July 28, 2026
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Morning Rounds Writer and Reporter

Good morning. We’ve got a pretty juicy story from STAT’s Jason Mast for you today. Pour your coffee and scroll down.

reproductive health

Racial disparities persist in PMOS

Davvon Branker for STAT

Endometriosis, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, and uterine fibroids are common but painful gynecological conditions that often go undiagnosed, especially in women of color. New data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics highlight this: Among women ages 20 to 49, 6.2% had an endometriosis diagnosis, 8.7% had one for PMOS, and 7.8% did for uterine fibroids. (All three numbers are lower than what experts estimate the prevalence to be.) The data, based on a 2022-2023 survey of nearly 5,000 women, also showed that PMOS diagnosis was lowest among Black women (4.4%).

The federal report refers to the disease by its former name, PCOS, which was updated to PMOS in May. Experts and advocates hope the new name will help create new awareness of the disease among Black and Latina women, who are more likely to suffer more severe symptoms and experience delayed diagnosis, barriers to care, and low rates of insurance coverage. STAT contributor Anissa Durham wrote about these challenges in a new story published today. Read more.

politics

Anthony Fauci’s diary

Over the weekend, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released a trove of pandemic-era diary entries by former NIAID director Anthony Fauci, who is expected to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee tomorrow morning. Paul hopes to pressure Fauci on what he believes is a “cover-up” about the origins of the Covid pandemic. (In his memoir, Fauci reflected on how he would do things differently regarding the virus if given another chance.)

“This is all a colossal waste of time in which the far right is trying to link the COVID pandemic with work supported by NIAID In a sub award to the Wuhan institute of virology [sic],” Fauci wrote in a diary entry on July 14, 2021, after preparing for a Senate health committee hearing. It seems reasonable to guess that he views tomorrow’s hearing similarly.

Earlier in 2021, he lamented how right-wing writers and commentators “spend much of their time making me out to be the worst villain in the world and or trying to discredit me.” Posts on X chastising Fauci for privately chronicling his own experience with fame appear to corroborate this perspective.

infectious disease

Why experts are worried about an HIV resurgence

International funding to combat HIV suffered a “profound shock” last year, according to a new report from UNAIDS, a United Nations effort around the virus. The report found that disbursements from donor governments to low- and middle-income countries decreased 25% from 2024 to 2025. Overall funding to combat HIV fell 18%, to $6.2 billion.

“We’re very concerned,” said Angeli Achrekar from UNAIDS. “The progress that has been made is faltering.” As STAT’s Ed Silverman reports, much of the blame has been directed at the U.S. A separate report from KFF, also released yesterday, details the sharp reduction in American funding last year. Read more on what we can learn from the numbers.

biotech

How one disease went from ‘lost cause’ to gold rush

Mike Reddy for STAT

More than 200,000 people in North America and Europe are estimated to have alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a rare liver disorder that was possibly spread through a Viking conquest. Due to a single genetic spelling error (an “A” where there should be a “G”), the liver produces a mutant version of a protein that typically works to protect the lungs, putting both organs at risk.

Most people have never heard of the disease, but over the last five years, executives at more than a half dozen biotech companies have realized the condition is the perfect match for new technologies capable of changing individual letters of DNA or RNA. That also means there’s a lot of money to be made for the company that can get a treatment to market. STAT’s Jason Mast reported on the contentious race among companies, which features patent wars, a broken alliance, and of course, growing anxiety about the rise of Chinese biotech. Read more.

addiction

New data on American substance use

Yesterday SAMHSA released the results of its 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Here are some highlights:

  • More than half (56%) of people age 12 and older used tobacco, nicotine, alcohol, or an illicit drug in the past month. Most of those people were drinking alcohol.
  • Among those who were currently drinking, 44% engaged in binge drinking over the course of the year. In the past month, 19.5% had binged, a decrease from nearly 22% in 2021.
  • The percentage of people who used nicotine products largely didn’t change from 2022, the earliest year to which comparisons can be made. But among nicotine products, the percentage of people smoking cigarettes decreased across age groups while the percentage of people vaping mostly increased.
  • Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug, with 21% of people using it in 2025. By comparison, just 3% used hallucinogens and 2% misused prescription opioids. The survey found no change in the number of people knowingly using illegal fentanyl at 0.3%.
  • Forty-four million people had a substance use disorder last year. Among adults 18 and older, 54.6 million (almost 21%) had any mental illness.

There’s a lot more data — you can check out the agency’s highlights here.

neurotransmissions

AAIC: Brain as infrastructure, brain as business

This summer, neurologist and STAT contributor Jason Karlawish attended the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference for the first time in nine years. Since his last visit to London, a lot has changed about the way we think about the aging brain, he writes in his latest column.

Until recently, “the aging brain was an enigmatic, largely impenetrable organ,” he writes. “AAIC2026 showed how suddenly, and now all at once, this is changing.” The organ is like a building or public transportation system. But perhaps most importantly, there’s finally a business model for brain health that can help maintain and improve it. Read more from Karlawish on his experience and where the field stands.

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