Shoumita Dasgupta, PhD

The Trump administration’s approach to autism is tangled up with ableism, eugenics, and pronatalism “The current political establishment and their supporters have consistently pathologized difference,” particularly when it comes to autism, a professor of medicine writes.

Shoumita Dasgupta - The Trump administration’s approach to autism is tangled up with ableism, eugenics, and pronatalism: Eliminating neurodiversity is a dangerous goal. www.statnews.com/2025/10/03/a... via @statnews.com

The Trump administration’s approach to autism is tangled up with ableism, eugenics, and pronatalism “The current political establishment and their supporters have consistently pathologized difference,” particularly when it comes to autism, a professor of medicine writes.

🧪 I was going to say that I’m happy to share my latest, but I’d much rather be without the reasons to write it: The Trump administration’s approach to autism is tangled up with ableism, eugenics, and pronatalism www.statnews.com/2025/10/03/a... via @statnews.com

Oh no! Good luck! I've lost a laptop over a far smaller water bottle leak. I hope you don't experience the same!

This is great! I hope there will be a chance to discuss the ableist framework that is the foundation on which these executive actions are built.

These Patients Got the Cure. Then It Went Away.

These Patients Got the Cure, Then It Went Away: When gene therapies and genome editing for rare disease are pulled for economic reasons. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/h...

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

Ugh, even repeating that gain of function line...!

I’m one of the Ph.D. students caught up in the cancelation of ‘diversity’ grants. I’m heartbroken I’m one of the Ph.D. students caught up in the cancelation of ‘diversity’ grants. I’m heartbroken

“At a time when diversity initiatives are being weaponized, the unraveling of this [F31D] program represents another barrier that continues to keep people like us from having a seat at the table.“ www.statnews.com/2025/09/05/n...

America's Doctor Shortage Is Getting Worse. Abortion Bans Are to Blame. — TIME Why America's future doctors are avoiding abortion-ban states.

🇺🇸's 🩺 Shortage Is Getting Worse. Abortion Bans Are to Blame “Doctors don’t want to work where their judgment is constantly questioned & they face ruinous consequences—including losing their license & being sentenced to prison—just for trying to do right by their patients.” apple.news/ASpdyl1GPSuC...

Woman with floral scarf and striped shirt pointing at a book on a bookshelf

Two signed copies of Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins: Lessons on Belonging from Our DNA 🧬 on the shelves of Harvard Bookstore for anyone who is interested! 📚

Wow, we're in amazing company there! What a great book haul! WHERE BIOLOGY ENDS AND BIAS BEGINS looks super interesting!

Stack of books.

Just picked these up from @brooklinebooksmith.bsky.social ! Can’t wait to dig in.

🔸Everything for Everyone, @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social @genderhorizon.com;
🔸 You Must Take Part in Revolution, @badiucao.bsky.social @melissakchan.bsky.social

Fantastic! Let us know if they add your Story Collider to the podcast!

A word cloud with dominant words "equity", "disparity", "diverse", and similar words.

Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.

3/4

This conversation is essential for scientists. To extend the conversation beyond academic halls, I hope these resources will be useful because clearly there still remain significant misconceptions about our shared humanity among the public. undark.org/2025/02/20/o... www.ucpress.edu/books/where-...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health. On this Labor Day, read the words of 9 former CDC Directors praising the service of the CDC civil servants and calling on all of us to protect the health of the nation. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

HHS terminates NIH program aimed at diversifying biomedical workforce HHS is terminating a National Institutes of Health grant program that supports students from marginalized backgrounds in the biomedical sciences.

HHS terminates NIH program aimed at diversifying biomedical workforce www.statnews.com/2025/08/25/n...

Scientists Are Caught in a Political Trap Fighting back against the Trump administration means they start to look more like activists.

In which scientists must engage in advocacy to protect science itself. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Giving Bengalis a bad rep! Good to clarify.

Scientists’ role in defending democracy The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are ...

"The ability to tell the truth, especially when it does not suit any particularly partisan aims, is an essential prerequisite for a free society. Scientists can leverage their substantial social standing and trustworthiness to preserve this vital ingredient." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins by Shoumita Dasgupta - Paper Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

The rationalization of these embryo selection approaches are both scientifically flawed (hello, genetic essentialism) and morally problematic (bias, income inequality, and more). For a deeper dive, please consider my chapter on "What Genetics Doesn't Fully Explain." www.ucpress.edu/books/where-...

Inside Silicon Valley’s Growing Obsession With Having Smarter Babies Tech execs are paying tens of thousands to find brilliant dates or select high-IQ embryos. “They want to raise high-performing children.”

“I think they have a perception that they are smart & they are accomplished, & they deserve to be where they are because they have 'good genes.' Now they have a tool where they think that they can do the same thing in their kids as well...” @sashagusevposts.bsky.social www.wsj.com/us-news/sili...

“The choice before us is fundamental: Do we believe that knowledge should serve the common good? If so, we cannot treat this assault on science and research as someone else’s problem.” 🙌🏾 -Alondra Nelson, former head of OSTP thehill.com/opinion/whit...

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

In addition to politicizing 🧪 review of grants by inserting appointees, they’ve included language to justify their intent to redistribute $ to red states. “All else being equal, preference for discretionary awards should be given to institutions with ⬇️ IDC rates.” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

How Many Times Can Science Funding Be Canceled? Whether or not Congress cuts NIH’s budget, the Trump administration has devastated its ability to operate.

A look at the chaos behind the scenes at the NIH - even if funds are unfrozen, the agency's ability to award grants is still compromised in many ways. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Fantastic and well deserved! Congrats!

‘It’s really, really bad right now’: NIH scientists dismayed by Trump cuts Researchers say scientific community is in state of whiplash and accuse president of trying to ‘destroy’ vital work

“I think the core of it is that they want to destroy universities, or at least turn them into rightwing ideological factories.” -NIH official www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Amazing, thanks so much Needhi! Looking forward to digging in.

"Move fast and break things has not worked very well for Silicon Valley in health care. When you talk about reproduction, the things you are breaking are babies." -Hank Greely, Stanford

The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot There's a fresh push to edit the genes of human embryos to prevent diseases and enhance characteristics that parents value. Bioethicists say just because it's possible doesn't mean it should be done.

In which they unironically name a genome editing company after the Manhattan Project on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima: www.npr.org/sections/sho...