UUP advocates against threats to federal research funding
esearchers at the University at Buffalo discovered a potential link between blood-pressure levels during pregnancy and an increased risk of developing hypertension in the five years after giving birth. Chemists at the University at Albany are working on a drug delivery platform that aims to improve targeted cancer treatment while reducing harmful side effects.
“That this is actually happening is incredible and unconscionable,” said UUP President Frederick E. Kowal. “This freeze has already reverberated across SUNY campuses, impacting our researchers, who do lifesaving and life-changing work to address afflictions such as cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, among so many others. If not reversed immediately, these federal grant freezes will have long-lasting and catastrophic consequences in the U.S. and worldwide.”
Kowal joined SUNY researchers, legislators and other union leaders at the University at Buffalo and the University at Albany where they outlined how the loss of millions of dollars in federal funding would jeopardize lives, patient care, groundbreaking research, jobs and economic development.
The National Institutes of Health is the primary source of federal funding for research in medicine and public health. New York state, with 30,000 jobs supported by NIH grants, would be hit particularly hard by the current administration’s proposed cuts to NIH funding.
UB receives $81 million annually for nearly 300 NIH-funded research projects, including improving outcomes for chemotherapy patients; developing new multiple sclerosis treatments; and developing ways to detect possible brain aneurisms.
“If we lose our grant, 10 people will be laid off immediately, leaving only the faculty, who will be forced to take a 30 percent pay cut,” said UB researcher Salvatore Rappoccio. “This will devastate our research program and we may never recover from that.”
In 2024, UAlbany received $11 million for nearly 40 NIH-funded research projects, including using AI for drug research and to predict tumor growth; discovering advances in RNA research and neuromuscular diseases; and developing ways to accelerate recovery times after strokes, spinal injuries and other neurological disorders.
“At NYSUT, we firmly support the work of our higher education members, including our world class researchers who are making groundbreaking contributions in fields that impact all of us,” said NYSUT Secretary-Treasurer J. Philippe Abraham. “Research is not just an academic pursuit. It’s a critical public good, one that improves lives, drives economic development and keeps New York at the forefront of scientific advancement.”