Ken Palumbo and his family have lived in Westport for 20 years. He has seen firsthand how National Institutes of Health grants impact medical discoveries, initially when he operated a public and private equity biotech/life sciences alternative investment management firm 28 years ago. He is now the president and chief operating officer of an alternative investment management firm.
His daughter now works in research at Columbia University. She is on the front lines, seeing entire labs get shut down. “This topic hits close to home,” Ken says. He writes:
Most Westporters are aware of the recent NIH funding cuts. Regardless of political affiliation, I think it’s important to highlight the second derivative effect of those cuts, how they impact us here in Westport, and what you can do.
Two Westport companies received NIH grants over the past 2 years: Luna Bioscience and Alara Imaging. One received funding in excess of 15% of its indirect costs.
A more significant impact will be felt by the professors and researchers and their families living in Westport who work in universities (Yale and others). They risk losing their jobs, as entire programs and labs will likely be eliminated.
Yale president Maurie McInnis says:
On February 7, the National Institutes of Health issued a notice capping indirect costs, also known as facilities and administrative costs, at 15 percent. That is more than a 75% decrease from the current rate the federal government set for Yale.
This decision poses a considerable threat to Yale’s research endeavors, which lead to medical breakthroughs, support patients in clinical trials, and drive economic growth.
Yale provost and professor of biiochemistry Scott Strobel adds:
Reallocating a greater portion of endowment revenue to fund the federal government’s “fair share” of the costs of federally sponsored research would require the university to reduce funding for other priorities and would reduce the amount of research the university conducts.
The majority of Ph.D.s and postdocs work in academia. Much of the research that leads to new drugs is born at NIH-funded labs. They tend to focus on basic science, while the private sector (pharma/biotech) emphasizes applied research and commercialization.
Yale University
This symbiotic relationship between public and private sectors is likely to be materially disrupted. NIH-funded research contributed to 354 of 356 (99.4%) of the FDA-approved drugs between 2010-2019. It is reasonable to conclude that we will experience a slowdown in the discovery and development of new drugs and medical breakthroughs.
The effect of fewer medical discoveries has an additional, though less obvious, impact on Westport, through our venture capital and private equity firma.
Reduced discoveries will result in less deal flow. This translates to higher competition on those fewer deals, resulting in higher valuations (prices paid), thus less profits to these firms.
Also, the failure rate of some of the startup VC/PE portfolio companies may likely increase as a result of the capital-intensive natural of early stage businesses, and their reliance on government funding.
Dr. Tom Maniatis, a renowned molecular neuroscientist at Columbia and head of the New York Genome Center, wrote an open letter on the history of NIH grants, including quantifying the investment return on NIH funds over time. He includes a call to action to fight these cuts. Click here to read. Click here for the New York Genome Center’s petition.
Columbia University
Last week, Columbia University was notified of a federal action canceling $400 million in federal funding. Government agencies cite “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
The actions of leadership at many elite universities last year has a new consequence: the Trump administration’s removal of funding, unless they take direct action to protect their students’ civil rights.
I do not condone this tactic. But unless we get this funding restored. it will harm every American and global citizen.
I remain hopeful that leadership will respond accordingly. Perhaps we can actually accomplish 2 things simultaneously.
(“06880” welcomes “Opinion” pieces from readers. Email 06880blog@gmail.com to submit ideas.)
Easy solution. Protect your students.
The current administration in anti science anti fact. Kennedy was appointed secreatary of health. However when Trumps life was threatened with COVID Trump didn’t ask Kennedy what treatment to get. Trump didn’t take ivermectin or hydroxy chloroquine that he told everyone else to take. He didn’t put bleach into his body. Trump ran to the best hospital to get the best science and technology on earth. I believe it was monoclonal antibodies developed by researchers. When Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson were telling their Fox audience about the dangers of Covid vaccinations they were covid vaccinated. Fox policy was to enter their broadcast headquarters one had to vaccinated. Of course Fox didn’t let their audience know that policy. The Gulf of Mexico should now be called by another name Dr Faucci is an American hero that republicans crucify MAGA has destroyed the infrastructure that enabled America to thrive. The N I H has helped the world and the USA make tremendous strides in fighting disease. The current policies of cutting on health care will hurt the USA. As Tom said protect Americans Our government owes the American people the best research and the best science. The current administration is a colossal threat to America. Protect America. 🇺🇸
Stopping the work of scientists at NIH is a cruel endeavor. I will be holding a Rally on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge every Sat 11:00-12:00 starting on 3/22 for the foreseeable future to protest this administration’s policies. Join me with your sign!
Thank you! I will be there!
Me too!!!
how does holding a rally in a tiny town help affect policy ?
This is why Richard, it keeps us hopeful, connected to another human with like minds and maybe inspires us to do more. I like what you write most of the time. May I ask you why do you write it?
because I’m so frustrated with the Republican maga leadership. Writing to others helps me blow off steam but it will not change anything. I’m lucky to live in a community with so many nice kind people who are very smart and thoughtful
well I think that is what some people feel when they join on the streets to excersise another one of our freedoms as US citizens
Thanks for your article. I think you have made a clear case for why this research and spend is important. Sadly the actions of too many universities in protecting the rights of Jewish students and not taking clearer action when needed given the chaos on college campuses has partly led to this situation. So I truly hope, like you do, this brings about real change at these institutions.
In addition – when you look at over $55bn in endowments combined for the two institutions you refer to. I don’t fully buy their argument that they can’t invest more without consequences elsewhere. It’s time for them to step up too. I think a good start would be an institution like Yale being more transparent about exactly how much it directly contributes to medical research from its general “teaching and research” spend.
You notice the statement talks in percentages, i.e. 15% of cost for admin & facilities, 75% reduction. This is the favorite strategy of the folks protecting their cash cow gravy trains. Why not talk actual dollars so the public can see the ridiculous waste and fraud that’s been going on for decades? 15% overhead is a tremendous amount..and that’s a 75% reduction! Of course the article also doesn’t mention the endowment amount these ivy league colleges carry as well. It would make your head spin. Let’s see a list of salaries and benefits of the professors, researchers and staff as well as a full accounting of the expenses before claiming these entities just can’t exist with less. Our country is headed towards insolvency. The days of open check books, faking out the American taxpayer with false and convenient rhetoric and ivory towers is over. Average American citizens must come first. Period.
But you haven’t balanced the cost of “salaries and benefits of the professors, researchers and staff as well as a full accounting of the expenses” with the cost to professors who provide an education in the humanities (assuming your letter is intended to target Ivy League universities).
A humanities education is provided by professors who earn a PhD after years of education, study, research, and writing, and throughout their career they continue to study, research, write, and guide students, usually in academic areas without the support of grants.
The value of a humanities education, with the emphasis on ‘education’ which translates to ‘critical thinking’, for “average American citizens” should not be ignored.
Jeanne V. Reed
What does this mean?
Sadly Universities have been ripping off their students and their government for years with the student loan programs that made the professors and the school rich.
Tom. how do you feel about Trump University ?
Tom doesn’t answer questions. He learned not to do so at Trump University. Try asking him who won the 2020
election.
And Gerrit Cole can’t pitch. In fact, try asking him who won the 2020 election?
Yankees out of it before they leave Fla.
And Stanton probably done for the season too.
As the Times noted, for the moment, it will be up to Wells, Volpe and Domínguez to realiably and consistently step up to the plate and get the job done, together.
Cheers!
Glad to see this perspective. What I will point out is that in indirect costs support a lot of non scientists jobs. That’s the money that goes to pay the grant administrators, facilities and operations to name a few. Many of those positions will be lost. And while universities with large endowments can hold on a little longer it’s the public universities that will sponsor curtail research. Love to connect with like minded folks here.
Great post! Education is the one of the crown jewels of the American system. Mess with it at your peril!
There may be a place for a limited amount of government subsidy in certain kinds of research, but just because a particular project is worth doing does not mean it should be funded by government. And government is not, and ought not be viewed as, a source of jobs. That is emphatically not the role of government. Bending government to such purposes will always result in, at a minimum, high opportunity costs and unintended consequences. Frederic Bastiat described this pithily enough in 1850, in his essay “That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen.”
The NIH might get more sympathy if it had not worked so hard to deceive its overseers and the taxpayers over the last oh so many years. An organisation that goes to great lengths to hide and disguise the research it is funding, and to ensure that such research is done secretly in a country that, if not quite an enemy is certainly not a friend, because the organisation has been specifically forbidden to conduct or fund such research, deserves a severe overhaul. Its senior management deserves termination and ostracism, and its budget and decision-making processes deserve scrutiny that is both deliberate and (metaphorically) proctological.
Bastiat. 1850. Government bad, capitalism good. Knowledge bad, ignorance good. All the latest right-wing wisdom in one place. Congratulations. You must be exhausted.
Thanks, but: a) Not what I said; b) Doesn’t sound like you’ve read the essay; c) Just because something was written a long time ago does not render it invalid.
(A) It is—with fewer words, more clarity, and less butt stuff.
(B) I have.
(C) Not what I said.
Government-funded research has saved countless lives, including those of children I know very well. I resent funding cuts instigated by racist sociopaths who can’t seem to inflict widespread cruelty fast enough. To hell with them and to hell with the people desperate to cover up for them.
Sorry to interject that all I see is current and immediate threats to the health of our country and to the future that might have been. Allow me some personal observations.
Vaccination skepticism has led to unnecessary deaths from COVID (mostly in the GOP red leaning by vote states) and now we are seeing the resurgence of measles. RFK jr- a vaccination nay sayer is in charge! (Went to Samoa denigrating vaccination and 3 years later a huge epidemic has caused thousands of hospitalization from measles with almost 100 deaths)
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) that sends out EIS officers worldwide to scout out potential threats to our country- has had a severe funding cut and firing of 1200 officers with David Weldon another vaccine skeptic in charge. They have kept Ebola and Marburg virus outbreaks confined and out of the USA. (I spent two years at CDC and personally appreciate the excellent job EIS officers do and at some risk to themselves!!)
Cancelling the meeting that CDC holds annually to recommend the composition of the flu vaccine to commercial companies- WHY??.
Resigning from WHO. Not sure how this makes the USA safer. They look for disease in places the USA doesn’t.
VA for our veterans has Doug Collins in charge and looking to cut 80,000 staff! That means less services available to vets!! Longer waits, less supplies, shuttered facilities?
Blanket denial of abortions even when the mother’s life is put at severe risk- for a fetus, an embryo- that has no chance to survive but has a heart beat! Think your wife, daughter, grand daughter or great grand daughter! I trained in an era before Roe and saw the septic abortions coming into ER s in NYC. Young women died for no reason!!
A college classmate went on to do research at NIH- and won a Nobel prize for work that has lead to the development of most of the medicines developed over the last 10 years ( based on G protein-coupled receptors ) to treat all manner of our illnesses. Including channel blocker medicines for heart diseases. Just the tip of the iceberg we see.
Firing nuclear safety officers (inactivating their emails and phones) and then struggling to get them back- think Three Mile Island!! Think the officers who routinely inspect out nuclear weapon stockpiles for leaks- were they part of this fiasco?
Firing National Park Rangers- they do more than greet us and keep us safe in their parks- they also like Smokey the Bear help stop forest fires and help the injured. Think LA fires. And at what cost- closing down national parks for recreation.
Enough-
I personally think DJT does a lot of stuff that is terrible so he can then reverse course and look magnanimous – but at what cost to lost jobs and heartache for millions of my fellow citizens.
Just my observations and opinions.
And this was on FOX news!!
Pushing for vaccination for measles!!!
Why wasn’t this pushing done for COVID!!!
fox mandated all employees be vaccinated. The maga crowd was unaware Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson were vaccinated during Covid.
Well, there is the upside that RFKJr, Trump, and Musk will thin their own herd, flipping some states from red to blue.
The idea that medical research dollars are dependent upon trampling First Amendment rights on campus is antithetical to what our nation has stood for.
Remember that destroying public or private property, impeding others’ ability to utilize a school library for its intended purpose or blocking access to a facility that they should have access to is not protected under the First Amendment.
That said, the federal government should let the school and local authorities handle these situations; research funding decisions should not be tied to them.
Thanks for bringing up this important issue. Sadly, I find myself hoping that enough hurt will come down fast enough in enough people so Americans will throw out these cruel fascists before they have too much of an iron grip on this country. I only pray that members of US military and public law enforcement will not be willing to turn on our population.
Any place to resist is a good place, and, unfortunately, it is all political. But when schools don’t have teachers and when Republican ladies in Texas and Arizona can’t find ob-Gyns to treat them, I’m hoping the politics will change fast. Things are already crashing down. Anyone looked at their broker account lately?
US military and law enforcement turning on our population? Schools won’t have teachers? Cruel Fascists? Hoping for that enough hurt will come down fast enough to enough people?
Another Democrat that didn’t learn a single lesson from November.
Are you ok if Republicans go out in the open in Westport or does that offend you too?
I can see why so many people are nervous and scared to say they are a Republican in Westport with comments like that.
Robert
I would love to see Republicans, anywhere, stand up to this autocratic coup. The Republicans hold the keys. Use them.
Military rule is a possibility. Apparently today we are now invoking war-time laws.
I’m pretty sure Robert doesn’t care about that in the slightest.
Poor VAL and her brokerage account. Thoughtd and prayers Doll.
Just a suggestion, dress down when you’re protesting. Leave the Patagonia and Canadian Goose at home. Helps us to see the hit your account has taken 😃
The country is undergoing a wave of anti-intellectualism reminiscent of China’s cultural revolution.
A David Wunsch
I try to stick to talking about the things about which I have personal experience. And avoid personal attacks or nasty comments as not helpful.
The university system in the USA has been the envy of the world and results in major breakthroughs that are quickly commercialized and available to the general public. Think lithium batteries, solar panels, computer and artificial intelligence.
Israel and now China emulated our university government funded systems and have or are reaping the benefits of their research and development. Think where batteries and solar panels are made- funded by large government input!! Think where the most electric cars are made in the world- it isn’t Tesla!
Current federal fiscal policy is attacking the NIH with a sledge hammer by cutting funding to every major university research lab (and I will throw in the NOAA that the Y’s Men of Westport visited a few weeks ago- keeping shellfish abundant and healthy).
If you don’t think funding cuts will have a profound impact on all of us sooner and not later- please do a little research on what the NIH or NCDC or University Research labs are accomplishing currently.
I too will be participating in the demonstrations starting on March 22nd. My sign will be the same as last week, “A NATION IN DANGER”. As to terminating some Federal funding at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, with more likely, the issue starts with the law. Should Donald Trump be able to order a cessation of certain funds because he believes that 60 Universities are acting wrongly, e.g. not adequately addressing anti-Semitism. All, including Jewish organizations, should be troubled by this improper and illegal use of power by a President who seeks to have the Supreme Court sustain his Unitary theory of the Presidency. If change is sought as to universities, follow the law. The alternative is scary.
Better is behind all this nonsense with deportations of green card holders so yay! Go America!
This is such a fascinating thread because it must be torture for rich white jewish liberals to watch Trump finally take action after more than a year of Jewish kids being tormented on college campuses. I’m sure waving signs on the bridge will help.
Not sure you’ve watched the polls, but support for the Democratic Party has never been lower since they started polling. CNN, NBC. Democrats are so out of touch with actual Americans, they may never again occupy the White House.
Americans are fed up. We had open borders for four years and have had not only high profile horrific crime events, but also debilitating spending taking care of all these visitors. The only time the military got involved is when they dropped immigrants on Martha’s Vineyard.
This chapter in American History is closing. If you’re a visitor to our country and you break the law, you should be on the next flight out. And if you’re an American, you’re subject to our legal system.
I have read your comment and I’m not certain what your issue is and I’m not sure why you are referencing “white Jewish liberals”, although I can assure you that progressive Christian denominations join patriotic Americans including the Jewish community and stand up, sometimes literally in rallies, for social justice. Social justice has its biblical roots in a God who shows his love and compassion for the weak, the vulnerable, the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the disinherited. The progressive churches that I know best are in Columbus, Ohio and Fairfield, Conn.
It is a point of pride that a church in Columbus is picketed for its progressive policies and its support of the designated Pastor for Immigrants and Refugees in his efforts to assist local immigrant communities in Central Ohio.
It is a source of faith and moral imperative to hear from the pulpit of a progressive church in Fairfield every Sunday morning: “We are an Open and Affirming Church which means, no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here, and we extend the extravagant welcome of God to all people regardless of race, class, immigration status, ancestry, gender identity, marital status, ability, or sexual orientation. Our Vision is a just world for all. Our Mission is to welcome all, love all, and seek justice for all.”
Progressive Christian churches are in the forefront with those patriotic Americans who make an effort to speak out using words and language which have been expunged from public discourse, and who use DEI to transcend bias so that people from all walks of life feel genuinely valued, respected, and empowered to contribute.