White House misses deadline to nominate CDC director

Jose Luis Magana/AP

The White House has not nominated a new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention despite a Wednesday procedural deadline, meaning that National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will continue to oversee the CDC, though not in an official capacity as acting director.

The news comes after Bhattacharya told CDC staff that the leader would likely be announced by today during his first all-hands meeting with the staff. Bhattacharya scored points from staff members by acknowledging that he supported measles vaccination. He also vowed to replace the windows still riddled with bullet holes after a gunman fired a barrage of rounds at the CDC in August, forcing staff into an hours-long lockdown. And he told staff that there were no plans to cut additional jobs at the agency, which lost roughly 20% of its workforce over the last year.

But there were some awkward moments too. We don't have video of this all-hands, so we can't fully recreate the iconic clip of Jeb Bush asking an audience to "please clap" at a 2016 New Hampshire town hall. But apparently at one point during the meeting, Bhattacharya paused for applause that barely came.

More details from the meeting from STAT's Helen Branswell.

MAHA

California considers adding seal of approval for foods that are not ultra-processed

California wants to further its crackdown on ultra-processed foods, with one Democratic assemblymember proposing a bill that would create a seal that manufacturers could plop on their products to show that they are not ultra-processed.

The hope is that the voluntary label would help people make healthier choices at grocery stores and incentivize companies to reformulate to meet eligibility requirements. The bill was introduced by the architect behind California's landmark legislation against certain food dyes and additives, and last year's measure targeting ultra-processed foods in schools, which was signed into law in the fall.

But what even is an ultra-processed food? And what foods would this all apply to? Read more from STAT's Sarah Todd.

RESEARCH

Cardiac scan could improve health failure outcomes

Scientists may have found a quicker, less invasive way to quantify how much oxygen the heart is using, which could prove critical for treating heart failure, according to a new study published yesterday.

There are many ways to test how much oxygen is in the heart — electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, stress tests, chest X-rays — but an experimental MRI scan that skips some of the hassle of these methods could hold promise after tests in pigs and in 22 patients who'd had heart attacks showed promise.

Being able to measure oxygen is, well, vital. STAT's Elizabeth Cooney talked with one of the co-authors of this Science Translational Medicine paper and what its findings suggest for heart disease and researchers ability to measure oxygen.

FIRST OPINION

Endometriosis is more than a gynecological disease

New clinical guidance finally acknowledges that endometriosis affects the body more broadly than previously supposed, something more like a systemic inflammatory condition than a purely gynecological disease, writes physician Sarah Berg.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released updated clinical guidance earlier this month that has upended the field's idea of the diagnosis of endometriosis. The most notable change: a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms and examination — and not just surgical confirmation — is sufficient to start treatment.

Endometriosis has long been stigmatized and patient pain often explained away through other diagnoses, with the average diagnostic delay for endometriosis lasting four to 11 years. But Berg sees a shift in the public's understanding of this disease.

Read more for Berg's read on the updated guidelines and the patient that changed her perspective.

FIRST OPINION

Is it hormones? Or is it just aging?

After making a killing marketing products for menopausal women, the field of woman's health has pivoted to perimenopause, which has become a new buzzword. This movement sells women the "lie" that they are ruled by their hormones, write Patricia Bencivenga and Adriane Fugh-Berman, who both work at PharmedOut, a rational prescribing project at Georgetown University Medical Center.

The writers take their aim at a new movie, "The M Factor 2: Before the Pause," which expands the "medicalization" of menopause to women in their 30s, arguing that their hormones will ruin their cognitive, physical, and mental health. Hormone swings are quite common in the years leading up to menopause, but not every symptom a woman experiences should be blamed on perimenopause — which is already tough to define.

Read more from Bencivenga and Fugh-Berman to understand why they suggest symptoms attributed to perimenopause may be simply due to aging.

More around STAT

Check out more exclusive coverage with a STAT+ subscription

Read premium in-depth biotech, pharma, policy, and life science coverage and analysis with all of our STAT+ articles.

What we're reading

How an outsider crept into Eli Lilly's top ranks — and plans to drive its business forward, STAT
Meta and YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction case, New York Times
Sarepta Therapeutics shares rise on early promise for rare disease drugs, STAT
Missouri Republicans are using transphobia to trick voters into banning abortion, Autonomy News
Future heat danger differs starkly for rich and poor countries, Bloomberg