Health Equity in Uncertain Times

I’m grateful that the WLC magazine included an article about me, highlighting the 1.9M NIH grant I received. However, I’m uncertain if that figure will remain accurate, and what current changes to science funding mean for me as a newer independent scientist, and for the futures of the trainees in my lab. I have nothing but gratitude for the education, support, and encouragement I got from WLC, especially as a first generation college student. I was still figuring out what sorts of things excited me the most, and which career options might let me do more of those activities. I would have never guessed that being a professor and a scientist was in my future, but my mentors showed me what was possible at each step of my training—at WLC, MCW, and UC Berkeley. As a result, I’m passionate about places that support first gen students and scientists, and every day I’m grateful that I landed at Loyola University Chicago, which is unusually good at supporting people who come to science in nontraditional ways. I have several of them in my lab. Like me, they’re often the only scientists that their families and community know. Along with other NIH-funded scientists, I’m waiting to see if my R01 grant will be reduced. One threat is the reduction in indirect costs from current negotiated rates to only 15% across the board for NIH grants. (This would be a reduction of $195,000 in my case.) Indirect costs are critical to maintain a building full of science labs (not inexpensive!) and staff it with people who manage core equipment, building infrastructure, housekeeping, hazardous waste disposal, regulatory compliance, and other aspects of administration. I have incredible support here at Loyola, and it costs money to employ those professionals and keep this building running. That means I don’t have to think about many of those things—I can focus on mentoring students and conducting research. A second threat is that my grant could be renewed with a lower amount overall for its fourth year this May. Multi-year NIH grants have yearly renewal. Depending on factors like congressional budgets, or the new unpredictable factors in the current administration, it could come late, and/or it could come in with a reduction. Or it could be cancelled altogether as a bargaining chip for controlling universities or de-prioritizing certain funding topics, as we’ve seen at Columbia and elsewhere. The only way to take risks and make scientific breakthroughs is with guaranteed support and stability for the people doing the work. Right now, we don’t have that. It hurts to talk to students graduating right now about their job searches. I want to be the mentor with answers, but I don’t have them, nor do any of us pursuing science careers in the USA right now.