Eleven public health experts on the first 100 Days of the Trump administration.
Here's what some major leaders in the field are watching most closely.
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Ever noticed how time does not seem to elapse consistently? I can think of four times when large stretches of time felt particularly elongated. Two were happy occasions—the first couple of weeks of my daughters’ lives. The other two, conversely, have been remarkably bad periods. The first was the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those months truly felt like years.
I feel like we’re currently in the midst of another one of these stretches of dilated time. The last three-plus months—the first 100 Days of the new Trump administration—have honestly felt like nearly a year. Maybe that’s because so much has happened so quickly—again, most of it really, really bad.
To mark the 100-day milestone, I reached out to some friends and colleagues in medicine and public health and asked them to record their thoughts on developments they believe are particularly important for us to follow. I asked them each for a brief description of the issues and their context, the current state of things, and why it matters.
I figured a few people would respond. Instead, I received eleven short and highly insightful videos from an incredibly knowledgeable roster of experts. You really won’t find a better lineup and I’m so grateful to each of them for contributing.
Given this unexpected embarrassment of riches, I asked Greg Laub and Gillian Booth over at MedPage Today if a “Brady Bunch-style” interactive video feature might be possible. The results blew me away. (Note: if you click the image, it’ll take you to an external website where you can hear what these brilliant folks have to say.)
But wait, there’s more!
Because Greg and Gillian were in a hurry to get this out to everyone (my fault), videos submitted by three of my favorite people slipped through the cracks during production. But I didn’t want anyone to miss those! So, I strongly urge you to check out the five-minute bonus segment below, which features videos by Dr. Céline Gounder, Dr. Craig Spencer, and Dr. Dara Kass. Their videos are packed with insights that you won’t want to miss.
Thanking the experts, and you.
On behalf of the Inside Medicine community, I’d like to thank Paul, Esther, Atul, Larry, Angie, Dorit, Nahid, Peter, Céline, Craig, and Dara for taking the time to put their thoughts on the record. We need your voices!
I also want to thank you, the Inside Medicine readers, for being here with me these past few months. Your words of encouragement have meant so much to me. Many of you have shared the newsletter in your networks, bringing hundreds of thousands of new eyes to this little space of ours. I am grateful to you for reading, sharing, and contributing your wisdom.
And, we need to hear your voices too! So, I’m opening the Comments section to everyone today so that you all can…
Sound off: What public health news stories do you think have been the most important during the first 100 Days of the Trump administration? Tell us what you think matters most by sharing your views in the Comments Section…
If you have information about any of the unfolding stories we are following, please email me or find me on Signal at InsideMedicine.88. Thanks for reading, sharing, speaking out, and supporting Inside Medicine.
while the many concerns expressed about the trump regime’s attack on our nation’s health and education/science institutions are absolutely on the mark, i fear they miss the target in their specificity. instead, i believe the real challenge before us is the corruption of our democratic principles and the nation’s evolution to a socially just state focused on the welfare and well being of all. i fear that the house of medicine is being brought to heal and corrupted by the authoritarian state, as other authoritarian states have reduced our profession to mere toys of the regime. the professions need to join with others across society to vigorously oppose all the dictatorial moves of this regime. this is no time to “stay in our lane” because if we don’t oppose what is happening our lane will be dictated to us. the questions before us are what side are we on and what did we do? we don’t want to have to give the wrong answers when we are asked this in the future.
As a biology professor who specializes in first year courses, the attempts to destroy not only basic research but to destroy education and our belated and still evolving strategies to create classrooms where all students from all identities can be successful. We know that the best research and development happens when diverse voices are engaged and that is being intentionally white washed by the Trump admin.