Irene Blanco, MD

Irene Blanco, MD

@ireneblanco.bsky.social

Rheumatologist just trying to do a little bit of good.

1,565 Followers 785 Following 141 Posts Joined Nov 2024
11 months ago
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Immigrant women describe 'hell on earth' in ICE detention No shower for days, cameras trained on the toilet, women crammed into cells 'like sardines,' among the allegations.

"There was no access to a toilet, so guards told the women – whose accounts in some cases occurred on different days or different buses – to urinate or defecate on the floor... "

www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

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11 months ago

I'm so very sorry. This work sounds tremendous. I hope you can find someone to fund this critical project

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11 months ago

But when we get paid less we are told to be more assertive. Demand more...all the while knowing we will be punished for the self-advocacy

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11 months ago

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.

More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.

I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

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11 months ago

I'm jealous! We have been using obi off label for a while given even the nobility data! It's a great med. May potentially replace ritux for anca vasculitis

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11 months ago

Am all for cost-effective care. I have worked w mostly Medicaid and Medicare patients my entire career and have squeezed blood from a stone...but don't put this on doctors! We don't know how much things cost. We don't know what the hospital charges. We have no SW or admin support. JFC

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11 months ago
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I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky

"I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped"
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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11 months ago
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I had to compose myself before posting—because this breaks a part of my soul.

If you’re a contractor with a segregation policy, say it loud—so non-white dollars don’t fund your business. It won’t go how you think.

And if anyone uncovers businesses doing this, put them on blast.
#NAACP #BlackSky

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11 months ago

Baseball media: if you do not loudly report on this I do not want to hear a goddamn thing from you about Jackie Robinson on April 15.
bsky.app/profile/fbih...

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11 months ago

They have now been sent to a brutal third world torture prison having done nothing but seeking asylum in the United States. That's it.

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11 months ago
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Insulting.

Navajo Code Talkers were American heroes whose unbreakable code helped carry the U.S. to victory in WWII and saved countless lives.
www.axios.com/local/salt-l...

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11 months ago

US born citizen snatched by ICE and held for 10h without a warrant or explanation. Once ICE realized he was a US citizen they let him go with no explanation. If he didn't have his ID he potentially would be in El Salvador @govpritzker.illinois.gov @duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov

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11 months ago
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Brown University Professor and Doctor Are Deported to Lebanon Despite a Judge’s Order Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and Brown University professor who had a valid visa, was expelled in apparent defiance of a court order.

Valid visa and now gone. BTW, she was here to SAVE LIVES.

Doctor and Professor Is Deported to Lebanon Despite a Judge’s Order www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/u...

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1 year ago
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DOGE Staffer Broke Treasury Rules in Transmitting Personal Data (Bloomberg) -- A staffer for the Department of Government Efficiency violated Treasury Department policies when he sent a spreadsheet containing personal information to two other people in the Trump a...

This was the DOGE staffer who was previously fired for racist and nazi tweets but was brought back after JD Vance and Elon supported him.

www.yahoo.com/news/doge-st...

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1 year ago

Why elite institutions MUST speak out.

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1 year ago
Wikipedia image of Major General (Ret.) Charles C. Rogers Defense.gov google return: Medal of Honor Monday: Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers Defense.gov
404 - Page Not Found https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/deimedal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/

This is blood-boiling. Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position.

Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you'll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include "DEI medal."

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1 year ago

ASN should say something especially, like rheum, so much of our workforce depends on IMGs. Sending solidarity from a rheumatologist w lots of LN patients

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1 year ago
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British pharma company GSK pauses diversity work citing Trump orders London-based FTSE 100 firm reviewing its policies, saying it is obliged to comply because US is its No 1 market

All lupus patients should push back on GSK stopping diversity efforts. Bad enough that they didn't include enough Black patients in the Benlysta clinical trial that they had to do another one. Diversity in trial participants and scientists produces better science
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

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1 year ago

I don't think so

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1 year ago
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A Fulbright scholar flees the county after ICE came looking for her - per NYT her social media activity was liking pro-Palestine posts.

We are in deep, folks.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/n...

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1 year ago
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Brown Medicine doctor deported despite federal court order. What we know. A court order that would have delayed the deportation of Dr. Rasha Alawieh was issued while her plane was on the runway, but it took off anyway.

This transplant nephrologist at Brown has been deported after she went home for 2 weeks to see family for the first time since 2015. Detained at Logan & then flown to Paris despite an order she should stay in MA, she’s been sitting in a Paris detention center for a wk.

www.yahoo.com/news/brown-m...

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1 year ago

I know it's terrifying.

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1 year ago
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Brown University professor held by customs officials at airport after travel to Lebanon Serving the Brown community since 1891

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a nephrologist at Brown, was DEPORTED despite having a valid H1B visa. Tell me again how we are just "deporting criminals"?? There is a workforce shortage of physicians!!!

www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025...

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1 year ago
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The Office That Investigates Disparities in Veterans’ Care Is Being “Liquidated” The closure effectively hobbles the VA’s efforts to investigate and eliminate long-standing racial inequities that the department itself has acknowledged. “The consequences will be dire,…

The Trump administration has shut down the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Office of Equity Assurance, effectively hobbling internal VA efforts to investigate and eliminate long-standing racial inequities the department itself has acknowledged.

By @vernalcoleman.bsky.social

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1 year ago
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Green card holder from New Hampshire 'interrogated' at Logan Airport, detained Fabian Schmidt’s family said they are unsure of why he is being held. They said he has a recently renewed green card, and no active issues in court.

For those that want the full article

www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025...

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1 year ago
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West Ada teacher stands firm after she’s told to remove ‘Everyone is welcome here’ signs Sarah Inama said she was told by administrators that her signs “don’t allow people to express differing opinions.”

A teacher in Idaho has been told to remove posters reading "Everyone is welcome here" - specifically because it features different skin tones. As I wrote last week, this is a global political movement that has explicitly set the goal of eradicating the very concept of equality.

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1 year ago
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Green card holder from New Hampshire 'interrogated' at Logan Airport, detained Fabian Schmidt’s family said they are unsure of why he is being held. They said he has a recently renewed green card, and no active issues in court.

This man has a green card. Has no warrants or legal issues. Was held at Logan, stripped naked and reportedly violently interrogated. Logan is where the h1b nephrologist is being held as well after coming back from seeing family. WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BOSTON?

www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025...

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1 year ago
Rep. Jasmine Crockett Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Gov. JB Pritzker Gov. Tim Walz

these are our party leaders now, ignore all other opinions

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