As the Director of Research at the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF), I’ve dedicated my career to advancing science that gives patients and families more time, options, and hope. But last September, that mission took on a profound new urgency when I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. In an instant, I found myself depending on the very system of funded science we’ve worked for years to strengthen.
The treatments that I was given weren’t accidental; they were the result of decades of sustained public investment in biomedical research. But today, that system is under increasing threat. Abrupt policy changes and funding cuts will stall progress and disrupt the research pipeline that brings discoveries from bench to bedside. At the same time, barriers to healthcare access, including changes to Medicaid, risk putting life-saving innovations out of reach for too many.
At NETRF, we’re working every day to counter those threats by continuing to fund high-impact research, supporting scientists at every stage of their careers, and making sure promising ideas don’t go unfunded in this climate of uncertainty. We believe the pace of discovery can’t slow down—not when patients are waiting and not when science, quite literally, means survival.
In a recently-published article, I share more about my family’s experience and why, now more than ever, supporting research and expanding access to care must be a national priority. At NETRF, we remain fiercely committed to ensuring that lifesaving breakthroughs continue.
Read more in the article: Science Under Threat in the United States: Research turns hope into reality.