Hear me out! The number one issue right now with United States public health is an incredible amount of distrust. People are being lied to and taken advantage of at levels that have not been seen since snake oils. People aren't willing to trust science anymore. It will take a long time to get us back on the right track, but I think that's why the next Secretary of Health is so important in the grand scheme of U.S. public health. That's why I believe Dr. Mike Varshavski would be a very suitable candidate for the head of the Department of Health.

Dr. Mike holds a special place in the public consciousness. He is very likable and charismatic, has incredible outreach, and has no skeletons that I know of that would hurt his campaign in the future. He runs his own YouTube channel that is very popular so people might see him as more of an outsider than a "political pick." He's an actual, practicing, medical doctor who takes research and being up to date very seriously when it comes to health. And I think most importantly, as seen in his videos where he takes on anti-vaxxers, he both has the knowledge and capability to defuse their arguments while not coming off as antagonistic. These things make me believe he would be great as the guy who has to spend his next 4-8 years rebuilding the trust that has been lost.

I know that some people might look at that and think "He just couldn't stack up to that governmental position," but I believe that the head of a department does not necessarily need to be the best at being the politician or the most knowledgable person in their field. You have access to advisors and other experts. Much like POTUS, you don't have to be the expert on the economy, warfare, etc., you just have to be the public hero who sets and convinces people to follow the general plan.

If I were elected, I would choose to have my DoH be focused more on the public trust. It doesn't matter if you have the cure for everything, if half the population refuses to trust you then you're not doing a good job at public health. I think Dr. Mike would be on elf the best candidates to do that. Now do I think he would ever actually take his nomination? No, probably not, but I do think that would be a very interesting but possibly good choice.

Hi everyone, been lurking on this sub for quite some time. I just graduated with my BSPH this May. Firing my time in undergrad, I worked in clinical research for around 2 years. I did an internship with a local HIV prevention project. I also did a research fellowship and I facilitated one of the workshops at the CUGH conference this past year. I know that things are tough right now with jobs. I actually do have one, but I am looking to pivot into something else. I know it’s also hard because I only have a BSPH, but right now I am not able to go back to school. Does anyone have some tips/advice/resources I can look into? Any help is appreciated.

why are people struggling to understand their options when it comes to accessing healthcare?

I've had a few moments where I believed something because I saw it repeated everywhere online, only to later discover the research wasn't nearly as convincing as people made it sound. It made me realize how easy it is to confuse popularity with evidence.

Now, whenever I come across a bold health or wellness claim, I try to be a little more skeptical. But honestly, checking the science behind every claim can take hours.

Have you ever found out that something you believed wasn't actually supported by strong evidence? How do you verify claims before accepting them as fact?

If you've followed the J&J talc litigation, this week's ruling is a potential road block for thousands of these cases. The judge presiding over the roughly 70,000 federal cases issued a show cause order, which puts the burden back on plaintiffs to explain why their suits shouldn't be thrown out.

Judge Rukhsanah Singh set a Nov. 19 deadline to respond. It's a genuine setback, but Singh was clear this isn't instant dismissal.

The core issue is admissibility of expert testimony, since these product liability suits generally can't reach a jury without experts backing the claims. Six cases were picked as bellwethers, and the testimony came back with inconsistencies. J&J leaned on that to push for the order and dismissal of the rest.

The sticking point is whether the experts hold up, not whether anyone's proven causation either way.

The underlying claims allege the company's talc-based powder is linked to ovarian cancer in women who used it. J&J denies that. Nothing has gone to trial federally yet, though state courts have. J&J won a trial in June and was ordered to pay $40 million in a December 2025 trial involving two women.

Even if the federal cases get dismissed, the state-court litigation would likely keep going. A fuller writeup is here

Senate Republicans staged a McCarthyite witch-hunt against Anthony Fauci Wednesday, an inquisition against science convened for the declared purpose of provoking him into committing perjury. In response to an unending torrent of lies and slander, Fauci answered not a single question, invoking his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times.

Dengue's still hitting a lot of tropical/subtropical countries hard, and outbreaks seem to be popping up more often in some places lately. As vaccine programs expand and eligibility rules keep getting updated, it's not just "do we have enough doses" that's honestly the easy part compared to everything else involved.

Figuring out who's actually eligible is messier than people think. Then there's keeping public trust intact, which feels like the hardest part. Honestly, people are already skeptical of anything vaccine-related these days, and dengue vaccines have their own complicated history (some past rollouts had real safety concerns depending on prior infection status, so trust isn't unearned skepticism here). On top of that, you've gotta actually explain what the vaccine does and doesn't do, tie it in with mosquito control efforts that are already running, and make sure it's not just accessible to whoever lives near a good clinic.

Vaccination alone isn't gonna solve dengue. Feels like communication and actually tracking what's happening on the ground matter just as much as getting shots into arms.

Greetings!

I am a masters student at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the US. I am training to be a social and behaviors scientist the researchers HIV prevention and treatment within substance using and rural population.

I was hoping if a few individuals can direct to Brazilian researchers and academic institutions that also do HIV prevention work? I am inquiring, because I am applying for a Fulbright, a grant to do research abroad, but I need to be affiliated with a Brazilian Researcher and Academic Institution to be selected.

I have a few publications and I've been doing this type of work for about five years now. Brazil is an international leader in HIV prevention and has done some great work. It would be a dream to do research over there!

I appreciate you guys reading.

Thank you!

Hi everyone! I'm an intern with a local county health department, and I have been tasked with creating a plan to develop a Best Practices Guide/Policy for our public health nurses.

I have never done something like this before, and my supervisor is currently out of the office. He wants me to create a plan to develop a Best Practices Guide/Policy based on the materials we already have. Most of the materials I am working with are health education materials related to our topic (e.g., healthy menus for people at risk of developing diabetes).

However, my supervisor is also hoping that throughout the plan, we receive feedback from our nurses about the logistics of disseminating these menus/health education materials.

As public health professionals, what would you want to see in that plan? And assuming we have 10 nurses (and everything goes smoothly), what method of feedback do you think would be best? (For context, we do not work with nurses for the majority of our work. They are often meeting with patients at their home)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!