On February 13, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, beginning what would be a seismic year in public health policy. There were tectonic shifts in how policy is made and measured, how research studies are selected and funded, in the information the federal government pursues and to which the public has access, and in the very words scientists are allowed to use.
The earthquake hasn't ended. Kennedy's decisions continue to shake the foundations of that nation's public health infrastructure.
What does it feel like in the epicenter? Dr. Peter Hotez knows. He spoke with Bonnie Petrie as the year began to forecast what might be ahead, and joined her again in December to assess the still rattling landscape. Listen to their conversation on Texas Public Radio's Petrie Dish podcast.
Guest: Dr. Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, and co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. Hotez is also the author or co-author of several books, including Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism, The Deadly Rise of Anti-science: A Scientist's Warning, and the upcoming Texas Fever Frontier: How Deadly Epidemics Shaped the Lone Star State and Will Determine America’s Destiny.
