To encourage robust, good-faith discussion about difficult issues, STAT publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays. Submit a Letter to the Editor here, or find the submission form at the end of any First Opinion essay. “An AI-based second opinion service could improve clinical decision-making today,” by Adam...

HIV has long stumped immunologists looking to develop an effective vaccine. All of the most promising approaches pioneered in the past three and a half decades have ultimately failed, and only a few months ago, the last trial expected to potentially deliver a vaccine within this decade was shut down. But HIV scientists are nothing if not resilient,...

When Black people receive maternal care, they are often not treated the same as white people. In 2016, when Simmone Taitt had her first pregnancy loss, she was very well insured, had a high-paying job as a tech executive, and had access to one of the top OB-GYNs in New York City. Yet, when she found out that her baby had no heartbeat, she left that...

In 2018, during her chemistry Nobel Prize lecture, Frances Arnold noted that scientists had arrived at a point where they could read, write, and edit any sequence of DNA. But composing whole genes or even whole genomes from scratch — that was something only evolution could do. A few years later, not long after helping to launch the Arc Institute, a...

SAN FRANCISCO — Health tech investor Bob Kocher has seen some bad AI-related startup pitches in his time. The worst typically involve AI chatbots masquerading as romantic partners to improve people’s mental health. “They pitch it to me as a mental health improvement model,” Kocher, a partner at venture capital firm Venrock, said. “If you’re sad, anxious,...

Hired someone new and exciting? Promoted a rising star? Finally solved that hard-to-fill spot? Share the news with us, and we’ll share it with others. That’s right. Send us your changes, and we’ll find a home for them. Don’t be shy. Everyone wants to know who is coming and going. And here is our regular feature in which we highlight a different person...