James' World 2

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., faced a barrage of questions from U.S. senators today during his confirmation hearing for his nomination for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The hearing focused on views Kennedy, an environmental lawyer with no medical training, has expressed on several important issues facing Americans’ public health today, including vaccines, chronic disease, and federal health care programs such as Medicaid. Kennedy’s responses could reveal how he would lead the government’s vast health and medical apparatus should he be confirmed.

“The hearing was a reminder of just how sprawling the Department of Health and Human Services is and just how far reaching the areas of health care that the secretary has their hand on,” says Jason Schwartz, an associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health, who specializes in vaccines and vaccination policy. “I was struck by, under questioning from both Republican and Democratic senators, the areas where there’s clearly not a great deal of familiarity on Kennedy’s part regarding major components of the HHS portfolio.”

Kennedy has made unsupported and dangerous claims about fluoridation, raw milk, and other topics. In the hearing, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado also brought up Kennedy’s unsubstantiated past statement that Lyme disease was a bioweapon. Perhaps most notably, Kennedy has frequently promoted false or misleading claims about vaccines, though he tried to distance himself from some of them during today’s hearing.

“As the [hearing’s] questions pointed out, there’s been almost no one who’s been a more expansive critic of vaccines in his work for such a long time,” Schwartz says.

Here are five takeaways from the hearing that reveal what Kennedy’s leadership of HHS might look like.

Vaccines

Kennedy has a long record of antivaccine activism, despite the fact that his own children are vaccinated. He has falsely linked vaccines to autism and has benefitted financially from efforts to revoke the approval of certain vaccines. Despite this history, Kennedy stated in the hearing that he is “not antivaccine” but rather “prosafety.” Democratic senators begged to differ. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon pointed to Kennedy’s visit to Samoa in 2019, which occurred months before a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, many of them children. Vaccination rates were already low following a tragic incident the previous year, when two nurses accidentally combined the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella with a muscle relaxant, leading to the deaths of two children. Kennedy met with antivaccine advocates during his visit and later wrote a letter to the country’s prime minister inaccurately suggesting that a “defective” vaccine could have caused the infections. In the confirmation hearing, Kennedy denied responsibility for any role in the deadly outbreak, however.

During the COVID pandemic, Kennedy sought to revoke the approval of the lifesaving COVID vaccines just six months after their rollout. In the hearing, he said he was against the vaccines’ use in six-year old children and cited a misleading claim that that age group does not get severely ill from COVID. Yet health experts acknowledge the vaccines likely saved millions of lives, including children’s.

“The data clearly show that there has been plenty of risk of COVID in young children, and while it’s not as common a cause of serious illness or death as it is in older individuals, no one would argue that it isn’t still a significant health concern, and there’s a very good reason to continue to recommend vaccination in young children,” Schwartz says.

Medicaid

During the hearing, Kennedy was asked about his views on Medicaid, the government insurance program that supports nearly 80 million low-income Americans. (The program was plunged into uncertainty yesterday when the Trump administration announced a federal funding freeze that roughly coincided with the Medicaid portal temporarily going offline, which meant that people could not check enrollment status or submit claims.) Kennedy at times appeared to confuse Medicare and Medicaid in the hearing, Schwartz says; the nominee claimed that most people are dissatisfied with the latter program, despite clear evidence to the contrary. When questioned about whether he would cut Medicaid, he gave indirect answers stating he would follow President Donald Trump’s desire to reform it.

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Hmmmm…

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Scientists are bracing for major changes in the direction of US biomedical research as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has promoted vaccine misinformation and public-health conspiracies, gains control over a vast swathe of science policy.

The Senate voted today to confirm Kennedy as President Donald Trump’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which has an annual budget of roughly US$1.7 trillion and includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. Kennedy has embraced some fields of biomedical research. But he has shown hostility to others, and has rejected established science on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, the safety of vaccines in general and other topics. (Kennedy told the Senate that he supports vaccines and believes that they have saved lives.)

“The future of America as a superpower in research appears grim,” says Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at the Rockefeller University in New York City, who creates new models for studying HIV ― which Kennedy has falsely suggested is not the cause of AIDS. “Even on issues he claims he supports, he does not follow scientific evidence. Picking a person like this to lead is like having the wolf guard the sheep.”

False dichotomy

During his own presidential campaign, Kennedy said that he would prioritize research on chronic diseases and would give infectious-disease research at the NIH “a break” for eight years. Speaking before a Senate committee in January, Kennedy asserted that chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, asthma and some cancers have historically received less attention than infectious diseases, but are mostly responsible for rising healthcare costs. (Data from the NIH show that cancer alone receives more federal funding than that allotted to all infectious diseases combined.)

Even some researchers who could benefit from an emphasis on chronic disease are wary. Eric Lau, a cancer researcher at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, says that although it would certainly be nice to see more money poured into studying cancer, the federal government should focus on increasing funding for biomedical research in general.

Both he and Larry Schlesinger, a physician-scientist and chief executive of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, say that the idea of cutting one field to benefit another creates a false dichotomy between chronic and infectious disease that isn’t rooted in scientific reality.

As an example of how tightly the two are linked, researchers cite increasing evidence that some chronic conditions stem from infectious diseases: infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), for instance, can cause cancer of the cervix and other tissues. “Prioritizing chronic conditions increasingly means prioritizing infectious diseases,” says Schlesinger, who was himself diagnosed with oral cancer after an infection with HPV decades before. “We are appreciating more and more that infections, and the inflammation they cause, play an important role in these chronic conditions.”

Scientists also say that the ongoing outbreak of bird flu, which has made at least 68 people in the United States ill since the start of 2024, makes this an especially bad time to cut research into infectious diseases.

Focus on food

As part of his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ pledge, Kennedy has repeatedly called for further studies into diet and nutrition, as well as research on the links between environmental pollution and human health. During his January hearing, Kennedy said that scientists “know” that obesity is caused by “an environmental toxin”, and asked why researchers haven’t dedicated themselves to finding and eliminating it.

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My mother was always the last parent to pick me up from gymnastics practice. While other moms arrived in jeans, she’d sweep in wearing a power suit, fresh from her role as a senior marketing executive at a major software company. At the time, it was a bit embarrassing. Looking back, I realize I was witnessing someone who refused to accept artificial limitations on what she could achieve.

Years later, as a CMO, I’ve come to appreciate how those early lessons shaped my understanding of professional possibilities. As a CMO in the ‘80s, my mother was a trailblazer—it was not typical for a woman to have a seat at the board table. But I’ve also learned that even with strong role models, we can still construct invisible barriers that limit our potential.

These self-imposed ceilings manifest in unexpected ways—not just in career aspirations, but in how we think about work itself. Years before remote work became mainstream, I questioned another artificial boundary: the assumption that effective leadership required a physical office. The answers about where and how we could work seemed predetermined by longstanding corporate norms, until I proved otherwise.

Where’s your artificial ceiling?

The pattern of self-limitation is pervasive in the business world, especially in how we perceive career progression. I have personally experienced how these artificial barriers affect leaders, restricting our potential for further growth and advancement despite our knowledge of customers, market dynamics, and business strategy. Nevertheless, numerous skilled marketing

leaders, including myself until recently, hesitate to pursue a trajectory beyond CMO. This is not due to a lack of capability, but rather because we have internalized certain assumptions about our career path direction and the roles that align with our expertise.

The same can be said for other professions. Regardless of your department or title, where do you see yourself “topping out?” What’s the limit? And why is that the limit? Ask yourself those questions. And then make sure the ceiling you envision genuinely where you want your ceiling to be. (Of course, not everyone aspires to be a CEO; I’m talking about aligning your perceived ceiling with your desired ceiling.)

Break through the ceiling

My own process of breaking through these limitations began with redefining success on my terms. That meant moving beyond traditional career metrics to focus on creating lasting impact. To me, this meant developing the next generation of diverse business professionals, building high-performance teams rooted in different perspectives, and pursuing roles challenging conventional wisdom about career progression.

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We’re covering the latest bird flu news to keep you up to date. Here’s what’s happening:

Different Strain of H5N1 in Dairy Cows

Several dairy cattle herds in Nevada have tested positive for a strain of H5N1 avian influenza that is different from the one that has been predominantly infecting such cattle since last March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported on February 5. It was confirmed on January 31 during the agency’s recently launched national milk testing strategy. A dairy worker was also infected with the strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday. This genotype, called D1.1, is more commonly found in wild birds and poultry. It has been linked to some severe infections in humans, including the first death in the U.S. The finding means the virus could be harder to eradicate from cattle than scientists thought because it could be reintroduced by wild birds.

Bird Flu May Have Spread between Cats and Humans

The CDC briefly posted a report last week that contained data that suggested the H5N1 virus may have spread from house cats to humans, and vice versa, the New York Times reported. The information on H5N1 initially appeared in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (the CDC’s regular publication on public health issues and outbreaks) that was about wildfire air quality, and it may have been inadvertently included. The data were quickly removed. They had described one household where a cat infected with H5N1 may have spread the virus to another cat and an adolescent child and a second household where an infected dairy worker may have spread the virus to a cat. Cats have previously gotten infected after drinking raw milk or consuming raw pet food, but this is the first known case of a cat infecting a human in the current outbreak—suggesting house cats could be a possible vector for spreading the virus to people.

New Head of U.S. Pandemic Office Will Face Bird Dilemma

President Donald Trump selected Gerald Parker, a veterinarian and former federal health official, to lead the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. Congress created the office in 2022 to advise the president and coordinate the government’s response to pandemics and other public health threats. Parker was associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M University and was head of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) under the Biden administration. The NSABB determines what research can be conducted with dangerous pathogens, including so-called gain-of-function research. If bird flu were to become a pandemic, Parker would have a central role in the coordinating the federal response. Ashish Jha, Biden’s former White House COVID response coordinator, told CBS News that Parker “is a very good choice.”

NYC Live Bird Markets Ordered to Close

New York State’s governor Kathy Hochul announced that all live bird markets in New York City and several surrounding counties are being ordered to close temporarily for cleaning and disinfection. The order came as H5N1 was detected at several bird farms in the city. The state’s Department of Agriculture and Markets issued the order, which requires the roughly 80 markets in New York City and Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk Counties to sell their inventory, conduct cleaning and disinfection and remain closed for five days afterward. Markets that have had confirmed virus in flocks will also be required to follow quarantine and culling instructions.

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