So I need a bit of time to vent about a couple of things. Like I don’t do that every time I sit down and put hands to keyboard.

The stuff coming out of the CDC and HHS lately is downright frightening. Let’s start with an HHS secretary with no medical degree telling folks he can diagnose people just by walking past them in the airport. I’ve had almost 10 years of higher education, a master’s degree, and certification as a nurse practitioner, and I can tell you this: at no point have I ever diagnosed anyone by “airport walk-by.” The only diagnosis available there is entitlement.

With all the shake-ups at the CDC—firings, resignations, scientists shoved out—it feels like the adults left the room a long time ago. January 20th, to be exact. What we’re left with are quacks, charlatans, and political loyalists steering the ship of public health. That should terrify anyone who actually lived through the pandemic.

And then there’s RFK Jr. If there’s a fringe belief about disease prevention, you can bet he’s nodded along to it. Bleach injections, miracle cures, conspiracy theories—it’s all been on the menu. Sound familiar? We’ve already seen what happens when people in charge treat science like improv theater.

I was practicing during COVID. I saw the quackery up close in clinic after clinic. Patients came in citing “Dr. Google,” demanding ivermectin, insisting on what they’d “read online.” I had people flat-out challenge me when I refused to write the prescription. My answer? “I don’t want to kill you, and it won’t help.” Period.

Here’s the bigger issue: when did people decide they know more than doctors? Since when did Karen with a smartphone trump decades of medical training? The internet is not peer review. Facebook is not PubMed. And no, your uncle’s podcast is not a substitute for clinical trials.

I’ve worked alongside real medical professionals and scientists my whole career. They care deeply about accuracy. They fight hard for the truth. And yet the people actually making the decisions? They’re appointed for loyalty, not competence.

So here’s my very straightforward take: stop letting quacks run the show. Stop letting political appointees play doctor. Science matters, public health matters, and yes—straightforward—my dog and my mom both hate quacks.