a stat examination
Inside Kennedy's rise at HHS
Maksym Filipenko for STAT
In his first hours as health secretary, Kennedy signaled to his staff that there would be no easing into things. He pulled out a white board and scribbled his priorities for shaking up federal policy, unleashing wide-ranging changes that have thrilled supporters and horrified critics. In the nine months since his confirmation, Kennedy has emerged as a surprisingly singular force in the Trump administration.
Three STAT reporters interviewed dozens of people — including nine directly in Kennedy's orbit — to turn up never-before-reported details on his management style, work habits, relationship with the president, and motivations in leading a monumental overhaul of the nation's health and science agencies. Finding so many people in Kennedy's circle was an incredibly difficult task. "The people in his orbit are loyal and close-knit, but also seem to share his aversion to speaking to media outside of the conservative outlets that Kennedy regularly speaks to," lead reporter Chelsea Cirruzzo told me.
Read the story to learn why his aides sit on the ground as he takes his near-daily calls with the president, and which D.C. gym locations he favors for calisthenics and pull-ups.
science
A case study on cravings and a GLP-1
Scientists have long hoped that GLP-1 medications could eventually treat all sorts of conditions involving impulse control and addiction. In a case study published yesterday in Nature Medicine, researchers found that tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound) can temporarily suppress signaling in the brain's reward center.
The patient, a 60-year-old woman, often had obsessive thoughts about food, and would eat both sweet and salty snacks until she was uncomfortably full. Bariatric surgery, behavioral therapy, and dulaglutide did not help her quiet the food noise or lose weight. She enrolled in a trial at Penn Medicine testing deep brain stimulation as a way to stop cravings before they start. Before the electrodes were surgically implanted, the doctors put her on tirzepatide, and she stayed on it afterward. Once the patient reached the full dose, she went months without any food noise — a change that was reflected in the brain's biomarkers. (Other participants, who weren't on the drug, had persistent episodes of food noise as expected.) But five to seven months later, both her severe food noise and the accompanying biomarkers in her brain's reward center returned.
The research is still in its early phases — it's rare to get such a close look at real brain activity — but anecdotal evidence abounds. "It's like having a decision angel on my shoulder," as one Wegovy user described it to STAT's Megan Molteni in 2023 for a story about how these drugs are revolutionizing our understanding of desire.
No comments