Research cuts are devastating to public health

I am writing to bring attention to devastating cuts to federal research funding that are currently being implemented.

The effects on healthcare will be devastating. I am a physician-scientist. I treat patients with neurodegenerative disorders, and I run a research lab focused on understanding the causes of these diseases. While I currently work at UCLA, I am a product of Lake County: I attended local public schools; I obtained my undergraduate degree from UIUC and did summer research at Northwestern; and I did my M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

The cuts the administration is making to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will immediately cripple the ability of our research institutions to carry out research into the causes of, and treatments for, diseases. The United States will no longer be the world leader in biomedical research that we have always been.

Universities rely on these funds to support biomedical discovery and to run clinical trials. Losing NIH funding that already often falls short of the actual cost of doing research would immediately devastate research across the country. Aside from the effects on healthcare, this also hurts the local economy.

In 2023, the NIH provided more than $1.2 billion in funding to Illinois, which supported more than 14,000 jobs and generated more than $3.4 billion in economic activity. These cuts will also destroy our pipeline of scientific talent.

Universities, supported by funding from the NIH, provide the training for most scientists, even those that now work in private industry. Ask the scientists over at Abbott Park and I’m sure they will confirm that most of them were supported during their graduate studies by the NIH.

Please call your representatives and ask them to stand up for healthcare, research, and funding for the NIH.

William Zeiger

Lake Zurich