Population health scientist and demographer. Science thrives on honesty, honor,and commitment to others. Cat dad to two girls who are vying for the record of the longest lived cats.https://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mhwcuabe5k2yFor folks interested in the impact of the Trump administration on our nation’s scientific enterprise. https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html26 Mar 2026 00:09 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhwcuabe5k2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mgs7afmj2s2aI am experiencing severe pain (9 level) because of pinched nerves in the spine. I was part of a team studying pain, but now I’m my own lab rat with my prior self as the control. All I can say is I’m impaired physically and cognitively. I may have enough data points to publish a few JAMA articles.11 Mar 2026 15:29 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgs7afmj2s2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mfufwfljg22o@bsky.app At least one news outlet is reporting the slowdown in grant funding at NIH. What better way to attack science than starve its essential funding. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00601-027 Feb 2026 19:09 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfufwfljg22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mfsfakgnjc2nCongress has appropriated funds for the NIH budget, but Russell Vought, the head of OMB and co-Author of Project 2025 is only releasing funds to pay NIH staff. The money to fund new grants and continuing studies is not being released.26 Feb 2026 23:51 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfsfakgnjc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mfqf34m3ck2tThe folks who still work at CDC, NIH and FDA are heroes. Everyday, they confront the madness of the administration while struggling to protect our nation’s health, quality science, and people’s lives. Someday, our nation will realize that we all owe them a debt of gratitude.26 Feb 2026 04:43 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfqf34m3ck2thttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mew56wffdc2pThe administration’s war on children won’t be a surprise to a lot of folks but here is a nice summary of the major attacks children are experiencing. [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 Feb 2026 18:12 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mew56wffdc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3meeb2teons2zSome days-maybe most days-it feels like academia and science are being asphyxiated.08 Feb 2026 15:34 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3meeb2teons2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mdb344qqm22uI think it’s time to re-read Orwell’s 1984. Best to be prepared for the 2nd year of the Trump regime.25 Jan 2026 15:44 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdb344qqm22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mcunrdionc2tThere is increasing interest in whether vaccines have broader benefits for aging and health beyond their specific disease infection. Here's a recent study linking the shingles vaccine with biological aging, pointing to systemic benefits of a vaccine. https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/doi/10.1093/gerona/glag008/843080420 Jan 2026 17:13 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcunrdionc2thttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mcso2w2t6s2dI just wrote my first external tenure review letter for 2026. I don’t want any of my academic colleagues to assume that I will be equally available (or quick) in the months ahead. Just saying.19 Jan 2026 22:13 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mcso2w2t6s2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mbfhea5vj22nAs an IU alum (PhD 1980), I’m happily stunned by the Rose Bowl halftime score. I have too much respect for Bama to assume they won’t come back. But this is a once in a lifetime event. The program with almost the worst historical record up on a legendary successful program. I’ll relish this moment.01 Jan 2026 22:44 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbfhea5vj22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3mbchmojk5k2gI’m a demographer who studies US mortality. Looks like 2026 is shaping up to be a banner year, with vaccination rates crumbling and people foregoing health insurance because of rising costs. Why isn’t health an American value?31 Dec 2025 18:10 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbchmojk5k2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m7h5pkavqk2vToday was Pearl Harbor Day. Not a peep in the NYTs or Washington Post. It was a day that changed our country and the world. But now it’s invisible since history has become passe.08 Dec 2025 04:06 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7h5pkavqk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m6qcjr325k2gI’m a Boomer who has watched the US come apart at the seams (eg, Vietnam), then lace itself together, only to come apart at the seams!(Watergate)…and it still continues. This dynamic is crazy making both domestically and internationally. But at least I have perspective LOL.29 Nov 2025 02:01 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6qcjr325k2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m4rmms3nqs2hMy research team has published research showing that malnutrition and hunger in childhood are long-term risk factors for dementia decades later in life. Makes me think about the long-term health consequences of withholding SNAP benefits from families.04 Nov 2025 03:44 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4rmms3nqs2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m4rmby3k522hI asked one set of kids who came to our door on Halloween if theyd already been at my house. They said yes they had…but their mom said it was OK to swing by a second time. Hmmm…some parents need parenting lessons.04 Nov 2025 03:38 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4rmby3k522hhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m3shjjfafk2mI never realized that Trump owned cattle ranches and soy bean farms in Argentina. Who would have guessed?22 Oct 2025 18:20 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3shjjfafk2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m3gebweook2oI gave a keynote at a conference & have been relaxing at the hotel bar. I struck up a conversation with a guy next to me. He asked what I do for a living and I hesitated. I’m a biodemographer and social epidemiologist. This led to an amazing conversation about our nation’s health.17 Oct 2025 22:50 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3gebweook2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m2slov4emk22My lab group met today. Grad students and postdocs engaged in cutting edge research on health and aging topics. Every meeting it seems that they have a new article accepted or fascinating results. They’re provocative and fun! The next generation in this area of science. I love it!10 Oct 2025 02:09 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2slov4emk22https://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m2rrfcvcps2yI continue to be stunned at how poor health literacy is in the US. You’d think folks would have learned something during the worst of the pandemic. It almost seems the opposite. Perhaps the COVID “worm” ate people’s brains.09 Oct 2025 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2rrfcvcps2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3m2nmx4mrkc2xToday in my mortality grad seminar, we focused on what transpired in the US & comparisons with high income countries.The students were shocked by how devastating COVID was to US life expectancy compare to Europe. Then we discussed the Great Barringron Declaration. They were stunned.08 Oct 2025 02:49 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2nmx4mrkc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lzjdg2kqbk2xNew evidence showing that educational attainment has a dose-response association with dementia risk throughout the entire distribution of education. 🧪 https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/doi/10.1215/00703370-12231508/403001/How-Does-the-Risk-of-Dementia-Change-With-Each?guestAccessKey=077bdf2b-c3fd-44de-b27a-05227798927f23 Sep 2025 16:22 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzjdg2kqbk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lyzupdwkyk2wIf you think the far rights’ proposals to raise US birth rates will work, think again. https://www.newsweek.com/low-birth-rates-are-here-stayuntil-our-economy-works-everyone-opinion-2128993?fbclid17 Sep 2025 12:49 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyzupdwkyk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lymbvbc2qk23I was thinking about 9/11 today as I was traipsing around airports. I was surprised by the lack of government attention and the media. 9/11 was a turning point in our history and had wide consequences, e.g., the War on Terror, the establishment of Homeland Security and wars in the Middle East. 1/212 Sep 2025 03:08 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lymbvbc2qk23https://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lygn7wyux22i#IAPHS I’m at a population health science conference in Pittsburgh. Researchers from many disciplines have gathered to talk about ways of improving health, bringing in “cells to society” perspectives. So wonderful at a time when HHS has declared war on the health sciences. Science will triumph.09 Sep 2025 21:14 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lygn7wyux22ihttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lybq3rfpnc2wI’m traveling for biz. Staying at the Westin in Pittsburgh. I’m in the bar and just watched the bartender help out a street person fill their thermos with ice water. I love this place even more. Kindness. It still exists.07 Sep 2025 22:22 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lybq3rfpnc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3ly4s5ptfmc2vMy head spins when I see vaccine resistance—especially for children. Children’s lives in today’s world are at serious risk because of vaccine resistance. How do I know?Because of a real life counterfactual. Yeah, science05 Sep 2025 23:16 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3ly4s5ptfmc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lxxj46vgjs2qhttps://open.substack.com/pub/insidemedicine/p/breaking-rfk-jr-seeks-to-rush-7-new?r=2jeysd&utm_medium=ios Some days I wonder whether Kennedy will start staffing CDC with witch doctors. Clearly, the germ theory of disease has been demoted within CDC.03 Sep 2025 20:51 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxxj46vgjs2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lxry6kyvwk2kWhen the USSR was collapsing, they stopped publishing life tables because life expectancy was rapidly declining between 1974 and 1986. That’s one of the indicators the CIA used to gauge the level of internal rot in the USSR. Makes me wonder whether the US will continue publishing its life tables.01 Sep 2025 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxry6kyvwk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/mdhayward.bsky.social/post/3lxivznb7jk24I’d really prefer not to go to Mexico or Canada for my Covid booster. Just saying.29 Aug 2025 01:32 +0000at://did:plc:5b6jsjlqirsptfxcpyva4jnm/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxivznb7jk24