Research funding from the Feds

The Trump-Musk administration is trying  to cut funding for research (which was apparent even before the confirmation of anti-science nominee RFK Jr for HHS head). The most broadly publicized cut has used a criterion most people outside of the grants world haven’t heard of, limiting overhead rates to a very low level. But co-President Musk’s pronouncements have made it clear that many research institutions will be facing cutbacks, regardless of the method used. In the past, Congress has been generous with research funding, recognizing its huge importance. Much of this perspective is due to the influence of prominent Americans after the end of WWII, such as Vannevar Bush. Another such great American was an innovator and proselytizer for cancer research: Dr. Sidney Farber.

A 20th Century Hero

You can read about Dr. Farber in his Wikipedia page, or in the popular book about cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies, which features him as one of the pioneers fighting that disease. His original claim to fame, from his early days as a pathologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston, was his treatment of leukemia with aminopterin, the first drug used for cancer treatment with chemotherapy. As important as this advance was, arguably one of his greatest contributions was his work to convince Congress to support cancer research at a significant level. I think the Wikipedia article describes this well:

“Beginning in the early 1950s, and continuing until his death in 1973, Farber became a star presenter at Congressional hearings on appropriations for cancer research. A compelling speaker, he was very successful in his efforts. With Mary Woodard Lasker, a longtime advocate of biomedical research, famed surgeon Michael E. DeBakey, Senator J. Lister Hill of Alabama and Congressman John E. Fogarty of Rhode Island, Farber led the drive for a massive expansion in federal spending for cancer research. Between 1957 and 1967, the annual budget of the National Cancer Institute, the government’s primary funder of cancer research, jumped from $48 million to $176 million.”

Cancer funding, necessary and at risk

This was the start of decades of advances in cancer treatment. While early hopes of totally defeating cancer were unfulfilled, there are now many kinds of cancer that can be put into remission for extended periods. It is highly unlikely that this could have happened without government funding of the kind that Dr. Farber fought for. 

All of this is now under attack, not just for cancer research, but for all kinds of other desperately needed biomedical research (and other critical intellectual advances) – the Administration seems to literally be opposed to the advancement of knowledge. There is a serious risk of a slowdown or stoppage of progress in medicine due to this hostility from the new government.

A safe country?

I’d like to close with one other episode from Dr. Farber’s life. In the mid 1920s, due to antisemitism in prominent American medical schools, admission was often difficult or impossible for Jewish students. Sidney Farber decided that he would go to a highly regarded medical school in a country that was far more open to Jews.

Germany. 

He did so well there that Harvard Medical School then admitted him for his second year.

Countries that have long been very stable can change much more quickly than one might think – Germany had its extremists in the 1920s, but they seemed to be far from gaining power then. And having a government that was hostile to medical research would have seemed extremely far-fetched a decade ago; support for increasing NIH funding had been constant and bipartisan for many years.

Uncle Sidney would be appalled.