Jenn Dowd

2/ This post is a collaboration with Data for Health @drjenndowd.bsky.social, Those Nerdy Girls, and the Dartmouth International Vaccine Initiative (sites.dartmouth.edu/divi/)

Don’t Shoot the Messenger RNA mRNA is misunderstood, but pretty miraculous

1/ Don’t Shoot the Messenger RNA
#mRNA is misunderstood, but pretty miraculous. mRNA technology has been decades in the making and has exciting applications beyond #COVID, including fighting #cancer. TNG Alumna @drjenndowd.bsky.social unpacks all you need to know in this fascinating article.

Super cool, I can't wait to read!

I feel this point so much in the current #scicomm public health world.

I saw this a lot when I was trying to do #SciComm, when scientists would interact with bad faith pseudo-science or anti-science activists, and not know how to manage the interaction because we are trained to (and used to) disagree in good faith.

#demography #fertility

📢We updated Short-Term Fertility Fluctuations #STFF data series!
✔️Monthly births for 47 countries and areas
✔️Seasonally & calendar adjusted monthly births & TFRs for 32 countries

Interested in short-term fertility trends?😉👇
humanfertility.org/Data/STFF

Don’t Shoot the Messenger RNA mRNA is misunderstood, but pretty miraculous

Some puns are too good to pass up... but seriously, mRNA technology is amazing, let's give it some love, not unwarranted hate!
open.substack.com/pub/jenndowd... #episky #publichealth #medsky #healthpolicy

We missed this post entirely but very glad you were able to make the pilgrimage @drjenndowd.bsky.social !
Next time feel free to email us via the details in our website; sometimes we may be able to arrange a formal tour with a member of the Society steering committee 📍🗺️

New LCDS Preprint Asks: Has COVID-19 Left a Lasting Scar on Life Expectancy? Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an important question remains: was COVID-19 a short-lived mortality shock, or has it more permanently altered life expectancy trajectories? A new p...

Five years after the pandemic began, have countries returned to their pre-COVID life expectancy trajectories?

New research shows 31 of 34 high-income countries still have life expectancy deficits in 2024, suggesting lasting effects on population health.

www.demography.ox.ac.uk/news/new-lcd...

Thanks, I'm so happy to know that for future visitors to London! I seem to know a disproportionate number of Epidemiology nerds who would be very excited at the proposition of a formal tour :).

NIH is reworking social and behavioral study sections including *eliminating SSPA and SSPB*. There will be one new study section Population Dynamics and Health.

Bad news since SSP originally received so many applications, they needed 2 difft study sections to process them.
:( #demography

Join us in Bologna for the 1st meeting of the EAPS WG Open Science in Demography. Program: group intro + 2h workshop led by @jschoeley.com & @akbaritabar.bsky.social. Free & open to all. Register: eaps.opensci@gmail.com
#EPC2026 #OpenScience #Demography @eaps.bsky.social @populationeu.bsky.social

Interesting...Yes, my understanding is they limit Dr. for MDs, I just don't agree with that policy!

The Birthrate Is Plunging. Why Some Say That’s a Good Thing.

Wise words from *Dr* Guzzo:
“We spent decades shaming women for having kids under the wrong circumstances, for not having their ducks in a row,” said Ms. Guzzo, the demographer. “Now they are holding up their end of the bargain.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/u... @karenguzzo.bsky.social #demography

🚨 A defining moment for global health data.

The termination of the #USAID-supported Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Program has wide-ranging consequences. We reflect on the collapse and argue what should come next in a new PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…

📊 9,000+ studies

Oh wonderful.
This also reminded me that this Bluesky account exists, so thank you!
bsky.app/profile/john...

Very cool, I just followed!

Tomorrow! Featuring @preetimalani.bsky.social @drjenndowd.bsky.social #publichealth #medsky #scicomm

Epidemiologist joy…The OG Broad Street Pump.
Thanks, Dr. John Snow, for the steadfast reminder of why we do what we do!
#episky #publichealth @thosenerdygirls.bsky.social @lshtm.bsky.social

Don't miss the chance to submit an abstract to the IEA European Congress of Epidemiology 2026 / 70th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Medicine & Population Health!

Deadline: 02 Mar 2026 at 23:59 GMT
Submission website: tinyurl.com/ssmeuroepi2026
Location: London, UK
Dates: 09-11 Sep 2026

American professors, who wants to come to Oxford for a year or two? Get in quick - deadline soon.
www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/vacancy-geor...

The FDA’s Moderna pirouette is one more sign of chaos at the agency For drugmakers and vaccine developers, an FDA reversal on Moderna's flu vaccine is better than the alternative. But it is also another sign of agency chaos.

This morning, the FDA reversed course. It will now review Moderna's flu vaccine.

The FDA's decisions have become far less predictable, but one thing has been constant: vaccine head Vinay Prasad has always chosen the most attention-grabbing action he can.

www.statnews.com/2026/02/18/m...

Chart showing recent confirmed measles cases per year in England ranging from 1,414 in 2013 to 2,911 in 2024 and 91 in 2015

🧵What is going on with Measles in England?

UKHSA has reported 96 confirmed measles cases since 1 Jan 2026, concentrated in London (64% of cases) and the West Midlands (26% of cases).

But what does this all mean? Is 96 a lot? Why is it happening? And what can we do about it? 1/8

If one wanted to do a crash course on pro-natalism and its connections eugenics where would I start @philipncohen.com @amandajean.bsky.social?

Problem about the loneliness epidemic is, it's everywhere except in representative survey data. Let's look at where the claim comes from. 1/

Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are increasingly popular in the social sciences, not only in medicine. We argue that the lay public, and sometimes…

I enjoyed this a while back even though it's more narrowly about RCTs. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

two women are standing next to each other with one saying please do ALT: two women are standing next to each other with one saying please do

I'm all for you blazing a trail in this liminal zone...much needed! You'll be inspiring me to get more philisophical in my older age. I haven't grappled enough with this, even though this tension feels existential for what we want to learn.

Oooh, this looks great, and exactly the type of integration of causal identification and broader systems that we need. I look forward to digging in...

That's so funny, I feel like you know these debates better than anyone! ;) To me they are the same issues across empirical health/social science disciplines, just different jargon (and values of course). But maybe you have something more specific in mind?

New Pub 🚨📝🎓:

"Stratification of Post-Birth Labour Supply in a High- and Low- Maternal Employment Regime"

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Short version: Germany has much bigger motherhood penalties than France, but they are not more socially stratified.

That wasn’t what we expected.

🧵⬇️