Big Changes, Life Updates, and Where We Find Ourselves Now in Public Health

Thank you all for sticking with your subscriptions during my brief writing pause.

As many of you may know I recently got married to Dr. Rubin. We have kept our relationship relatively quiet on social media but have been dating for several years, got engaged last year, and were delighted to finally make it official in a small ceremony with our closest family.

It was a low stress fun event, just what we wanted. Both of us have been incredibly busy.

Dr. Rubin is writing his first book to help people navigate allergies and allergic reactions of all sorts. He has finished his manuscript well ahead of schedule and will be announcing the publication date soon. Be sure to follow him for updates.

I have been busy launching my second company which is developing high-density bioreactor systems for improved therapeutics manufacturing. Our first target product is human IvIg and ScIg, these life-saving medicines are only sourced from human donation leading to high prices and global shortages.

Along with getting married came a big move from San Francisco to Chicago. After packing up my house Zach and I drove cross country with my two dogs enjoying the scenery as we traversed Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and western Illinois.

Once we catch our breaths are looking forward to planning a big celebration with all of our friends in 2026, so stay tuned.

Unfortunately, in the middle of our big celebration and cross country move, our country has been grappling with a large, now multi-state measles outbreak which has led to the measles death in 10 years. Concurrently the US is experiencing the worst Influenza season since the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic. National wastewater levels of RSV and Human Metapneumovirus also remain high while SARS-CoV-2 is at moderate levels on average.

All of this is occurring in a public health environment where scientists have lost their jobs, or their jobs are under threat, research funding has been gutted nationally, and the current leader of Human Health Services which oversees the CDC seems to be uncertain if a measles outbreak that has killed an unvaccinated child should be taken seriously.

Meanwhile multiple ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) meetings have been cancelled. This has set us back in vaccine data review, development, and selection of influenza vaccine strains for the 2025-26 flu season.

HPAI H5N1 (highly pathogenic avian influenza, H5N1) continues to spread in cattle herds and poultry flocks driving up the price of eggs and making occasional leaps to human infection. A second person from Wyoming was hospitalized February 17th with H5N1, but to date no person to person spread has been documented. We are only one mutation away from H5N1 developing person to person spread capabilities and I believe this is eminent.

I do not believe the US is well equipped to handle an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. To compound our lack of readiness HHS is reviewing an already awarded contract to Moderna, a vaccine maker, that was to support their development of an influenza vaccine. Rapid production and distribution of an H5N1 vaccine will be critical once the virus begins to spread.

There are many more issues including global outbreaks that I will be detailing in future posts.

Overall, I have a heavy heart and am sad to say that we find ourselves in a quickly worsening public health situation and I do not expect next few years to be smooth sailing. Deep cuts to public health programs, services, and research in the United States and abroad will only worsen this situation.

My goal through these times is continue to provide information to help you safely navigate what may come next.

I am nearly settled and looking forward to starting up regular posts again, including my ongoing series on Long COVID. See you soon.