One of the most maddening things that has happened in the last two years of Trump 2.0 has been the gutting of medical research. Since losing my husband to colon cancer and my sister to pancreatic cancer, as well as many friends to various cancers and other diseases, supporting science and scientists has become a mission for me. That’s one reason I co-founded Stand Up To Cancer in 2008 — to raise money and awareness for cancer research and encourage scientists to collaborate instead of compete, which was a novel idea back then. If two heads were better than one, we reckoned that ten heads were better than two. So we organized our scientists and researchers into “dream teams” where they could share ideas and approaches and move science forward faster. Our work has been fruitful — we have raised over $800 million, and our research has contributed to several new FDA-approved drugs, like Keytruda. But I know very well that we have miles to go before we sleep and so much work to do when it comes to all kinds of diseases that take the lives of far too many Americans every year — often in the prime of their lives. So when the Trump administration started cutting our scientific infrastructure, it made me crazy. Clinical trials were stopped midstream, labs were abandoned, Ph.D. programs were dismantled, and talented scientists with potentially lifesaving ideas were left unfunded and dejected. In fact, many left their fields altogether or moved to countries where their work would be more valued and supported, financially and otherwise.
That’s why, amid all the post-election analysis, I’ve been especially interested in what the midterms could mean for the future of American science. With Democrats winning both chambers of Congressthere’s finally an opportunity to push back against the Trump administration’s attacks on scientific research and public health. Will anything change now that a whole slew of new sheriffs is in town?
My friend Dr. Jeremy Faust recently posed this question to a group of physicians, researchers, and health policy experts for his newsletter, Inside Medicine: What could the new Congress realistically accomplish with President Trump still in the White House?
Jeremy asked me, too.
Source: katiecouric.substack.com
