When health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about the chronic disease epidemic ravaging America’s young, I am one of the people he is speaking about. At 34 years old, I am overweight and already suffering from high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I have ADHD so bad I often forget to brush my teeth in the morning. And when a doctor — who I waited several months to see in hopes he’d figure out why I’m incessantly tired — recently asked what conditions my very high dose of an SSRI was treating, my response was simply “all of the above.”
I tell you all of this as STAT’s inaugural reporter on trust in science, because I know what it means to be searching for an explanation to what ails you, and a way to fix it. I also know all too well how frustrating it is to realize that modern medicine does not have all the answers. On bad days, when I’m especially anxious or I step on the scale after a good week of dieting to see no results, Kennedy’s claim that America’s medical system has turned into “a sick care system” that rewards doctors, hospitals, and drug companies resonates more than I’d like to admit. At my most desperate, I’ve tried the keto diet, injected a compounded peptide, and taken fistfuls of dietary supplements. It’s this worldview that will inform my work in this new role.
