Some professional news: I'm permanently joining NPR's Science Desk! (My last gig was temporary). I'm covering global health, with a special focus on what comes next after the US withdrawal from foreign aid, as well as environmental determinants of health. Reach out with tips!

🆕 If you want to understand the reality of #Ebola and what it is like to care for patients, listen to this @NPR story. It highlights my perspective and those of colleagues who worked on the frontlines of Ebola outbreaks, caring for patients. It illustrates an important lesson: survival is often determined not just by the virus itself, but by access to timely, high-quality supportive care. 🎧 Listen here: npr.org/2026/05/29/nx-s1-583…

I traveled with @ArletteBashizi to Mongbwalu, the gold mining town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak that is sweeping northeastern Congo. This is what we found. nytimes.com/2026/05/30/world…

Today is a really hard day here at NPR. We're losing some good people, including people I'm very close to. The reasons for the layoffs are complicated. We lost a lot of federal money, gained a lot of donations, but NPR isn’t sure how sustainable those donations will be.

The U.S. invested billions in trying to detect and respond to outbreaks, like Ebola, fast. Aid cuts dismantled that architecture. "Outbreaks are always going to occur ... it's more the fact that it circulated for so long, that part is related to cuts." npr.org/2026/05/21/nx-s1-582…

Aid cuts likely added to delays in detecting this Ebola outbreak. "Outbreaks are always going to occur, but it's more the fact that it circulated for so long, this thing is much bigger than we've realized. That part is related to cuts" npr.org/2026/05/21/nx-s1-582…

This Ebola outbreak caught public health officials off guard. Part of that is the rare species of Ebola. But aid cuts likely didn't help. "At every level, international response capacity has been badly undermined by funding cuts," says @JeremyKonyndyk npr.org/2026/05/18/g-s1-1226…

#WHO said today the suspected #Ebola #Bundibugyo case in Kinshasa tested negative on confirmatory testing. A tiny bit of good news in a very bad news situation. statnews.com/2026/05/17/who-…

"Congress appropriated these funds. The money exists. The State Department is simply not transferring enough of it to CDC to keep these programs running... that's a controlled demolition." npr.org/2026/04/04/nx-s1-576…

I had the privilege of being edited by Lauren at both Nature and Grid. I’ve never worked with an editor as adept across science, policy and politics as she is — and she’s a joy to work with! Just gutting news, any publication would be lucky to have her.

I’m too heartbroken over impending Washington Post layoffs to bother arguing why a region of 6 million needs a metro staff, let alone its foreign coverage and its elite sports department. But for those asking if there’s something to do, here you go: actionnetwork.org/letters/sa…

What if Democracy dies in indifference? Deep cuts at behest of Bezos. Exec Editor Matt Murray announces: Sports desk killed. Metro desk down to about a dozen (previously 40 ) Hope to keep presence in 12 foreign bureaus (currently 70 staffers) My story: npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-569…

"We have a newspaper that's printed once a week, so without the radio station, we're kind of in the blind here, locally." NPR's Frank Langfitt's richly observed story on Allegheny Mountain Radio - which relies heavily on federal $. (Not an NPR station) npr.org/2025/07/20/nx-s1-546…

NPR's internship program is coming back! Apply by June 30 to work with the Science Desk and Short Wave this fall/winter. I was an intern in 2019, and it set me on the path towards coming back for a staff job! job-boards.greenhouse.io/nat…

Last week, Marco Rubio said no one has died from USAID cuts and "No children are dying on my watch." This mother begs to differ, and researchers suspect there are tens to hundreds of thousands more stories like hers. npr.org/sections/goats-and-s…

NEW: NSF is REINSTATING the 86 probationary staff who were terminated last month, in response to Friday's Federal court order. The 84 "intermittent experts" who were fired are still fired.

Know any kids in your life who want to be a doctor or scientist, with ambitions to cure cancer or find a cure for Alzheimer's that's afflicting a loved grandparent? No exaggeration, what's happening right now means that many, many, many fewer of them will have an opportunity for a summer internship at a hospital or university, be able to do research as a college student, get accepted into a masters program or PhD program. Pitt made the news, but this is already happening everywhere, and it's not just PhD students. Bright, young researchers being laid off, or having job or internship offers rescinded, job postings being pulled... There's a reason this country has been in the lead for so long in biomedical sciences - we train our best and brightest who then go on to do what they dreamed of - finding cures, developing new medicines, inventing new technology to make lives better - all the while boosting the local and national economy. The gutting of NIH will impact everyone in this country, at all income levels, in red/blue states, in all types of jobs - scientists and janitors, food prep workers and lab techs, bus drivers and high school interns.