Monica Vela MD

Congratulations!!

🎙️ new
@ascocancer.bsky.social #JCOOP podcast with Dr @michaelannica.bsky.social on #priorAuthorization

"I just think that there's a huge opportunity to do better here… I want to do better for our patients. I want to feel prouder of the healthcare system that I'm a part of." #fixPriorAuth

"Embrace diversity.
Unite—
Or be divided, robbed, ruled, killed
By those who see you as prey.
Embrace diversity
Or be destroyed."
— Octavia E. Butler, 'Parable of the Sower'

Trump's cuts will end lifesaving medical research – and people will die | Opinion National Institutes of Health grants are essential for lifesaving medical research. A Trump administration policy now threatens that progress.

“Here’s what will happen if [cuts to NIH funding] remain in place. Clinical research trials will shut down. Advances will cease. And people will die.” More in @usatoday.com. www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

They say “stay in your lane.” Well, medicine is my lane.

Doctors need to start speaking out against the attack on evidence-based medicine. It’s always been hard enough competing with Dr. Google but if we lose the independence of the CDC, NIH and FDA, lives will be lost.

Proud to work for the @jama.com Network.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Yes! I just meant that the general public is becoming aware and concerned. Which is good.

I’m getting questions from worried patients about checking titers, re-immunizing without checking titers, etc

Graduate admissions being put on hold because of the chaos...

The presidents of all universities should hold a press conference together at the National Press Club in Washington DC condemning the attacks on science and universities and outline the stakes for all Americans. 1/

Congrats to @maxkozlov.bsky.social and @avaskham.bsky.social for having this story first, and glad the NYT picked it up from them and is sending it out to a broader audience.

National Academies is altering pending reports to appease Trump administration, some members say Words such as “health equity” are being replacing with vaguer terms, and 100 members sent a letter of protest to NASEM leaders.

UPDATED with response from National Academies denying they are removing words not aligned with Trump EO and that such actions are part of normal review process - but authors of a protest letter disagree. NASEM also confirms removal of DEI action plan to comply w/ EO. www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/n...

Judge temporarily blocks key parts of Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI The plaintiffs argued that the president’s edicts against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives exceeded his authority and violate their constitutional right to due process.

I will be very interested to see what organizations that have already scrubbed/removed DEI content (National Academies, American Society of Microbiology -- see my stories) will do if these orders are deemed to be illegal and violate constitutional rights. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Judge temporarily blocks key parts of Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI The plaintiffs argued that the president’s edicts against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives exceeded his authority and violate their constitutional right to due process.

Washington Post story on Judge Abelson

BLOCKING portions of TRUMP'S ORDERS TO CANCEL FEDERAL CONTRACTS CONCERNING DEI

and make government contractors certify that they do not engage in DEI practices that violate anti-discrimination laws.
[Gift link]

wapo.st/436OM44

Just a reminder that the HPV vaccine literally PREVENTS CANCER and the series can be started as early as 9 years of age.

No more students will be offered admission to grad school at Pitt due to the instability of our federal government.

OGC Memo re Trump DEI and SFFA 2025 02 20.pdf | Powered by Box

DEI initiatives are still legal.

Universities need to stand their ground.

A Friday gift to your university's General Counsel Office - courtesy of an all star lineup of civil rights lawyers and scholars. You're going to want to read this.

PLOS statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity - The Official PLOS Blog Since its founding over twenty five years ago PLOS has been dedicated to advancing open science, ensuring that knowledge is accessible to…

Bravo @plos.org!

US exec orders "stand in direct conflict with our core values, our mission, edit policies"

"PLOS will not compromise on issues of scientific rigor & editorial integrity... we seek diversity because more expert voices make for better science"

theplosblog.plos.org/2025/02/plos...

Image shows the JAMA brand logo with the quote, "The silencing of this scientific discourse directly threatens the professional oaths that many have taken." Below the quote, the text shows: "JAMA editors, JAMA Network Editors in Chief, and JAMA editorial leadership."

In a new Editorial, JAMA editors, JAMA Network Editors in Chief, and JAMA editorial leadership address the recent executive orders that have impacted the scientific process and reaffirm their commitment to scientific and editorial integrity.

ja.ma/4b5LsIt

Reaffirming the JAMA Network Commitment to the Health of Patients and the Public In the first month of the new administration responsible for leading the US, the executive branch has issued a flurry of orders, including ones associated with the dismissal or resignation of tens of ...

"The silence with which many of us and our institutions are meeting this moment must be challenged" Thank you @jama.com for stating this. The earlier (and some ongoing) silence from academic organizations & institutions prior to the NIH cuts was deafening and disheartening. #standupforscience

I’ve signed, as an International Fellow of the US Academy of Medicine.

Reaffirming the JAMA Network Commitment to the Health of Patients and the Public In the first month of the new administration responsible for leading the US, the executive branch has issued a flurry of orders, including ones associated with the dismissal or resignation of tens of ...

"the silencing of science and health-related communications through suppression or erasure of information, and the corresponding silence by many in the fields of biomedicine and public health, deserve special consideration."

"The free exchange of ideas is essential to scientific progress"
@jama.com

a close up of a cartoon character covering his eyes with his hands ALT: a close up of a cartoon character covering his eyes with his hands

Wondering why there are no study sections and Institute Council meetings? Well, such meetings need to be put on the Federal Register 15 days prior to the meeting. And the Federal Register has not allowed any entries since January 21. This is the reason no grants are being reviewed or approved.

Trump signs order to claim power over independent agencies The action is likely to face court challenges and test a once-fringe legal theory.

Don't let this outrageous power grab get lost in the blizzard of other bullshit being spewed by the First Felon's White House. It's plainly illegal and unconstitutional, but with the Robert Court, who knows?

www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

We know who the villains are in this coup. But so many heroes are showing up to oppose them, and many of them are federal employees, including judges. I give you supreme boss-hero champion Judge Ana Reyes, telling Team Trump they don't know shit and schooling them in the facts about gender and sex.

Judge Reyes: EO 14183 adopts the definitions of a separate executive order called Defending Women from Gender Ideology, Extremism and Restoring biological Truth to the federal government. And that EO states, "sex shall refer to an individual's immutable biological classification as either male or female." And it states that, "It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female." Do you see that or do you remember that? Jason C. Lynch:! will take the court's word for it. Judge Reyes: You understand, as a matter of biology, it's just incorrect that there are only two sexes, right? Jason C. Lynch: Do I understand that to be incorrect as a biological matter? Judge Reyes: Yes. It is incorrect as a biological matter. You understand that, right? Jason C. Lynch: I don't understand that to be incorrect. Judge Reyes: You understand that not everyone has an xx or an xy chromosome, right? Jason C. Lynch: Honestly, no, I don't. Judge Reyes: It's actually kind of a really important point because this executive order is premised on an assertion that's not biologically correct. There are anywhere near about 30 different intersex examples. So someone who does not have just xx or xy chromosome is not just male or female. They're intersex. And there are over 30 potential different intersex examples. We've got genetic differences. We have people with xxx chromosomes. We have androgen insensitivity, xy genetically, that may have female external sex characteristics and internally have testes. There's a five alpha reductase deficiency that causes changes in testosterone metabolism, xy that may have female external genitalia or ambiguous genitalia. The point being, and I'm happy to have you guys brief this more if you want, but I'm telling you right now that there are people who are neither male or female. And so the premise of the executive order is just incorrect.

More from Judge Reyes

"Without research to point toward a healthier country, there will be poorer national health and less capacity to do what people do...on either end of the political spectrum."

Read the Editorial by JAMA Health Forum EIC Sandro Galea and JAMA EIC @kbibbinsdomingo.bsky.social.

ja.ma/4b6Z2LJ

#MedSky