A medical researcher is wrongly by Trump police from Trump

San Francisco – Nisha ACHARYA, doctor and professor UC San Francisco, was in his patient campus clinic when a surprising email arrived.

His federal research grant had just been terminatedAccording to a journalist at the Washington Post, who wondered if Accuhara had a comment.

She was amazed. His research, in the Operation of the shingle vaccinedid not seem controversial remotely. The 3 million dollars subsidy was the second it had received, after years of similar work. The National Institutes of Health, who granted the subsidy and regularly examined the performance of Acharya, had been satisfied with everything she had accomplished.

Nevertheless, the NIH informed of the university that its last subsidy was Among dozens finished Because the federal government, under President Trump, no longer supports research focused on “why individuals hesitate to be vaccinated and / or explore ways to improve the interest and commitment of vaccines”.

The research of Echarya had nothing to do with all this.

But the mention of “hesitation” and “adoption” in his subsidy request – referring to the concern that certain cornea specialists had about the vaccine for those who have shingles in their eyes – was apparently everything it took to spare a rebate in a dragnet mounted by the Trump administration police.

Perhaps “hesitation” and “adoption” have generated an AI response, or triggered an algorithm on hunting. Acharya cannot be entirely safe, but there is no evidence of a real human being, even less a kind of expert in vaccines or zona, examined his subsidy proposal or assessed his work.

She did not obtain any explanation beyond that, the formula on March 10 sent by e-mail to the university. “I lost funding immediately,” said Acharya.

Opinions of the 47th president, from zero

The randomness of the action of the administration and its apparent error are sufficiently exasperated. But it is also frightening, said Acharya, to think that Political considerations now guide science And scientific research, the erasure of years of effort and the thwart of potential remedies and the chances of future revolutionary treatments.

“I do not think the government is in position, or should be, to dictate what is important in science,” said Eharya during lunch on the scintillating campus of Mission Bay of UCSF.

Trump is an insolent and medical policyShe suggested, will scare a whole generation of potential medical scientists and medical researchers, undergoing the quest for knowledge, injuring the public and negatively affecting people's health “for years to come”.

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Acharya was in a high school when she reached a fork on the road. Now 50 years, she has pressed her hands in a form of “V” to illustrate the two paths.

The subsidy of Acharya was worth $ 3 million over five years of research. She was in the second year of the grant when she was abruptly canceled.

(Paul Kuroda / for time)

At the time, she was a violinist at Chicago Youth Symphony, on tour in the world with the orchestra. She also loved science. His father was a pharmaceutical chemist. His mother taught mathematics and high school chemistry.

She realized that, said Accharya, she was not ready to make the commitment or accept the global sacrifice necessary to forge a professional career in music. Science has therefore become its chosen route.

In Stanford, she specialized in biology and obtained a master's degree in research on health services. From there it was at the UCSF Medical School. “I love scientific knowledge. But I really wanted to be able to interact directly with the patients, “said Acharya, a person who describes himself.

A favorite teacher, specialized in eye infection and inflammation, directed him to ophthalmology and helped Baiya find the passion for his life. She smiled widely as she rhapsodized with an enthusiasm of Mile per minute for her work, large eyes and fingers floating on the table, as if she invoked Bach or Paganini again.

“The body affects everything in the eyes,” she explained. “As, if you have an infection, you can get it in the eyes. If you have an autoimmune disease, you can have manifestations in the eyes. You have blood pressure problems, you can see it in the eyes. The eye is like, really, a window on the body.”

The latest research from Acharya was focused on how the shingle vaccine works.

Shingles are a rash Presented by the Varicella Zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox. Once the chickenpox has ended, the virus can remain sleeping in a person's body for decades before breaking up again.

“In the first subsidy, we have shown that the vaccine is very effective in preventing shingles and shingles in your eyes if you have never had it,” said Acharya. “But we didn't have the question of whether you already have shingles in your eyes?”

It was work, said Acharya, that no one else was doing, aimed at preventing a loss of vision or blindness. It was not, she said on several occasions, an attempt to promote vaccination, a formerly common practice now tangled in layers of political, social and cultural debate-or, moreover, to dissuade anyone from being vaccinated.

“This is the kind of research that you would think that the government would like. Safety and efficiency … The advantages and disadvantages,” said Acharya, giving a small perplexed head of the head. “I just wanted to broadcast information so that people can use it.”

Now these tips will not be available anytime soon.

If ever.
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Echarya has never been politically active. All her life and her career, she said, have been devoted to the pursuit of science.

While she leans on the left, she was never married to any party or ideology; ACHARY has found reasons of agreement – and in disagreement – with Democrats and Republicans.

She did not vote for Trump, but did not see her support for Kamala Harris as doing a kind of support for a scientific investigation, or as a means of protecting her subsidy. “It never crossed my mind,” she said.

Acharya crosses a 1954 book signed by renowned ophthalmologists and researchers in a conference room in the UCSF.

(Paul Kuroda / for time)

The five -year subsidy paid 35% of the salary of Acharya – it approached the end of two – and, although the loss of income is not excellent, it will manage. “I am a teacher and I am also a doctor,” she said. “I'm not going to lose my job.”

However, I was forced to dismiss two data analysts, and a third research position is in danger. Her voice thickened as she discussed those who let go. At one point, she seemed to fight tears.

“I cried a lot with my team,” she said about the conversation in the Bistro in style cafeteria airy. “I just keep it together because I have to … I always take care of the patients. I always teach. I can't lose it like that. I feel like … I have to find a way to continue. “

In his zeal to dismantle the federal government -Presented more, it seems, by political calculation and the taste for revenge than any well thought out conception-the Trump administration has ended the hundreds of subsidies, ending research focused on Alzheimer's disease, cancer, HIV / AIDS, heart disease, COVVI-19, mental health services and drug addiction, among other areas of scientific chase.

Hundreds of millions of dollars that have already been spent are now wasted. The fruits of all this research has been cheerfully and suddenly far from the vine.

It is impossible, said Baiya, to calculate the loss. It's painful to try. “All the things that might not be learned,” she thought with nostalgia. “All potential gains there” which may not be made.

The notice of termination that the UCSF received from the National Institutes of Health gave Echarya 30 days to appeal if it thought that the decision to put an end to its research was made by mistake. She did it.

A few days later, the university received a pro formal email recognizing the reception of the Acharya call.

Since then, nothing.