Amanda Therrien

Senators are pushing back against Trump’s NIH cuts. Philly scientists say their advocacy is working. A Senate committee rejected Trump's proposed 40% cut to NIH funding. Philadelphia's medical research community says it means advocacy efforts are having an impact on Capitol Hill.

People 👏 power 👏 works 👏

“We’re particularly encouraged by the bipartisan nature of the recent actions. It does tell us we have support, that our advocacy efforts are working,” said Amanda Therrien of Philly Science Action

@amandastherrien.bsky.social

share.inquirer.com/x6FlEh

Let's please keep the remaining staff at NIH, NSF, etc in our thoughts even as you lose sleep over your own lab and scientific career.

They are enduring pure chaos to try to hold the fort.

See snapshot from wapo.st/4feKKuu (gift 🔗) saying they are "barely holding it together"

Happy to announce that my lab @ Yale Psychology (actcompthink.org) will be accepting PhD applications this year (for start in Fall '26)!

Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.

Please reach out if you have any questions!

well put.

A case so obvious it shouldn’t even need to be made: Biomedical research is an excellent investment By Amanda S. Therrien Ph.D. and Amanda Rabinowitz Ph.D.

The case for investing in biomedical science is so clear it shouldn’t need defending. Yet here we are.

Read and share our latest blog from @amandastherrien.bsky.social & @dramandar.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/philadel...

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert A Scientific Brain Drain Has Followed Trump’s Gutting Of The NIH - Dr. Francis Collins

Dr. Francis Collins speaks to the dire state of affairs at our government agencies.

"Predictions are that since the plug was pulled on USAID, 90,000 children have died unnecessarily... And yet, where is the outrage?..Where is our compassion?"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW9c...

Hey you! 👋

Are you a scientist with something to say? We want to hear from you!

The @philadelphiascienceaction.substack.com Substack is looking for contributors!

Bring your voice — let’s defend science together. 🧬✊

DM us if you’d like to write for us!

if you know someone who has been really active in speaking out against the Trump regime, and you've been wondering if they want your help or if they have it all handled, please go help them however you can. they are exhausted. I am exhausted.

Proposed science spending in FY26 House Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill.

House FY26 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill proposes a 23% cut to funding for the National Science Foundation.
Call your legislators and tell them no cuts to science funding!
appropriations.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

1/ ✊🔬 Introducing the Philadelphia Science Action Substack — your local hub for scientists & science activists fighting for truth, transparency & inclusivity in Philly and beyond. 🧵 philadelphiascienceaction.substack.com

A reminder from Mister Rogers we might all need right now.

“Some days, doing ‘the best we can’ may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn’t perfect on any front — and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else.”

Sign our open letter to Penn condemning this capitulation and standing up for transgender athletes and truly inclusive sport. Add your name here:

open.substack.com/pub/philadel...

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT

Please watch the workshop video and COMMENT by 5:00 Monday 7/14

This is the source of the "no more model organism only grants in NIH-funded research" decree.

The Dubious Promise of Disability “Cures” By Amanda Rabinowitz Ph.D.

We should be wary of scientific priorities that frame disability as a problem to “cure” instead of a reality to support.

Read more on our Substack from @dramandar.bsky.social:

open.substack.com/pub/philadel...

Tapping the sign that says “NSF, NIH, and public investment into basic research are the real engines of US innovation”

The Biological Truth Is That There Is No Simple Dichotomy Between Male and Female By Amanda S. Therrien Ph.D.

Penn’s acquiescence to the Trump Admin last week is troubling. It condones scapegoating, revisionism, & transphobia.
It also condones an interpretation of biological sex that flies in the face of current biological science.

Here, @amandastherrien.bsky.social discusses the actual biological truth.

Schedule F by Another Name Is Still a Threat to Science Should this rule take effect, civil service protections would be stripped from much of the federal workforce, all but dismantling the merit-based system we’ve had for more than a century.

In June, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed a rule to implement a federal hiring classification that would reintroduce parts of “Schedule F,” a controversial hiring scheme. UCS’s Joseph Reed explains why we joined a group of orgs to submit a comment urging OPM to withdraw the rule.

Surprise Tax in G.O.P. Bill Could Cripple Wind and Solar Power

Extreme weather events, like heat domes, will become more frequent & dangerous with climate change. The Big Bad Bill includes severe roll backs of clean energy initiatives, which will worsen this trend.

Keep calling your Senators! Tell them to vote no TODAY!! 📞 202-224-3121.

Systems are Designed for the Outcomes they Create By Marion Leary PhD MPH RN

Through its cuts to Medicaid & changes to the ACA, the BBB is expected to cut health coverage for a staggering 16M Americans.

Here, @marionleary.bsky.social discusses this “break glass” moment that calls for our immediate action.

Call your Senators TODAY! Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Republicans “big beautiful bill” would devastate our seniors, worsening their care and limiting their access to care… all so the GOP’s billionaire buddies can buy another yacht.

Cutting Medicaid means costs are shifted to providers. When patients lose coverage, they turn to ERs for care they can’t afford. Hospitals eat the cost, pass it on to insurers, and your premiums go up.

Medicaid cuts mean a worse health care system for EVERYONE.

Overnight, Senate Republicans overwhelmingly voted to advance Trump’s deficit exploding Big Tax Bonanza for Billionaires — paid for on the backs of millions of Americans losing health care and SNAP benefits.

Fiscally irresponsible and morally indefensible.

It’s Time to Ditch the Script: Science Needs You to Tell Your Story By Amanda S Therrien PhD

American scientists must gear up for the coming federal discretionary spending debate, which will decide the fate of Trump’s proposed cuts to federal science funding.

In our latest article @amandastherrien.bsky.social, discusses the importance of storytelling in the fight for science.

Tapping the “Resistance Works” Sign!

We are hosting this virtual community event this evening!

If you are a science supporter in the greater Philadelphia region who is interested in getting more involved in science advocacy, please join us!!

“[The] NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory reflects what’s possible when the federal government backs world-class engineers and scientists with the tools to lead. This facility will drive discovery, inspire future innovators and unleash American excellence through scientific leadership."

The Association of American Universities showing that resistance works! ✊ 💪

A mad king’s pointless war is where Donald Trump was always heading There is no legal or moral justification for Donald Trump's bomb strike on Iran, just the ego of an increasingly delusional president.

Trump said you can measure a presidency by the wars you avoid, and for once he was right. Saturday's Iran bombing was the exclamation point on his abject failure

Trump is copying dictators from Mussolini to Putin in seeking glory through pointless war. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/dona...

An Onion front page with the headline: Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice Who will stand up for our democracy? This question, fraught in even the most peaceful times, has only grown more pressing as our country approaches its 250th anniversary. Each passing day brings growing assaults on essential liberties like freedom of speech and due process. Meanwhile, our delicately assembled legal system faces a constant barrage of threats. Even as this issue reaches publication, the U.S. military has been deployed against peaceful protesters. We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state. That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Members of Congress, now more than ever, our nation desperately needs your cowardice. Our republic is a birthright, an exceedingly rare treasure passed down from generation to generation of Americans. It was gained through hard years of bloody resistance and can too easily be lost. Our Founding Fathers, in their abundant wisdom, understood that all it would take was men and women of little courage sitting in the corridors of power and taking zero action as this precious inheritance was stripped away—and that is where we have finally arrived. Now is not the time for bravery or valor! This is the time for protecting your own hide and lining your pocket. Now is not the time for listening to your idiotic constituents drone on about what’s happening to their precious democracy. This is the time for getting down on all fours and grov- eling. Now is not the time to say, “Enough is enough,” and have the tough conversations about resisting the ongoing assaults on American liberty. This is the time to let the wave of apathy and indifference roll over you as you think about getting a really nice renovation to your house in Kalorama. But what can I, one coward, do alone? you might ask.

Donald Trump just unilaterally bombed Iran. A masked gang is terrorizing our streets. America has rapidly devolved into an authoritarian state.

That's why, today, The Onion has purchased a full page ad in today's New York Times with a simple plea to Congress:

Sit back and do absolutely nothing.

Surgeon-Scientists Play a Vital Role in Advancing Medicine – Their Work Depends on Federal Funding By Lillias Maguire M.D.

“Surgeons have unique scientific expertise. We care for patients at the sickest moments of their lives.”

In our latest article, @lilygolightly.bsky.social discusses the critical role of surgeons in medical science, & how federal funding allowed her to balance demanding clinical volumes & research.