The dramatic reshaping of health and medicine in the U.S.

Dear Readers,

Shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, STAT reporters around the county started their days with a deluge of alarmed, angry, and plaintive texts, emails, and even phone calls from employees across federal health agencies who just learned they had lost their jobs.

Some examples:

An NIH employee: "We are really trying to hold things together with our bare hands."
A CDC employee: "Just devastated. I loved my job, and I loved my team. Everyone who works here has ties to the mission and a deep passion for this work."
An FDA employee: "I really want to get the word out about how devastating these cuts will be to the agency and how completely arbitrary they were."

By now you know the reason for these layoffs: The Department of Health and Human Services had begun terminating as many as 10,000 employees. They were further evidence of what we knew to be true: The Trump administration and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are ushering in one of the most extraordinary reshapings of health and medicine of our lifetimes, whatever you might think of what's happening in Washington.

Over the last 24 hours, STAT's reporters sprung into action, meeting the moment with more stories, analyses, and exclusive coverage of these issues than any other news organization. I can tell you they did so with readers in mind: They know that what is playing out in the nation's capital and throughout the country very likely affects you — your career, your life, the lives and careers of friends and family.

As you may be aware, our work is costly, and we rely on subscribers to fund it. Today I'd like to invite you to join them, and to have a better understanding of everything that is happening in health and medicine right now — not just in Washington, of course, but in scientific labs, startups and corporate boardrooms, and beyond.

We are currently offering the first three months of STAT+ for $30, which gives you access to all of our coverage, including exclusive stories and newsletters that are available only to subscribers.

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I believe you won't regret it. Along with the notes of unease, just about every day we hear from readers who appreciate STAT.

This one arrived Tuesday from a former FDA employee: "Thank you to all of you at Stat for keeping pace with this news and humanizing the losses. We appreciate you."

There is nothing more important to us than delivering stories you can trust. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any feedback. I'm at rick.berke@statnews.com.

Sincerely,