Bibhav Acharya, MD

Opinion | Our Politics Differ, But We Agree: Trump’s ‘Compact’ Violates Academic Freedom Using federal funding to dictate who colleges admit and what faculty can say crosses a dangerous line.

This is a remarkable piece. Conservative AND liberal legal scholars come out TOGETHER to condemn Trump’s compact for higher education. www.chronicle.com/article/our-...

2 weeks ago, a journal rejected my submission. It's ok. I'll send it somewhere else.

Yesterday, they sent me a second rejection. Same manuscript.

Should I write back: "I'm sorry to make you feel regret twice."
😄

When it's published elsewhere and I humblebrag, do I count this as two rejections? 😂

‘Instability and confusion’ as CDC slashes 1,300 jobs before reinstating half Trump administration says 700 notices were sent in error, while top CDC officer says ‘they didn’t think through what they were doing’

The entire HR department at the CDC is gone. Everyone at the IRB, which makes sure studies are conducted ethically and rigorously, and the ethics office, which oversee conflicts of interest for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Do they protect employers from lawsuits?

America First Global Health Strategy - United States Department of State The America First Global Health Strategy outlines a comprehensive vision to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.  It will protect the homeland by preventing infectious disease outbreaks ...

www.state.gov/america-firs...

2/2

The US just released its global health strategy. Quick takeaways:
1/1

A slide about how NIH will fund foreign collaborations going forward.

Some information from the NIGMS Advisory Council meeting today.

On foreign grants...

1/3

You struggle to eat one meal a day. If you get sick, you have nowhere to go. Your kids will also become subsistence farmers. If lucky, they’ll work as manual laborers in India. Meanwhile, politicians and royals in Kathmandu throw lavish parties. If they get sick, they fly to top hospitals in the UK and US, on the government’s dime. Their kids attend top colleges abroad, paying $50K/year in tuition: money that should have funded public services. There is a fundamental rift: The people in pain have no power. The people in power feel no pain. This was the early 2000s. Maoists won over rural Nepal by exposing this rift. The government could have closed that rift by ensuring accountability, but it didn’t. It responded with violence, escalating the civil war. Tens of thousands died and infrastructure worth billions was destroyed. The king was ousted and the Maoists laid down their arms, joining multi-party democracy. Now it’s 2025. The same political families from 25 years ago are somehow still in power and that rift has not closed. Famine is rare. Services are slightly better but not because the government improved accountability. Youth toil in Gulf countries and send money home, propping up more than a third of the economy. Many die in exploitative conditions. Your healthcare is still terrible while top politicians still fly abroad for care. Their kids flaunt $20K handbags on vlogs while you struggle to access basic education or find a reliable job. Gen Z begins using social media to expose this rift, calling out nepo babies for bragging about spending money that belongs to the people. The government could have closed that rift by ensuring accountability, but it didn’t. It responded by banning the social media platforms being used to shame their (grown) kids. Protests erupted. The government responded by killing over 20 young people. The international media turned its camera to Nepal just in time to report that people are angry because they couldn’t use Face…

What the Nepal crisis is really about (and what the international media is getting wrong):

The NIH budget will INCREASE by $400 million — not slashed by 40%, as Trump proposed — according to a proposal by Senate appropriators, says Sen Murray.

"Some have asked if there will even be an NIH by [2029]. The commmittee's resounding message is yes—Congress has your back", she says.

A three-judge First Circuit panel has unanimously denied the Trump administration's request to pause the judgment that restored hundreds of NIH grants.

I had a genuinely though provoking (for me anyway) conversation with Awais Aftab ( @awaisaftab.bsky.social ) about where I think the field of psychiatric genetics is right now, and might be headed.

This is a wonderful interview on psychiatric genetics, dense with insights on heritability, prediction models, unspoken assumptions behind genetics studies, critique of doing experiments just because you can, and ultimately a refocus on what actually matters to improve care.

Trump Official Accused PEPFAR of Funding Abortions in Russia. It Wasn’t True.

"The example prompted Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a longtime supporter of PEPFAR, to say he would vote in favor of rescinding funds from the program."

But it was completely made up. Great reporting by @apoorvanyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/h...

I thank my parents for instilling the values of learning and service long before I even formed conscious memories.

I thank my wife and kids for supporting and... tolerating me, especially when I start professing at home.

And of course for keeping me humble and teaching me fractions.

People who donated to the scholarship funds that made it possible for me to get an excellent education and the numerous donors, whether they invested $2 or $5 million to Possible, who were compelled by our vision to build new services in rural Nepal.

I'm grateful to my mentors, students, and colleagues at UCSF, Yale School of Medicine, Haverford College, Possible, and Budhanilkantha School. 🙏

I owe this to people I never met but whose generosity helped me immensely:

I’m promoted to three-thirds Professor at UCSF!

10yo: Wait, weren't you already a professor?

Me: You start as an assistant professor then you get promoted to associate and then full professor

8yo: So you were only a one-third professor and then two-thirds and now you are a three-thirds professor?

Just in: NIH staff have been instructed to REINSTATE these ~900 grants to comply with the court order, per sources. This comes after staff were also directed to cease any further terminations.

You can see the lists grants to be reinstated in my post below.

Following court order, NIH ceases new terminations of politically sensitive grants After a judge told agency to restore hundreds of killed grants, NIH backs off plans to cancel more existing projects

Breaking news: The National Institutes of Health has ceased terminating grants on politically sensitive topics after a federal judge ruled last week that the cancellations were illegal.
scim.ag/4l9MO8Y

Good news (pending appeal) for the grants that were terminated!

Looks like NIH can still put grants in limbo (neither terminate nor renew) and there is no clear legal recourse.

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

Judge Young's order has come in. Grant terminations in the plaintiff states or to the plaintiff orgs (APHA, UAW) are officially void and illegal.

It also says that the "Challenged Directives" are arbitrary and capricious — and thus illegal as well.

Now what exactly are are these directives? 🧵

Bethesda Declaration — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Support NIH Staff Now!

DID YOU KNOW:

We are accepting organizational sign-ons to The Bethesda Declaration support letter!

If you would like your org represented DM me or @standupforscience.bsky.social for details!

#StandUpForScience

www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

The judge intends to limit his order to universities in the plaintiff states (CA, MD, WA, AZ, CO, DE, HI, MA, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, WI), members of the plaintiff orgs (APHA, UAW), and the researchers named directly, he said today.

His written opinion will come in the coming days.

Federal judge rules that hundreds of NIH grant terminations were 'void and illegal' A federal judge ruled that some of the grant terminations by the National Institutes of Health on DEI grounds are “void and illegal.”

BREAKING: federal judge overrules hundreds of NIH grant terminations

www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/n...

THIS IS IT! THIS IS HUGE!!

PLAINTIFF'S WIN!!

Judge Young rules that the NIH grant terminations at issue in these cases are illegal and therefore vacated. BOOM!

Oof, a brutal exchange for the defense.

The judge asks if they can point out a single grant that is used to "support unlawful discrimination," as the NIH alleges in its termination letters.

The defense says it can't.

Heston Blumenthal: How bipolar diagnosis changed chef’s life A new BBC documentary looks at how a diagnosis of bipolar disorder at 57 changed the celebrity chef's life.

Courageous profile of a celebrity chef diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his 50’s and finally benefiting from a mood stabilizer.

It is a reminder that mental health awareness must include every industry.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

2. A panel with Dr. Biraj Karmacharya and Dr. Sandhya Chapagain on building a research career in global health, especially in the current political and funding landscape.
2-2:30pm

Join if you are in DC/Maryland/Virginia!

Looking forward to giving two presentations at the America Nepal Medical Foundation Conference tomorrow:

1. A presentation on MILAP, an innovative family intervention to reduce domestic violence among women who cannot or do not want to leave abusive relationships.
2:50pm

and...