"This is not about suing doctors, it's about changing the broken system at the DoD so that our soldiers are safe." -- Natalie Khawam, of the Whistleblower Law Firm in Tampa, Florida, on Army Sgt. Richard Stayskal's challenge to the Feres Doctrine, which prevents active-duty military from suing the federal government for negligence, including medical malpractice.
"If I invented a drug that could give a 20% improved survival in head and neck cancer patients ... I would probably be getting handed a large amount of funding." -- Vikas Mehta, MD, MPH, of Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, discussing research showing that delaying start of treatment was linked with worse survival.
"Mint is essentially a candy flavor, and it's the new 'mango' for kids." -- Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, on the proposal to ban flavored vaping products, including mint and menthol.
"If we have a crystal ball vision from polling, this is not a great picture." -- Gillian SteelFisher, PhD, of Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, discussing a survey that showed fewer than 40% of adults trust vaccine information provided by public health authorities.
"The importance of this finding cannot be overestimated." -- Hashem B. El-Serag, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, on a study that found eradication of H. pylori infection reduces the risk of gastric cancer.
"There's no sense of urgency, even though this is their company that's getting ripped off." -- William Murphy, a prosecutor for the Alameda Count District Attorney's Office in Oakland, California, discussing insurers' attitudes toward finding and prosecuting criminals who commit healthcare fraud.
"I think we really have to redefine what we mean by 'cure' in lung cancer." -- Martin Reck, MD, of the Lung Clinic Grosshansdorf in Germany, on studies showing a dramatic increase in 3- and 5-year survival since the introduction of immunotherapy.
"This may open the floodgates." -- Satish Pillai, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, on the potential of CRISPR gene-editing to have clinical benefit outside the laboratory.