Kiara Alvarez, Ph.D.

The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.

For everyone who has ever asked, on seeing my Baltimore homicide charts, "How did they do that?"

Planting seeds in uncertain times: Holding the line on health equity in HIV Oni J. Blackstock, MD, MHS, outlines key practices and strategies to continue the work of health equity in HIV in the next installment of the new Health Equity Series.

🌱 "During uncertain times, like the current moment, we can either retreat or move forward and plant seeds of change. This moment calls on us to plant seeds."

🌱 Honored to share my blog post in @idsainfo.bsky.social's #HealthEquity Series where I outline key practices and strategies...

I read about this here, along with a ton of other great news stories about species being saved, environments being protected, people living healthier lives, and so much more. Do yourself a favor:
bsky.app/profile/fixt...

I Randomly Decided To Pay Off A School’s Lunch Debt. Then Something Incredible Happened. “I immediately wondered if this was real.”

"[It's] as if we’ve collectively agreed that fiscal responsibility is best taught through the ritual humiliation of second graders."

This is an excellent piece, not just about school lunch debt, but how we manage the relationship between working for systemic change and mitigating immediate harm.

This is scandalous. The El Paso SPC is one of the few ICE detention centers owned by ICE itself. Members of Congress cannot legally be turned away from ICE facilities when conducting oversight. Yet these emails say Noem herself is deciding when and how Members can conduct oversight.

I would have preferred to quietly conduct my oversight responsibilities as I always have, but ICE chose not to follow the law.

These ‘guidelines’ are illegal, and that deserves public scrutiny.

This week, ICE illegally denied me entry into a processing facility in my district, and today, they released a statement saying I “[gave] the appearance of a political stunt intended to generate publicity rather than pursue genuine oversight.”

I have some thoughts.🧵

It doesn't matter if they are ever coming for you.

It was always ever already too much that they were coming for anyone.

Smart move, and not surprising; the litigators surely knew this was an option and had the amended complaint ready to go.

(5/5)

🚨 It’s time to flood the zone.

NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn.

📜 Read the Bethesda Declaration
✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support
👯‍♀️Follow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social

Read and sign here 👉 www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

🚨ATTENTION MOMS🚨

Friday, May 30th at 3pm

Meet me outside of the CDC with your pregnant bellies, your babies, your toddlers, your strollers, your signs, and your baby gear.

We are standing up for science and vaccines!
@standupforscience.bsky.social

RSVP: actionnetwork.org/events/moms-...

Care about suicide research? Then you should care about how we measure suicide-related constructs! Very proud to share this viewpoint led by @kirstenchristensen.bsky.social, recently accepted at J Psychopathology and Clinical Science 🥳

osf.io/preprints/ps...

👉 Today, the Trump administration filed a motion in court to end the Flores Settlement - an agreement that provides basic safeguards for the treatment of children in federal immigration custody.

Why does this matter? Let’s break it down: 🧵👇

The NIH Director continues to misunderstand (or mischaracterize) the extent to which research is being gutted. I appreciate this program officer for speaking up.

The argument in the piece cited is that ChatGPT cannot do college level coursework better than a deride because - and I’m taking this slowly — college level coursework is designed to accrue learning to the student…not the machine.

ICE efforts in DC thwarted by solidarity Kristi Noem has been denied another camera-ready moment of cruelty.

Read my latest:

Nobody exists exclusively through the lens of struggle. Pick the worst eras, the most oppressed people. You will find rich heritages of art, music, fashion, and games that survived it. Were pioneered during it. Thrived in the midst of it. Why? Because these things give our survival *meaning.*

We, along w/ 14 other immigrants’ rights organizations, submitted urgent reports to the United Nations & IACHR, raising the alarm over systematic & grave human rights violations against migrants & asylum-seekers by the U.S. government during the first months of the Trump admin. bit.ly/CHRCLpress

Grant cancellations of any kind are terrible and disruptive, but I've been thinking a lot about the compounding effects that cancelling trainee grants will have - so many promising young people left discouraged and (rightfully) contemplating careers outside of science.

Please help us correct misinformation!

Our hotline is being incorrectly shared as "Canada's national suicide hotline open toll free for Americans".

We are not a general crisis hotline, we exist exclusively to support the trans community.

Find out more @ translifeline.org

Barry Blitt’s cover for this week’s issue, “The First Hundred Days.” #NewYorkerCovers nyer.cm/ysrCZ47

Trump Administration Proposes Defunding Suicide Lifeline for LGBTQ+ Youth Beginning October 2025 A leaked budget draft revealed the federal government has proposed to eliminate all funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services – a federal program that provides ...

Maintaining funding for 988's LGBTQ+ services ensures continued effective and lifesaving work.

“Suicide prevention is about risk, not identity.” – @trevorproject.bsky.social

“These crisis response services are effective and save young lives.” – @afspnational.bsky.social

afsp.org/story/trump-...

Tomorrow, I’m excited to chair “Novel Approaches to Suicide Prevention for Ethnoracially Minoritized Youth: Advancing Family-Based Interventions in Multiple Contexts” at 2 pm EST with Kristin Mitchell, Cindy Huang, and discussant Rev. Dr. Sherry Molock #SRS25

Our team’s first presentation is during the Data Blitz at 4:45 pm EST today - newly minted PhD Dr. Grecia Vargas Meléndez will present “The Paloma Intervention: A Systematic Health Literacy Review of Parent Educational Materials” #SRS25

What DEI threatens isn’t merit. It’s monopoly. Political science professor Hakeem Jefferson argues for DEI's importance to de-monopolizing universities.

A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.

I hope you’ll read and share the piece.

stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...

Screenshot of two posts from Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom. The first reads, "Quick, process question. Whose job is it to do all this damn work?" The second says, "Because I did a work already and now there are more works."

These posts from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social pop into my head at least once a week

On March 15, 238 people were rushed onto a plane with almost no warning. Without any chance to see a judge or plead their case, the Trump admin sent them (and a metaphorical briefcase of cash) to El Salvador to be indefinitely imprisoned for no crime.

We can’t forget them.

This week! Excellent talks, symposia, and poster presentations - 100% virtual and free #SRS25

Columbia Canceled My Course on Race and Media. I'm Going to Teach It Anyway. This is not a time for media literacy or historical knowledge to be held hostage by institutions bending the knee to authoritarianism.

Latest podcast is out: Get in everyone, we are going to Resistance Summer School!

Thank you to everyone who indicated they would like to take my course on Race, Media and International Affairs 101.

Please fill out this quick interest form to begin to sign up!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...