Lisa Jarvis

@lisamjarvis

Chicago-based health & science columnist for Bloomberg Opinion @opinion.bsky.social. Writing about public health, medicine, emerging technologies (Crispr!), biotech & pharma. opinions=mine, She/her. Signal: lisajarvis.77

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Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Jun 13

A friend painted this of my Oscar after he died. It makes me happy every time I see it. www.rickmullin.com

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· May 14

Whew!

Alerts
noW
NLRT | Suggested
Supreme Court Preserves
Abortion Pill Access by Mail for
Now

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· May 1

The rest of Leon’s letter with Wilmer Hale comments (2/2):

On April 30, the Board of Trustees received the findings of WilmerHale's independent review of communications between President Leon Botstein and Jeffrey Epstein. The Board initiated this review to ensure a thorough and independent understanding of the facts. Subsequent to the conclusion of the review, President Botstein submitted his retirement, effective June 30, 2026, when his current term expires.
The Board is grateful to President Botstein for his five decades of service to Bard College, his countless accomplishments and the lasting impact of his leadership.
We believe an orderly transition is essential to support our students, faculty, and staff, and to ensure continuity through key academic milestones. The Board will soon announce both an interim leader for next year and the details of a national search for our next permanent president, which will involve a wide range of stakeholder input.
The concerns raised in recent months have been serious and deeply felt. We are grateful to those who came forward to share their perspectives, and we recognize the importance of the questions that prompted this review and the deliberation that followed. A summary of WilmerHale's findings is available here.

The concerns raised in recent months have been serious and deeply felt. We are grateful to those who came forward to share their perspectives, and we recognize the importance of the questions that prompted this review and the deliberation that followed. A summary of WilmerHale's findings is available here.
The College is committed to strengthening its policies on donor vetting, fundraising, and conflicts of interest.
Outside counsel is reviewing existing policies and will present findings and specific recommendations, including on donor vetting procedures, to the Board and the development office. The Board will determine next steps for implementing those recommendations.
Funds associated with Jeffrey Epstein will be directed to organizations that support survivors of sexual harm.
Our focus remains on the strength of Bard's academic mission and the well-being of our community. We are grateful for the resilience, care, and continued commitment of students, faculty, staff, and alumni during this time.
Executive Committee,
Bard College Board of Trustees

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· May 1

Leon Botstein, embroiled in controversy over his ties to Epstein, is retiring from Bard College. This letter just went out to alum (1/2)

To the Bard community,
From President Leon Botstein
After completing 51 years as the president of Bard, I am announcing that I will be retiring from the presidency at the end of this academic year, June 30, 2026.
I knew I could not retire until the completion this January of the 1-billion-dollar endowment campaign begun in 2020 as a result of the generous challenge grant by the Open Society Foundations. The College now has a core endowment that will give it the opportunity to fully secure its financial future into the years ahead.
I am proud to have marshalled, during my tenure, nearly 3 billion dollars of philanthropy from numerous sources on account of the College's unique and vital purpose. I am deeply grateful to all the institutions and individuals who have stepped up to support Bard and the people it serves.

One individual deserves particular mention: the person who hired me in 1974 and without whom none of this would be possible, David E. Schwab III '52. David gave me the charge "to build something great or close the college." I've devoted my life's work to lead Bard to become significant in American education and culture, and to make a strong economic and social impact on the Hudson Valley region. He challenged me to ensure that Bard become not just like any other institution of higher education, but that it should stand for both excellence and equity.
We should all remember that through our collective work Bard has defied the fate of many smaller institutions of higher education, and has overcome its long history of financial instability and poverty to become a college of national and global prominence, known especially for its devotion to liberal education and to public service.
Bard's success in that defiance has derived from its commitment to innovation and excellence, not the opposite.
I believe it was prudent and in the best interest of Bard to wait until the Wilmer Hale review was complete to make this announcement.
I want to wish the college and its future leadership the very best and I pledge to both my support.
Leon Botstein,
President, Bard College

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Apr 24

Hope everyone is heading into the weekend with the same joy as my Jojo.

A close up of a smiling beagle/shepherd mix who is sitting in a patch of grass like the best girl.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Apr 11

Welcome home, Artemis II astronauts!! Thank you for making my month with your incredible journey around the moon--and for reminding us all of the wonder that can happen from an investment in team science. On that front, my recent @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Seen during Artemis II’s lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, the Moon and Earth align in the same frame, each partially illuminated by the Sun. The Moon’s surface appears in sharp detail in the foreground, while Earth sits much farther away, smaller and softly lit in the background. A faint reflection in the spacecraft window is also visible, subtly overlaying the scene.

Credit: NASA

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Apr 10

My dog had a very expressive ear moment earlier today.

Close up of a gleeful black and brown dog face with her left ear fully extended and her right ear ticket behind her head.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Mar 27

A recently-published Gallup poll shows what people are sacrificing for care:

Health Care Is Forcing Difficult Choices
Share of Americans making trade-offs to cover health expenses in the last year

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Jan 26

As a parent, I really appreciated hearing from experts about how to talk to kids about what they're worried about, witnessing, directly experiencing, processing. This snippet from the Child Mind Institute's Kimberly Alexander (who had many wise words) especially resonated:

Any way that parents can offer stability matters. “What are our routines we can hold onto? What are our family rules and values that we can hold onto?” Alexander suggests. “That can give a child a sense of calm and acceptance — that while there are uncertainties, that’s not all there is. There are some certainties, too.”

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Jan 5

Threw on my coat and ran down the street to catch a better view of tonight’s spectacular Chicago sunset. Highly recommend winter sky walks.

A pink and orange fiery sunset against a background of bare winter trees and brick apartment buildings.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Dec 19

A hint about the "what we can do" piece:

A line graph that uses CDC data to depict the downward trend in flu vaccine uptake among US children from the 2019-2020 season to this 2025-2026 season.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Sep 19

Levi says ACIP's work group on Covid vaccines felt should be individualized decision and the shots should be prescribed. On the topic of access, he says high risk people are already engaged with health care system and not unreasonable to expect them to add boosters to discussion.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Sep 19

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Aug 9

👀

Bloomberg Weekend
Ousted vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad is set to return to the
FDA after he abruptly departed the agency at the end of July.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Aug 7

"Preparedness is a deterrent," Nuzzo says. Walking away from an investment in mRNA also "sends a message to our adversaries that the United States is uncommitted to preparing for future health emergencies - that the United States is now more vulnerable than it has ever been because we are systematically taking off the table multiple approaches to protect ourselves."

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Jun 24

And, of course, can't resist bringing up this ol' tweet from Casey Means about glucose:

A tweet from Surgeon General nominee Casey Means that reads: "Glucose as a molecule has caused more destruction of the human mind and body than any other substance in human history"

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· May 28

Of course this just came across:

A screenshot reading “Alert: HHS Cancels Moderna’s $590 Million Contract for Bird Flu Vaccine

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· May 25

Finally braved the Del Sur line and got the last two turon danishes. (Sorry people behind me.) So. Delicious.

An assortment of pastries, from left to right: a pineapple muffin with a cherry in the middle, an ube oatmeal pie, pandan basque cake and two rectangular banana pastries.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· May 7

Whelp. Casey Means is Trump's Surgeon General nominee.

Image of a Truth Social post from Donald Trump that reads: I am pleased to announced that Dr. Casey Means, will be nominated as our next Surgeon General of the United States of America. Casey has impeccable "MAHA" credential, and will also work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, an ensure Great Health, in our future, for ALL Americans. Her academic achievements, together with her life's work, are absolutely outstanding. Dr. Casey Means has the potentail to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey! Secretary Kennedy looks foward to working with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat in another capacity at HHS. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Apr 28

Feeling like summer today, Chicago. No one is more thrilled by the sunshine than this lady.

Super smiley beagle-Australian shepherd mix (with dark brown fur, tan paws and a white chest) wearing a harness while sitting in a patch of grass.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Apr 17

In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su

A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Apr 10

My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com looks at the heartbreaking, harmful gutting of LGBTQ health-related research, which our analysis found was acutely targeted in the massive NIH cuts.

A Euler diagram of four overlapping ellipses showing the number of terminated NIH grants by research area. The four categories shown are LGBTQ health (328 cancelled grants), minority health (319), youth health (168) and vaccines (109). The diagram also labels the number of terminated grants at the intersection of research areas: Of the 328 terminated LGBTQ grants, 207 also involved minority health research and 116 involved youth health.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Mar 29

First spring bloom on my patio. Will take this bit of sunshine today.

A just-opened daffodil with a second opening flower in the background

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Mar 11

Whelp.

Measles
Outbreaks
The Latest West Texas Outbreak
Kennedy Links
Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health, Citing Fringe Theories In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak.

Read in app
40p EXCLUSIVE
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake
The order covers more than 40 awards to researchers around the country seeking to understand why vaccine acceptance has declined.
Updated today at 6:57 p.m. EDT
Gd 5 min
口
621

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Mar 7

Just home from #standupforscience2025 rally in Chicago. If I didn’t get to talk to you amid the freezing rain, reach out! Working on a few ideas related to the current upheaval.

Photo of protesters with Calder’s Flamingo statue in the background

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Feb 16

The flu, meanwhile, has been going from mild to wild in recent weeks.

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Feb 13

Just a few quick things that jump out in this executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again commission…

Lisa Jarvis@lisamjarvis· Feb 12

From that column: