Tonight, a rethink on ovarian cancer detection, pregnant women in ICE custody arriving in emergency condition, and a new woman leading one of the country’s most powerful cardiology groups.
EARLY OVARIAN CANCER DIAGNOSIS HELPS // Earlier data suggested catching ovarian cancer sooner didn’t improve survival, which cut interest in better diagnostics. But a JAMA Network Open study finds a “wait time paradox”: the sickest patients are diagnosed fastest and die sooner, which can make early detection look ineffective—unless you account for how advanced the disease was at diagnosis. And once you do, researchers found earlier detection does matter for survival.
BAN STATES ARE ALSO FAILING PREGNANT WOMEN IN ICE CUSTODY // The Department of Homeland Security detained and deported 363 pregnant, postpartum, and/or nursing immigrants between January 2025 and February 2026, including 16 women who had miscarriages. According to the researchers, one woman bled for days inside a facility with no treatment; another was deported with an untreated missed miscarriage and required immediate hospitalization upon arrival. The 19th covers the full report.
WOMAN LEADING TOP CARDIOLOGY GROUP// Dr. Roxana Mehran was named President of the American College of Cardiology this week, making her one of the few women to lead the organization in its 75-year history. Mehran also leads the Lancet Commission on Women's Cardiovascular Diseases, and founded a nonprofit dedicated to advancing women in medicine. The ACC has nearly 60,000 members and sets cardiology standards nationwide. TLDR: the person now steering that ship has spent her career documenting the ways those standards have failed women — and heart disease is the number one cause of death for women.
OP-ED: THE PERIMENOPAUSE INDUSTRY IS MEDICALIZING NORMAL AGING // Patricia Bencivenga and Adriane Fugh-Berman at Georgetown University’s “PharmedOut” project argue in STAT News that blaming perimenopause is the same old story of women being ruled by their hormones — now with merchandise. As they write: “If we accept the laundry list of 100 symptoms attributed to perimenopause, and that this phase begins sometime in our 30s and lasts until menopause at the average age of 52, then we accept the idea that women are the helpless victims of erratic, all-powerful hormones for most or all of our adult lives. This narrative certainly helps the bottom line of hormone and supplement manufacturers, compounders, and distributors...” (PharmedOut aims to educate health care professionals about “pharmaceutical and medical device marketing practices.”)
RENTERS LEAVING ABORTION BAN STATES? // An NBER working paper shows lower rents and higher vacancies in states that banned abortions after the Supreme Court ended Roe vs. Wade, compared to those states that did not. That movement can signal people leaving or not moving in. The authors tried to control for new construction by looking at permit data. The study was adapted from a Center for Reproductive Rights paper.