Elizabeth Swanson MD PhD

The question that most informs my politics is, "What is best for children?" @smashfizzle.bsky.social writes about this with such passion and moral clarity. "I refuse to die without trying to make sure the kids I love get something so much better than this" took my breath away.

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Banned Books Week: I Did It, You Can Too!. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. This Banned Books Week, join For The People: A Leftist Library Project to explore how YOU can take real, specific, and immediate actions in your own community to strengthen and expand public libraries...

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Explore how YOU can take real, specific, and immediate actions to strengthen public libraries.

This is one good illustration why diversity on the court matters: Sotomayor can imagine a version of the world where this ruling would affect a younger version of herself, her family and people that look like her. Kavanaugh cannot.

When a colleague does something well, let them know! The reaction I get when I do this tells me we don’t give each other enough positive feedback / words of appreciation in medicine.

DOJ Demands "Every Writing or Record" of Trans Youth Care From Hospitals The Trump administration has sent subpoenas to 20 hospitals for personal medical records.

No family should have to fear that their child’s private medical records will fall into the hands of a presidential administration opposed to their very existence.

This erodes the trust every family should be able to have in their doctors.

Standardized Perioperative Protocols and Variance in Pediatric Surgery This cohort study evaluates the association between a pediatric surgery perioperative standardization initiative encompassing multiple protocols and clinical outcomes, hospital length of stay, and ove...

Congrats to the @ohsudoernbecher.bsky.social and Randall Children's pediatric surgery teams on their work demonstrating reduced costs and resource utilization with implementation of standardized perioperative pathways in pediatric surgery. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

I'm in a similar situation. With adequate social safety net / affordable child care, I would love to be a mother, but paying for daycare + additional childcare (which would be necessary with my and my husband's schedules) AND saving for our own retirement is not financially feasible.

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

I knew the U.S. higher education system was a massive draw for foreigners, but I did not know the U.S. sold more educational services to the rest of the world than it did natural gas and coal combined. Great piece by @crampell.bsky.social

Leading Nutrition Scientist Departs N.I.H., Citing Censorship (Gift Article) Kevin Hall said his work on ultraprocessed foods has been “hobbled” under the Trump administration. Scientists have been raising such concerns for months.

My story about @kevinh-phd.bsky.social, nutrition and metabolism scientist at N.I.H., who felt compelled to take early retirement after experiencing censorship of his work under the new administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”

Breaking: RFK Jr. has forced out PETER MARKS, the nation’s top vaccine regulator.

In his resignation letter, obtained by the Post, Marks said he was willing to work with RFK Jr on his vaccine concerns — but said Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

US map via scienceimpacts.org visualization of economic loss due to IDC cuts to 15% as part of Feb 7, 2025 executive order, with shading denoting intensity of cuts.

Working with an interdisciplinary team, we have developed a website to communicate how the White House's proposed cuts to health research would cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs.

Find out how your community may be impacted.

Explore more at SCIMaP: scienceimpacts.org

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"Let's not take the soul-sucking path of sacrificing the most persecuted for that which we deem to be most popular. I know that there are transgender children right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am."

I wrote a book about bureaucratic violence and if there’s one thing I wish everyone knew right now, it would be:

The people most harmed can’t tell what’s happening or why. Their lives unravel and, more often than not, they are taught to blame themselves—or other victims.

About half of all childbirths in America are covered by Medicaid.

Over half of all nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid.

Over 79 million people are covered by Medicaid.

And the House GOP’s plans to gut Medicaid would hurt nearly every community in America.

I try to be mindful that they have shelf exams and other assignments to complete and not everyone studies best at the hospital. Also, students may feel less comfortable bringing up life issues impacting their decision to leave like a sick child, a dog that just had surgery, etc.

My stance as a general surgery resident is when it gets to the point in the day that the student is watching the residents and APPs type, they should go home (even if it’s 2pm). There will be other days that their case runs long and they are at the hospital until 10pm.

Image Challenge What is the diagnosis? Left: An abdominal radiograph showing dilated loops of small intestine. Right: A photo of an enterotomy for evacuation of meconium that was performed.

A full-term baby boy was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at 30 hours of age owing to abdominal distention and failure to pass meconium. Before the transfer, the baby had fed poorly and regurgitated colostrum. 1/3

#MedSky #PedSky #Neonatology

By attacking science:

We are less safe because science informs national security and medical care.

We are less prosperous because science drives innovation and economic benefit.

We are less free because science and democracy depend on the liberty to ask questions, and seek and share knowledge.

Must read: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out for the first time since his arrest by the Trump administration in an exclusive letter, dictated over the phone to his family, from ICE detention in Louisiana.

Match Part 1 is tomorrow: remember that if you have to SOAP or scramble that it says nothing about your value as a human being nor about your abilities as a future physician. Gather your support system and let yourself feel your feelings. We are rooting for you!

#MedStudents #MatchWeek #MedSky

Did you know that science labs work like small business entrepreneurs? Faculty hired on strength of ideas, get some startup $ to last 3-4 yrs. After that is grants- grants pay all our + our trainees’ salaries + scientific work. Funding in this country is frozen. That means scientific work stops

One thing everyone should understand is that DOGE has created the least efficient conditions for government I've ever seen.
*The working conditions are chaotic.
*No clear sense of who works there.
*Routine processes have been stopped.
*No planning can take place.
*People are incredibly demoralized.

An absolutely important read from the wonderful Dr. @craigspencer.bsky.social - “It is in America’s interest to reverse course immediately and rebuild the crucial infrastructure needed to detect and respond to outbreaks. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it also makes economic sense.”

More than 79 million people get health care through Medicaid, including over 1/3 of all children and nearly 2/3 of nursing home residents.

Trump and Republicans want to rip their health care away – just to bankroll tax cuts for the rich. We can't let them.

They Worked to Prevent Death. The Trump Administration Fired Them. Public health teams are being gutted, imperiling efforts to safeguard organ donation and prevent maternal and infant death. Many workers expressed fear at what would happen to the work they left…

Hundreds of workers at the CDC. More than 1,000 at the NIH. Scores of staffers at the FDA.

Trump’s purge of federal employees includes those doing lifesaving work. Many of them expressed fear at what would happen to the projects they left behind.

By @anniewaldman.bsky.social & @deldeib.bsky.social