- Frank Baird Hughes
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- letter on NIH cuts
letter on NIH cuts
Addressing a group of people with heterogeneous political views.
Frank Hughes
February 17, 2025
Amid all the edicts and attacks and cuts to science and education, one thing I keep hearing is that people outside these fields or who are offline have little sense of what is happening. I deleted my Facebook and Instagram some time ago, so I both have no idea what my friends and family are talking about online. I thought back to how information was spread in the days before algal blooms of Morgan Freeman macros and Minions memes took over social media, and I wrote a group email to everyone I thought might potentially care, even if they supported Trump. I tried to keep it narrowly focused on points of potential agreement:
Hello all!
Over the past few weeks, the new presidential administration has enacted spending and workforce reduction policies via the Department of Government Efficiency that directly threatens my family's well being. I know we made different choices back in November, but I think the cuts hurt your families as well.
I'll start with how my family is affected. As you may know, [SPOUSE] is a biomedical scientist. Her employer receives significant funding from the National Institutes of Health to support research into common diseases, including cancer. The funding freezes and reductions threaten the existence of many such biomedical research orgs.
The continued viability of American biomedical science is also in doubt. The NIH is the biggest public funder of biomedical research in the USA and in the world. This is the work of treating diabetes, cancer, dementia, and heart disease. The grants made by the NIH support medical research in every state. This money also supports your local economies.
You can check the impact of NIH funding in your state here: https://www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-state
For instance:
In 2024, Pennsylvania received $2.23 billion, with an economic impact of $5.23 billion. This money directly supports 21,784 research jobs and an additional 92,229 jobs in the bioscience industries.
South Carolina got hundreds of millions, with grants going to the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, and Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. This represents 3,818 researchers and 19,049 bioscience jobs in SC.
Oklahoma got $148 million that supports 2,490 researchers and 9,397 bioscience jobs. The economic benefit was $426 million.
If you know someone who survived cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, their treatments would not exist without NIH grants. If you or someone you know works at a research university or hospital, the cuts are an attack on these livelihoods and on your local economies.
If you are so moved, you can contact your representative and senators:
Felt better than saying nothing, I guess! I got some emails back expressing similar concerns, which made me feel less alone.
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