SEATTLE — President Trump’s budget proposes billions of dollars in cuts to funding for scientific research.
Researchers with Seattle Children’s Hospital say that federal support is critical to maintain existing lab work, and to support families who come to Seattle for specialty care.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, at a roundtable discussion in Seattle on Friday, explained she’s urging Congress to push back against the threats to biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
President Trump is proposing a 38-percent cut to NIH funding — totaling about $18 billion — as part of his mission to drastically slash federal spending.
At Seattle Children’s Hospital, officials report those looming cuts could delay or pause 200 existing clinical trials. Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Vittorio Gallo says that research addresses a broad range of pediatric diseases like brain tumors, and they develop new therapies for rare diseases like cystic fibrosis and epilepsies, among others.
“There will be fewer research dollars today, there will be fewer scientists tomorrow. This also means that there will be less cures, less breakthroughs. There will be fewer futures realized for our children,” Dr. Gallo said. “Pediatric research is really what makes the mission of Seattle Children’s: hope, care and cure.”
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Some early career scientists claim they are already feeling the impacts. KOMO News spoke with Kristin Weinstein, a PHD candidate at UW’s School of Medicine who works in an autoimmune-focused lab that is NIH-funded. She has dreams of being a professor at an academic research institution, but right now is considering moving out of the U.S. to get her post-doctoral training.
“I’m afraid right now because virtually every major academic institution is on an official or unofficial hiring freeze,” Weinstein explained.
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Murray’s office reports NIH investments support more than 12,000 jobs and $3 billion in economic activity in Washington.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
