Opinion: Preparing schools for the H5N1 bird flu they’re likely to face
As Covid-19 swept across the United States, schools were among the most highly affected public…
Category: First Opinion
Opinion: Doctors ‘overprescribing’ opioids isn’t the cause of the overdose epidemic — and it never was
A key part of the federal government’s narrative about the epidemic of addiction and overdose…
Opinion: Expand community-based research to make clinical trials more diverse
Innovations in clinical trial designs and tools have the potential to unlock a new era…
Opinion: Listen: Anthony Fauci on presidents, bird flu, and turning down a multimillion-dollar job
Anthony Fauci can’t pinpoint the most meaningful dinner he’s ever had — every time you…
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Opinion: Everyone deserves addiction treatment that works — including those in jail
The overdose crisis is claiming lives across the United States, but it reaches new depths…
Opinion: STAT+: Private equity and neuroscience: a novel approach to developing new treatments for neurological disorders
Neurological diseases are now the leading cause of poor health and disability worldwide. An estimated…
Opinion: EcoHealth Alliance: Covid’s anti-science mob extracting its pound of flesh
Imagine this post-9/11 scenario: A New York City fire company is forced to shut down…
Opinion: The ethical implications of Elon Musk’s unorthodox approach to medical science
Medical milestones broadcast via tweet. Scientific progress revealed via live YouTube demo. Teasers for updates…
Opinion: First Opinion readers respond to psychiatry and social contracts, Medicare and weight loss meds, and more
First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and maybe even provocative articles about the…
Opinion: My stalled relay race to get access to ALS drugs in development
One night in November 2018, I fell while crossing a street in Subic Bay, a…
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Opinion: President Biden must take a cognitive screening test. Voters deserve to know the results
In the aftermath of President Biden’s debate with former President Trump last week, many of…
Opinion: Listen: Why is eugenics still alive and well in scientific publishing?
While the bogus science of eugenics — the idea that the human race can be…
Opinion: Can the National Institutes of Health navigate multiple storms and rebuild its bipartisan support?
Few federal agencies have enjoyed a more sterling reputation on Capitol Hill over the past…
Opinion: Senate, FTC cracking down on pharma patent shenanigans
Why do Americans pay so much more for common medications than people in other countries?…
Opinion: The rare pediatric disease voucher program creates new treatments. I have new data to prove it
The Food and Drug Administration’s rare pediatric disease priority review voucher program, which has been…
Opinion: Psychiatrists aren’t fulfilling the social contract that subsidized their training
There has been much handwringing about how difficult it is for Americans with mental health…
Opinion: Medicare should wait on approving coverage for new obesity drugs
My dad, Randy, a 72-year-old retired sales manager, started to gain weight after grad school,…
Opinion: Congress called for an ALS moonshot. The plan for it doesn’t leave Earth
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently released a congressionally mandated report on…
Opinion: What readers have to say about long Covid, FDA and diversity, and more
First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and maybe even provocative articles about the…
Opinion: To secure the U.S.’s biotech supply chain, pay attention to domestic companies
Scientific breakthroughs will enable a future of personalized drug discovery, where precision medicine makes it…
Opinion: Medicare’s Part D policy is blocking progress needed to achieve Black health equity
A new and effective class of anti-obesity medicines, along with lifestyle interventions and sometimes bariatric…
Opinion: To get basic standard addiction treatment, Americans should move to Canada
As a Canadian-born physician who has treated people with opioid use disorder on both sides…
Opinion: Eating rocks: The case for early integration of medical ethics into AI product development
Google’s recent integration of Gemini, its state-of-the-art large language model, into its search engine marks…
Opinion: AI and rural health care: A paradigm shift in America’s heartland
The use of artificial intelligence is happening in “unlikely places.” So says a recent working…
Opinion: FDA: Don’t rush publishing your diversity guidance plan. Take your time and do it right
When Congress passed the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act (FDORA) in December 2022, it…
Opinion: Listen: Rep. Diana DeGette on why reproductive freedom must be protected
It has been two years since the Supreme Court made the historic decision to overturn…
Opinion: CNN debate moderators could provide the cognitive tests that Biden and Trump have been avoiding
The two primary contenders for the presidency of the United States — President Joe Biden…
Opinion: Tackling administrative harm can yield better decisions for better care
Awareness of the harms to patients caused by errors in diagnosis and treatment has been…
Opinion: Could billions of dollars in AI funding lead to the same number of new drugs?
Drug discovery has quickly become the most enticing place to apply artificial intelligence. Billions of…
Opinion: Turning a ‘no’ vote into progress: How to advance MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD
Many people have interpreted as a setback the “no” vote by an advisory committee to…
Opinion: Two years since Dobbs, reproductive freedom must be protected from assault
It’s been two years since America’s highest court removed a constitutional right — for the…
Opinion: To reduce suicide, primary care and mental health clinicians need to work together. Congress can help that happen
Suicide rates in the United States increased approximately 36% between 2000 and 2022, according to…
Opinion: The FDA needs to embrace phage therapy to help fight antimicrobial resistance
My daughter, Mallory, died in 2017 at the age of 25 from a multiply resistant…
Opinion: Readers respond to essays on long Covid, hypochondria, and more
First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and maybe even provocative articles about the…
Opinion: ‘Patients like mine’ technologies must rest on solid evidence
Vendors of electronic health records and other health technology platforms have begun to publicize and…
Opinion: Medical experts must step up if health justice is to enter the courtroom
Danyel Smith has served 21 years of a life sentence at Dooly Correctional Facility in…
Opinion: Getting ahead of a non-alcoholic beverage boom among youths
The non-alcoholic beverage market is booming right now: zero-proof bottle shops and bars are popping…
Opinion: Journals that published Richard Lynn’s racist ‘research’ articles should retract them
In 2012, the Elsevier journal Personality and Individual Differences published a special issue that included…
Opinion: Listen: Why Long Covid can feel scarier than a gun to the head
Millions of people around the world are living with long Covid, a medically perplexing, and…
Opinion: It’s been 60 years since Freedom Summer, yet the fight for affordable, compassionate, and equitable health care is still going on
Sixty years ago this month, a courageous initiative created by civil rights activists and physicians…
Opinion: With the threat of H5N1 bird flu, hospitals must stay prepared
A third case of mammal-to-human transmission of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus has…
Opinion: Why the FDA will have a hard time properly regulating cannabis
The Food and Drug Administration has done a generally exemplary job of executing its mandate…
Opinion: Long Covid feels like a gun to my head
I have spent my career studying infectious diseases that fall under the heading of neglected…
Opinion: I’m a hypochondriac. Here’s how the health care system needs to deal with people like me
A late-night Flomax commercial is sometimes all it takes for me to start spinning in…
Opinion: I’m a hypochondriac. Here’s how the health care system needs to deal with people like me
A late-night Flomax commercial is sometimes all it takes for me to start spinning in…
Opinion: Oversight of health AI must be democratic, not done by the big tech companies
AI development is at a flash point; developers from some of the largest, most successful…
Opinion: I cried tears of loss and rage at the World Hepatitis Summit
At this year’s World Hepatitis Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, the World Hepatitis Alliance presented me…
Opinion: Readers respond to a plea for rare disease progress, vaccine-related injury, and more
First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and maybe even provocative articles about the…
Opinion: NIH needs reform and restructuring, key Republican committee chairs say
While the best parts of biomedical innovation are represented by ringing the bell at a…
Opinion: Telling new stories can help people see the value of vaccines
Nearly nine in 10 Americans strongly believe in the overall value of childhood vaccines. Reflecting…