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EVERYTHING
Trump Picks Casey Means as New Surgeon General Nominee
What: President Trump withdrew his initial pick for surgeon general and announced Dr. Casey Means as his new nominee. Means is a skeptic of the US medical system who rose to fame via Tucker Carlson and other right-leaning podcasts. She believes "metabolic dysfunction" is a root cause of chronic disease.
Key Line: "Dr. Means, a wellness influencer who earned a medical degree from Stanford and frequently casts doubt on the American medical system, is the co-author of 'Good Energy,' a book about chronic illness."
Source: New York Times
Medical Research in UK Continues to Favor Men
What: The Guardian is out with an editorial calling the continued lack of research and clinical trials focused on women and female-specific illnesses shocking. A study from the University of Liverpool found there were 67% more clinical trials focused on men's health than women's health in the UK from 2019 to 2023.
Key Line: "This is all the more disappointing given recent progress in tackling women’s exclusion from health research. For decades, as Ms. Criado Perez and others have documented, many clinical trials were conducted on male subjects only. Researchers preferred to avoid what they saw as complications associated with the female reproductive system, especially pregnancy – although experts now regard concerns that women’s hormones might skew results as having been wrong."
Source: The Guardian
Clinics Facing Cost Hikes for Family Planning Services
What: The Trump administration has frozen tens of millions in Title X funding for clinics in several states, including Five Horizons Health Services in Mississippi. That means increased costs for services like birth control and STI testing, as a result, fewer people getting those services.
Key Line: "[Administrator Robin Boyles] said Delta Health Center staff always did everything they could to make sure patients could access whatever medication their provider prescribed – regardless of cost. ...But in the past week, a provider called her to ask if the clinic still had the funds to cover the birth control implant Nexplanon or an IUD for a patient. Without the Title X dollars to reimburse for the medicine, however, a patient without insurance would have been on the hook $540 for Nexplanon or $371 for a Mirena IUD – two of the most effective forms of contraception."
Source: Daily Journal
FERTILITY
Trump Dismisses Fertility Experts Despite Call for More Babies
What: Donald Trump called himself the "fertilization" president--but then let HHS Sec. Kennedy cut a key CDC research team looking to improve outcomes of in vitro fertilization. The New York Times digs into what that means for patients.
Key Line: "The scientists on the team, the National Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance System, were trying to solve a number of riddles surrounding I.V.F. Planned research included a study looking at the birthrates involving eggs and embryos that had been frozen and banked for several years. 'We don’t have great data on the success rates of egg freezing when women do it for their own personal use, just because it’s relatively new and difficult to track,' said Dr. Levine."
Source: New York Times
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Poll: Over Two-Thirds of Women Say Postpartum Care Is a Failure
What: The Harris Poll's third annual survey on maternal health found 77% of women said there wasn't enough focus on health care after pregnancy and birth, and 84% say the standard 6-week postpartum checkup falls short of what they need.
Key Line: "As a society, we must push for the implementation of enhanced postpartum healthcare protocols, including better mental health screenings, extended follow-up periods, and comprehensive mental health educational resources for both healthcare providers and mothers."
Source: The Harris Poll
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