Body as a shell
The RFK Jr. pick for HHS secretary
Yesterday, President-elect Trump announced that RFK Jr. would be his pick to lead the Health and Human Services. If Congress confirms his position, someone with an established track record of ignoring reality will lead our nation’s health agencies, including the FDA, CDC, and NIH.
For many of us who have devoted our lives to public health, science, and medicine—driven by an unwavering commitment to improving the health and well-being of Americans—this strikes deep. A mix of profound sadness, anger, exhaustion, and disbelief because the playing field has now completely shifted: Instead of pushing forward toward a healthier society, it’s now about keeping us from moving backward.
Yesterday, I tried—over and over—to find the right words for a YLE post, struggling to convey what feels like an assault on our work and our mission.
How do you express, in a few lines, the unsettling reality that someone with a catalog of lies so long is now tapped to be in charge of the public’s health? From his false claims that vaccines cause autism (they don’t), or that HIV does not cause AIDS (it does), or antidepressants are linked to mass shootings (they aren’t), or chemicals in water making kids trans (they don’t), or to Wi-Fi causing cancer (it doesn’t). The list of falsehoods feels endless.
How do you effectively warn about the oncoming hurricane of confusion and anxiety? Or, worse, the heartbreak because people will make ill-informed decisions when they really are just trying to do what they think is best? The dread because I know damn well that a “lie can go around the world before the truth gets its pants on.”
How do you capture the gravity of the moment as public health workers and scientists brace for the undermining of critical health programs and resources—built over decades—to be dismantled or misdirected?
So, I did something else. I went to the beach to enjoy the predictability of the waves and the certainty of a sunset—a contrast to an increasingly unpredictable and chaotic world. On my way home, Kristen, a YLE correspondent and ER physician posted a photo on Instagram that perfectly depicted the moment.
I leave you with this:
I came across this sculpture while visiting the Met last spring. It is called “Body as Shell” by Alwar Balasubramaniam. At the time, it felt like a perfect expression of how residency sometimes feels… sleep-deprived, exhausted, struggling, and fighting within a system that doesn’t always work for patients in the way they need.
Today, as someone who tries to help the public understand accurate scientific information, this is how I feel again. After going through the pandemic, watching rumors turn the public against the people trying to help them, it can suck the wind out of you. Right now, science communicators are exhausted and demoralized at the prospect of doing it all over again.
But we will. I will keep showing up and doing my best to help you sort the evidence from the rumors.
The only thing we mustn’t do is say everything is now pointless and give up on what’s real and true. We’re tired, sad, and afraid. But we’re still here. We’re not going anywhere.
Love, YLE
Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. YLE reaches more than 280,000 people in over 132 countries and has a team of 11 whose main goal is to “translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below:
We appreciate all that you do. We need you now more than ever to counter the misinformation that is sure to come from the Trump administration.
I hope that public health professionals like yourself do not lose hope because there are legions of the public who, like me, will cling to the truths that you disseminate to keep us aware of what’s real…and, ultimately, that will keep us as safe and healthy as possible. Thank you for continuing the work…and, now, for continuing the fight.