‘Expertise Is the Last Thing He Wants on That Committee’: What We Heard This Week

: They scour the most important new findings across the journals, curating and distilling the new information for the benefit of our readers. Our writers also attend roughly 75 medical conferences a year in the U.S. and abroad to bring you the most relevant meeting coverage across all the major specialties. “,”affiliation”:””,”credential”:””,”url_identifier”:”mt9773″,”avatar_url”:””,”avatar_alt_text”:”MedPage Today Staff”,”twitter”:””,”links”:{“signal”:””,”bluesky”:””,”website”:””,”linkedin”:””,”muckrack”:””},”has_author_page”:1,”byline”:null,”full_name”:”MedPage Today Staff”,”title”:””,”url”:”https:\/\/www.medpagetoday.com\/people\/mt9773\/medpage-today staff”,”bluesky”:””}]”/>

“Expertise is the last thing he wants on that committee.” — Paul Offit, MD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plans for the CDC’s influential vaccine panel.

“We cannot silo abortion care from pregnancy care.” — Maria Rodriguez, MD, MPH, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, discussing research linking state abortion bans to a decline in evidence-based miscarriage management.

“More pelvic dissection is not free — at all.” — Alexander Kutikov, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, commenting on studies showing no survival benefit from highly extensive lymph node assessment.

“Some people are very high-functioning. …They’re holding it down, but yet they harbor these horrible feelings about suicide.” — Jason Tucciarone, MD, PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine in California, reframing the conversation around suicide awareness while discussing a clinical trial that combined buprenorphine and ketamine for anti-suicidal effects.

“I have never, in my 30-plus years of practice, said to a patient that they have treatment-resistant depression.” — Mark Zimmerman, MD, of South County Psychiatry in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, on shifting clinical nomenclature to “difficult-to-treat” depression.

“This is an evolving situation.” — Satish Pillai, MD, of the CDC, after the agency placed a 30-day moratorium on individuals entering the U.S. from Ebola-affected African nations.

“Medicare Advantage is not just a niche alternative anymore.” — Brian Outland, PhD, director of regulatory affairs at American College of Physicians, warning of the risks associated with Medicare Advantage plans and calling for urgent policy reform.

“They may function as an aid or as a disease-modifying metabolic therapy.” — Andrés Heriberto Guillén-Lozoya, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on data showing an increase in testosterone levels among men treated with GLP-1 drugs.