Science Communities Must Speak Out When Policies Threaten Health and Safety

CLINICAL QUESTION

How should healthcare and public health personnel respond to the actions of the new U.S. administration?

BOTTOM LINE

Physicians must oppose partisan or ideological interference with independent scientific inquiry and decisions on research funding, and it is their responsibility to speak out when the science is clear that a particular policy will threaten health or safety.

BACKGROUND: The current president’s recent spate of executive actions challenges science, public health, medical societies, academic institutions, journals, and advocacy organizations to determine whether or how to respond. To condone or remain silent about policies that the profession knows will compromise health is to be complicit in putting population health at risk.

STUDY DESIGN: Commentary

SETTING: Center on Society and Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

SYNOPSIS: The author enumerates recent executive actions taken by President Trump, such as withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization; terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; formally rejecting gender/sexual identities other than biological sex; revoking Biden-era executive orders on Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and pandemic preparedness; and sharply curbing the structure, function, and/or autonomy of the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration. The author emphasizes that the touchstone for knowing when to resist these actions must be science. He points to the proven lifesaving benefits of childhood vaccines, expanded health insurance coverage, efforts to mitigate the effects of racial and ethnic disparities, policies that recognize and protect LGBTQIA+ populations, access to reproductive health services, regulation on industries that manufacture/emit certain environmental agents, and measures to combat climate change. He issues a call to action for professionals to oppose partisan or ideological interference with independent scientific inquiry, oppose the censorship or manipulation of data released by government agencies, and speak out when there is a threat to public health or safety.

CITATION: Woolf SH. How should health care and public health respond to the new U.S. administration? JAMA. 2025;333:1197-1198. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2025.1218.

COMMENT: I think this article offers great advice on how to handle these challenging political times, where science is coming under fire. It is a viewpoint piece that discusses our obligation to support policy that is backed by strong data/science. As doctors, [we have] patients [who] will often seek our advice on these issues, even when not related to ENT! I think this article can help shape our responses. —Matthew Q. Miller, MD