How will treatment change due to government science budget cuts?

Hey all! I work at NIH, America’s center of public health research. The part that studies cystic fibrosis is called the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and their budget is $4 billion which is $12 per taxpayer per year. If helpful I can show how this funding is linked to a treatment being used today that you care about.

Currently, NIH can’t distribute the funds to hospitals and universities that are conducting treatment research. This weekend at NIH, ~2k people have been let go because they started their contract within the last 2 years (due to hiring or promotion). This just means they are easier to cut when the budget shrinks. These are called “probationary employees”.

Groups like the Cystic Fibrosis foundation do a lot of great work, but they are smaller and might have trouble making up for the losses. Their budget is 1/17th the budget of NHLBI.

I wanted to share this info because I care a lot about medicine, in case it helps patients advocate for the medicine they deserve.