neighborhoods
Q&A: NYC's project to improve residents' lifespans
Brooklyn, N.Y., from above, including downtown, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill. (ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)
New York City is embarking on an ambitious plan to slash chronic disease rates and extend lifespans on the local level. To do so, acting health commissioner Michelle Morse and her allies will try everything from providing basic income to "prescribing parks" for neighborhoods. STAT's Liz Cooney spoke to Morse about her roadmap.
Increasing longevity is certainly an ambitious goal. How will you get there?
This report is not just about wagging our finger at New Yorkers and saying, "Eat healthy." It's about saying: How do we make it easy for all New Yorkers, no matter their economic patterns or level of poverty, to eat healthy foods and acknowledge that…economic marginalization is a big driver of chronic disease?
How do you make change?
We have extensive data, literally by community district, by borough, by neighborhood — data that showed us exactly where we need to focus our resources. If I know that the rate of diabetes in the Bronx is two times that in other places, or that the rate of diabetes in high poverty neighborhoods is two times that in low poverty neighborhoods, that gives me a roadmap for exactly where I need to take my interventions.
Read the full Q&A here.
diversity and clinical trials
First Opinion: Inclusive clinical trials are imperative
If you tried to click on the main website for the Food and Drug Administration's Diversity Action Plan guidelines in the past few weeks, you'd hit this: "Page Not Found." It's just one of many government sites that have gone down in recent days, some because of a Trump Executive Order banning diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The guidelines were set forth in 2022, and enacted by Congress in recognition of the need to improve diversity in clinical trials.
And, in a First Opinion essay, former FDA collaborator Suzanne B. Robotti predicts the plan will come back to life — out of necessity. "The trials we looked at were overwhelmingly populated by white men," writes Robotti, who has been on over 20 FDA drug advisory committees and other panels. When they're not inclusive, trials become less useful, because medications may fail to address the unique needs of all patient subgroups.
diversity and stem support
Another funding stream dries up amid war on DEI
The latest blow to diversity in science and health inequities: This week, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute abruptly closed down a $60 million program aimed at retaining undergraduate STEM students. The decision came as a shock to the 104 institutions receiving funding through the program, called Inclusive Excellence, or IE3. Those colleges and universities used the money to improve introductory science courses, hire students in labs, create teaching resources, and more.
Some researchers — already rocked by the threat of federal funding cuts — had hoped philanthropic sources with deep pockets could help sustain them for the next four years. HHMI's retreat from the IE3 program suggests that may not happen, especially considering how vocal the institute had been about diversity in science, STAT's Anil Oza reports. Researchers he spoke with struck a somber tone, saying they were running out of options for where to turn for support on work that even mentions the word "diversity." Read more.
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