Thank you to those of you who answered last week’s call to share personal stories of how recent cuts at NIH and USAID are affecting you, your colleagues, your friends and your family.
We are still collecting stories from the community, so please send us a note at contact@coalitionforcarolina.org if you have a story you would like to share. As we stated last week, we will not attach your name or identifying information to any stories you share with us.
As the chaos and uncertainties drag on at universities and research institutions around the country, we want to commend those who continue to step up to advocate and educate.
Former UNC chancellor Holden Thorp has been a leading voice as events have unfolded the past few weeks. As the current editor-in-chief of Science magazine, Holden is well aware of the importance of a strong alliance between the federal government and universities to fund research institutions and the people who power them.
One of our Coalition for Carolina co-founders, Professor Mimi Chapman, sat down with Holden for an interview recently to discuss the history of the government-university partnership to fund research.
You can watch the full interview here or watch a few highlights where Holden discusses:
- How university research funding supports healthcare access in communities like Chapel Hill and the surrounding areas that might not otherwise have access to top doctors and treatments. The research expertise from these physicians also creates a hub for high-quality care when patients need a specialist.
- How university research funding makes healthcare solutions smarter and stronger because physicians are both researchers and practitioners who are on the cutting edge of medicine. They aren’t just keeping up with the latest trends – they are the ones making the discoveries with the funds that are currently at stake.
- The importance of “indirect costs” shared by the federal government and universities. These costs – which are currently in jeopardy – power research by providing necessary infrastructure, including:
- Lab equipment
- Maintenance and utilities for research facilities
- Access to academic journals and databases
- The risk of losing scientific talent and programs, potentially indefinitely or permanently, that could compromise the ability to make new discoveries and save lives. Due to massive budget cuts and layoffs at the federal level, professionals will have to look elsewhere for long-term work that uses their talents and expertise.
Below is an introduction from Mimi Chapman. We encourage you to read, watch and share.
Coalition Friends:
Recently, I sat down with Holden Thorp to discuss the history of the partnership between the federal government and universities.
Many of you probably don’t know that I did my second-year social work internship at the NIH Clinical Center in the Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases. I knew next to nothing about the NIH when I went there at 23 years old. But I met patients from every corner of the globe and every walk of life who had agreed to be in clinical trials in hopes of saving their lives and, if not, to know that their life might help others in the future. It was a lot to take in at 23 and it was formative for me.
There were two little boys. One was 5 and one was 7. Their rooms were next door to each other, but they could not go out to play. One was bedbound and the other used a small cane like Tiny Tim. They both suffered from a rare genetic disease called Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD). At the time, there was no cure although the scientists and doctors were moving heaven and earth to help them. I became close to them and their families – creating scavenger hunts in hospital rooms and carrying one on my back to draw with chalk on sidewalk outside. Soon after my internship concluded, I learned of their deaths.
Fast forward 20 years or so. I was meeting with someone who was interested in joining our doctoral program. She was a social worker at the NIH Clinical Center, and like me, worked with youngsters who had CGD and was describing their transition from pediatric to adult care. I must have made a peculiar face, because she stopped and waited.
“Transition to adult care?” I queried.
“Yes, Mimi. Now they live.”
Even now I get teary thinking about this. They live.
They live because of science and the dedication of the doctors, nurses, social workers, and others that work there and because of the science behind the scenes that eventually translates to treatment or cure.
That is one story. But such stories are legion spread across many academic medical centers around the country because of the 80-year-old partnership Holden describes in this conversation.
Take a minute to listen. It’s worth it to remember how and why this partnership between academia and the federal government started and what’s really at risk in the current moment.
– Mimi Chapman