Defending Public Health
Group initiated by Gregg Gonsalves to organize and implement efforts from the science, medicine,... View more
Organizer:
- Organized by
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Here we are.
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Here we are.
I work in a college of public health.
Today our provost spoke at our faculty & staff meeting. He showed slides of enrollment growth, plans for new facilities, graphs of continually increasing federal funding for research (most of ours comes from the NIH).
You would have thought the 2024 election had never happened.
During the Q&A I waited for someone to mention the 90 day freeze on federal health & human services agency activities. The canceled conferences. The grant proposals that couldn’t be reviewed. The panic among our grad students as they face graduating while they watch their hopes for employment or further education teeter precariously.
When no one mentioned these things, I finally spoke up.
I asked what the University was doing to prepare for the possibilities of drastic cuts to the NIH budget. What kind of support we were planning to offer our students who were graduating into a field with far less opportunity than they saw when they enrolled.
The provost responded that we must be agile. He said industry and business might offer new sources of funding. And he said that after all, public health is in a good place if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is appointed head of HHS, because he is very interested in prevention.
I’d hoped for better.
I’d hoped to hear that we in that room were the ones who actually understand how things work. That we were among tens of thousands of the smartest, best equipped, most thoroughly experienced people in the nation. That our colleagues were facing the same challenges and we could stand togethner in solidarity.
I’d hoped to hear that we had a commitment to truth, to saving lives, to service, to supporting education, to evidence-based practice.
I’d hoped to hear something better than “roll
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6 Replies
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That’s awful. I was hoping the academic world would be in less of a state of denial than some of our political leaders. Does this guy not understand the connection between vaccines and prevention???
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I mean, he’s an administrator–he may not have a science/health background. But you would think an administrator would be aware enough to go, “Wait a second. In a regime that doesn’t believe in expertise, that thinks the truth is whatever they say it is, that any credential can be bought–what need is there for higher education?”
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I am sorry. Thank you for sharing this. More than ever we need to keep each other abreast on what is happening because our channels for information are getting compromised by the day.
Also, please know there are people fighting for you guys.
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Thank you. I’m pondering how to connect researchers who can’t work right now because of the halt, for mutual sympathy & support if nothing else.
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This is disheartening. It makes me wonder how many other university administrators are uninformed or just plain delusional. I also cannot imagine how much relying on the private sector to fill the gap of NIH funding is feasible, though it would be the only other option.
I think many scientists and government workers should be encouraged to use Signal for private encrypted communications. Signal is equipped to have large group conversations, though I don’t know how large. The media are trying to get stories from affected government workers through Signal.
So much for government efficiency right now. I’m thinking many scientists and associated workers are sitting around not being very productive. I hope this pause will be short, but I’m not holding my breath.
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This is the disturbing reality we face. We have our work cut out for us. I think our key tasks are:
1. Educating our peers.
2. Constantly providing accurate information on public health to the public.
3. Rallying around scientists, physicians, and public health workers when they are targeted. (Our index case for this is Tony Fauci.)
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