The year we led: Inside Medicine’s 2025 public health scoops and exclusives.

I didn’t plan to spend the year breaking news. Then 2025 happened.

The day before President Trump was inaugurated in January, I believed that I would largely be putting my head down to focus on some neglected work that matters to me—including public health and emergency epidemiology research, and longer-term writing projects.

Then events took over. As I look back at 2025, I am startled by how much of the year I spent breaking news about the sustained attack on our nation’s public health infrastructure, right here in Inside Medicine. That work has been meaningful to me, and I hope it has been helpful to you. But it would not have been possible without the bravery and dedication of HHS employees who trusted me with the information that I could bring to you.

Below, I’m sharing some of the stories that we broke first, here in Inside Medicine in 2025—mostly scoops, but some exclusives. In many cases, major news outlets from The New York Times to CNN cited this newsletter as the first outlet to report the breaking news stories.

The point here is really twofold. First, it’s a way for us to take stock, as a community, of just some of what we’ve been through. (There’s obviously much more, but this list specifically itemizes where we led.) Second, it is to thank the individuals who entrusted me with their knowledge so that I could bring it to you. When you read the headlines, you’ll be reminded of the hell that the dedicated corps of public health professionals serving our federal institutions have endured. You’ll be reminded of what we’ve lost, what we owe them, and what we seek eventually to undo and repair.

But reading through these was, for me, jarring at times for another reason—a more personal one, I suppose. It’s strange to remember that Inside Medicine was the first outlet to report on massive censorship of CDC scientists. Inside Medicine was first to report that the CDC had no Acting Director (that edition of the newsletter was subsequently entered into the Senate record during a hearing at which Secretary Kennedy was grilled by various Senators). Inside Medicine was first to report the details of the President’s massive plan to overhaul HHS—a plan which Congress has so far rejected. Inside Medicine was first to report that the August 8 shooting at CDC headquarters in Atlanta was targeted at the agency, not merely adjacent to it. Inside Medicine was first to report that Dr. Debra Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis (Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases), and Dr. Daniel Jernigan (Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases) resigned from the CDC, in protest of Secretary Kennedy’s firing of CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez. We also posted their stirring resignation letters. Inside Medicine was first to report that Secretary Kennedy installed several new members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, just prior to its fall meeting. Inside Medicine was first to report that the nation’s airborne pathogen detection system had been suddenly shuttered. Inside Medicine was first to report that the CDC had a new #2, a physician who prescribed a lot of ivermectin during the Covid-19 emergency and, lately, has ended pro-vaccine media campaigns. Inside Medicine was first to report on CDC scientists who found a way to save hundreds of millions of dollars in scientific funding that the administration had tried to quash. Inside Medicine was first to report that the FDA’s top vaccine official had overstated how many children died from Covid-19 vaccines (he told FDA scientists it was at least twelve; FDA scientists believe the real number is between zero and seven). We also landed the first on-the-record interview with FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary. (Despite the fact that this exclusive and an accompanying piece with FDA voices were both fair and balanced, Marty has since ghosted me, which I warned him would happen if his echo chamber became too insular.)

In hindsight, I’m proud that in 2025, this forum was a trustworthy place for facts, high-level analysis, and level-headed interpretations. When I thought something was really bad, I said so. When I thought things were less bad than they appeared, I said that too.

I can honestly say that I am both proud of this body of work and deeply troubled by it. Above all, I know that this was how I needed to spend this unbelievable year. It meant fewer research manuscripts were submitted than I hoped. It meant that a book proposal (or two) that I wanted to submit did not happen. But I would not change a thing. Please know that your readership, your likes, your shares, and your commitment to this newsletter mean more than I can express. So, to both my readers and my sources, please accept a heartfelt Thank You.

Here’s to a better year ahead…

---

Here are around three dozen breaking news scoops and exclusives from Inside Medicine in 2025.

If you have information about any of the unfolding stories we are following, please email me or find me on Signal at InsideMedicine.88.