Grant Schulert, MD, PhD

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.

What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.

Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

There is a reason the Surgeon General is and has always been a actively practicing and licensed physician. It is not a health policy job but one that speaks directly to the direct medical care of Americans.

I have nothing but grace for those who choose to take a leave from residency or leave all together. Many I know and love have made this incredibly difficult choice that this specialty or clinical medicine in general isn’t the life they want. It is *not* a sign of weakness. BUT:

You may know my friend @labwaggoner.bsky.social as the best source of science content on here. : join me in congratulating him for being recognized with the CCHMC @cincyresearch.bsky.social Outstanding Mentorship Award!

Important new work from my friends at NIAMS including Mike Ombrello and Mariana Marques, and a clue to why some SJIA / Still’s patients are weird and different:

Type I interferon signature in Still’s disease. ISG-28 scores from healthy subjects12 and Still’s disease patients are displayed in Panel A. The upper limit of the 95% confidence interval in healthy subjects defined the upper limit of normal as 734.4. Patients with ISG-28 scores above that threshold (high ISG-28) are marked as solid red dots. B. Expression of MX1 and CXCL9 are plotted against one another. C-D. Spearman’s correlation of the ISG-28 with expression of CXCL9 and MX1, respectively. E-F. Violin plots display interferon alpha-specific (E) and interferon gamma-specific (F) genes in Still’s patients with and without high ISG-28. Comparison between group with high and low interferon performed by Mann-Whitney U test. G. Clinical features are projected onto plots of ISG-28 score, shown in logarithmic scale to facilitate visualization. Each phenotype is graphed separately, with phenotype frequencies of the high ISG-28 and low ISG-28 groups

A subset of patients with Still’s disease shows high type I IFN gene signature assoc with lung disease and drug-assoc immune reactions to IL-1/IL-6 inhibitors, which was linked to enrichment of rare genetic variation in IFN-related immune pathways

Arthritis & Rheumatology
doi.org/10.1002/art....

The largest federal prison in the nation is Fort Dix, which has a rated capacity of 4,600 people. The largest of these warehouse camps may hold more than twice that number of people.

The federal government hasn't operated a prison camp inside the United States that large since Japanese Internment.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

Walnut Hills High School students stage protest against ICE operations Hundreds of students at Walnut Hills High School staged a walkout on Wednesday to protest immigration enforcement operations around the United States.

www.wlwt.com/article/waln...

Students at Cincinnati high school walk out in opposition of ICE A few hundred students at Walnut Hills High School braved the cold weather to protest the recent actions by ICE agents.

local12.com/news/local/s...

Walnut Hills High School anti-ICE walkout draws 300 to 400 students Walnut Hills High School students left school, held up signs and demonstrated against ICE on Feb. 4 as nationwide school protests continue.

So proud of my kids and their school!

www.cincinnati.com/story/news/e...

You walk into this bar and show your ICE mugshot, you don't pay a dime.

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

The US government has lost more than 10,000 people with PhDs in the STEM or health fields since Trump 2.0 took office — 14% of the federal civil servants with PhDs in those areas, a @ScienceMagazine analysis shows.
What could possibly go wrong? www.science.org/content/arti...

Minnesota National Guard members have arrived at a federal building and were directed to distribute donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate to anti-ICE protesters. Guard members were issued reflective vests so they would not be mistaken for federal agents.

a nurse who worked for the VA

govsalaries.com/pretti-alex-...

Back from Disney vacation today and let me just say to my coffee mug:
media.tenor.com/FjtgDo4oJegA...

Another friend put it to me like this: "ICE has made the classic Nazi mistake. They've invaded a winter people in the winter."

Ain't even mad about that loss. Hell of a game, incredible season. That CW touchdown pass to take it to overtime was an all-timer.

This team has something truly special brewing. 🐻⬇️

I personally ❤️ the “tip the cap” HOF vote to someone who gave you, as a fan and a writer, joy and love for the game. Edwin Encarnacion would be mine ✔️

Figures showing the change in migraine days per month and reduction of 50% or more in migraine days per month.

In children and adolescents with episodic migraine, fremanezumab led to a greater reduction in migraine days per month than placebo (−2.5 days vs. −1.4), and nearly half of recipients had a reduction of 50% or more in migraine days. Full trial results: nej.md/3NJEfG8

#MedSky #NeuroSky #PedSky

Wanted to see if people would be more upset by my ballot or my lunch

www.nytimes.com/athletic/696...

I'm proud to announce @davidpepperoh.bsky.social as my running mate! Together, we share a lifelong commitment to public service, and I'm thrilled to have him by my side in the fight to lower costs, tackle corruption, and ensure that every Ohioan can thrive. Let’s do this.

Flu Cases Climb to Highest Levels in New York City in a Decade

This seems fine:

Flu Cases Climb to Highest Levels in New York City in a Decade www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/n...

More exciting data to come on biomarkers and immune phenotyping of this pilot cohort, and ongoing enrollment and longitudinal follow-up!

Intriguingly, our cytokine analysis proposed three groups of SJIA-LD patients with distinct biomarker patterns reflecting differences in proinflammatory cytokines, type II chemokines, and markers of MAS.

First paper from our work with CARRA Registry on this life-threatening complication of SJIA, co-led with Dr. Yuki Kimura and funded initially by CARRA and AF and ongoing from NIH_NIAMS

Baseline Clinical Features and Biomarker Profiles of the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis‐ Associated Lung Disease Cohort Objectives Chronic lung disease is a potentially life-threatening complication of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA-LD). However, its natural history, etiology, and effective management a...

New from our team published online at @ACR_Journals

Baseline Clinical Features and Biomarker Profiles of the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis- Associated Lung Disease Cohort

acrjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Happy #SantaLucia to those who celebrate! 🇸🇪