‘The Situation Is Alarming’: What We Heard This Week

“The situation is alarming.” — Robert Lawrence, MD, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, warning that HHS could eliminate or delegitimize the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

“You need a voice that is just raising hell continuously.” — Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, urging physicians to better advocate on the Hill for policy priorities like payment reform.

“I’m genuinely curious about the human sitting across from me, even if we vehemently disagree with one another.” — Mike Varshavski, DO, challenging HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to debate on his podcast in exchange for a $100,000 charity donation.

“Already, we have more than half the number of cases seen in all of 2025.” — Martha Edwards, MD, president of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, sounding the alarm about the number of measles cases 2 months into 2026.

“Consumers can end up misinterpreting or over-trusting results that aren’t very reliable.” — Diane Hoffmann, MS, JD, of the University of Maryland in Baltimore, critiquing inconsistent results produced by direct-to-consumer gut microbiome tests.

“There is not just one right approach.” — Kjetil Bjornevik, MD, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, discussing research that linked six healthy diet patterns with a lower risk of subjective cognitive decline.

“Prescribing is really a two-way interaction with patients.” — Joseph Goldberg, MD, MSc, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, explaining new guidance on when and how to deprescribe psychotropic medications.

“The problem is some of these effects can be brushed off.” — Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, discussing actor Eric Dane’s death and how early amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) symptoms can be easily overlooked.