The Bethesda Declaration with Dr. Arghavan Salles

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The Bethesda Declaration with Dr. Arghavan Salles

Alyssa Burgart, MD, MA

and

Arghavan Salles

Jun 14, 2025

Transcript

This week, staff across the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released an open letter to Jay Bhattacharya, the current Director of the NIH, calling for for NIH and HHS leadership to deliver on promises of academic freedom and scientific excellence.

Have you read the Bethesda Declaration?

We have!

In this Substack Live, Dr.

Arghavan Salles

and I discuss the letter in depth and share our thoughts on why this letter is so important. You can learn more about Dr. Salles’ lab and work on ending sexual harassment here. Her social media game is always on point, so if you’re on the apps, follow her on Tiktok, Instagram, and BlueSky.

(My absurdly small dog, Sierra Sopaipilla, also makes an appearance.)

If you’re interested, you can sign Stand Up for Science’s the complementary Open Letter in Support of NIH Public Servants.

We love citations, so here are resources for you to explore:

The Great Barrington Declaration (GBD)

The GBD is the document that catapulted Bhattacharya to the national stage as a Covid contrarian. He’s a physician-economist who never did a residency, and prioritized the economy over many other clear human harms. In 2020, The GBD called for people to ignore Covid and go about their business while simultaneously - and without any specifics on how - protecting people who are potentially high risk for serious complications.

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)

Here’s how RFK Jr framed the firing of all the ACIP vaccine experts in a recent press release. The paywalled opinion essay in the Wall Street Journal can be found here.
Why the Sudden Firing of ACIP Members Should Put Every Clinician on High Alert (NEJM Journal Watch)

It will come as no surprise that after Dr. Salles and my conversation, RFK Jr then appointed 8 people (the minimum number required) to the ACIP, several of whom are well known misinformation spreaders and anti-vaccination advocates.

HIV/AIDS

This recent KFF.org review explains how cuts to The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the dissolution of USAID, places the world’s containment of HIV/AIDS at profound risk.

How research cuts harm humans already enrolled in clinical trials

AAMCNews: What's at stake when clinical trials research gets cut

Federal funding freezes and pauses threaten studies on critical ailments. ‘Real humans are being affected.’

Andrew Wakefield

The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines - Brian Deer’s excellent book on British-born disgraced doctor and founder of the modern anti-vaccine movement, Andrew Wakefield.

Cover of Brian Deer's book The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines — This is an excellent book for anyone hoping to understand the roots of our current anti-vaccine ideology

Attacks on Peer Review and Academic Publishing

Science.org reporting on recent Trump Administration attacks on academic publishing.
Back when RFK was running for presidents he said “On day one of my Presidency I am going to call all of the heads of the medical journals and threaten them with a RICO lawsuit if they don’t stop lying to the people.”
Numerous major medical journals have received vaguely threatening letters. Here’s one of them:

Dear Dr. Mazzone: As United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I receive frequent requests for information and clarification. I take these requests seriously and act on them with letters like this one you are receiving. It has been brought to my attention that more and more journals and publications like CHEST Journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates - that is, that they have a position for which they are advocating either due to advertisement (under postal code) or sponsorship (under relevant fraud regulations). The public has certain expectations and you have certain responsibilities. Would you please answer these questions: How do you assess your responsibilities to protect the public from misinformation? How do you clearly articulate to the public when you have certain viewpoints that are influenced by your ongoing relations with supporters, funders, advertisers, and others? Do you accept articles or essays from competing viewpoints? How do you assess the role played by government officials and funding organizations like the National Institutes of Health in the development of submitted articles? How do you handle allegations that authors of works in your journals may have misled their readers? I am also interested to know if publishers, journals, and organizations with which you work are adjusting their method of acceptance of competing viewpoints. Are there new norms being developed and offered? I look forward to and appreciate your cooperation with my letter of inquiry after request. Please respond by May 2, 2025. Should you have further questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to call my office or schedule a time to meet in person. All the best, Edward R. Martin, Jr. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia — Copy of Edward R. Martin, Jr.’s letter to Dr. Peter Mazzone, the Editor-in-Chief at the Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), a widely regarded source of scientific evidence from experts in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine

Bhattacharya and his GBD bestie, Martin Kulldorff, co-founded a new journal, claiming it will be better, but it’s unorthodox - and exclusive - editorial practices appear to make it super favorable to people who agree with these Covid-contrarians.

From Science.org: New journal co-founded by NIH nominee raises eyebrows, misinformation fears. The Journal of the Academy of Public Health claims to open up scientific communication. But its unusual editorial policies have some scientists concerned

Nutrition scientist, Kevin Hall

NYTimes: Leading Nutrition Scientist Departs N.I.H., Citing Censorship

Kevin Hall said his work on ultraprocessed foods has been “hobbled” under the Trump administration. Scientists have been raising such concerns for months.

This 2024 interview with
Eric Topol
may interest you:

Ground Truths

Kevin Hall: What Should We Eat?

Listen now

7 months ago · 157 likes · 3 comments · Eric Topol

Hall’s forthcoming book with Julia Belluz is called, Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us

Gutted NIH Funding

The HHS Fiscal Year 2026 Budget In Brief” document, sticks with plans to cut nearly 40% of the NIH’s discretionary budget to $27.5 billion. Plus, a consolidation of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers into just eight. I’m not falling for the documents claims - or graphics - claiming that these cuts will dramatically improve American health.
ProPublica’s reporting on Science Shattered explains what these cuts will really cost Americans.
Some funding sources have been yanked around in a high-stakes toxic relationships with a Research Funding Bad Boyfriend.
- NIH guts its first and largest study centered on women.
- See the timeline of how the NIH has yanked around the Women’s Health Initiative specifically.

We covered all this and so much more in our conversation. I hope you enjoy it and get something out it. Want to learn more about any of these topics? Send me a DM.