Rita Rubin
@ritarubin.bsky.social
Lead senior staff writer, Medical News @jamacurrent.bsky.social. Mountain Mama, short story author, Medill & Hopkins alum.
My caffeinated beverage of choice is iced tea, thanks to my time working in Dallas. If yours is energy drinks, you might want to reconsider your choice, according to the American Heart Association. My latest for @jama.com:
JAMA@jama.com · 3w ago#MedNews: Could #caffeine be good for the cardiovascular system? ☕🫀 It depends, according to a recent scientific statement from @americanheart.bsky.social. Here’s the latest evidence:
I was on a high after interviewing Drs Mignot and Yanagisawa. Their research is fascinating, and they are great storytellers, frank about the disappointments as well as the accomplishments on their way to identifying the neuropeptide orexin and its role in wakefulness.
JAMA@jama.com · last mo.Med News: Drs Emmanuel Mignot and Masashi Yanagisawa, winners of this year’s @laskerfdn.bsky.social Basic Medical Research Award, discuss how their research on the neuropeptide orexin led to a new #narcolepsy treatment💤 #LaskerAward #Lasker2026
If you watch TV at all, you've probably seen commercials for a blood test to screen for colorectal cancer. But don't give up your screening colonoscopy or stool test just yet. My new story for @jama.com:
JAMA@jama.com · 2mo ago#MedNews: The latest colorectal cancer screening guidelines from @americancancersoc.bsky.social include a blood test. But colonoscopies and stool tests are still the better options, the authors say. Here’s why.
My new story for @jama.com, with comments by @mtosterholm.bsky.social and Georges Benjamin, MD, of the @apha.org and infectious disease specialist Jesse Goodman, MD, MPH.
JAMA@jama.com · 2mo ago#MedNews: The FDA has approved the first mRNA #flu #vaccine in the US. Find out more about the vaccine’s potential advantages and what its approval means for this flu season.
"...(CDC) will soon have a new official director for the first time in nearly a year, after the Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz. Schwartz was confirmed on a mostly party-line 51-44 vote. " thehill.com/policy/healt...
Senate confirms Erica Schwartz as new CDC leader
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon have a new official director for the first time in nearly a year, after the Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz. …
thehill.com
Breaking: The dumbing down of America's scientific infrastructure continues. Dr. Quay, a conspiracist w/ zero training in infectious disease is in "final vetting" to lead NIAID, Tony Fauci's former institute. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
A lab-leak proponent is in line for Fauci’s old job
Steven Quay is in final vetting to run the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
politico.com
In my latest story for @jama.com, I discuss new research about #Alzheimer disease and related dementias presented at #AAIC2026:
JAMA@jama.com · 2mo ago#MedNews: Blood tests for p-tau217, brain changes in former elite soccer players, and culturally tailored lifestyle interventions were among the highlights from #AAIC2026.
The Dems' strategy seems to be talking about current shortcomings of public health actions by the Trump administration and saying this is what the HSGA (and the HELP) committees should be covering "instead we are here in an attempt to entrapt you" ▫️22/ #faucihearing
Hard to watch the continued harassment of Fauci – a man who has dedicated his life to science & served his country during an extremely difficult time. I've had opportunity to meet & present with Fauci. Kind. Thoughtful. And still the focus of MAGA lies. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump administration needs to stop ‘public harassment’ of Fauci and scientists, open letter says
Letter, published before Anthony Fauci will appear before Congress, accuses Republicans of ‘waging a war on individual scientists’
theguardian.com
The thing that drives me batty with vit K refusers: these people are OBSESSED with taking vitamins and supplements, the vast majority of which they don’t need or can’t effectively metabolize and piss straight out, at best. They’re fearmongering around a life-saving, essential vitamin to supplement…
Dorit Reiss@doritreiss.bsky.social · 3mo agoHigher risk of brain bleeding in babies who don't get vitamin K shot, a large (2 million) study shows: anti-vaccine misinformation about the vitamin K injection is killing and hurting babies. www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalrap... via @skepticalraptor.bsky.social
I can't breathe the air, I can't eat lettuce, I can't afford gas, and my kids have measles. But at least now our soldiers will have enough testosterone.
Happy 250th to this country, whose constitution literally says no “presents” from foreigners!
PBS News@pbsnews.org · 3mo agoAll told, 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies encrust the watch-sized gold ring presented this week to Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, to give to U.S. President Donald Trump. https://to.pbs.org/44batiO
On America's 250th anniversary Saturday, The Atlantic republished a decade-old essay that delivered a blistering rebuke of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump – one that was written by now-Vice President JD Vance.
The Atlantic republishes brutal anti-Trump essay for July 4 — its author is JD Vance
On America’s 250th anniversary Saturday, The Atlantic republished a decade-old essay that delivered a blistering rebuke of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump – one that was written by now-Vice President JD Vance.Atlantic writer Peter Wehner revisited the July 4, 2016 column Vance wrote just af...
bit.ly
You do in fact have to hand it to the New York Post occasionally and this is one of those times.
Dorit Reiss@doritreiss.bsky.social · 3mo ago“There is a reason that vaccines are widely considered to be the greatest public health tool after sanitation,” ... “They ... ‘fool’ the immune system into thinking it has seen a disease, creating an ‘immune memory’ to provoke an immune response ." nypost.com/2026/07/01/h...
Maura Gillison, who identified the role of HPV in head and neck cancer, changing the standard of care, dies at 61 cancerletter.com/obituary/202...
Maura Gillison, who identified the role of HPV in head and neck cancer, changing the standard of care, dies at 61 - The Cancer Letter
Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and molecular epidemiologist whose work changed the standard of care for head and neck cancer by distinguishing human papillomavirus-positive from HPV-...
cancerletter.com
The first FDA-cleared blood test for #AlzheimerDisease biomarkers, intended for use in specialty clinics for adults ≥50 with symptoms, may produce more false positive or indeterminate results in real-world practice than anticipated. 🎧 Listen now: ja.ma/4p66Lkc
we are spending so much time, effort, and resources unringing this bell
Kenny Lin, MD, MPH@kennylinafp.bsky.social · 3mo agoPrenatal Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Use and Autism and/or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... "Prenatal paracetamol exposure was not associated with an increased risk of either ASD or ADHD."
The ADA is citing their 501(c)(3) status and hoping no one notices it's irrelevant. Nonpartisan means restrictions on dealing with elections. There's no election or elected officials here. From the National Council of Nonprofits: "Nonprofits are permitted to and should engage in advocacy."
Jenna Norton@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 4mo agoA disappointing statement from the Am Diabetes Assn on @sekahn.bsky.social & co. diabetes.org/newsroom/pre... "As a 501(c)(3) organization, the ADA has safeguards in place to ensure that it complies with all IRS regulations. This includes maintaining a strictly nonpartisan environment..." 🧵1/4
The ADA apologizes and says it is committed to biomedical research. I expect them and other non-profits to no longer hide behind 501(c)(3) status and to speak out vociferously in public about the destruction being wreaked upon US research, not just NIH. www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7K2...
Statement from The American Diabetes Association Regarding 2026 Scientific Sessions
YouTube video by American Diabetes Association
youtube.com
Increasingly, the "raw milk" trend is about politics & personal identity. This science-free & demonstrably harmful trend is (yet another) example of the power of influencers & distrust mongers (government "overreach"!) to do harm. Ugh. www.propublica.org/article/mark... @anniewaldman.bsky.social
He Profits Off Raw Milk That’s Making People Sick. The Government Isn’t Stopping Him.
With Raw Farm, the largest raw-milk dairy in the country, Mark McAfee has capitalized on a once-fringe product that’s been thrust into the mainstream in recent years and backed by Health Secretary Rob...
propublica.org
A big month for next generation Covid vaccine trials! — Details of an exciting trial in Tanzania for an intranasal vax for low-resource communities—results may come soon; — An overview of the Covid human challenge studies, as one reaches a milestone .... 1/2 absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/05/31/a...
A Bumper Month of Clinical Trial News (NextGen Covid Vax Update) - Absolutely Maybe
It was a big month for clinical trials of next generation Covid vaccines. An exciting phase 1/2 trial in Africa for an…
absolutelymaybe.plos.org
@ritarubin.bsky.social spoke with semiretired oncologist Stephen Kornfeld, MD, about how he managed limited resources and isolation while caring for passengers during the MV Hondius #Hantavirus outbreak. 🎧 Listen now: ja.ma/4uGhwM1
I had the pleasure of interviewing oncologist Steve Kornfeld during his stint in the National Quarantine Unit. Steve talked about what it was like to care for patients on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship that, not surprisingly, lacked many of the tools available to him on land.
JAMA@jama.com · 5mo agoMed News: As #hantavirus turned a vacation cruise into a global public health concern, Stephen Kornfeld, MD, stepped up to care for patients when the ship’s physician fell ill. In this interview from quarantine, he shares his experience. @ritarubin.bsky.social
NIH Director is about to create a system that does the exact opposite of creating the “transparency” this group said they would bring. Funding decisions made in full darkness will remove the global leadership in health sciences that we’ve enjoyed for decades.
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 5mo agoI heard from several sources yesterday that NIH is planning to release a Request for Information (RFI) that apparently will include this: Scores and percentiles for NIH grant applications will not be shared with applicants although they will be provided to NIH program officers and staff. 1/3
This is very, very interesting but not proof of effect. They looked at a large group of people with diabetes, some taking GLP-1s, some taking DPP-4 inhibitors. The ones who had cancer and were taking GLP-1s, on average, had significantly better outcomes than a matched group on DPP-4 inhibitors.
Australian Science Media Centre@aussmc.bsky.social · 5mo ago💉Taking a GLP-1 RA diabetes/weight loss drug such as Ozempic may slow the growth of some obesity-related cancers ✨Follow the link in our bio for more information on this story✨ buff.ly/3UxR4bN #science #sciencenews #research #stem #facts #knowledge #sciencefacts #GLP1 #Ozempic #cancer #weightloss
