Liz Szabo
@lizszabo
She/her. Award-winning health and science journalist. Investigative reporter at CIDRAP News. LizSzabo.30 on Signal.
My favorite Fauci photo: When he hugged nurse Nina Pham in October 2014, to celebrate her recovery from Ebola and prove it was safe to touch survivors.
This terrific story from Reuters reveals that RFK Jr. wanted to get rid of all vaccine recommendations, even for polio. www.reuters.com/world/americ... If only RFK Jr. could talk to Carol Ferguson, who got polio as a child and now has post-polio syndrome. www.cidrap.umn.edu/polio/hundre...
US emergency departments seeing fewer C difficile cases, study finds www.cidrap.umn.edu/clostridium-...
Carol Ferguson got polio in 1954, a year before the polio shot became available. When receiving her first COVID shot 5 years ago, she told he nurse, “If only I had had the Salk vaccine." The nurse asked, “What’s the Salk vaccine?” www.cidrap.umn.edu/polio/hundre...
Scientific American Union says layoffs motivated by “fear within Springer Nature that our attempts to doggedly report on the crisis facing science in America today would lead to repercussions from the Trump administration.”
AI chatbots boost parents’ willingness to vaccinate kids against HPV, but only in the short term. Traditional public health materials work just as well, and may have more staying power. www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papill...
"A vaccine could have saved her." Erica and Hailey were devoted sisters. One was eligible for the HPV vaccine, the other was not, because she already had tested positive for HPV. Read what a difference one shot can make. www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papill...
“Cervical cancer elimination isn't just a public health objective. It's a moral imperative. No one should be diagnosed with or die from a cancer we have the ability to prevent." www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papill...
Health journalists! Do you want to learn how to find real people on deadline? Come to our #HJ26 panel to get tons of tips. I’m so excited to team up with the amazing @lauraungar.bsky.social of the @apnews.com and @davidovalle.bsky.social of the @nytimes.com
I was honored last night to attend the NIHCM Awards as a finalist, representing the all-star team of journalists behind our Scientific American project on type 1 diabetes, including Miriam Quick, Carrie Arnold, Jeanna Bryner, Jen Christiansen, Tara Haelle, Rachel Nuwer, and Lauren Young
Here’s a little nugget we didn’t include in today’s story: Trump’s new surgeon general nominee went on X to praise Elon Musk for offering to pay TSA employees’ salaries. She called it “the private sector at its best.” www.cidrap.umn.edu/public-healt...
Trumps says “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better, and I do make people better,” he said. Do doctors wear long white gowns with red shawls and have light coming out of their hands? www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04...
Breaking up military families. Is this young bride the “worst of the worst?”
Background calls with top FDA officials, who insist on going unnamed, are a weird practice. Now, a congressman is calling them out by name.
When she asked why they were taking her information, her video captured a masked agent responding, "'Cause we have a nice little database, and now you're considered a domestic terrorist." ICE is using mass surveillance on American citizens, activists www.npr.org/2026/03/04/n...
Thanks so much to Dr. Jessica Knurick for featuring three of my CIDRAP News stories in her latest Instagram post!
Although use of an antibiotic called clindamycin (which has a black box warning because of the risk of C difficile infections) has declined in the past five years, it is still the #2 antibiotic prescribed by dentists + accounts for almost 1 in 10 antibiotic scrips. www.cidrap.umn.edu/antimicrobia...
It's always a thrill to scoop the journalistic competition. In this case, we also scooped academic researchers! Our story about dental antibiotic prescriptions includes the latest data up through 2025. Spioiler: Prescriptions rose 6% in five years. www.cidrap.umn.edu/antimicrobia...
Also check out French ice skater Kevin Aymoz after he won his first gold medal at a grand prix event at age 28 (Skate America).
Just a reminder that all three men skating for the USA at the Olympics today are the children of immigrants.
Riku Miura stands 4’9” tall, the perfect height for a woman pairs skating. She just won a silver medal in the team competition. Let’s hear it for short babes!
Keeping up with the latest news is stressful. Getting into nature and exercising (even just a walk through your closest park) can really help. I spent an hour yesterday ice skating on a frozen canal in DC. So much fun. Take some time to go offline and outdoors if you can.