Physicians with the Committee to Protect Health Care descended on Washington to fight Dr. Heidi Overton’s nomination to lead the FDA, and by most accounts it was a bad day for her. Miles Baker and Dr. Rob Davidson break down why the fight is far from over and how medical professionals can still sign the letter opposing her.
They also cover the week’s other developments: the White House dropping a planned order that would have put political appointees in charge of NIH grants, the new chair of the federal autism coordinating committee who co-founded a company selling leucovorin to families of autistic children, and reports that RFK Jr. pulled $12 million from the Office of Minority Health to cover his security costs. The CDC has also finally acknowledged measles deaths in Pennsylvania, where babies are now being born infected.
In the second half of the show, Politico healthcare reporter Carmen Paun joins us with an on-the-ground account of the MAHA conference in Washington, D.C. The conference, sponsored by UnitedHealth Group, came just as a group of MAHA leaders sent an open letter to Trump and RFK Jr. threatening to withdraw their support over the administration’s failure to remove the mRNA platform. It seems that the event was not very well attended, which raises the question of whether MAHA is fracturing, morphing into a corporate project, or both.
LINKS
Learn about what you can do to fight the nomination of anti-abortion, anti-vaxx zealot Heidi Overton in the Committee’s Medical Professional Toolkit HERE.
The New York Times: White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants
POLITICO: Trump asked budget chief to draft order bringing health research funding under his control
Susan Collins’ letter to Kennedy and Bhattacharya
POLITICO: Collins: White House drops effort to politicize health research grants
MedPage Today: New Autism Committee Chair Founded a Leucovorin Telehealth Company
The Washington Sun: HHS Cancels Infant Mortality, Postpartum Grants to Focus on Sperm Counts, ED
POLITICO Pro: HHS is killing offices devoted to improving minority health and tackling HIV
The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office
Joint Statement from the Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus
The Hill: Pennsylvania surpasses 900 measles cases
NBC News: America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth.
Americans for Health Freedom: Open Letter Regarding the Removal of the mRNA Platform
Carmen Paun’s bio at POLITICO
Carmen Paun on X
POLITICO: Vance, RFK Jr. and ‘Iron’ Mike to headline MAHA Summit
The Washington Sun: A Biological Age Test and Russell Brand: How Trump Officials Spent a Day With MAHA
The Hill: 4 takeaways from the MAHA Summit
The New York Times: A.I. Is ‘Better Informed’ Than Doctors, Kennedy Tells Industry-Backed MAHA Summit
Food writer Helena Bottemiller Evich’s tweet
POLITICO: A cure for ‘medical tyranny’: RFK Jr. puts a positive spin on AI
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