PGHS - Pittsburgh Healthcare Workers and Scientists

An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination | NEJM To the Editor: In their Sounding Board article (June 26 issue),1 Prasad and Makary ignore the fact that the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection extend beyond acute outcomes such as hospitalization and de...

Multiple responses to last month's article by FDA on restricting COVID vaccination policy. Authors from our group are some of the respondents, showing how Prasad and Makary misrepresent international policy in their original article.

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

The Danger of the Not-So-Beautiful Bill Today, I was asked by Newsweek to comment on the adverse impact of the not-so-beautiful bill to dismantle America’s safety net.

Op ed by one of our members on the ways this ugly bill will impact patients and healthcare.

open.substack.com/pub/miranday...

What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill now before the Senate At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.

GOP majority senate, under the veil of Saturday night, moves forward to vote on an unpopular budget bill that will:

- give most of the tax cuts to the wealthy
- cut Medicaid and SNAP
- increase deficit by >$2 trillion

Call your representatives to vote no!!

Summary on AP
apnews.com/article/sena...

The Coming Health Care Apocalypse One chart on the Big Ugly Bill

More info:
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-coming...

Doesn't need any further elaboration. Big ugly bill needs to be shot down

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Our second billboard is up! On I-95, outside Philly near exit 6. Also will be up in Western PA soon.

RFK Jr. and Trump Administration is Limiting Access to Vaccines. Tell them by Friday, June 20, Everyone Must Have Access Public Comment at the CDC is open until June 20th at 11:59pm EDT.

Urgent! Submit public comment to save access to the COVID vaccine by midnight tonight 6/20 at 11:59PM!

peoplescdc.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-and...

Paul C. Holden: What happens to people America helps when the aid suddenly stops In a crowded ward in Malawi, a man died — his life lost in part because lifesaving HIV medications and diagnostics, funded by USAID, were suddenly...

A poignant op-ed by one of our members.

Programs like PEPFAR were absolutely life changing for people around the world. For Trump administration to stop these projects is damaging for countless people and wasteful for science.

www.post-gazette.com/opinion/insi...

BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.

NO KINGS Pittsburgh · Mobilize **In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** ## Join 50501 in partnership with local Indivisible groups and other grassroots organizations for Pittsburgh's NO KINGS Protest. NO KINGS is a na...

Happy no kings day #pittsburgh! Hope you see your there

www.mobilize.us/mobilize/eve...

ADD YOUR NAME: Sign the Open Letter in Support of NIH Staff Join the courageous and committed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public servants by adding your name now.

Please consider adding your signature to the Bethesda Declaration below: in support of what the NIH stands for and our colleagues who push science forward!

actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na...

Republicans keep trying to gut health insurance and safety net programs to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.

Well if that's what they want, we can help them publicize it.

If you're driving East on I-76 near Bedford, keep an eye out for the billboard we put up!

#Pitt leadership responded after our second letter, where we sent actionable items to work together on. Read the full letter below.

Our goals remain aligned: defending scientific freedom and protecting our academic community.

Please join us on the webinar on June 11th!

thehill.com/opinion/heal...

Op-ed from @mirandayaver.bsky.social explaining how Trump's budget will harm our rural communities by gutting their insurance coverage and closing down at-risk hospitals.

Long-term care in the U.S. faces two existential threats: an immigration crackdown and Medicaid cuts The combined impacts of an immigration crackdown and slashing Medicaid budgets could create an exodus of long-term care workers.

www.statnews.com/2025/05/30/l...

This hurts all of us; our parents and grandparents, family who care for them, the hospital systems that will be overwhelmed by the lack of long-term care options.

We need a better plan to care for our sick and elderly. And GOP's bill is definitely NOT IT

Keep us posted! Members of our group have also submitted a response to this. Hopefully they will publish one of, if not multiple, responses that call out that article.

Since our open letter, we’ve had productive discussions with the Pitt leadership in town halls and face-to-face meetings.

However, the attack on public health and science continues. We need more institutional resistance.

Read our follow up letter below where we call for three actionable steps.

A screenshot of the termination notice showing "Outstanding Investigator Grants"

A screenshot of the termination notice with "This award is terminated effective the date of this award, due to unsafe antisemitic actions that suggest the institution lacks concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students." highlighted

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

A protest graphic titled “TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS” with bold red blocks reading “SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE.” Black paint drips from the top, and a grayscale crowd of protestors hold signs like “Save Science,” “Keep Your Hands Off Our Pipettes,” and “No Science, No Future.” A U.S. flag waves on the right.

🚨SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE: TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS 🚨

In his first 100 days, Trump has declared war on science—slashing budgets, censoring facts, and meddling in research. From climate to cancer care, real lives are at risk.

Here’s a thread on Trump’s assault on science so far—and why it matters: (🧵)

Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH.

Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.

HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.

99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.

Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.

New England Journal of Medicine gets swept up in U.S. attorney inquiry into alleged bias Last week, at least one scientific journal received a letter from a top U.S. attorney asking it to respond to alleged bias. Now, NEJM has received a similar inquiry as well.

Scientific journals, especially those as prestigious as NEJM, have strict peer review and editorial processes that make them a trustworthy and reliable source of information.

Another example of trump administration attacking a scientific pillar, without any base

www.statnews.com/2025/04/23/n...

@ashishkjha.bsky.social

Chancellor and Provost of #Pitt responded to our letter yesterday (full response below), and this morning we spoke with the Provost. It was a productive conversation and we look forward to continuing to work together. We are aligned on this:

A university is a community, a university is its people.

Pitt scholars urge resistance to Trump attacks on higher ed As the Trump administration makes demands of Harvard and other universities, local scholars and their allies asked Pitt to ‘stand up.’

Pitt faculty petition University leadership to stand up and fight...

www.publicsource.org/national-day...

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Thank you again to everyone who signed the open letter to #Pitt!

Today, we are delivering the letter - electronically and in person - to the university leadership.

The link remains active for anyone who didn't have a chance to sign previously: tinyurl.com/PittLetter

We will see you there!

And a big thank you to everyone who signed our #Pitt open letter! We went well past our goal of 500 signatures. It's abundantly clear that academics across the country are NOT OK with Trump's attack on science.

Defend intellectual freedom, scientific discovery, and community safety at the University of Pittsburgh An open letter from University of Pittsburgh faculty, students, and staff mobilizing in response to threats to intellectual freedom, research funding, and democracy, calling upon Pitt leadership to st...

#Pitt community!

Thank you for the wonderful support in signing the open letter! We have already reached 476 signatories.

Today is the last chance to sign before we deliver it tomorrow. Please pass around to your colleagues!

tinyurl.com/PittLetter

Harvard resisting the gross political weaponization of executive power

Over 900 faculty at Yale signed an open letter to defend academic freedom.

Academia is banding together because we know how important this is

Sign the open letter to #Pitt below!
tinyurl.com/PittLetter

Defend intellectual freedom, scientific discovery, and community safety at the University of Pittsburgh An open letter from University of Pittsburgh faculty, students, and staff mobilizing in response to threats to intellectual freedom, research funding, and democracy, calling upon Pitt leadership to st...

We're at 149 signature (and counting)!

Help us reach 500 signatures. Read and sign the open letter by faculty, students, staff, alumni of #Pitt calling for actions grounded in our historic institution's values

Sign here:
tinyurl.com/PittLetter

#SaveOurScience #ProtectResearch

If you are on a visa, please don't sign. We understand the precarious position our international colleagues are in