Balking at Talk About Chronic Disease by Canceling Research

The new administration in Washington says it wants to Make America Healthy Again by bringing an intense focus on chronic disease. This is a concept we endorse without reservation. But talk is turning into balk when it comes down to following through on the scientific research essential for reducing the burden of chronic disease.

A fine case in point is the news this week that funding for the landmark Diabetes Prevention Programs has gone up in smoke because of a political squabble with Columbia University.

Nationwide Effects

Expressing dismay with this decision, the Endocrine Society called out the wide effects this capricious cancellation will have:

“The Society is concerned about how the loss of this ongoing research, which is being conducted at 30 institutions in 21 states, will impact tens of millions of people who have diabetes and prediabetes nationwide.”

For three decades, this program has been a treasure trove of insight into prediabetes, its progression, and links to a wide range of diabetes complications such as dementia,  cancer, nerve damage, and diseases of the heart, kidneys, and eyes.

In short, killing this scientific treasure will destroy one of the richest research resources we have for understanding chronic disease in America. The impact will go far beyond Columbia University, where the role was to administer the program for a whole network of institutions.

Brain Drain?

There was a time when America drew the best scientists in the world for medical research and innovation. Now funding cuts are leading private research universities to slash staff and freeze hiring, throwing a wide range of research programs into doubt.

The rest of the world is looking on this spectacle with bewilderment. “Science is alive and thriving here!” was a message to us this week from a colleague planning for the European Congress on Obesity in Spain. Axios reports that some countries are seizing the opportunity to recruit the best scientific talent away from the U.S. It looks like we might make the rest of the world great again at America’s expense.

The administration describes this as a plan for “restoring the ‘Gold Standard’ of scientific research by restoring transparency with how our taxpayer dollars are being spent while cutting waste and bureaucratic overhead.”

We are glad for the administration’s air quotes around “Gold Standard,” because clearly, slash and burn does not pave the way to research excellence.

Click here, here, and here for more on these unfortunate developments.

Black Square and Red Square, painting by Kazimir Malevich / WikiArt

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March 21, 2025