Science Notes: 6/18/26
AI is coming to medical practice. Natural is not a prevention strategy. Trump DOJ reimburses misinformation. Leadership vacuum at NIH.
AI
Agentic AI Comes to Medicine
AI Doctors Outperform Physicians in Simulations
- MIRA hit 87.8% diagnostic accuracy vs. 78.1% for board-certified MDs across 500 ER cases.
- AIME matched PCPs overall; by visit 3, its plans rated 98% vs. 81%.
Eric Topol, MD · originally published on Ground Truths·June 17, 2026
MAHA
Nature Is My Hobby, Not My Doctor
MAHA is implicitly based on “Natural”=Good. Synthetic =Bad.
Medicine and vaccines are considered synthetic
This is simplistic and dangerous.
Keep the garden. Keep the vaccine.
Jess Steier, DrPH·Unbiased Science·Jun 15
VACCINES
Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuit By Vaccine Skeptic Despite Winning in Court
DOJ Pays Trump Allies After Winning Cases
- Berenson got $150K despite court dismissal.
- Expert calls settlements “clearly political,” funded by taxpayers.
Walker Bragman
POLICY
Fact Check, Part 5: Continued Leadership Vacuum at NIH with the Continued Absence of Institute and Center Directors
NIH director vacancies:
13 of 27 NIH institutes still lack directors 3 months after Bhattacharya promised hiring “this month.”
New NIEHS director is a JD Vance friend, not an environmental health expert.
No external review
27UNIHted·27UNIHted·Jun 16
Jess Steier, DrPH·Unbiased Science·Jun 15
VACCINES
Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuit By Vaccine Skeptic Despite Winning in Court
DOJ Pays Trump Allies After Winning Cases
- Berenson got $150K despite court dismissal.
- Expert calls settlements “clearly political,” funded by taxpayers.
Walker Bragman·Important Context·Jun 17
POLICY
Fact Check, Part 5: Continued Leadership Vacuum at NIH with the Continued Absence of Institute and Center Directors
NIH director vacancies:
13 of 27 NIH institutes still lack directors 3 months after Bhattacharya promised hiring “this month.”
New NIEHS director is a JD Vance friend, not an environmental health expert.
No external review
27UNIHted·27UNIHted·Jun 16
MEDICINE
A New Path to Preventing Cancer
14-protein blood signature predicts lung cancer 5+ years before diagnosis.
Validated across 8 cohorts, including never-smokers.
IL-1β antibody cut risk in half in high-risk group.
Eric Topol, MD·Ground Truths·Jun 13
POLITICS
Virology Research is Not a Crime
Free Munster and Kwe:
NIH virologists Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe charged for paperwork on inactivated mpox samples.
DOJ’s own evidence shows no pathogen, no smuggling.
A pretext to criminalize virology.
Angela Rasmussen, PhD·Rasmussen Retorts·Jun 11
VACCINES
The Storm Before the Storm: An Executive Order, Religious Exemptions, and More
Trump EO directs CDC/ACIP to realign childhood schedule to “peer countries.”
ACOG issued its own pregnancy schedule, diverging from CDC.
Religious-exemption lawsuits advancing.
Jess Steier, DrPH