Dr. Charles Decarli, co -director of the UC Davis Alzheimer's Research Center, received the news from a call from a colleague on March 24.
“Your study has been completed.”
Decarli had carried out a six -year exam, funded by the National Institutes of Health, brain and vascular conditions which can be risk of dementia. Study, Implying hundreds of medical staff, 14 research sites and 1,700 patients at 19 clinical locations in the United States, relied on a target of 2,250 patients.
“It was the culmination of my career, the height of my research” in the past 38 years, said Decarli.
THE $ 53 million studyPaid in annual powers, was approved during President Trump's first term. But originally two, the administration took a chain saw in universities, federal jobs and federal funding for scientific research, which sparked a conversation on a conversation brain drain, with scientists looking for work in other countries.
The letter of termination of the NIH informed Decarli that his study, with its “artificial and non -scientific categories”, was on the cutting block because it “no longer erases the priorities of the agency”. The UC Davis study was One of the 14 type research projects informed in March that funding was being terminated.
About 7 million American residents aged 65 and over have Alzheimer's disease, the seventh cause of death in the country. Given the peak age wave, the number should doubly double over the next 35 years. It is therefore not logical that a deeper understanding of a complex whole of brain diseases, which decide that decide the lives of the victims and their loved ones, is no longer a priority.
Mannie Rezende, who suffered from Alzheimer's, walked with his wife Rose Shalom in June 2023. About 7 million American residents aged 65 and over have Alzheimer's, the seventh cause of death of the country.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Decarli suspects that he was targeted due to the name of his study:
“The clinical significance of the lesions of the accessory white substance on MRI among a diversified population with cognitive complaints.”
DEI – Diversity, equity and inclusion – The programs are on the list of successes of the administration. But in this case, “diversified” was a reference to a range of health and age, and educational and racial history of patients.
With the help of the lawyers of the UC Davis, Decarli appealed the decision, but he also had to start stopping the study in anticipation of a second rejection or a long call process.
The call was successful and the funding was restored on April 11, but Decarli still plays a catch -up.
“There have been important disruptions,” he told me.
The clinical partners, who each had to contact up to 100 patients with a news from the end, had to contact again to tell them that the green light was back.
But for how long?
No one seems to know, said Russ Paulsen to USAGAINSTALZHEIMERA non -profit advocacy group. When I spoke to him on Wednesday, Paulsen had just watched an audience in the Senate in which the president of the credits Susan Collins (R-Maine), demanded that the NIH cuts be restored.
Mannie Rezende and his wife Rose Shalom with their dogs Clara, foreground and Teddy in 2023.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“I think there is a largely bipartite support” for continuous research on Alzheimer's disease, said Paulsen. And the official word of health and social services is that the administration remains determined to “Robust biomedical research“And” maintaining our world leadership in science and technology “.
But this complaint does not lie down with the dismissal earlier this year of 1,000 NIH employees, or with press accounts of a plan for Slash 30% of the health and human services budget and 40% of the NIH budget.
“It is difficult to imagine someone opposed to finding remedies, and yet we have no explanation to explain why they offer a 40%cup,” said Paulsen.
“We know that the funds flow much more slowly than they have done for many years, and we know that researchers are submitting high quality research and getting a” waiting response “or have rejected themselves,” he added. “And we know that existing multi -year subsidies are canceled or that payment is being delayed.”
In March, Rose Shalom of Sunland lost her husband, Mannie Rezende, who had slowly deteriorated from Alzheimer for several years. Shalom described the disruption of flagrant and immoral research, and she said that those who controlled the stock market ropes should “spend time with a person with Alzheimer's and their caregivers to understand the unique horror of this disease”.
I visited Rose and Mannia in 2023 at their home and MonkeyThe West adult guard center where Mannie spent her days with a few dozen others on the same path.
“As we live longer, more and more people will be diagnosed with this disease,” said Shalom. “The emotional and financial assessment of patients and their caregivers is beyond the description.”
Unfortunately there is no remedy on the immediate horizon. But Decarli said that there has been encouraging progress, including drugs that can help slow the progression of cognitive decline and improve diagnoses that can lead to previous intervention.
The United States is both a world leader and a medical research collaborator, said Decarli. The process is integrated, “with people working on different parts … from the same question, and the real discovery sometimes comes from interaction”.
The Trump administration seems to have a different program.
He understands:
Disassembly of the American role in the resolution of medical mysteries.
Hundreds' rejection Researchers who study the impact of global warming.
Driving scientists look for work in other countries.
Who knew that there would be so many swamps, hen nesting and detours on the road to the creation of America again.
Steve.lopez@latimes.com
