Craig Spencer MD MPH

@craigspencer.bsky.social
#medsky

a cartoon tiger is holding a sign that says detroit tigers on it ALT: a cartoon tiger is holding a sign that says detroit tigers on it

DEEEEEEEEETROIT TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Quarantine Islands to QR Codes: How Public Health Has Managed Mobility in Outbreaks The politics of borders, bodies, and the enduring illusion of control

I teach a class on the history of public health. After every class, I write a summary of what we discuss. Thought I'd start sharing some of those reflections.

Here's the first on the long history of quarantine, confinement, and travel restrictions.

craigaspencer.substack.com/p/from-quara...

Eugenics, Statistics, and AI: From Past to Present Dr. Craig Spencer (Brown University SPH) looks back at the history of eugenics in medicine to explore how lessons from the past can teach us about ...

I'm delighted to host @craigspencer.bsky.social at the University of Connecticut next week for a conversation about "Eugenics, Statistics, and AI: From Past to Present."
October 7th, 12:30pm. Join us if you're in northeastern CT!
events.uconn.edu/human-rights...

“.. The President even said his recommendations were ‘based on what I feel.’ It was reckless guidance from a man with no medical training, delivered from the nation’s most powerful podium.”

@craigspencer.bsky.social
time.com/7319680/crai...

Trump Is Breaking Americans’ Trust in Doctors "The President riffed on claims so easily disproven that they bordered on absurd," writes Dr. Craig Spencer.

After yesterday’s rambling press conference on acetaminophen and autism, I wrote for TIME about the disastrous medical guidance offered by the president and why this was even worse than the ‘inject bleach’ press conference during Covid

OpEd and accompanying video interview👇
time.com/7319680/crai...

Autism, vaccines and paracetamol –how Trump and RFK created a policy from conspiracy As Donald Trump uses the platform of the presidency to promote unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism without giving new evidence, Alex Hannaford looks at the rise of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s...

“This is the worst ‘health’ press conference I maybe have ever seen. And I watched every one during Covid.” — @craigspencer.bsky.social

After RFK Jr & Trump claimed #Tylenol in pregnancy and #vaccines raise autism risk without evidence, doctors warn the MAHA agenda is eroding public health.

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A gaggle of older men all nodding when the President tells pregnant women they ‘just gotta tough it out’ and ‘endure the pain’.

The Trump Administration Will Automate Health Inequities By gatekeeping health data, the AI Action Plan risks hardwiring bias into the future of American medicine.

Doctor @craigspencer.bsky.social‬ argues that the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan amounts to one of its most consequential health policies, with an approach to data and research that risks hardwiring bias into American medicine. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

An emergency room doctor describes what the changes at the CDC could mean for public health The Trump Administration has made significant changes to the departments in charge of public health. Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician who teaches public health policy at Brown University, discusses the impact he expects on the health o...

LISTEN: Professor @craigspencer.bsky.social joined @npr.org to discuss the recent upheaval at the CDC.⤵️

"Right now, whether you're Democrats, Republicans, left, right, whatever it is, we have an agency where it's really hard to trust the recommendations that are coming out."

CDC officials who resigned in protest describe embrace of anti-science, anti-vaccine ideology under RFK Jr. - The Boston Globe The three former CDC officials described an abandonment of science in favor of anti-vaccine, anti-science ideology under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

As three top CDC officials resigned last week, Professor @craigspencer.bsky.social says there is no compensating for the vast experience lost: “We are dramatically less able to respond."

The Trump Administration Will Automate Health Inequities By gatekeeping health data, the AI Action Plan risks hardwiring bias into the future of American medicine.

Center Affiliate @craigspencer.bsky.social has an op-ed in @theatlantic.com on the White House AI Action Plan.

Health care has long struggled with bias across patient groups. #AI risks amplifying those gaps in the data we feed it, turning inequities into hard-to-fix standards of care.

More here ⤵️

An emergency room doctor describes what the changes at the CDC could mean for public health The Trump Administration has made significant changes to the departments in charge of public health. Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician who teaches public health policy at Brown Univer...

On @npr.org, @craigspencer.bsky.social warns new rules don't just affect #COVID vaccines. The danger is a future where all shots become more difficult, confusing, and costly to get.

“...more confusion, more chaos, more uncertainty and I think, unfortunately, a lot more sickness”

🎧 Listen here ⬇️

The Trump Administration Will Automate Health Inequities By gatekeeping health data, the AI Action Plan risks hardwiring bias into the future of American medicine.

By gatekeeping health data, the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan risks hardwiring bias into the future of American medicine, Craig Spencer argues.

Breaking News: Read three top CDC officials' resignation emails. The end of an era.

Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

The Trump Administration Will Automate Health Inequities By gatekeeping health data, the AI Action Plan risks hardwiring bias into the future of American medicine.

We should all worry about the chaos at the CDC

But there’s an even larger and longer-term health threat quietly unfolding

For @theatlantic.com I wrote about how the Trump admin’s ‘AI Action Plan’ risks hardwiring bias and inequity into medicine for decades.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

No One in the White House Knows How to Stop Ebola We had a playbook for handling biothreats. Then Trump pushed out the people who knew how to use it.

Wondering whose White House job it is to protect Americans from bio threats - and why that matters? As of this week, it is *nobody's* full-time job. Here is what that means for all of us. Thanks to Jon Finer & @spsaki.bsky.social who lay it out with me here: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Opinion | You Don’t Have to Be a Doctor to Understand This The moral argument for global health is the strongest we have.

“Politicians may slash budgets and dismantle institutions, but they cannot erase the principle that built them: that caring for others is a moral obligation, not a partisan position,” writes Dr. Craig Spencer.

Opinion | You Don’t Have to Be a Doctor to Understand This

"Empathy is not idealism; it articulates a pragmatic vision of our shared fate. In a world defined by worsening pandemics, climate instability and global interdependence, empathy is a necessity"

@craigspencer.bsky.social is spot on!

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

Incredibly moving piece from an incredible human. I’m proud to know you @craigspencer.bsky.social. Thanks for inspiring us.

If we allow the Trump administration’s assault on empathy to define our global health agenda, or ourselves, we won’t just be turning away from the world—we’ll be turning away from who we are .

@craigspencer.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

Opinion | You Don’t Have to Be a Doctor to Understand This

If we allow the Trump administration’s assault on empathy to define our global health agenda, or ourselves, we won’t just be turning away from the world — we’ll be turning away from who we are.

My latest for @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/o...

Thank you! The feeling is very mutual!

Yesterday, RFK Jr announced the U.S. wouldn't continue to support Gavi, the leading international vaccine organization.

I had a lot of thoughts, so I put them in my first ever Substack.

tl;dr—this is RFK Jr taking his anti-vaccine crusade global.

Read it here:
open.substack.com/pub/craigasp...

Experts warn RFK Jr. is unraveling the system that kept vaccines safe Secretary Kennedy has long held many vaccine-skeptic views.

From #ABC: RFK Jr meets w/ his new vaccine panel this week to plan #flu season protocols, raising concern due to their anti-vax history.

@craigspencer.bsky.social warned that Kennedy “has an unbelievable ability to drastically change the access and availability of vaccines in this country”.

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What to expect from the upcoming CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting with RFK Jr.'s new members The CDC's vaccine advisory committee is set to meet for the first time since HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the entire panel and appointed new members.

Center affiliate @craigspencer.bsky.social spoke to #ABCNews about what RFK Jrs vaccine panel might push next.

"It's anybody's question of what is going to happen, what the discussion around [MMRV] is going to be,"

Spencer warns of the effort to blur science and create doubt.

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A tale of two U.S. Global health security futures—withdraw or evolve? Rapid detection and response to biological threats are critical to global health security. For decades, the United States has played a leading role in…

NEW: Beth Cameron, @craigspencer.bsky.social and I share the impact of US funding cuts and policy changes to global health security now and in the future in Vaccine journal.

"A tale of two U.S. Global health security futures—withdraw or evolve?"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A member of RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement and a public health expert met on Zoom. Here’s what happened next. - The Boston Globe When public heealth experts and MAHA activists broke bread together, they found more in common than they expected.

Our Center affiliate @craigspencer.bsky.social joined a group of public health experts on Zoom, w/ MAHA grassroots members aiming to learn how to talk with each other

@bostonglobe.com: The conversation reflects the common ground that exists in a desire to rebuild trust in the medical system

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