The emails at the top of my inbox filled me with dread. They came from the National Institutes of Health, and they put years of scientific research at risk.
When I opened those emails on a Friday evening in March, I found that the NIH had cancelled all my research grants, effective immediately, because they focused on gay, lesbian and transgender health. The agency described my research as “antithetical to the scientific inquiry.”
Let me set the record straight: I’m not promoting radical ideology, woke ideology, gender ideology or any kind of ideology at all. I’m a scientist. I work to keep people healthy.
And I’m outraged that the federal government has abruptly — and, I believe, illegally — terminated contracts to support work that I and hundreds of my fellow researchers have been pursuing to better understand and combat cancer, heart disease, maternal mortality, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and countless other threats to health and well-being.
On April 2, I joined several fellow scientists, the American Public Health Association, a reproductive health organization and a labor union whose members rely on NIH grant funding in filing a federal lawsuit to contest the arbitrary termination of research grants. The suit names several defendants, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
We contend that the terminations amount to a “reckless and illegal purge” to stamp out scientific inquiry on topics and among populations that the administration disfavors, in violation of both congressional mandates and the NIH’s own strategic plan for advancing biomedical innovation.
This lawsuit is a fight for my professional survival. With my entire NIH portfolio wiped out, I cannot continue my work at the LGBTQ Health Center for Excellence unless donors step forward with multi-year commitments.
But this is about far more than my own future. This is a stand against the erosion of scientific freedom. And it’s a stand for better health for every one of us.
NIH funding has contributed to the development of virtually every therapeutic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These drugs have greatly improved life expectancies for people with cancer, HIV, heart disease and more such ailments.
Medications matter a great deal, but public health advances have been an even bigger contributor to improved health and longevity. And that progress, too, comes from NIH-funded research.
Some of our research may seem narrowly targeted. For instance, we may study why a particular population has a higher-than-expected risk of colon cancer. If you’re not a member of that group, you might question why your tax dollars should fund such research.
One answer is that we are all connected. Your child’s teacher may be a member of that group. Or your boss, or the chef at your favorite restaurant. If they are out of work for months, suffering from illnesses that could have been averted, your own life will be disrupted as well.
Another answer is that scientific progress is often transferrable. If we can identify and ...
