Modesto Bee: 39 Doctors Matched For Residency Programs At Modesto Hospital
A cohort of 39 physician residents is coming to Modesto to begin the next step of medical training in June. For many years, Stanislaus County’s family practice residency captured the attention during “Match Week,” the traditional process for pairing residents with intensive medical training programs nationwide. But this cohort, including 19 resident physicians in internal medicine and 13 in family medicine, is the first to participate in the new three-year Sutter Health programs based at Memorial Medical Center. (Carlson, 3/24)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Carlsbad’s Ionis Strikes Deal With Japanese Pharma Worth Up To $940M
Carlsbad’s Ionis Pharmaceuticals struck a deal worth up to $940 million with Japan-based Ono Pharmaceutical for its medicine targeting a chronic blood disorder. (Rocha, 3/24)

Modern Healthcare: AMN Healthcare Survey Finds Managers, Executives Ready To Leave
More healthcare leaders are planning to leave their organizations in the next year, according to a survey from B.E. Smith, a member of staffing group AMN Healthcare, which focuses on leadership positions. The survey of 588 healthcare leaders, ranging from managers to C-suite executives, shows that 46% of respondents intend to leave their organizations within the next 12 months, compared with 41% in 2024. (DeSilva, 3/24)

KQED: UCSF Loses Top Heart Surgeon Over Trump’s Hostility Toward Canada
Cross-border politics have cost the UCSF Medical Center a leading heart surgeon from Canada who was set to start his job this month but changed his mind. The reason: economic and political hostility toward our northern neighbor emanating from the Trump administration. UCSF touted the hiring of Dr. Marc Ruel late last year, saying he would be relocating from Canada to serve as the chief of the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery. (Shafer, 3/25)

Los Angeles Times: USC Calls For Hiring Freeze, Austerity Efforts Amid Budget Woes And Trump Investigations
Roiled by multiple investigations from the Trump administration, USC has announced a slate of cutbacks — including a staff hiring freeze — as it braces for what it called “federal funding uncertainty” in a letter released Monday. Among the nine austerity measures are a reassessment of capital spending projects and restrictions on discretionary spending, according to the letter signed by university leaders including outgoing President Carol Folt. The USC actions come at a time of unprecedented threats against universities by the Trump administration. It has vowed to cut federal funding — including key medical and science research grants — to institutions that do not comply with its directives. (Miller and Kaleem, 3/25)

Stat: NIH Removing Outside Scientific Advisers Who Evaluate Research 
Prominent outside scientists who help the National Institutes of Health evaluate its internal research programs are being abruptly removed, according to five advisers whose positions were terminated and a recording of an internal meeting obtained by STAT. (Molteni and Mast, 3/24)

The Washington Post: European Universities Compete To Poach Top U.S. Scientists
Europe is investing millions in a flurry of newly announced academic programs, in an energetic effort to lure top American scientists across the Atlantic at the same time as President Donald Trump casts many U.S. research efforts into turmoil with funding cuts and executive edicts. Spurred by “alarming political interference in academic research by the Trump administration,” Brussels’s Vrije Universiteit (VUB), or Free University, allocated $2.7 million in funding last week for at least 12 new postdoctoral roles open to “censored Americans.” (Sands, 3/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court To Block Order Reinstating Federal Employees 
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block a judge’s order requiring it to reinstate more than 16,000 federal employees, as administration officials vow to seek the justices’ intervention in clearing away lower-court rulings that have slowed Trump policies. In her Supreme Court brief, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argues that the case should have been thrown out of court because it was filed by labor unions and other organizations rather than the terminated employees themselves. (Bravin, 3/24)

Politico: Trump Administration Shuttering Long Covid Office
The Trump administration is shuttering HHS’ long Covid office as part of its reorganization, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO. The email was sent Monday by Ian Simon, the head of the Office of Long Covid Research and Practice. It said the closing is part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ reorganization. (Gardner and Ollstein, 3/24)

ProPublica: NIH Ends Funding To Study The Health Effects Of Climate Change 
The National Institutes of Health will no longer be funding work on the health effects of climate change, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica. The guidance, which was distributed to several staffers last week, comes on the back of multiple new directives to cut off NIH funding to grants that are focused on subjects that are viewed as conflicting with the Trump administration’s priorities, such as gender identity, LGBTQ+ issues, vaccine hesitancy, and diversity, equity and inclusion. (Waldman and Lerner, 3/24)

Stat: Trump Picks Susan Monarez To Run The CDC 
After the chaotic withdrawal of President Trump’s previous nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the president selected the CDC’s acting director, Susan Monarez, to lead the agency. (Owermohle and Branswell, 3/24)

Newsweek: Who Is Dr. Susan Monarez? Donald Trump's Pick To Lead CDC 
Susan Monarez has previously held several prominent positions within the U.S. government. She served as deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), where she led initiatives in artificial intelligence and health technology. She has also held roles at the Department of Homeland Security and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. This nomination is notable as Monarez would be the first CDC director to require Senate confirmation, following a law change in 2022. Previous directors could assume leadership immediately after presidential appointment without this process. (Whisnant and Adeosun, 3/24)

KVPR: Trump's Back-To-Office Order Will Hurt Veterans, VA Docs And Therapists Say
As the Department of Veterans Affairs calls staff working in telehealth into offices across the country, a widespread concern about lack of space has emerged. The change will compromise medical ethics and patients' privacy, clinicians and advocates at multiple VA locations told NPR. Telehealth has become common in recent years among medical professionals — especially for mental health therapists — and the VA hired many clinicians on a remote basis. The practice allowed the VA to expand its reach of mental health services into rural areas. (Riddle, 3/25)

Military.com: As Pentagon's Top Health Nominee Prepares For Confirmation Hearing, One Senator Has A Lot Of Questions 
Ahead of his confirmation hearing Thursday to become assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Keith Bass is facing tough questions from a prominent Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Bass, a retired Navy commander and substance abuse counselor who previously led the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Medical Services and the White House Medical Unit, was nominated Dec. 22 to manage the Defense Department's $61 billion health system, which serves 9.5 million beneficiaries, including 1.3 million active-duty troops. (Kime, 3/24)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: A Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Moving To Fire 2 Transgender Air Force Members
A federal judge on Monday agreed to temporarily block President Donald Trump's administration from initiating proceedings that could lead to the firing of two transgender men serving in the U.S. Air Force — the latest legal setback in the administration's push to implement sweeping changes in the military. The decision by U.S. District Judge Christine P. O'Hearn came less than a week after the men — Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade — sued to try to prevent their impending dismissal under Trump's executive order seeking to bar transgender people from serving in the military. They filed suit in New Jersey because Bade is stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, and Ireland recently was stationed there for a training program. (Palmer, 3/24)

KQED: As LGBTQ Nonprofits Fear Targeted Attacks, SF Will Consider Easing Disclosure Rules
San Francisco city officials will consider removing some personal information from nonprofits’ financial disclosure requirements after LGBTQ organizations expressed concern that they could put staffers in danger in the current political landscape. On Monday, the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee gave the first nod of approval to an amendment of the city administrative code that would strike requirements for organizations to include employees’ personal information and some financial documents in annual economic statements to the city. (DeBenedetti, 3/24)

KQED: Amid Rising Threats, Transgender Community Builds Bonds At This SF Self-Defense Class
Alexis Jimenez said a stalker came to her house and knocked on her door years ago. “[It was] kind of scary,” she recalled. “After that incident, I thought about scenarios of what could have happened and whether or not I’m prepared to defend myself in those situations.” Jimenez, who had taken a few years of taekwondo, wanted to gain new skills, so she registered for free self-defense training offered by the Transgender District, a nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood founded by and for trans women. (Taylor, 3/25)

Sacramento Bee: Anti-Trans Athlete Bills To Be Heard In CA Assembly Committee
Members of the California Assembly will consider a pair of bills targeting transgender athletes next week, a surprising development that comes weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom called trans athletes’ participation in sports “deeply unfair” on his podcast. ... [Rancho Santa Margarita Republican Kate] Sanchez's bill would require the organization that oversees public school sports and extracurricular activities to ban trans girls from playing women’s sports. [Corona Republican Bill] Essayli’s bill would overturn a landmark 2013 state law enshrining the rights of students from kindergarten to 12th grade to participate on sports teams and use locker rooms that reflect their gender identity. (Russell, 3/24)

The Oaklandside: West Oakland Homeless Shelters Will Close In June — Not March
That was fast: a few days after a service provider announced the looming closure of two West Oakland shelters, the organization and the city reached an agreement to keep the programs open a little longer. However, both shelters — the Wood Street “Community Cabins” and the RV “safe parking” site — will still see their final days soon. The programs, which house dozens of homeless people, will shut down June 30. (Orenstein, 3/24)

CalMatters: California Considers More Homeless Shelter Oversight
A new state bill would add more oversight to California homeless shelters after a CalMatters investigation exposed that many taxpayer-funded facilities are plagued by violence, mismanagement and low success rates. ... Under the new proposal, local governments would be required to perform annual inspections of taxpayer-funded shelters, and cities and counties could lose state funding if they fail to correct code violations or keep neglecting to file mandatory reports. Shelter operators would also have to do more to inform residents of their rights to file complaints. (Hepler, 3/24)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Unified To Vote On Resolutions Providing Housing To Educators 
The San Diego Unified School District board on Tuesday will consider three resolutions aimed at providing affordable housing to educators that would allow them to live in the community where they work. (Stephenson, 3/24)

Politico: When Will California See The Money Prop 35 Promised?
The powerful health care interests who put Proposition 35 on the ballot last November had a simple pitch for the complex initiative: a tax no voter paid would provide a long-awaited pay bump to doctors and hospitals who serve the state’s lowest-income residents. Californians overwhelmingly accepted the offer, giving Prop 35 more than two-thirds of the vote, but are no closer to seeing the changes they were promised. (Bluth, Schultheis and McCarthy, 3/24)

San Diego Union-Times: Tuberculosis Cases Continue To Increase In San Diego
Monday was World Tuberculosis Day and, as usual, Americans had reason to celebrate, with incidence rates that are among the best anywhere, according to the World Health Organization. But that does not mean there is not room for further improvement, especially in San Diego County. In a recent announcement calling for greater tuberculosis awareness, the San Diego County health department indicates that the region had 7.5 tuberculosis cases per 100,000 residents in 2024, a rate that is more than double the national rate of 3 per 100,000 and 5.4 per 100,000 in California. (Sisson, 3/25)

CalMatters: New fire maps put nearly 4 million Californians in hazardous zones. What does that mean for the people who live there?
Cal Fire released its fourth and final round of color-coded hazard maps. Different colors come with different rules. (Christopher, 3/24)

Los Angeles Times: Swimming Pools In Eaton Fire Burn Area Could Become Breeding Grounds For Mosquitoes, Officials Warn
As Los Angeles experiences its warmest temperatures of the season so far, officials in the San Gabriel Valley are warning residents that untended swimming pools and other standing water in the Eaton fire burn area could become breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. The destruction caused by January’s firestorm left behind “thousands of unmaintained swimming pools, damaged septic systems and debris-filled areas — ideal conditions for mosquitoes to grow,” said Jason Farned, district manager with the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. (Smith, 3/25)

Bay Area News Group: Pleasanton And Livermore Fire Department Facilities Investigated For Groundwater Contamination As Search For New Wells Continues 
Officials are investigating several fire stations between Livermore and Pleasanton for water contamination as Pleasanton continues looking for new well sites. In 2023, The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board started to examine facilities for evidence of possible PFAS, or polyfluoroalkyl substances, in groundwater and runoff storm water in the two cities. (Martin, 3/25)