IMA Brings Independent Medical Research to CHEST 2026 This week, Independent Medical Alliance physicians and research collaborators presented original research at the CHEST 2026 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, covering key issues in pulmonary and critical care medicine, including predicting respiratory failure in influenza, mechanical ventilation, and pulmonary hypertension. Under the leadership and mentorship of IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron), these presentations reflect IMA's commitment to independent, evidence-based research and supporting the next generation of medical researchers. @accpchest

Dr. Joseph Varon Explains the Risks and Warning Signs of Blood Clots This morning, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) joined host @janjeffcoat on The National Desk (@TND) to discuss reports of blood clots in NFL quarterback Jalen Hurts and explain how blood clots develop, when they can become life-threatening, and the warning signs everyone should know. Watch the full interview. 🔽

'Gut Health and Cancer: Exploring the Microbiome Connection' On this week's show, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) was joined by Dr. Sabine Hazan (@SabinehazanMD) for an important discussion on the connection between gut health and cancer, emerging microbiome research, and what it could mean for cancer prevention and treatment. Watch now.

'Gut Health and Cancer: Exploring the Microbiome Connection' - Watch this week's IMA show with host Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) and special guest Dr. Sabine Hazan (@SabinehazanMD): imahealth.org/gut-health-and…

Dr. Joseph Varon: I've Rediscovered Why I Became a Doctor In his latest Brownstone Institute (@brownstoneinst) article, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) reflects on how 40 years of practicing medicine, 715 consecutive days caring for patients during COVID, and his own experience as a patient following a stroke and 19-day hospitalization have shaped his approach to medicine. Read his powerful personal reflection at the link below. 🔽

Gut Health and Cancer: Exploring the Microbiome Connection xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1wxWjlzzm…

Brownstone Phoenix Supper Club, October 19, 2026: Dr. Joe Varon brownstone.org/event/brownst…

Upcoming Event: Dr. Joseph Varon to Speak at the Brownstone Phoenix Supper Club IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) will join @brownstoneinst's Phoenix Supper Club on Monday, October 19th to share lessons learned from decades in critical care and his firsthand experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. He'll also discuss the importance of open scientific debate, the doctor-patient relationship, and the future of medicine. Learn more and reserve your tickets today - link below. 🔽

LIVE TONIGHT! Gut Health and Cancer: Exploring the Microbiome Connection On tonight's show, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) will be joined by Dr. Sabine Hazan (@SabinehazanMD) for a fascinating discussion on the connection between gut health and cancer, emerging microbiome research, and what it could mean for cancer prevention and treatment. Wednesday, October 14, at 7pm ET. Livestream here on X!

THIS WEEK! Gut Health and Cancer: Exploring the Microbiome Connection On this week's show, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) will be joined by Dr. Sabine Hazan (@SabinehazanMD) for a fascinating discussion on the connection between gut health and cancer, emerging microbiome research, and what it could mean for cancer prevention and treatment. Join us Wednesday, October 14, at 7pm ET. Livestream right here on X!

Independent Doctors Applaud HHS for Opening NIH Clinic to Study and Treat Vaccine-Injured Patients IMA physicians, who have been raising alarms for over 5 years about mRNA COVID shot injuries, say patients are finally getting the long overdue attention they need. FULL STATEMENT: WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), a national coalition of independent physicians, researchers and clinicians, today applauded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (@HHSGov) for opening a National Institutes of Health (@NIH) clinic dedicated to studying and treating patients who report health problems after vaccination. The IMA also praised HHS for simultaneously announcing a broader list of reforms to strengthen how the federal government documents and investigates vaccine injuries. The clinic, which opened Oct. 5 on the Bethesda, Maryland NIH campus, brings patient care and scientific investigation together under one roof. HHS also announced that, in order to bolster comprehensive vaccine injury reporting: 1. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposes that physicians be reimbursed for their time spent filing reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). 2. Electronic health records will now be required to capture vaccine-related adverse events, thereby bolstering the accuracy of vaccine injury reporting. 3. The CDC also announced its overhauling VAERS to simplify reporting and provide better analytics for vaccine researchers. “For years, vaccine injury was relegated to the backseat, VAERS data was regarded as unreliable, and doctors who viewed vaccine injury as a serious concern were marginalized,” said Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron), President and Chief Medical Officer of the IMA. “Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) and his team deserve real credit for prioritizing vaccine injury with the policy changes and tangible resources desperately needed to help those injured. And the fact is, without Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, these changes would not have happened.” During COVID, the IMA and others raised alarms about cardiac and other adverse events reported after the mRNA shots. In 2022, the IMA published a clinical treatment protocol for patients suffering lingering symptoms after COVID-19 vaccination, at a time when major public health refused to formally recognize the condition and no diagnostic code existed for it. Under Secretary Kennedy, however, federal regulators have turned their focus to these and other injuries, including requiring Pfizer (@pfizer) and Moderna (@moderna_tx) to strengthen the myocarditis and pericarditis warnings on their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine labels. “A physician's first duty is to ‘do no harm,’ yet the growing number of vaccine injuries, particularly during COVID years, has left tens of thousands of patients with life-altering conditions,” continued Dr. Varon. “The reforms announced yesterday are part of a long-overdue reckoning, and strong steps toward rebuilding the trust that was lost.” The IMA’s Journal of Independent Medicine (@JIndepMed) has become one of America’s leading forums where doctors can freely discuss the vaccine injuries they’re seeing on the frontlines and the treatment protocols that have the greatest success. The IMA was also named earlier this year an official advisor to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Two Hundred Fifty Years of American Medicine: What We Built, What We Lost, and What Must Be Restored In the latest installment of IMA’s 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 250 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 series, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) and IMA Senior Director of Communications & International Fellowship Program @LynneKristensen reflect on the triumphs, failures, and hard lessons of American medicine—and why the next 250 years should prioritize restoring trust, protecting clinical judgment, honoring informed consent, and putting patients back at the center of care. Read the full article, originally published in the Journal of Independent Medicine (@JIndepMed), below. 🔽

Don't miss next week's show, 'The Gut Microbiome and Cancer: Why it Matters,' with host Dr. @joevaron and special guest Dr. Sabine Hazan (@SabinehazanMD)!

Save the Date! IMA's 2027 Conference is taking place April 30-May 1, 2027 in Las Colinas, TX! geni.us/IMA-2027

Thank you so much for your support! And for helping us do what we do! imahealth.org/donate

Dr. Joseph Varon: When Did Obesity Become a Drug Deficiency? Obesity has risen dramatically in just a few generations. So what changed? In his latest @brownstoneinst article, IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron) looks beyond the prescription pad—examining changes in our food, physical activity, sleep, environment, and society that may have helped drive the obesity epidemic. Drugs like GLP-1s may offer important benefits for some patients, but their success shouldn’t keep medicine from asking the bigger question: What changed to drive such a dramatic rise in obesity? Read the full article - link below. 🔽

Plague in Russia? After COVID, Americans Don't Know Whom to Believe, and That Should Alarm Everyone Independent physicians warn that public distrust of health authorities is now a public-health threat in its own right, and that it will not heal without real accountability. FULL STATEMENT: WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), a national coalition of independent physicians, researchers, and clinicians, said today that the public's reaction to reports of a suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Siberia is a strong warning to Washington, D.C. that health institutions have yet to earn back the credibility and public trust they spent during COVID. That credibility will only come through real accountability for the COVID-era abuses. "When an alarm goes off and half the country assumes it's a con, the alarm system is broken," said IMA President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Varon (@joevaron). "That’s a direct result of years of spin, the censorship of practicing frontline physicians, and the coercive mandates imposed on American families by a health bureaucracy far too close to the pharmaceutical industry. And, as we all know, time has vindicated the doctors of the Independent Medical Alliance and others who were silenced and threatened.” “So, now when Americans hear 'plague' and 'mRNA vaccine' in the same breath, their response is: ‘fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me,’" concluded Dr. Varon. Russian authorities have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after the death of a laboratory worker at a regional anti-plague research institute in the Irkutsk region. Russian health authorities have not confirmed that she contracted plague, and the @WhiteHouse and State Department (@StateDept) say they are monitoring the situation. Online, Americans are split between panic and contempt, neither reaction being helpful. At the same time, social media exploded with recirculated headlines about an Israeli-developed mRNA vaccine for pneumonic plague. That vaccine was tested in mice and announced more than a year ago. To many Americans, the pattern looked all too familiar. "Pneumonic plague deserves a serious response," Dr. Varon continued. "Here is what the public should know: plague is a bacterial infection, and when it is caught early, it is treatable with inexpensive, widely available antibiotics. Americans deserve that kind of straight talk, and they did not get it during COVID, when early treatment was dismissed, and the doctors who pursued it were punished.” “If this threat, or the next one, turns out to be real, we need health authorities people actually believe,” said Dr. Varon. “That will not happen until Congress and the Department of Justice (@dojphofficial) conduct genuine investigations and hold accountable those responsible for the COVID-era abuses. But simply issuing more promises and press releases won't restore that trust."

Published in the Journal of Independent Medicine: A New Review of Autism Risk Factors Dr. Peter McCullough (@P_McCulloughMD) and @NicHulscher joined host Dr. @joevaron on a recent IMA webinar to discuss the important findings of their paper, 'Determinants of Autism Spectrum Disorder,' published in the Journal of Independent Medicine (@JIndepMed). Watch the full discussion and read paper - links below. 🔽