The National Institutes of Health is the world’s largest source of funding for medical research. It has also undergone huge budget cuts in recent weeks imposed by the Trump administration, which prompts thoughts from Dr. Timothy Johnson, long-time ABC News medical editor and founding editor of the Harvard Medical School Health Letter:
Over the course of my long career in medical journalism, I had the great privilege of getting to know many of the leading medical researchers in this country. They were typically people of great integrity who had dedicated themselves to the often-frustrating and tedious task of painstaking research to find new cures and preventions for important medical problems. And the bottom line for many of them was that, without government support, they could never have achieved the discoveries that have helped us all.
Which is why I am stunned by a recent report that states the Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health has stopped payments on grants totaling more than $1.8 billion for nearly 700 specific medical research projects.
This sledgehammer approach will cause terrible damage to many outstanding research programs, and it will destroy the careers of many young medical scientists just starting their research. These are dedicated people who have already put in many years of difficult training and may be on the cusp of some major discoveries.
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And I believe it is possible that many of these suddenly-defunded researchers will find positions in other welcoming countries – a “brain drain” in reverse from the flow of many scientists into this country during and after World War II.
So, why aren’t more politicians insisting on a more surgical approach that would find legitimate savings without potentially destroying the research infrastructure that has served our country so well for decades?
Put simply, we are facing a choice between smart decisions or reckless destruction that may affect our nation’s health for generations to come.
And if I may use a sophisticated medical term, it seems to me that the right choice is a “no-brainer.”
Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: Carol Ross.
