Please protect our world class NIH medical research programs

The Trump Administration’s purge of the federal government is already putting lifesaving work outside Washington at risk. By abruptly shutting down grant review panels and study sections at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), they have effectively blocking any new medical research relying on NIH funding from moving forward. This is a blow to American science – virtually every advance in American medicine and biological science is backed by the NIH. There is plenty of uncertainty here: it is unclear what exactly the administration’s plan or goal is with this move, and it may be part of an ordered communications pause by the Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies that is scheduled to end on February 1st. But Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has supported layoffs at the NIH and shifting its focus away from infectious diseases, and researchers warn that even short disruptions will lead to interruptions in funding and have long ripple effects on research. They have also imposed a hiring freeze and an indefinite travel ban, which is likely to put a hold on any clinical trials. I am gravely concerned about what Trump has done to our world-class health research programs. I urge you to do what you can to get the administration to reverse course immediately. Remember, if our top scientists face these arbitrary and disruptive limits on their work here, they will take their talent to competitor countries. California alone receives 5.31 billion dollars in NIH funding. NIH supported funding is responsible for 55,949 jobs in California, supporting over 13.5 billion dollars in economic activity.