Rebecca O’Connell

Do NOT allow them to rewrite history with disinformation. #COVID vaccines worked remarkably well and allowed us to come out of a global pandemic. A picture is worth a thousand words.

It may be September but have you read one of @theipaper.com best paperbacks of July, Unheard?

Currently in good bookshops and on special offer here

www.amazon.co.uk/Unheard-Prac...

Being heard is an important part of what makes us human. When we are not heard in healthcare, we become dehumanised. How can we ensure the voices of most powerless in medicine are listened to and valued?

I explore this in my book ‘UNHEARD: The Medical Practice of Silencing’ out now.

Thread of the day

I get quite emotional about the USPSTF—they represent the BEST of science, the BEST of evidence, a kind of “church/shul/temple” when it comes to transparency, rigor & conflicts of interest

RFK Jr is doing SO MUCH to make people sicker & at ⬆️ risk of death—he makes my blood boil

Photo of a long dress with pink top and flowing transparent skirt with thousands of pills sewn into it

Susie Freeman, Jubilee, 2000, wedding dress with (a lifetime average) 6,279 contraceptive pills, from a women’s health exhibition #womensart

Britain’s ‘medieval’ health inequality is devastating NHS, experts say Exclusive: Health service estimated to be spending £50bn a year on effects of deprivation and child poverty

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Federal HIV Guidelines Face a Shutdown — A Critical Loss for Clinicians and Patients Each week, our HIV clinical group gathers to review active patients, share updates, and celebrate good news. On our whiteboard, we list four columns: Inpatients, Outpatients, Issues, and Celebrations....

The federal HIV guidelines face a shutdown.
A trusted, living resource -- used by clinicians, programs, and public health agencies for decades -- may disappear due to “budget decreases and revised priorities.”
Big mistake. #IDSky blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...

Administration to phase out NIH support of HIV clinical guidelines The National Institutes of Health will phase out its support of the clinical practice guidelines that advise doctors how to diagnose and treat HIV.

It's been a privilege to serve as an expert on NIH HIV guidelines panel alongside many dedicated colleagues. We do this work pro bono because it matters. This resource ensures a high level of care for people with HIV. Another short sighted pro disease move.
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

The People-First Liver Charter - Nature Medicine Reducing the stigma and discrimination that people living with liver conditions experience requires rethinking how diagnoses, diseases, etiologies and circumstances are perceived — a shift that begins...

The People-First Liver Charter - opportunities for improving awareness, tackling stigma, building accessible care pathways, maintaining linkage to treatment/monitoring, & reducing health inequities.
🧪
Led by @jvlazarus.bsky.social
#NoHep #MedSky #HepSky #LiverSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The cover of The Lancet with this quote from our commentary: "If we in academic medicine give in to the campaigns against diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the consequences will include resegregation and fewer opportunities for marginalised groups."

Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅

@thelancet.com is bang on point

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Ah sad loss

1 in 5 of the UK’s care workforce have a non-British passport.

Starmer would have us believe these carers are the “squalid” result of a “failed experiment”.

I say they do vital, necessary, humane, skilled work and they are worth their weight in gold.

I’m a doctor specialising in HIV – we should be very afraid of cuts to Aids funding Hospitals will see a surge of people with Aids-related conditions that we should no longer see in this age of effective treatment, warns Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan

I wrote about the devastating impact that international aid cuts will have on the HIV sector globally for @the-independent.com

“We cannot sit back and watch this humanitarian disaster unfold. We must act.”

www.independent.co.uk/voices/labou...

I love him I must marry him.

Short BHIVA statement following UK Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman.

Upholding the rights of women does not need to erode the rights of our trans peers.

We all face many intersecting issues, often stemming from the same misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-trans groups.

1/2

Solidarity with trans women after today’s Supreme Court ruling.

The rollback of LGBT rights — especially trans rights — is global, bankrolled by billionaires and the far-right.

Trans rights are human rights. We must defend the Equality Act and its protections for trans people.

‼️We have four new #vacancies, all part of same work stream aiming to shape and deliver an exciting new #peersupport service across #EastAnglia.

More information - positivelyuk.org/about-us/vac...

Share across your networks or apply yourself!

Photo of a slide showing deaths in thousands over time. Female patient deaths exceeded men’s in the mid 1980s.

Why it’s important to look at health outcomes stratified by sex (even though our government is no longer interested)—this is how we discovered female patients accounted for more heart disease deaths than male patients and started investigating why.

Calling the #hepatitis #HBV #NoHep community worldwide - help us understand the impact of cuts.
We can speak out better if we collate experiences.
Takes 2 minutes. You can remain anonymous.
Please share.
@who.int @whoeurope.bsky.social @altcdc.altgov.info
#MedSky #EpiSky #HepSky #USAID #CDC 🧪

Cannot agree more...

Royal Society decides not to take disciplinary action against Elon Musk Exclusive: Fellows argue Musk has violated code of conduct but council believes investigation ‘could do more harm than good’

I’m finding it very hard to understand the stance of the Royal Society here. Science is part of society, not separate from it, existing in some strange metaphysical bubble. I look across the Atlantic, aghast at the damage being done to science and scientists.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.

More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.

I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

Artwork featuring the head and shoulders of a Black woman in a jacket and with glasses, smiling, facing slight left on a grey background surrounded by a curved line and small white star shapes

Mary Jackson worked at NASA as the first female aerospace engineer, overcoming tremendous prejudice, she joined the organisation in 1958. (Artwork by M.Metzlar) #WomensArt

The worst part of a society manipulated by politics is to see the poor defending the rich who are responsible for their poverty. ~Paulo Coelho

@brontyman.bsky.social

Monochrome photograph featuring a sitting white woman in shirt and trousers with her back to the viewer holding wires while working on a large computer which has multiple wires

'Woman wiring an early IBM computer' from the 'Documenting Science' series (1938-58) by photographer Berenice Abbott #womensart

Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote only in 1971. 🇨🇭♀️

A reminder that progress is recent—and the fight for equality is far from over. ✊🏼💜

#HumanRights #WomensRights #IWD

#StandUpForScience

Against a blue background, graphic representation shows a diverse group of women holding a megaphone and placard. In the background are two yellow and black striped tapes. The text reads 'Women's health needs change from the time they are born to older age. But they often hit roadblocks to receive the right diagnosis and treatment they need.'

Today is #InternationalWomensDay

Progress on #GenderEquality in health care is too slow.
Women have distinct & changing health needs at different stages of their lives. Health care should be easy to access, fair & tailored to meet each woman’s unique needs & circumstances.

🔗 bit.ly/3DmZQ2o