Researchers from the University of California, Patients Are Worried by Trump's Cuts Even as Some Dollars Flow Again

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In August, an 80-year-old woman walked into the emergency room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was lucid but had a stroke. Within minutes, doctors requested permission to remove the clot causing the stroke before any further brain damage occurred.

I hesitated. The procedure was part of a clinical trial, and she had heard about the federal freeze University of California research grants. She wanted to know: Would this study be at risk, which might affect her care?

He said these concerns put unnecessary stress on the patient, who faces the loss of nearly two million nerve cells every minute treatment is delayed. Jeffrey Safera neurologist and longtime stroke researcher.

“Worrying about what happens to funding from the federal government is an unnecessary increase in the stress that patients are experiencing,” Seaver said.

Patients and researchers like Seaver have found themselves caught in the middle as the Trump administration blames major universities Anti-Semitism and prejudiceand withdraw research funds to try Extracting waivers.

Scientists who have spent their lives developing treatments for lung cancer, brain tumors and Alzheimer’s disease say scientific funding should not be politicized – and warn that patients waiting for life-saving treatments have the most to lose. They also worry that funding cuts mired in legal challenges could discourage potential scientists from entering the field, reducing the chances of medical breakthroughs.

“I would think that stroke and Alzheimer’s and all of these conditions affect Democrats and Republicans alike, and everyone would support them,” Seaver said. “The reasons for the suspension do not appear to be related to the work we do.”

In July, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy Freeze $584 million In medical and scientific research grants to UCLA after the Department of Justice said the university had been awarded them Civil rights violated Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests. Trump administration Suggest settlement This would require UCLA to pay a $1.2 billion fine and reform campus policies on gender-affirming admissions, hiring and health care to return the grants.

However, the federal government plays a critical role in funding life-saving research, which industry has little incentive to support. Treatment discoveries made over the past 15 years have been “transformational” for stroke care, Seaver said. In order to keep eight clinical trials going, Seaver said, he and other neurology faculty members sought outside funding and agreed to salary reductions. But it was nearly exhausted before federal funds were restored.

In the emergency room, doctors told a stroke patient not to worry. Given the need to study her specific symptoms, they tapped a pool of private donations to cover the procedure. I registered and was treated.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has been challenging President Donald Trump more directly as he builds his national image, likened the president’s demands For blackmail.

And Newsom last week He threatened to take her away “immediately.” State funding from any university in California He signs an agreement Trump has floated prioritizing federal research funding for institutions that adhere to the administration’s definitions of gender, limiting international students, and changing admissions policies, among other conditions. “California will not fund schools that sell out their students, professors and researchers and give up academic freedom,” Newsom said in a statement.

In September, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin of the Northern District of California ordered the flow of National Institutes of Health grants back into the state, entangling UC researchers in a lawsuit initially filed by researchers from the University of California-Berkeley and the University of California-San Francisco in June, after federal agencies cut hundreds of millions in grants to UC campuses. ca.

Some private academic institutions have regained their funding by agreeing to pay heavy fines and change campus policies, including… Columbia UniversityWhich agreed to pay $200 million Brown UniversityWhich settled at $50 million. Meanwhile, last month A federal judge ruled The administration’s cancellation of approximately $2.6 billion in grants to Harvard University was illegal.

However, researchers worry that the relief is temporary. Even with the district court’s reinstatement, the case brought by the UCLA researchers remains pending and could ultimately be decided in Trump’s favor. The White House has He pledged to appeal Ruling to restore funding to Harvard University, while Tighter scrutiny Of the school’s financial affairs.

“We haven’t seen it all yet,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor of constitutional law at Loyola Law School. “A lot of scientists and researchers and people who run labs are being cautious, and they know the immediate future might be a little bumpy.” “They should feel like this is a win, but it could be short-lived.”

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about potential harm to studies while funds are frozen, or criticism that they are wrongly politicizing funds for potentially life-saving research.

In a statement about the administration’s campaign targeting anti-Semitism, Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said: “We will not fund institutions that promote anti-Semitism. We will use every tool we have to ensure institutions follow the law.”

HHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard said in a follow-up statement that the department is “steadfast in its commitment to advancing groundbreaking biomedical research” and that it continues to “strategically invest in research that addresses today’s pressing challenges.”

Most of UCLA’s funding affects basic science that does not directly involve patients but has the potential to greatly improve treatment. David Shackelford, a researcher exploring new ways to stop the growth of treatment-resistant lung cancer, said he is close to a potential breakthrough in treating the disease that kills 9 out of 10 patients within five years of diagnosis.

“I’m not used to politicizing my science,” Shackelford said. “It’s cancer. We should never be having this discussion.”

And as court battles continue, so are Democratic state lawmakers Considering a $23 billion bond offering On next year’s ballot allocate state funds to continue advancing cancer, stroke and infectious disease research, among other scientific research. But state bond money, if approved by voters, wouldn’t come close to replacing federal grants, which traditionally fund the lion’s share of biomedical research.

In 2024 alone, for example, approximately $5.1 billion in National Institutes of Health funding Money flowed into California, with $3.8 billion of it going to universities. The proposed bond would be broad, one-time financing that could cover costs for other areas of study, such as climate change research, marine ecosystems, or wildfire prevention.

UCLA President James Milliken said The potential for larger federal cuts to the state’s second-largest employer would have ripple effects on California’s economy.

While other universities have sued the Trump administration, UCLA leaders have instead engaged in “good faith dialogue” with the Justice Department in hopes of negotiating a settlement, Milliken said.

About 55 grants totaling $23 million from the National Institutes of Health, including studies of migraine, epilepsy and autism, have been frozen in his department at the David Geffen School of Medicine, said S. Thomas Carmichael, a neurologist at the University of California. As bad as the funding cuts are, he warned of the Trump administration’s ability to attack school accreditation, limit international student visas, or launch investigations.

“It’s basically a complete and total mismatch of power to take over the federal government,” Carmichael said. “If you simply don’t concede, if you don’t concede anything, you won’t win.”

Separately, in mid-September, a group of UCLA labor and faculty unions filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that the threat to research funds amounts to “financial coercion” to adopt campus policies that would restrict free speech. A hearing in the case is scheduled for December.

Brenda L., a UCLA patient, said she was devastated when screening in 2021 led to a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer at the age of 70. After 18 months of taking Tagrisso, a drug considered the gold standard for treating this particular cancer, her tumors began to grow again. (Brenda declined to provide her full name because she had not disclosed her diagnosis to some family members.)

“I felt like this was the end of me,” said Brenda, now 75 and living in Bakersfield. She joined a clinical trial and has been taking another experimental drug alongside Tagrisso for two years. This combination stopped the development of cancer.

“I’m the lucky one,” said Brenda, whose current trial remains unaffected. “Other patients, they should have the same opportunity.”

This article was produced by KFF Health Newswhich is published California Healthlinean editorially independent service of California Health Care Foundation.

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