‘I don't know her': Trump says he ‘listened' to RFK Jr before nominating Dr. Casey Means
Donald Trump has claimed that he does not know his US surgeon general pick, Dr. Casey Means. The president named the 37-year-old after withdrawing his original nomination for Dr. Janette Nesheiwat. In his announcement post on Truth Social, the president said that his new pick has 'impeccable 'MAHA' credentials.' But on Thursday, when asked about why he replaced his original nominee, the commander-in-chief said he relied on Robert F. Kennedy Jr's recommendation.
'Because Bobby thought she was fantastic, brilliant woman who went through Stanford — wanted to be academic instead of physician,' Trump said of Means, according to Fox News. 'I don't know her, I listened to Bobby. I think she'll be great,' he added.
Trump's remark comes as Means continues to face pushback as the surgeon general pick. Her inactive medical license has raised several eyebrows, indicating that it could be an issue during her confirmation hearing, NPR reported.
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Amid the growing outrage, Kennedy issued a lengthy statement on X, defending Means. 'The absurd attacks on Casey Means reveal just how far off course our healthcare conversations have veered,' he wrote before highlighting her achievements.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services noted that Means 'has excelled in every endeavor she has undertaken. She was President of her Stanford undergrad class, was a standout at Stanford Medical School, and was a top performer in surgical residency.'
Meanwhile, Trump said in his announcement post that Means 'will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans.'
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First Post
8 hours ago
- First Post
Federal judge strikes down Trump's anti-diversity and anti-transgender grants
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said Monday that the federal government cannot force recipients to halt programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or acknowledge the existence of transgender people in order to receive grant funding read more A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders in grant funding requirements that LGBTQ+ organizations say are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said Monday that the federal government cannot force recipients to halt programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or acknowledge the existence of transgender people in order to receive grant funding. The order will remain in effect while the legal case continues, although government lawyers will likely appeal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The funding provisions 'reflect an effort to censor constitutionally protected speech and services promoting DEI and recognizing the existence of transgender individuals,' Tigar wrote. He went on to say that the executive branch must still be bound by the Constitution in shaping its agenda and that even in the context of federal subsidies, 'it cannot weaponize Congressionally appropriated funds to single out protected communities for disfavored treatment or suppress ideas that it does not like or has deemed dangerous.' More from World Mpox epidemic remains international health emergency warns WHO The plaintiffs include health centers, LGBTQ+ services groups and the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society. All receive federal funding and say they cannot complete their missions by following the president's executive orders. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the plaintiffs, said in 2023 it received a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand and enhance sexual health services, including the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. The $1.3 million project specifically targets communities disproportionately affected by sexual health disparities. But in April, the CDC informed the nonprofit that it must 'immediately terminate all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts' that promote DEI or gender ideology. President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders since taking office in January, including ones to roll back transgender protections and stop DEI programs. Lawyers for the government say that the president is permitted to 'align government funding and enforcement strategies' with his policies. Plaintiffs say that Congress — and not the president — has the power to condition how federal funds are used, and that the executive orders restrict free speech rights.
Time of India
14 hours ago
- Time of India
NIH scientists go public to criticize Trump's deep cuts in public health research
Cardboard tombstones symbolizing canceled research grants at the NIH Visitors Center in Bethesda (AP) WASHINGTON: In his confirmation hearings to lead the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya pledged his openness to views that might conflict with his own. "Dissent, he said, "is the very essence of science. " That commitment is being put to the test. On Monday, scores of scientists at the agency sent their Trump-appointed leader a letter titled the Bethesda Declaration, a frontal challenge to "policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe." It says: "We dissent." In a capital where insiders often insist on anonymity to say such things publicly, more than 90 NIH researchers, program directors, branch chiefs and scientific review officers put their signatures on the letter - and their careers on the line. Confronting a 'culture of fear' They went public in the face of a "culture of fear and suppression" they say President Donald Trump 's administration has spread through the federal civil service. "We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources," the declaration says. Named for the agency's headquarters location in Maryland, the Bethesda Declaration details upheaval in the world's premier public health research institution over the course of mere months. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo It addresses the abrupt termination of 2,100 research grants valued at more than $12 billion and some of the human costs that have resulted, such as cutting off medication regimens to participants in clinical trials or leaving them with unmonitored device implants. In one case, an NIH-supported study of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis in Haiti had to be stopped, ceasing antibiotic treatment mid-course for patients. In a number of cases, trials that were mostly completed were rendered useless without the money to finish and analyze the work, the letter says. "Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million," it says, "it wastes $4 million." The mask comes off The four-page letter, addressed to Bhattacharya but also sent to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and members of Congress who oversee the NIH, was endorsed by 250 anonymous employees of the agency besides the 92 who signed. Jenna Norton, who oversees health disparity research at the agency's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, recently appeared at a forum by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., to talk about what's happening at the NIH. At the event, she masked to conceal her identity. Now the mask is off. She was a lead organizer of the declaration. "I want people to know how bad things are at NIH," Norton told The Associated Press. The signers said they modeled their indictment after Bhattacharya's own Great Barrington Declaration of October 2020, when he was a professor at Stanford University Medical School. His declaration drew together likeminded infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists who dissented from what they saw as excessive COVID-19 lockdown policies and felt ostracized by the larger public health community that pushed those policies, including the NIH. "He is proud of his statement, and we are proud of ours," said Sarah Kobrin, a branch chief at the NIH's National Cancer Institute who signed the Bethesda Declaration. Cancer research is sidelined As chief of the Health Systems and Interventions Research Branch, Kobrin provides scientific oversight of researchers across the country who've been funded by the cancer institute or want to be. But sudden cuts in personnel and money have shifted her work from improving cancer care research to what she sees as minimizing its destruction. "So much of it is gone - my work," she said. The 21-year NIH veteran said she signed because "I don't want to be a collaborator" in the political manipulation of biomedical science. Ian Morgan, a postdoctoral fellow with the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, also signed the declaration. "We have a saying in basic science," he said. "You go and become a physician if you want to treat thousands of patients. You go and become a researcher if you want to save billions of patients. "We are doing the research that is going to go and create the cures of the future," he added. But that won't happen, he said, if Trump's Republican administration prevails with its searing cuts to grants. The NIH employees interviewed by the AP emphasized they were speaking for themselves and not for their institutes or the NIH. Dissenters range across the breadth of NIH Employees from all 27 NIH institutes and centers gave their support to the declaration. Most who signed are intimately involved with evaluating and overseeing extramural research grants. The letter asserts that "NIH trials are being halted without regard to participant safety" and that the agency is shirking commitments to trial participants who "braved personal risk to give the incredible gift of biological samples, understanding that their generosity would fuel scientific discovery and improve health." The Trump administration has gone at public health research on several fronts, both directly, as part of its broad effort to root out diversity, equity and inclusion values throughout the bureaucracy, and as part of its drive to starve some universities of federal money. A blunt ax swings This has forced "indiscriminate grant terminations, payment freezes for ongoing research, and blanket holds on awards regardless of the quality, progress, or impact of the science," the declaration says. Some NIH employees have previously come forward in televised protests to air grievances, and many walked out of Bhattacharya's town hall with staff. The declaration is the first cohesive effort to register agency-wide dismay with the NIH's direction. A Signal group became the place for participants to sort through NIH chatter on Reddit, discern rumor from reality and offer mutual support. The declaration took shape in that group and as word spread neighbor to neighbor in NIH offices. The dissenters remind Bhattacharya in their letter of his oft-stated ethic that academic freedom must be a lynchpin in science. With that in place, he said in a statement in April, "NIH scientists can be certain they are afforded the ability to engage in open, academic discourse as part of their official duties and in their personal capacities without risk of official interference, professional disadvantage or workplace retaliation." Now it will be seen whether that's enough to protect those NIH employees challenging the Trump administration and him. "There's a book I read to my kids, and it talks about how you can't be brave if you're not scared," said Norton, who has three young children. "I am so scared about doing this, but I am trying to be brave for my kids because it's only going to get harder to speak up. "Maybe I'm putting my kids at risk by doing this," she added. "And I'm doing it anyway because I couldn't live with myself otherwise."
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
Gastroenterologist says ‘more fibre means better weight control'; shares best supplement for irritable bowel syndrome
Dr Saurabh Sethi, a California-based gastroenterologist trained at AIIMS, Harvard, and Stanford Universities, often shares health and nutritional tips on Instagram that people who suffer from gut or liver issues or those who want to strengthen their gut microbiome should follow. Also Read | AIIMS, Harvard gastroenterologist ranks 6 common foods for gut health: Fermented foods score highest In a video shared on June 4, Dr Sethi talked about the 6 things about gut health that he wishes 'more people knew'. He posted educational inputs on fibre, how it benefits our body and can also create problems, what is the best supplement for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and more. Here are the 6 tips he shared: A post shared by Saurabh Sethi (@ 1. Vegetables often have less fibre than fruits, nuts, beans, and seeds. 2. About 90 percent of Americans are fibre-deficient. This trend of insufficient fibre intake is common worldwide. 3. More fibre = better weight control, cholesterol, reflux, and gut health. 4. Soluble fibre helps calm diarrhoea; insoluble fibre helps with constipation. 5. Add fibre slowly - some gas and bloating at first is totally normal. Your gut bugs are just adjusting. 6. Psyllium is the best-studied fibre supplement, especially helpful for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Also Read | How to protect gut and liver health in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s? Gastroenterologist shares tips The question now arises, why is fibre considered an important supplement for our gut health? According to the Mayo Clinic, dietary fibre increases the weight and size of stool and softens it. In general, bulky stool is easier to pass, and this lowers the chance of constipation. If you have loose, watery stools, fibre may help make them solid. That's because fibre absorbs water and adds bulk to stool. Additionally, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), dietary fibre is fermented by the human gut microbiota, producing beneficial microbial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids. Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
