britshmit.bsky.social
Epidemiologist 📊 • Associate Prof at Harvard Med School & School of Public Health • Founding Director LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence • Views=own• Mom of 3 kiddos • she/her + 🏳️🌈
186 posts
6,513 followers
254 following
Regular Contributor
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My @bostonglobe.com quotes 💔
"The scale of what happened is incomprehensible—a bloodbath for research and the wider community.
Entire labs are unraveling, and young scientists on training grants may be suddenly adrift. Work that could change lives—or save them—is being brought to a standstill.” 🔬
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13/ If you care about truth 💡 health 🩺 & democracy 🗳️ — fight with us ✊
We need a tidal wave 🌊
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12/ That’s why I ran for local office 🗳️ — and won 🏆
We need scientists everywhere:
🔬 In labs
📚 On school boards
⚖️ In courtrooms
Not just resisting — leading 🚀
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11/ Philanthropy 💸 must step up
Congress 🏛️ must act
And the public 👥 must understand: this isn’t niche
The research you rely on — cancer 🧬, HIV 🦠, vaccines 💉, mental health 🧠 — is next 🔥
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10/ I’m proud to be a Harvard faculty member 🎓 — & proud Harvard is also suing to defend academic freedom 📢🧠.
More universities 🏛️ & institutions must join now
This is DEFCON 1 🚨
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9/ I’ve faced hate mail 💌 Disturbing threats 🚫
I've increased security around my office & family 🛑🏠.
But the greater danger is silence 😶
We either defend science now — or we watch it vanish 🫥
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8/ I’m not alone ✊
Leading researchers, the American Public Health Association 🏥 & others joined our suit — to stop unlawful grant terminations & protect science 🔬📚
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7/ This is not just about me
It’s about whether truth 🧬 will survive in a democracy 🗳️ — or if science will be rewritten by ideology 📉
That’s why I'm filing a federal lawsuit ⚖️ against RFK Jr. & the NIH
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6/ One canceled study found lesbians are 3x as likely to experience stillbirth 🫄
Another studied suicide risk in queer youth under anti-LGBTQ laws 🧒
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5/ The government destroyed $16 million in taxpayer-funded science that I was leading 💰
But that’s not what hurts most
What hurts is this: vital, life-saving LGBTQ research is now in the trash — defunded, silenced, erased
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4/ That’s what makes what happened next so dangerous ⚠️
Dangerous for every American who relies on evidence-based health care
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3/ I share this because my work was rigorous & earned the respect of experienced scientists
Now, it’s all been erased — because it’s no longer “aligned with agency priorities.”
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2/
I’m a Harvard-trained epidemiologist.
In the past decade:
✔️ Mentored 75+ rising health leaders
✔️ Published 100+ peer-reviewed papers
✔️ Ranked top 10% in NIH funding across Harvard
✔️ Built one of the largest LGBTQ health research programs in the world 🏥
I don't say this to brag...
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🧬 Science is under siege — and so are the systems that protect lives.
These aren’t just panel quotes. They’re alarm bells 🔔🔔🔔
#STATBreakthrough
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🎙️ "I went to graduate school because I wanted data and facts to drive what we do.”
— Indeed, the American scientific engine is built on evidence — not conspiracy theories. That foundation is cracking.
#STATBreakthrough
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🎙️ “There’s a gap that won’t be filled... when we lose trainees.”
— Yes, mentorship and the future of biomedical science are at risk. Misinformation and politicized attacks push young talent away from the field
#STATBreakthrough
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To the fellows, mentors & staff—your work echoes in every life not lost. Every cancer prevented. Every survivor who got there sooner 💙
3/🧵
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This program trained scientists behind game-changing efforts:
🧬 HPV vaccines
🚭 Tobacco control
🔍 Early detection
💪 Survivorship care
Ending this fellowship sends a clear message:
🛑 Prevention still isn’t a priority 🧠💸
2/🧵
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🙏 Big thanks to everyone powering this work — especially The Impact Project Director Abby André & the stellar team making these stories visible, shareable, and impossible to ignore 💥
8/🧵
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🎯 Also, federal policy changes affect all people (& not just researchers!)
Whether you're a student, parent, public servant, or community member impacted by cuts or changes to funding, programs, or services — they want to hear from you 🗣️
Share your story👉 theimpactproject.org/share-your-s...
7/🧵
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📣 Have you been impacted by changes in federal funding?
🔍 The Impact Project is collecting stories from affected grant recipients
Our voices matter — help them show what data alone can’t
📝 Share your story forms.gle/yz5ygewJSAtN...
6/🧵
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🙏 My hope is that The Impact Project helps people see the real-life impact behind policy — bridging the gap between decisions made in D.C. 🏛️ & the communities they reach 🏘️
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📍 The Impact Project connects the dots — using open-source data to show how federal decisions ripple through real lives
🏛️➡️🏠 From D.C. policy to hometown impact, it helps journalists, researchers & everyday people make sense of it all
4/🧵
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A crucial additional tool is The Impact Project
It makes visible what’s often invisible: the real-world impact of government decisions
🔗👉 theimpactproject.org
3/🧵
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I'm so grateful to @scott-delaney.bsky.social & @noamross.net who turned it into something far more powerful
👇👇👇
grant-watch.us/nih-data.html
2/🧵
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I started tracking terminated grants in a rudimentary spreadsheet, days after inauguration
🙏 @maxkozlov.bsky.social broke the story about terminations in @nature.com, highlighting my tracking effort
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💝 We’re advancing research to advance health equity for LGBTQ communities.
🚫 Unfortunately, our LGBTQ Health Center of Excellence has lost all NIH funding
🙏 You can help make a difference. Support our work: hsph.me/lgbtq-give
#episky #reprosky #medsky #LGBTQ #queersky #publichealth
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Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
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Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
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Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
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Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse
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Congrats to 👩🔬 @payalc.bsky.social for leading this invaluable work & to our collaborators—Sarah McKetta, @colleenareynolds.bsky.social, Mikaela H. Smith, Heidi Moseson, @albeccia.bsky.social, Kodiak Soled, @taborhoatson.bsky.social, Aimee Huang, Heather Eliassen, & Sebastien Haneuse