Latest news with #HarlanKrumholz
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
$1.8 billion in health research grants nixed by the Trump administration, study finds
Advertisement 'On a human level, this is a shock, with real personal fallout,' said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Yale School of Medicine and among the four authors of the study, which was published in the medical journal JAMA. 'Over the long term, the message being sent is one of retreat from full-throated support for science and scientists.' While Trump has used federal Advertisement 'The big takeaway is that institutions of all stripes have been affected by these cuts in some way,' said Michael Liu, a Harvard Medical School student and co-author of the study. The Trump administration's assault on biomedical research began in February with a flurry of executive orders targeting research related to diversity and transgender identity, what the administration called 'woke ideology.' Yet it quickly expanded to include federally-funded studies covering an array of topics, from the COVID-19 pandemic to teen mental health and HIV prevention. But the breadth of those cuts and their impact on medical research have been unclear. That's because the White House has not provided a comprehensive accounting of the grant terminations. Individual researchers have scrambled to fill the information void by cobbling together data on scrapped grants from a hodgepodge of sources – including Yet without a full accounting of the cuts, policy makers and research institutions have struggled to respond. The lack of transparency may also have fueled the perception that the cuts were focused primarily on diversity or transgender topics when in fact they are far broader, said Scott Delaney, a researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who developed 'It's absolutely vital for people to know exactly how these [grant terminations] will play out in the real world and exactly what is being cut,' Delaney said. 'Generally speaking, when we think of DEI or transgender research, we don't think of research into cancer or HIV prevention.' Advertisement Frustrated by the lack of reliable data, Liu, Krumholz and their colleagues in late March undertook their own analysis. They used a website known as TAGGS – or They then cross-checked that data with the What they found was staggering. All told, 694 NIH grants were terminated across 24 of the 26 institutes and centers at the NIH that administer grants. Those affected include the renowned National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute of Mental Health, among others. The biggest cuts were at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which terminated $505 million in grants. Yet in percentage terms, the cuts were deepest at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, which slashed nearly 30 percent of all grants between late February and April 8, the researchers found. Because the study focuses solely on NIH grant cancelations, and not new grants, it still does not encompass the full scope of the cuts unfolding at federal health agencies. In addition to the grant cancelations, the NIH has scaled back its awards of new grants by at least $2.3 billion since the beginning of the year — a 28 percent contraction in its funding, Advertisement While most of the canceled grants affected existing research projects, about 20 percent of the grant terminations were for training, fellowship or early career development programs – which are vital for young people entering biomedical research, the authors said. 'It was really jarring to see that one in five of these grants were for early career researchers,' said Kushal Kadakia, a Harvard Medical School student and study co-author. 'Because no matter what your philosophy is on science or on what scientific priorities should be, I think everyone has a common priority of making sure the US is the world's leader in healthcare research, and that doesn't happen if you cut off the pipeline.' Students on a sunny afternoon at the Harvard University campus, April 17, 2025. In a swift broadside with little precedent, the Trump administration has frozen $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard, while seeking to exert unprecedented control over hiring, impose unspecified reforms to its medical and divinity schools, block certain foreign students from enrolling and, potentially, revoke its tax-exempt status. (Cody O'Loughlin/The New York Times) CODY O'LOUGHLIN/NYT Chris Serres can be reached at
Fox News
24-02-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Scientists find clues on why COVID vaccine causes chronic health problems in some
For a majority of people, the COVID vaccine doesn't cause adverse health effects — but a small percentage experience chronic symptoms that can last for months or even years. Yale researchers recently made some discoveries about why certain people experience this condition, which they have dubbed "post-vaccination syndrome" (PVS). In early findings, the team recognized "potential immunological patterns" that are unique to people with PVS. The hope is that this discovery will help to enable future treatments and therapies for those who are affected. "This work is still in its early stages, and we need to validate these findings," said co-senior study author Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, in a press release. "But this is giving us some hope that there may be something that we can use for diagnosis and treatment of PVS down the road." People with this condition may suffer from excessive fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog, insomnia and dizziness, according to the Yale researchers. These typically develop within a day or two of vaccination and can worsen over time. "It's clear that some individuals are experiencing significant challenges after vaccination. Our responsibility as scientists and clinicians is to listen to their experiences, rigorously investigate the underlying causes, and seek ways to help," said co-senior author Harlan Krumholz, professor of cardiology at YSM, in the release. "Post-vaccination syndrome is real, and has been found [to occur] from many vaccines, including COVID," Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital. The researchers analyzed blood samples from 42 study participants who experienced symptoms of PVS and 22 who did not. Those with symptoms were shown to have lower levels of two types of white blood cells. People with PVS who had never had COVID also had lower levels of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, likely because they tended to have fewer vaccine doses, according to the release. "Post-vaccination syndrome is real, and has been found [to occur] from many vaccines." "Fewer vaccine doses and no viral infection means the body's immune system has had little opportunity to develop a defense to the virus," said the researchers. Some of the people with PVS also had higher levels of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which enables the virus to penetrate and infect host cells. This has also been linked to a higher risk of developing long COVID. "We don't know if the level of spike protein is causing the chronic symptoms, because there were other participants with PVS who didn't have any measurable spike protein — but it could be one mechanism underlying this syndrome," said Iwasaki. In addition to the elevated spike proteins, other factors could increase the risk of post-vaccination syndrome. Those include autoimmunity, tissue damage and reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the researchers wrote. "Akiko Iwasaka is a world-renowned immunologist at Yale who has studied COVID (and COVID vaccines) extensively," Siegel pointed out. "In this new study, she reports that in a very small percentage of those who received COVID vaccines (and experienced prolonged side effects), there may be the presence of persistent spike protein," Siegel confirmed. "They may also experience immune disruption, which takes the form of elevations in inflammatory immune cells (CD8 and TN alpha) and a decrease in cells that help resolve inflammation and infection (CD4 helper cells)." The researchers agreed that more studies are essential to guide diagnosis and treatment. "We're only just starting to make headway in understanding PVS," said Krumholz. "Every medical intervention carries some risk, and it's important to acknowledge that adverse events can occur with vaccines." For more Health articles, visit "Our focus must remain on understanding what these people are experiencing through rigorous science and addressing the needs of those affected with compassion and an open mind." Siegel agreed, adding, "This needs to be further studied in terms of understanding how common prolonged COVID vaccine side effects are and how to predict them and treat them."
