You can chart 2025’s biggest and most important life sciences topics through the most read First Opinion essays of the year: vaccines, health insurance costs, whether AI is fulfilling its promise, the MAHA movement, and general chaos within the federal government.
But the top 20 pieces — 10 free, 10 behind our STAT+ paywall — are more interesting and revealing than that list, with each story adding important nuance and personal voices to debates often flattened into pro or con.
What strikes me the most is the breadth of the authors of the pieces. There’s a dentist, a first-year medical student, a recent medical school grad, a Theranos whistleblower, biotech and pharma executives, a medical archivist, a nutrition science researcher, a biomedical scientist, so many physicians, and other experts. One story is from 2023 — apparently people will never stop Googling for what they can eat before a colonoscopy! — and four are from 2024, making it clear that First Opinion pieces remain relevant long after publication.
In 2026, First Opinion will continue to bring you new ways of looking at the news as well as the quieter but no less important ideas and stories that haven’t yet broken through. And while I think predictions are a fool’s game, I feel confident that many of these same topics will show up on next year’s list, too.
Got an idea for a First Opinion? Here’s how to submit one.
Free
1. “The wellness industry is killing animals, spreading disease, and fueling the next pandemic,” by Andrea Love
2. “I’m a dentist from India. The fluoride debate in the U.S. horrifies me,” by Mannat Tiwana
3. “I study diet and chronic illness. Here’s the uncomfortable truth about seed oils,” by Jane Zhao
4. “Medical schools are eliminating the use of cadavers, and that’s a shame,” by Nadir Al-Saidi
5. “An insurance company is introducing a new threat to American medicine,” by Ryan Nadelson
6. “‘Rationing by inconvenience’: Health insurers count on customers not appealing denials,” by Miranda Yaver
7. “Insurance companies like United Healthcare are not the only ones to blame for a broken system,” by Elliott S. Fisher
8. “Proposed changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would be devastating to new physicians,” by Kaley Parchinski
9. “The evidence is clear: A liquid-only diet before a colonoscopy is unnecessary,” by Benjamin Lebwohl
10. “Do you remember the Human Genome Project? I’m not sure the Trump administration wants you to,” by Zachary Utz
STAT+
1. “I’m a geriatric physician. Here’s what I think is going on with Trump’s executive function,” by Joanne Lynn
2. “I was a Theranos whistleblower. Here’s what I think Elizabeth Holmes is up to,” by Tyler Shultz
3. “RFK Jr. ally’s ‘smoking gun’ study on vaccines and chronic illness is fundamentally flawed,” by Jake Scott
4. “Volatile is the new normal for the biotech workforce,” by Gairik Sachdeva
5. “The life sciences industry needs a new approach,” by Noël Theodosiou and Yogi Hendlin
6. “The travel industry offers hospitals a warning about MyChart,” by Seth Joseph
7. “Why isn’t AI transforming biopharma as fast as we’d like?” by Greg Meyers
8. “RFK Jr. says he isn’t an anti-vaxxer. He’s wrong,” by Jonathan M. Berman
9. “Philanthropists Laura and John Arnold warn: Beware hospital consolidation,” by Laura and John Arnold
10. “We set out to quantify U.S. academic contributions to medicines. The results stunned even us,” by Kevin Gardner and Michael Kinch
