mentioned 'health equity,' 'work force diversity,' 'structural racism,' and 'sexual orientation.' " apnews.com/article/cali... 1/3
White House admits it used keywords to kill billions worth of California research grants
Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COV...
apnews.com
28 years of cyclosporiasis testing Screwworms eradicated in the US in 1966. Measles eradicated in the US in 2000. All are back because of this science denying administration.
The NIH expects to make up for a grantmaking lag and spend its full budget by 30 September. But because it plans to fund many multiyear grants up front as a lump sum, the agency will likely award fewer new grants and competitive renewals. https://scim.ag/4ePQfjf
NIH likely to award fewer grants as it races to spend 2026 budget
Government shutdown, staff shortages have complicated effort to meet 30 September deadline to spend funds
scim.ag
This is a tremendous piece by Judy Stone at @forbes.com. This new OMB rule is going to hurt communities from coast to coast. Federal grants are not just about research! www.forbes.com/sites/judyst...
How The OMB Rule Could Hurt You And Your Town
The OMB proposal threatens scientific research and ALL federal funding for states, cities, and nonprofits. It politicizes ALL funding. Call your reps and write an objection.
forbes.com
Striking to me how little reporting there is on this rule proposal, which is maybe the biggest change to American governance in almost a century. And this reporting is … weak. www.npr.org/2026/06/03/n...
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
npr.org
Dr. Patricia Bath overcame sexism, racism & poverty and saved the sight of millions of people. She invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment, 1986; it was patented in 1988. She co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, 1976. She died #OTD in 2019. #WomenInSTEM
TL;DR: We've identified more than 100 cases of apparent manipulation in Thermo Fisher Scientific's antibody verification data. @sholtodavid.bsky.social @johanduchene.bsky.social reeserichardson.blog/2026/05/28/h...
How much of Thermo Fisher’s antibody data has been manipulated?
We’ve documented more than 100 instances of apparent data manipulation in Thermo’s catalog
reeserichardson.blog
Most Americans support science research…and don’t realize the ways it’s being methodically smothered “Flagged grants address cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, H.I.V., heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, nutrition & prenatal care...” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s...
Pace of N.I.H. Funding Slows Further in Trump’s Second Year
nytimes.com
Did you know 1 in 35 U.S. children has autism? This Autism Awareness Month, the Child Neurology Society celebrates the unique strengths of individuals with autism and calls for awareness, inclusion, and high-quality care for every child. #AutismAwarenessMonth
To be fair, my doctor also heals me by placing his hand on my forehead while holding a glowing orb in his other hand. I can tell the healing is working when my forehead also glows. He is also usually accompanied by angels, eagles and usually a fighter jet I can totally see how he’d confuse the two
Exciting new work from the team @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social on a multi-respiratory pathogen vaccine www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Mucosal vaccination in mice provides protection from diverse respiratory threats
Traditional vaccines target specific pathogens, limiting their scope against diverse respiratory threats. We describe an intranasal liposomal formulation combining toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and 7/8 ligands with a model antigen, ovalbumin, that provided ...
science.org
Just watched the NIH Strategic Planning input session... Some observations: (1) I am glad that NIH is doing this (although I do remain skeptical about how seriously they will take input which challenges their existing intentions). PEOPLE SHOULD STILL COMMENT! grants.nih.gov/news-events/... 1/4
NIH Seeks Input on Framework for Next NIH-Wide Strategic Plan | Grants & Funding
grants.nih.gov
They should have called it Straight of Schrödinger: it is both open and closed depending on whom you talk to and when.
Epilepsy organizations are united behind the bipartisan #NationalPlan4Epilepsy Act (S.494 / H.R. 1189). We need your help to keep building momentum. Take 5 minutes to contact your members of Congress & ask them to sign on. Your voice matters. Take action: bit.ly/NP4E
Cancelling continuous submission for reviewers seems like just about the worst possible idea. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide... Unless of course breaking the system is the point. Many PIs are already quietly boycotting review. Some not wanting to lend credibility to an increasingly corrupted NIH…
NOT-OD-26-064: Update of NIH Late Application Submission Policy and End of Continuous Submission
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Update of NIH Late Application Submission Policy and End of Continuous Submission NOT-OD-26-064. NIH
grants.nih.gov
This story is insane. Married an American, arrested at her greencard interview, flown out of state, nearly killed multiple times when her diabetes was ignored and then mistreated. When she finally got out? Found out her credit card had been used illegally. www.daylightsandiego.org/san-diego-wo...
San Diego woman says her credit card information was stolen while she was in ICE custody
Hanne Engan, whom ICE arrested at her green card appointment, said her diabetes quickly escalated while at Otay Mesa Detention Center due to medical negligence. Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited...
daylightsandiego.org
Mariya Sweetwyne, an assistant prof at the University of Washington, is down to just 1 lab member after NIH rescinded a grant program through which she'd sought funding. She's reduced her mouse colony by half. Each morning, her daughter hands her a few coins and asks, “Is this going to be enough?”
Just a year ago, we heard reducing the deficit was so important Elon Musk had to fire as many scientists, forest rangers and Black women on the government’s payroll that he could find. Now? 🤷🏾♂️
We are recruiting to a Research Tech II position in the lab: careers.chop.edu/us/en/job/10... Please consider sharing the link. This is a great position for someone interested in working for a few years prior to applying to M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D. programs, or transitioning to industry.
Research Technician II - BEAMS Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America | Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Apply for Research Technician II - BEAMS Facility job with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
careers.chop.edu
Stand Up for Science at Philadelphia, the original American city of science. #standupforscience # Philadelphia
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.
