The National Institutes of Health have historically funded scientists to find cures for diseases and protect public health. NIH funding has led to the discovery of immune therapies for cancer, antiviral treatments and prevention of HIV, and ground-breaking research into memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. After a year of funding cuts and freezes that have rocked the medical research field to its core, we catch up with leading researchers at the University of California to talk about the impact this has had on their work and our ability to fight humanity’s most puzzling illnesses.

Guests:

Monica Gandhi, infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at University of California San Francisco - she is the director of the UCSF Gladstone Center for AIDS Research and the medical director of the San Francisco General Hospital HIV Clinic, Ward 86

Pamela Munster, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco; co-director, Center for BRCA Research, Medical Oncology; distinguished professor in Hereditary Cancer Research

Megan Molteni, science writer, STAT News

Joel Spencer, associate professor of Bioengineering, University of California Merced - his lab uses funding from NIH to study the thymus, with implications for cancer treatment and healthy aging

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