Yesterday, San Diego leaders stepped up with a strong message for Congress: Hands off NIH funding. County Board Chairwoman Terra Lawson-Remer joined forces with scientists and patients, urging lawmakers to reconsider proposed severe cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Speaking from the County Administration Center, the group admonished against a 40% reduction that could hammer San Diego's life sciences sector, a behemoth that boasts a $57 billion impact.
The alarm was sounded loud and clear, and San Diego’s top minds and concerned citizens highlighted the gravity of these potential cuts. "These cuts could gut cancer research, cancel clinical trials, and push promising young scientists out of the field," Lawson-Remer told the Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer publication. She outlined the repercussions: over $500 million in lost economic activity, the axing of more than 3,000 jobs, and the surrendering of San Diego’s leading role in the life sciences. The proposed budgetary axe swing looms over diverse research areas, from cancer and neuroscience to pediatrics and rare diseases.
Vice Chancellor for Research at UC San Diego, Dr. Corinne Peek-Asa, detailed the potential fallout. "Cuts to NIH funding disrupt clinical trials and biomedical discoveries, stall critical scientific breakthroughs, and undermine the future scientific workforce needed to address tomorrow's most pressing challenges," she explained, per the Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer publication. Institutions like UC San Diego are standing shoulder to shoulder with partners across the region to deter the federal government from slicing into these vital investments.
