Latest news with #JamesAntaki
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Children to feel the brunt of the Trump administration's regressive agenda
If the American public were polled about whether the government should fund research into helping children with heart defects, it's a safe bet that this would receive overwhelming public support. And yet, The New York Times reported on the Trump administration abruptly cutting off federal funding for research at Cornell University, which halted an effort to develop a heart pump for babies and children with heart defects. The pump has been under development for decades, but researchers said they had reached a critical moment: Before they had received a stop-work order a month ago, they had planned to soon start testing the device on sheep. 'We've come to a screeching halt because we're 100 percent dependent on this money to do this work,' said James Antaki, a biomedical engineering professor leading the research. Unless the funding is restored within the next few months, he said, the project will be 'cast to the four winds.' This isn't a situation in which the Trump administration cut funding because it thought the research was 'woke.' In fact, by all accounts, the PediaFlow heart pump is completely uncontroversial. But the White House has launched a brutal offensive against higher education in recent months, specifically targeting universities that handled pro-Palestinian student protests in ways Donald Trump didn't like. That includes Cornell, which led the administration to withdraw, among other things, a $6.5 million research grant to help children with heart defects at a critical juncture. NBC News' report on this explained, 'An infant's heart is about the size of a large walnut. When a baby is born with a hole between the chambers of the heart, it can be a life-threatening condition. [Antaki created] a AA battery-sized device that uses a rotating propeller on magnets to increase blood flow, helping them to survive surgery or live at home with their family until a donor heart is available, if needed.' The grant that Cornell expected to receive, the NBC News report added, would have supported 'further testing of the prototype, including placement in an animal to ensure it won't harm humans, and completion of the mountain of paperwork needed to move through the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process.' It's still possible that the administration could reverse course on this — it's happened many times since the president returned to power — but for now, this potentially lifesaving research is on indefinite hold, not because it lacks merit, but because the White House has a culture war to fight. As upsetting as these developments are, they're also part of a larger pattern. Last week, for example, The Washington Post reported: A decades-long campaign to prevent infants from dying in their sleep has become a casualty of the Trump administration's federal workforce cuts, and doctors fear it could contribute to more infant deaths at a time when mortalities have already been rising. The office within the National Institutes of Health that led the Safe to Sleep campaign, a public information effort to prevent sudden unexpected infant death, was shut down on April 1, according to two former NIH officials and two program partners who spoke with The Washington Post. The Post's report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, quoted Rachel Moon, a doctor who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infant sleep death and who wrote its recommendations on safe infant sleep. 'To have this program be terminated when the number of deaths is going up is really quite devastating,' she said. 'If we take [the messaging] out, then more babies are going to die. That's what I'm worried about.' A week earlier, ProPublica had a related report on the bigger picture: The staff of a program that helps millions of poor families keep the electricity on, in part so that babies don't die from extreme heat or cold, have all been fired. The federal office that oversees the enforcement of child support payments has been hollowed out. Head Start preschools, which teach toddlers their ABCs and feed them healthy meals, will likely be forced to shut down en masse, some as soon as May 1. And funding for investigating child sexual abuse and internet crimes against children; responding to reports of missing children; and preventing youth violence has been withdrawn indefinitely. The administration has laid off thousands of workers from coast to coast who had supervised education, child care, child support and child protective services systems, and it has blocked or delayed billions of dollars in funding for things like school meals and school safety. The Post's Catherine Rampell, a new MSNBC co-host, recently summarized, 'They've persecuted immigrants, transgender people and scientists. They've targeted the rule of law and free speech. Now, they're coming for your children, too. It's been largely lost in the cacophony over President Donald Trump's tariffs and vendettas against universities, but administration officials have been gutting services that keep children alive and well.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration halts funding for research on infants with heart defects
President Donald Trump's administration has halted funding for a team researching how to help infants with heart defects. Dr. James Antaki, a professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, tells NBC News that the Department of Defense has cancelled a $6.7 million grant that would allow him to continue researching PediaFlow, a device that could boost blood flow in infants with heart defects. Antaki's device, which he began developing in 2003, is the size of an AA battery and helps increase blood flow to babies born with a hole between the chambers of their heart. The device helps babies survive until they have surgery or receive a donated heart. The agency sent him a stop-work order on April 8 and withdrew the grant, which would have been distributed over four years. The notice, which came one month after the grant was first approved, said the withdrawal was at 'the direction of the Administration.' Antaki's three decades of research on the subject are now in jeopardy, he told NBC News. If funding isn't restored within three months, his lab will need to lay off staff, and the PhD students involved will have to find a new area of research. 'I feel that it's my calling in life to complete this project,' he said. 'Once a week, I go through this mental process of, 'Is it time to give up?' But it is not my prerogative to give up.' Compared to the federal government's budget, Antaki says this grant is a 'small amount of money that could do so much good for so many people.' 'It's just the right thing to do,' he told NBC News. 'It just it kind of speaks for itself.' Dr. Evan Zahn, a pediatric interventional cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who isn't involved in Antaki's research, said the loss of funding is a major blow to pediatric research. 'Technology specifically designed for our children, particularly babies across the board, is desperately needed, so losing funding for something like that is a real loss,' he told NBC News. This comes after the Trump administration shut down the office responsible for leading the Safe to Sleep campaign, which provided education on safe sleep practices for infants, NPR reports. When the campaign was first launched in 1994, the number of infant deaths decreased by 50 percent and it has subsequently saved thousands of infants' lives, pediatrician Dr. Rachel Moon told NPR. These cuts, which are part of Trump's directive to downsize the federal government, come as the administration claims to support new parents and says it even wants to financially incentivize Americans to have more children. The president recently floated the idea of a $5,000 'baby bonus' for new parents, while the White House has reportedly fielded proposals to bestow a 'National Medal of Motherhood' to mothers with six or more children.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration halts funding for research on infants with heart defects
President Donald Trump's administration has halted funding for a team researching how to help infants with heart defects. Dr. James Antaki, a professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, tells NBC News that the Department of Defense has cancelled a $6.7 million grant that would allow him to continue researching PediaFlow, a device that could boost blood flow in infants with heart defects. Antaki's device, which he began developing in 2003, is the size of an AA battery and helps increase blood flow to babies born with a hole between the chambers of their heart. The device helps babies survive until they have surgery or receive a donated heart. The agency sent him a stop-work order on April 8 and withdrew the grant, which would have been distributed over four years. The notice, which came one month after the grant was first approved, said the withdrawal was at 'the direction of the Administration.' Antaki's three decades of research on the subject are now in jeopardy, he told NBC News. If funding isn't restored within three months, his lab will need to lay off staff, and the PhD students involved will have to find a new area of research. 'I feel that it's my calling in life to complete this project,' he said. 'Once a week, I go through this mental process of, 'Is it time to give up?' But it is not my prerogative to give up.' Compared to the federal government's budget, Antaki says this grant is a 'small amount of money that could do so much good for so many people.' 'It's just the right thing to do,' he told NBC News. 'It just it kind of speaks for itself.' Dr. Evan Zahn, a pediatric interventional cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who isn't involved in Antaki's research, said the loss of funding is a major blow to pediatric research. 'Technology specifically designed for our children, particularly babies across the board, is desperately needed, so losing funding for something like that is a real loss,' he told NBC News. This comes after the Trump administration shut down the office responsible for leading the Safe to Sleep campaign, which provided education on safe sleep practices for infants, NPR reports. When the campaign was first launched in 1994, the number of infant deaths decreased by 50 percent and it has subsequently saved thousands of infants' lives, pediatrician Dr. Rachel Moon told NPR. These cuts, which are part of Trump's directive to downsize the federal government, come as the administration claims to support new parents and says it even wants to financially incentivize Americans to have more children. The president recently floated the idea of a $5,000 'baby bonus' for new parents, while the White House has reportedly fielded proposals to bestow a 'National Medal of Motherhood' to mothers with six or more children.
The Independent
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Trump administration halts funding for research on infants with heart defects
President Donald Trump 's administration has halted funding for a team researching how to help infants with heart defects. Dr. James Antaki, a professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University, tells NBC News that the Department of Defense has cancelled a $6.7 million grant that would allow him to continue researching PediaFlow, a device that could boost blood flow in infants with heart defects. Antaki's device, which he began developing in 2003, is the size of an AA battery and helps increase blood flow to babies born with a hole between the chambers of their heart. The device helps babies survive until they have surgery or receive a donated heart. The agency sent him a stop-work order on April 8 and withdrew the grant, which would have been distributed over four years. The notice, which came one month after the grant was first approved, said the withdrawal was at 'the direction of the Administration.' Antaki's three decades of research on the subject are now in jeopardy, he told NBC News. If funding isn't restored within three months, his lab will need to lay off staff, and the PhD students involved will have to find a new area of research. 'I feel that it's my calling in life to complete this project,' he said. 'Once a week, I go through this mental process of, 'Is it time to give up?' But it is not my prerogative to give up.' Compared to the federal government's budget, Antaki says this grant is a 'small amount of money that could do so much good for so many people.' 'It's just the right thing to do,' he told NBC News. 'It just it kind of speaks for itself.' Dr. Evan Zahn, a pediatric interventional cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who isn't involved in Antaki's research, said the loss of funding is a major blow to pediatric research. 'Technology specifically designed for our children, particularly babies across the board, is desperately needed, so losing funding for something like that is a real loss,' he told NBC News. This comes after the Trump administration shut down the office responsible for leading the Safe to Sleep campaign, which provided education on safe sleep practices for infants, NPR reports. When the campaign was first launched in 1994, the number of infant deaths decreased by 50 percent and it has subsequently saved thousands of infants' lives, pediatrician Dr. Rachel Moon told NPR. These cuts, which are part of Trump's directive to downsize the federal government, come as the administration claims to support new parents and says it even wants to financially incentivize Americans to have more children. The president recently floated the idea of a $5,000 ' baby bonus ' for new parents, while the White House has reportedly fielded proposals to bestow a 'National Medal of Motherhood' to mothers with six or more children.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration halts research to help babies with heart defects
For James Antaki, a biomedical engineering professor at Cornell University, the $6.7 million government grant meant babies would be saved. Awarded by the Department of Defense on March 30, it would allow his team at Cornell to ramp up production and testing of PediaFlow, a device that boosts blood flow in infants with heart defects. A week later, that all changed. The Defense Department sent Antaki a stop-work order on April 8 informing him that his team wouldn't get the money, intended to be distributed over four years. Three decades of research is now at risk, and Antaki said he has no idea why the government cut off funding. 'I feel that it's my calling in life to complete this project,' he said Friday, in his first news interview since losing funding. 'Once a week, I go through this mental process of, 'Is it time to give up?' But it is not my prerogative to give up.' Neither the Defense Department nor the White House press office responded to requests for comment. Antaki is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of academics nationwide who've lost funding in a variety of fields since President Donald Trump came to office, due to a mix of new executive orders limiting what government money can support and the sweeping grant cancellations ordered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. One in 100 babies in the U.S. are born with heart defects, and about a quarter of them need surgery or other procedures in their first year to survive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, it's estimated that 240,000 babies die within their first 28 days due to congenital birth defects. An infant's heart is about the size of a large walnut. When a baby is born with a hole between the chambers of the heart, it can be a life-threatening condition. Antaki's creation is a AA battery-sized device that uses a rotating propeller on magnets to increase blood flow, helping them to survive surgery or live at home with their family until a donor heart is available, if needed. The new round of funding Antaki expected would have supported further testing of the prototype, including placement in an animal to ensure it won't harm humans, and completion of the mountain of paperwork needed to move through the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process. The device has received several grants over the years from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense without issue, Antaki said. Antaki began work on the technology in 2003. He was already developing a similar technology for adults at the University of Pittsburgh when the National Institutes of Health issued a call for proposals on a pediatric heart assist system. He had already been trying, without success, to interest private companies in a pediatric device. They may have declined, he speculates, because the market is smaller for children's medical devices than for adult ones. After Antaki arrived at Cornell in 2018, he secured research funding from the Defense Department to keep the project moving forward. He submitted a 300-page proposal last June for the next cash infusion he needed, and the Defense Department notified his team in March that it was approved, before reversing course in April, he said. A copy of the stop-work order, reviewed by NBC News, does not specify a reason why the government canceled the grant beyond that it was 'at the direction of the Administration.' Dr. Evan Zahn, a pediatric interventional cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who is not involved with PediaFlow, said cutting funding for Antaki's research is a step backward for children's health care because there are few commercially available solutions for babies with heart defects. 'Technology specifically designed for our children, particularly babies across the board, is desperately needed, so losing funding for something like that is a real loss,' Zahn said. If funding isn't restored within 90 days, Antaki said, he and his team will need to begin laying off lab staff and Ph.D. students will have to change their research focus. In the grand scheme of what the government funds, he said, 'it's a small amount of money that could do so much good for so many people, and it's just the right thing to do. It just it kind of speaks for itself.' This article was originally published on
