
EXCLUSIVE Harvard doctor: I was on the cusp of a cure for cancer, then Trump cut my funding... now thousands could die needlessly
A Harvard doctor studying cutting-edge therapies for cancer and lung disease has revealed how his research has been brutally axed by President Trump.
Dr John Quackenbush detailed the sudden cut to his funding to understand how the devastating diseases affect and progress differently in men and women - a hurdle that has stifled progress on finding cures.
The 63-year-old scientist who has been a professor at the prestigious university for the last 20 years explained that the about $2.4 million research project was meant to find personalized and improved treatments for both sexes.
The project had been submitted in November 2020 and was approved by former President Joe Biden 's administration in September 2021 - but the grant was axed with no prior notice on April 4 this year.
Dr Quackenbush believes it was wrongly terminated as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on the government's bankrolling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) research projects.
He told DailyMail.com that the funding slashes will worsen the research crisis and set medical advancement back by decades.
'Females have twice the lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer's than males do,' he added. 'Males have a much higher risk of developing colon cancer but respond better to chemotherapy.
'We know and have known for decades that many diseases are different in males or females. But nobody has been able to scratch the surface of why these differences exist and how we might be able to use these differences to better treat disease in everyone.'
'So, I submitted a grant application about four years ago in which we had proposed to better understand what drives some of these differences,' the Professor noted.
The project has already contributed to nearly 30 peer-reviewed papers on new methods that shed light on sex differences in managing chronic diseases.
The professor of bioinformatics at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health revealed that his team had submitted an application, asking the National Institute of Health for a renewal of their ongoing project in November 2024 during the Presidential election.
But while applications are usually reviewed and approved within months, theirs kept being delayed.
'It was supposed to first be reviewed in February, then we found out it's going to be reviewed in March, then we found out it's going to be reviewed at the end of March, then we found out it was going to be reviewed in April.
'About two weeks ago, we checked on the NIH website and there was no date for the review. And we were astonished, because everything pointed to this grant being reviewed.'
After seeing the sudden change in their application status, Dr Quackenbush approached their program officer for information.
But much to his dismay, the official told him that the specific program they had applied to had been terminated by the federal government.
This program, announced in a 2022 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) published by the NIH, solicited research grant proposals to address 'gaps in our current understanding of diseases and conditions in women are the result of the continued over-reliance on male models'.
Dr Quackenbush believes it was a part of the latest budget cuts by the Trump administration as it did not align with current policy.
He said: 'They're not just terminating grants, they're terminating whole programs that are funding research into areas that don't align with current policy.
'And you know, we shouldn't be in a position where the the opinions of individuals in government about what's appropriate or what's inappropriate should be dictating how we look at these fundamental scientific questions.
'The cuts that are happening are kind of across the board. It's almost happening at random. It's completely irrational. There's sort of no rhyme or reason about any of this.'
On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting all 'equity-related' federal grants or contracts in an effort to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
Scientists have since alleged that agency officials are being told not to approve grants that include the words 'women,' 'gender' or 'diversity' - of which comparing disease in men and women was a focus Dr Quackenbush's project.
In an April 11 letter to Harvard, the Trump administration called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university and changes to its admissions policies
In the US, it is estimated that nearly 1million women receive a cancer diagnosis each year, while an estimated one in two men will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men in the US, with 35,000 men dying the disease each year.
Meanwhile, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women - killing over 40,000 each year.
Since submitting the project in 2021, the Professor and his team have made 'tremendous progress' but now these cancellations threaten long-term research and training, potentially delaying future treatments by years.
Their groundbreaking research has already contributed to nearly 30 other peer-reviewed papers that have focused on state-of-the-art forms of treatment and their application for a range of chronic illnesses including cancers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - a progressive lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe.
He commented: 'If scientists [are] really committed to improving the human condition, then we should be in a position to look at health in everyone, to understand how to improve the health of everyone and that should be our fundamental priority.
'And you know, we shouldn't be in a position where the the opinions of individuals in government should override scientifically sound approaches to addressing basic questions in human health.
In an April 11 letter to Harvard, the Trump administration called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university and changes to its admissions policies.
It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs - arguing that campuses had allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at protests last year.
However, Harvard President Alan Garber refused to agree and hours later, the government froze over $2.2 billion in federal scientific grants given to the University.
When asked why the current administration had targeted Harvard's medical research in regards to anti-Semitic harassment, Dr Quackenbush said: 'The rationalization that is being presented to the general public is absolutely ludicrous.
'If there are allegations of anti-Semitism against Harvard or any other university, the rational approach would be to do an investigation to find out what the causes are, to find out whether or not the responses were appropriate and to take steps to remedy that, to prevent it from happening.'
He also told the website that the halt in federal grants not only impacted medical research but also put generations of upcoming scientists and their discoveries in jeopardy.
'We use this [money] to train the next generation of scientists. Our PhD students and our postdoctoral fellows, the training they get is largely an apprenticeship.
'My PhD students come and work with me because we're going to go into the lab and we're going to work together, they're going to see how to do science and they're going to learn by doing it. You take away my research grants, you take away my abilities and train the next generation.
'We're seeing people who are doing science get laid off. We're seeing projects that were had been running for years being terminated. Even if they turned on the funding tomorrow, the damage is done.
'It takes years to build a research program, and as we're seeing, it takes just minutes to potentially destroy that in ways that could take even longer to rebuild. And we're not making these choices for rational reasons.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Cyborg tadpoles ‘hold clues to origin of autism'
Cyborg tadpoles with electrodes grown into their brains have been created by Harvard scientists to help study autism and schizophrenia. Tiny flexible electrodes were implanted into tadpole embryos when they were days old, allowing them to completely embed into the central nervous system as the amphibians grew. It is the first time that researchers have shown it is possible to create a device that integrates seamlessly into the brain while it develops. Usually, scientists implant metal electrodes into mature brains to monitor brain cell activity, but by then, the critical early stages of development are over and the process often causes some neuronal damage. Neurological conditions such as autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are thought to be 'baked in' to the brain early on, so being able to watch the brain developing could offer vital clues into why they develop. 'Autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia – these all could happen at early developmental stages,' said Dr Jia Liu, assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. 'There is just no ability currently to measure neural activity during early neural development. Our technology will really enable an uncharted area. 'If we can fully leverage the natural development process, we will have the ability to implant a lot of sensors across the 3D brain non-invasively, and at the same time, monitor how brain activity gradually evolves over time. No one has ever done this before.' To create the cyborg tadpoles, scientists used soft, stretchy implantable ribbons containing dozens of sensors capable of recording the activity of single neurons in the brain. The probes were developed at Harvard and are made from a material known as a 'fluorinated elastomer', similar to Teflon, which can live stably in the brain for several months. It is as soft as biological tissue but can be engineered into highly resilient electronic components that can house multiple sensors for recording brain activity. The ribbons were implanted on an area of the embryo called the 'neural plate', which is the earliest stage of the nervous system. As the embryo develops, the plate bends into a u-shape, taking the ribbon probes inside. By the time the neural plate has grown into the neural tube – the basis of the brain and central nervous system – the electronics are completely embedded inside, where they can give a read-out of how the neurons are firing and communicating with each other. Researchers say the device can record electrical activity from single brain cells with millisecond precision, with no impact on normal tadpole embryo development or behaviour. By integrating their stretchable device into the neural plate, the researchers showed they could continuously monitor brain activity during each embryonic stage. 'These so-called cyborg tadpoles offer a glimpse into a future in which profound mysteries of the brain could be illuminated, and diseases that manifest in early development could be understood, treated or cured,' Harvard said in a press notice about the new technology. The research is published in the journal Nature.


The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
RFK Jr reveals his plan for vaccine committee after he fired entire panel sparking ‘anti-vaxxers' concern
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has revealed that he doesn't plan on placing 'anti-vaxxers' on a federal vaccine policy advisory committee after removing all its previous members, sparking concerns about who he may appoint next. 'None of these individuals will be ideological anti-vaxxers,' Kennedy wrote in a long post on X. 'They will be highly credentialed physicians and scientists who will make extremely consequential public health determinations by applying evidence- based decision-making with objectivity and common sense.' The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations on the use of vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kennedy said he would announce the new members of the panel in the coming days and that they will be in place before the committee's next meeting, set for June 25. The X post came about a day after he removed all 17 members of the committee, signaling a dramatic change in American vaccine policy. Kennedy, who ran as a Democrat and then as an independent in the 2024 presidential election before dropping out and endorsing Trump, has become known as an anti-vaccine activist. He has made a number of false claims about the damage vaccines can do, such as the measles shot being connected to autism. The secretary claimed that removing all members of the panel was necessary to restore trust in vaccines as well as the CDC. Kennedy attempted to argue on Tuesday night that there had been 'historical corruption' at the committee. 'The most outrageous example of ACIP's malevolent malpractice has been its stubborn unwillingness to demand adequate safety trials before recommending new vaccines for our children,' Kennedy claimed. The secretary tried to connect childhood vaccines that 'modify the immune system' to an 'epidemic of autoimmune diseases' and suggested that vaccine makers don't test their vaccines for safety because they're not part of placebo-controlled trials. 'No one can scientifically ascertain whether these products are averting more problems than they are causing,' said Kennedy. Former CDC Director Dr. Tomas Frieden told PBS News, 'We're already seeing a decreased immunization rate.' 'When Secretary Kennedy says he wants to restore trust, the fact is that his activities over many years have been one of the main reasons there are questions about vaccines,' he added. Frieden argued that lower vaccination rates will lead to struggles to control measles, which he noted was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. 'We're now having more cases and more deaths than we have had in many years, and whooping cough, which is increasing,' he said. The former CDC director told PBS News that Kennedy is 'undermining and stopping a process that has been transparent, effective, and fact-based, and replacing it with we don't know what, but based on untrue statements, misinformation, and, frankly, fringe beliefs.'


The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Speculation mounts that Trump is using a ‘hidden leg brace' in the wake of his Air Force One fall
People are speculating that President Donald Trump is using a 'hidden leg brace' following his stumble on the steps of Air Force One. The unsubstantiated claims are doing the rounds on social media, as users have zoomed in on images of the president's legs taken after the fall, which occurred Sunday as Trump was walking up the stairs to board the plane. Steven Cheung, White House communications director, dismissed the claims as 'conspiracy theories peddled by demented individuals hiding behind social media' in a statement to The Independent. ' The President has been the most transparent president in history, and the recent medical report that was released clearly and unequivocally shows he is in peak condition,' Cheung said. People on social media commented on what appeared to be markings on the president's pants. 'Trump is not well. His fall on Air Force One, his braces on his both legs under his knees, show signs of a very sick man,' one post that had reached more than 17,000 people said on X, without evidence. A prominent account 'dedicated to exposing right-wing extremism' shared close-ups of the president's legs in the Rose Garden on June 9, a day after the stumble. 'What's going on here?' the poster asked, sharing pictures of what appear to be bulges on Trump's legs. The photos were taken when Trump was surveying the construction project on the South Lawn. 'Trump isn't stable enough to walk on the thick grass. He needs a flat surface. Leg braces and no one is asking him directly,' another person reacted. Photographs taken from the same scene show the president walking back to the White House on the grass. Others speculated that the supposed markings on Trump's pants suggested he is wearing a Foley catheter. 'Fidel Castro used to wear this leg catheter to be able to give his hours long speeches,' another person reacted. 'It's a politician thing.' The group Republicans Against Trump shared a photo on X of the president at Saturday's UFC 316 in New Jersey. 'Is Donald Trump wearing a Foley catheter?' the account asked its 900,000-odd followers. The White House dismissed the claims as 'fake news.' 'These conspiracy theories peddled by demented individuals hiding behind social media, and now being given a platform by the fake news, clearly suffer from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,' Cheung said in a statement. 'These are the same people who have been caught trying to gaslight the American people for years by saying Joe Biden was cognitively fine, when in fact, he was in much worse condition than thought.' Speculation over the president's health comes following his own scrutiny of former President Joe Biden. Following his slip-up on the steps of Air Force One, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio also lost his footing, it was noted that Trump frequently mocked Biden for the stumbles he took during his time in office. In the summer of 2023, Trump mocked Biden for falling at the Air Force graduation ceremony in Colorado. He said it was 'not inspiring' for the graduates to have seen the then-president take a tumble over a sandbag.