GUEST OPINION
An Aerial view of the NIH Research Center (Photo – nih.gov)
As a physician in the San Gabriel Valley, I rely on the work of medical researchers every day.
By Marina Khubesrian, MD
Their discoveries shape the treatments I provide, the therapies I recommend, and the hope I offer my patients. But today, I am deeply concerned—not just for my colleagues in the research field, but for all of us who depend on the breakthroughs they make.
The T. administration’s decision to slash indirect funding for federally funded medical research is more than a bureaucratic adjustment—it’s an assault on science, medicine, and the economy. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s leading funder of medical research, has announced a policy that will cap indirect funding at 15%, down from the current average of 26%.
This may sound like a minor shift, but it will have devastating consequences for universities, medical schools, and research institutions across the country.
Indirect funding isn’t a luxury—it’s what keeps research institutions running. It covers the maintenance of labs, the salaries of essential staff, and the equipment needed to conduct groundbreaking studies. It’s the backbone of medical research. Without it, institutions will be forced to shut down labs, cut research positions, and abandon projects that could lead to life-saving treatments.
I’ve seen the promise of medical research in real time. A decade ago, a colleague’s clinic participated in a clinical trial that helped refine a treatment for a rare neurological disease—one that patients and their families desperately hoped would succeed. Today, that treatment is saving lives. I’ve also seen patients whose survival depended on experimental cancer treatments made possible by NIH funding—therapies that might never have reached them without federal support.
However, if we lose the resources that fund this kind of research, progress will slow to a halt. Cancer patients, those with rare diseases, and millions living with chronic illnesses will be left waiting for answers that may never arrive.
In 2023 alone, the NIH distributed $35 billion in grants, supporting more than 300,000 researchers. That investment fueled scientific discovery and economic growth, generating approximately $2.46 in economic activity for every dollar spent. Every $100 million in NIH funding led to 76 patents—patents that, according to research, are 20% more economically valuable than other U.S. patents. This funding isn’t wasteful government spending; it’s one of the best investments we make as a country.
So why cut it?
As historian and political analyst Heather Cox Richardson points out, the architects of this policy change—specifically, the authors of Project 2025—claim these cuts are necessary to “reduce federal taxpayer subsidization of leftist agendas.” This is a dangerous and misleading justification. Science is not partisan. The diseases that kill us do not ask about our political affiliations. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease don’t care which way you vote. But the scientists working to cure them? They rely on funding, and this administration just pulled the rug out from under them.
The numbers show how catastrophic this will be. Six institutions in New York alone will lose $723 million in indirect funding. Universities in Florida will lose $165 million. Ohio, $194 million. Missouri, $212 million. The ripple effect will be profound. This isn’t just about lost research—it’s about lost jobs, lost innovation, and ultimately, lost lives.
Even Republican lawmakers, usually eager to cut government spending, are starting to realize the damage they’ve unleashed. Many of the states that will be hardest hit—Florida, Ohio, Missouri—are Republican strongholds. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has already suggested that states should have a say in where cuts happen, hoping to protect their own programs from destruction. But there’s no way to make these cuts without devastating consequences.
This isn’t just happening in the medical research world. The T. administration has also frozen food aid through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which buys about $2 billion in American agricultural products annually. This program doesn’t just fight global hunger—it provides a crucial market for struggling American farmers. Even Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) is now warning that these cuts will hurt farmers, damage national security, and undermine global food stability.
What we are witnessing is an ideologically driven effort to dismantle the very institutions that keep Americans safe, healthy, and economically stable. Medical research isn’t a political issue—it’s a human one. And yet, we are watching the systematic gutting of federal funding for life-saving science while federal employees—many of whom dedicate their careers to public service—are being vilified and purged from government agencies.
As a doctor, I can’t stay silent while policies like this threaten the future of medicine. These cuts won’t just slow down research; they will grind it to a halt. The loss of funding will mean fewer studies, fewer clinical trials, and fewer cures. It will mean delayed treatments for cancer, neurological disorders, and rare diseases that families are desperately waiting for answers on. It will mean that American innovation—once the gold standard for medical breakthroughs—will fall behind as other countries take the lead.
And it will mean that people—patients, families, our loved ones—will suffer.
We must demand better. We must reject the false narrative that medical research is a partisan issue. We must fight for the funding that has saved countless lives and driven our economy forward. Science has never been about left or right—it’s about progress. It’s about discovery. It’s about hope.
This isn’t just about researchers or politicians. This is about us—the doctors, the patients, the families who depend on the breakthroughs that come from this funding. And that is something we cannot afford to lose.
Marina Khubesrian, MD, is the former Mayor of South Pasadena, and a public health policy advocate.
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