June 16, 2024

Sponsored By

Editor, First Opinion

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which began as a one-room lab in 1887, is now a sprawling conglomerate of 27 institutes and centers with an annual budget approaching $50 billion. Work supported by the NIH directly affects Americans' lives, from the development of magnetic resonance imaging to understanding how cholesterol affects health. NIH-supported research has been the basis for 171 Nobel prizes. That's quite an achievement. But institutions, like people, may slow down and fail to be as agile as they need to be.

A First Opinion essay this week delved into that possibility. The chairs of two U.S. House of Representatives committees laid out their plans for streamlining the NIH into "15 revised ones that better align with overarching goals, missions, agendas, and constituencies."

A Letter to the Editor on an essay by Joe and Courtney Dion, the parents of two children with a rare disease, points out that the FDA isn't well equipped to deal with therapies for rare diseases. A First Opinion essay scheduled for Tuesday claims the FDA will have trouble regulating cannabis.

What do you think? Is the NIH doing its job, or does it need to be reformed and restructured? Weigh in by sending an email to first.opinon@statnews.com, and please put "NIH" in the subject line.

This week's other essays ranged from whether Chile's ban on Tony the Tiger helped slow obesity (spoiler alert: it didn't) to public housing and gas stoves. You can read them all here. And the latest episode of the First Opinion Podcast takes a look at the pervasive problem of medical debt.

NIH

NIH needs reform and restructuring, key Republican committee chairs say

House committee chairs propose turning 27 NIH institutes and centers into 15 new ones, urge move away from a disease-specific silo approach.

By Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Robert B. Aderholt

Listen: Paying off people's medical debt won't fix our broken health care system

This week's episode of the "First Opinion Podcast" explores the issue of medical debt, which burdens as many as 40% of U.S. adults.

By Patrick Skerrett

What happened to obesity after Chile slew Tony the Tiger?

Chile's effort to halt the rise of obesity with dramatic food package warnings sounded like a solution. But it didn't work.

By Paul von Hippel

Adobe

Curing rare childhood diseases will falter unless Congress steps up

Without immediate action by lawmakers, the priority review voucher program will expire. That would be a tragedy for countless children.

By Joe and Courtney Dion

FDA: Do your job and stop letting companies sell illicit vapes to kids

The FDA is doing little to stop the flood of vaping devices entering the U.S. from abroad from being sold to kids.

By Vallerie Biancaniello

Telling new stories can help people see the value of vaccines

Improving vaccination rates in the U.S. requires innovative approaches to reclaiming and reframing the public conversation about vaccines.

By Julie Sweetland

Adobe

How faith leaders like me can help address America's obesity epidemic

New public-private partnerships can learn from the progress faith leaders achieved during the Covid-19 pandemic and reach out to people with obesity.

By W. Franklyn Richardson

Empathy should guide responses to reported vaccine injuries

Vaccine injuries — long-term medical consequences from a shot — are real phenomena worthy of investigation, and empathy.

By Kizzmekia S. Corbett-Helaire

Certificate of need laws con rural patients out of health care

First Opinion essay: Laws requiring state approval to establish or expand health care facilities restrict access to health care, should be repealed.

By Sofia Hamilton and Thomas Kimbrell

Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP

The fight over medical abortion has worsened pregnancy care

The Supreme Court may have ruled in favor of mifespristone for medical abortion, but the battle has interfered with pregnancy care.

By Elizabeth Schmidt

To make public housing healthier, electric stoves and ovens should be the standard

Gas stoves and appliances are a threat to health. They should be replaced with electric appliances in public housing.

By Esther Agbaje and Tonya Curry

Getting farmworkers to use PPE is hard, but it's the best way to stop an H5N1 bird flu epidemic

Experts say the most effective way to ward off a potential H5N1 bird flu crisis — and protect farmworkers — is to ensure workers have practical, effective PPE.