Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Kevin Fong, consultant anaesthetist and major-incident planner, reflects on Module Three of the UK Covid Inquiry. Alexandra Mullock, senior lecturer in medical law, and Danielle Griffiths, law academic on social justice, tackle the surge in invasive cosmetic procedures. They discuss staff experiences, moral injury, preparedness, regulation gaps, normalization of treatments, cross-border risks, and legal enforcement challenges.

Prashant Yadav, supply‑chain expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, explains how Gulf transport hubs and oil affect pharmaceutical logistics. Anny Huang, doctor and journalist, recounts Australia’s multi‑year IV fluid crisis and supplier concentration. Mark Dayan, Nuffield Trust policy analyst, analyses NHS procurement fragility and policy responses. They discuss transport disruptions, rerouting risks, stranded stock, and systemic supply‑chain vulnerabilities.

Nnena Osuji, consultant haematologist and NHS trust CEO, brings clinical and leadership insight. Kamila Hawthorne, former RCGP chair, speaks on general practice and continuity of care. Deborah Cohen, investigative journalist, explores how online platforms reshape health behaviours. They discuss health influencers, AI chatbots, access pressures, digital literacy, and how systems and clinicians shape trust and misinformation.

Dr Katie Bramall, Chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee and practising GP, speaks passionately about the new NHS GP contract. She highlights uncapped online consultations and shifting referral duties back to general practice. She warns this could fracture continuity of care, strain GP–consultant relationships, and jeopardise workforce recruitment and local leadership.

Faith Agumia, suicide prevention advocate working on community mental health in conflict zones. Michael Marmot, health equity expert focused on rising UK child poverty and local 'Marmot' initiatives. Rebecca Coombs, investigative journalist on urban wood burning and industry pressure. They discuss wood smoke and public health pushback. They cover the surge in child poverty and local responses. They explore community-led mental health care for children in conflict.

Azeem Majeed, a primary care and public health professor at Imperial College London, and Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and Vaccine journal editor. They map the 2026 measles surge across London, Canada, Texas and Mexico. They discuss how returning travelers drive spread, lost UK measles elimination status, access barriers to vaccination, politics and disinformation, and strategies to rebuild trust.

Dr Natasha Marrus, child psychiatrist and developmental researcher who studies autism presentation across development, and Dr Rosalind Adam, GP and survivorship researcher advocating for cancer as chronic care. They debate reframing cancer care into ongoing chronic-disease management and explore Swedish data showing autism diagnoses in females rise in adolescence, narrowing the historical male bias.

Catherine Forrest, a UCSF family medicine clinician with experience delivering assisted dying in California, and James Downer, head of palliative care at the University of Ottawa, discuss international experiences with assisted dying. They compare safeguards and assessment practices. They debate concerns about coercion, disability impacts, palliative care access, oversight and prognosis criteria. They call for evidence-based review.

Deborah Cohen, doctor, broadcaster, and author of Bad Influence, investigates how social media, influencers, and tech reshape health. She explores algorithms turning platforms into marketplaces for tests and treatments. Short-form content flattens medical nuance. She examines monetization of conditions, parasocial trust, and the struggle to regulate online health commerce.

Spencer Murch, psychologist and gambling harms researcher, outlines why online gambling’s immediacy and ads deepen harm and calls for clearer regulation. Luisa Pettigrew, practising GP and policy fellow, warns that digital shifts and access policies risk fragmenting care and worsening continuity. Hugh Alderwick, health system researcher, connects patient experiences of primary care access to the NHS 10 year plan and its practical tensions.