Next is the hard part

RFK Jr. is a shoo-in for HHS secretary after winning over Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who had been Kennedy's most vocal and articulate GOP critic.

Now what? Kennedy has been deft at promoting the MAHA movement's many grievances, but he's avoided saying how he plans to make America healthy, STAT's Isabella Cueto writes.

All those wellness influencers, concerned parents, vaccine-avoiders, and raw milk lovers will want action fast. Kennedy will need to convert their grievances into priorities. That's no easy task given the immensity of the problem, the need to keep the food industry on board, the competing interests of people in the Trump administration, and the divergent views of Kennedy's supporters and the guy who let Kennedy pass. Isa explains the situation as only she can here.

White House

Trump's under-the-radar top science advise

President Trump's pick to advise him on science and technology policy is unusual because he's wholly uncontroversial, my colleague Jonathan Wosen reports.

Michael Kratsios has an unorthodox background to direct the Office of Science and Technology Policy, given he's not a scientific researcher. He's a 38-year-old technologist with experience in venture capital. But the Senate confirmed him unanimously in 2019 to serve as OSTP's chief technology officer.

Former colleagues described Kratsios as a thoughtful, tactful leader with uncanny listening skills. In the first Trump administration, he focused on artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and especially on ensuring U.S. technology leadership over China. More from Jonathan here.

Gender-affirming care

How to handle the gender-affirming care executive order?

Health care institutions are in a bind on gender-affirming care, legally, morally, and professionally.

Trump issued an executive order to withhold federal funds from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to people under age 19. To withhold that care is to run afoul of medical ethics. In some states, institutions that abide by the executive order risk violating anti-discrimination laws, while in other states, hospitals are being pushed in the opposite direction.

What to do? STAT's Theresa Gaffney interviewed Meredithe McNamara, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, about how institutions are handling the situation.

nih

Granting grants again

The NIH this week started reviewing grant applications for the first time in more than two weeks, signalling a thaw in the Trump administration's freeze, STAT's Megan Molteni and Anil Oza report.

An NIH study section reviewed a set of proposals on skeletal biology and regeneration on Tuesday and Wednesday. Members of other study sections scheduled for this week also heard from NIH officials that their planned meetings would proceed as scheduled.

However, some meetings of health agencies are still being abruptly cancelled without explanation.

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What we're reading

Personalized cancer vaccine shows potential in kidney cancer, STAT
Trump administration places USAID workers on leave, orders them to return home, AP
DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud, The Wall Street Journal