Healthspan Compass Vol. 10

From the Editor

Eve Herold
Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to the Healthspan Compass. This special policy-related issue is focused on the seismic changes taking place in the realm of US research and healthcare. I wish there were better news about the research landscape, but there’s no sweeping current events under the rug. Now is the time for stout hearts, cool heads and copious amounts of intestinal fortitude. Read on for coverage of major cuts at the WHO, the economic value of NIH grants, a tally of recent research cuts, the danger of losing research data already obtained, and more. History is known to occur in cycles, and it’s likely that the pendulum will inevitably swing the other way. But today, it’s more important than ever for the entire research, healthcare, advocacy and biotech community to pull together, get into problem-solving mode and raise its voice in the service of protecting research aimed at extending the human healthspan.

The WHO Faces Major Cuts, and Countries Are Already Feeling the Pain

The cards in international healthcare funding have been reshuffled, and a new statement from the World Health Organization reports that a whopping 70% of countries are already struggling to provide care for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Millions of people are impacted worldwide, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The sudden cuts to almost all USAID grants plus US plans to leave the organization mean that “Patients are missing out on treatments, health facilities have closed, health workers have lost their jobs, and people face increased out-of-pocket health spending,” Ghebreyesus told attendees at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19. The WHO now has a $600 million budget shortfall and has been forced to revise its budget downward by 21%. The 70% figure for countries cutting services was obtained by polling 108 WHO country offices in March and April, most of which are in low- or middle-income nations. The abrupt changes, however, challenge countries to move away from dependency toward “a more sustainable self-reliance,” according to Ghebreyesus, and the WHO is working with nations to accelerate that process.

A Win-Win Equation: NIH Grants Drive National and Local Economies

The US National Institutes of Health has long been the world’s premier funder of biomedical research. In the public discourse, it’s often discussed in terms of costs to the national budget, but let’s flip that angle on its head and consider that the NIH is a huge multiplier of economic benefits. The nonprofit United for Medical Research has released a brief report showing that every $1 granted to NIH-funded research generates $2.46 in economic activity for the states, cities and communities where the research is being done. In other words, the economic benefit is more than double the expenditure through research grants. Funded labs and institutions not only purchase supplies and services—they generate a large number of jobs, stimulating more tax income, and those individuals infuse money into their local economies. UMR reports that in FY 2023, the NIH awarded $37.81 billion in grants, which supported 412,041 jobs and contributed $92.89 billion in economic activity. This formula is true across all the states (red- and blue-leaning) and the District of Columbia. The above numbers don’t even address the not-so-small economic benefits of a thriving biotechnology sector that builds on NIH-funded research, and new treatments and better health among the beneficiary populations. We need to reframe the discussion of NIH grants from characterizing them as costs to seeing them as the massive economic stimulus they are.

Casting Out International Students: Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater

In a perfect world, science would be an enterprise that knows no geographical boundaries. For the most part, the US has been living in that world, but now we’re in an alternate universe where one of America’s premier research institutions—Harvard University—is undergoing threats of defunding, the cancellation of its tax-free status, and the loss of approximately a quarter of its student body after the US administration revoked its certification to admit international students. Harvard is responding with lawsuits, and it remains to be seen how this shakes out legally when all is said and done. The administration’s rationale for the threats against Harvard and other centers of research and learning is ostensibly based on the government’s assessment that they haven’t done enough to fight antisemitism on their campuses. The story is complex, as colleges and universities walk a fine line between allowing unfettered free speech while at the same time combatting prejudice and harassment. Unfortunately, while these dramas play out at Harvard and other universities, students seeking research careers, and biomedical research in the US, stand to be collateral damage. But attracting international, mostly graduate-level students is one of the reasons that the US leads the world in medical research, according to a National Research Council analysis of the policy implications of luring the world’s best and brightest students who often remain in the country to pursue research careers. While the study was done in the 2000s, its message is more compelling than ever: the US needs talented students if it hopes to maintain its prominent position as the world’s research and medicine leader.

Science on the Chopping Block

Spoiler alert: a new report from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is not good news for those who care about biomedical research, health aid and their impact on patients and populations. The minority report, issued from the office of Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, summarizes the policies of the new administration and their impact so far on the scientific community, patients and populations. All numbers are reported as of early April 2025, and brace yourself—they’re not pretty. The Trump Administration had so far nixed $13.5 billion in overall health funding, canceled 1,660 grants and fired thousands of workers who labor for our research and health system. Federal programs that deliver essential services like vaccine programs across the world have been snuffed out, and new policies place political appointees astride some of the most routine decisions by scientists and health agencies, such as whether to hold scientific meetings (108 have been cancelled so far) and approving all media interviews. By early April, $54 million in grants to fund research formerly supported by the National Institute on Aging had evaporated. As for the infamous cuts to indirect costs, without which no research can be done, the aging and neurology sector is the biggest loser. As of April, the longevity field lost $1.63 billion in indirect costs, affecting 11,175 research projects. Granted, the HELP report hails from a Democratic/Independent source. If the administration issues a report summarizing why these cuts are needed, it will be covered here, but so far, the silence is resounding.

Longitudinal Health Data Gathered by Harvard in Peril

A treasure trove of biological samples and data collected at Harvard over several decades is now in limbo and faces the possibility of being lost forever, according to CNN. This could hit the longevity field especially hard, since human longitudinal studies are integral to decoding aging and its intricate relationship to genetics and lifestyle factors over time, plus its role in the development of chronic, age-related diseases. Biological samples including blood, DNA, and tissues (including tumor tissues for the study of cancer), are now preserved in liquid nitrogen freezers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. They represent a vast research asset based on the Nurse’s Health Study, which commenced in 1976, and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Together, they have followed 350,000 individuals for 45 years, gleaning data that has led to several biomedical breakthroughs, including identifying the links between obesity and cancer and smoking and heart disease. But the Harvard lab protecting this precious data has been hit hard by government funding cuts, and it’s not clear if the university will be able to secure alternative funding to keep those freezers humming. Especially impacted, considering that human longitudinal studies are crucial, is the longevity field. Some of the participants in the studies are now approaching 100 years old. This is research gold, since so much is known about these individuals over the years, or is just waiting to be discovered. Human longitudinal data is hard to come by, and in aging research, you can only get so far studying mice, fruit flies and nematodes. The hundreds of labs currently using the Harvard data for human longitudinal studies are caught in the crosshairs.

The EU Seeks to Become the New World Leader in Research

“We can all agree that science has no passport, no gender, no ethnicity, no political party.” These are the words of European Union president Ursula von der Leyen at this month’s “Choose Europe for Science” event held at the Sorbonne in Paris. The European Union is seeking to capitalize on a major pullback on research funding in the US through a $567 million initiative to make Europe a “magnet” for scientists. Von der Leyen called US cuts “a gigantic miscalculation” and French president Emmanuel Macron, speaking at the same event, noted surprise that, considering that the US economic model “relies so heavily on free science, on innovation and on its ability to innovate” that the US “would make such a mistake.” According to an article in Sci, “Europe already has the second-highest scientific output in the world and is home to over two million researchers,” but plans to sweeten the pot for US scientists by creating a multi-year “super grant” and supporting their relocation, among other things. But will US scientists bite? Maybe. A recent poll in Nature said that three quarters would consider relocating for jobs in Canada or Europe, notwithstanding lower salaries and more bureaucratic red tape. While much of the news covered in this issue is disheartening, I have no doubt that biomedical research will continue. But for the time being, more of it may need to done outside of the US, or with more philanthropical support.

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JUNE 9-12 ,2025

Regenerative Medicne Essentials Course WFRIM

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Regenerative Medicine Essentials Course

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LIVE COURSE: June 10-12, 2025
in Winston-Salem, NC

By Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and The Regenerative Medicine Foundation
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JULY 10-13, 2025

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AUGUST 21-23, 2025

Volume 10