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Many best scientists in the US no longer have a job.
Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It aims to reduce 20,000 jobs in agencies such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (Nih) and FDA Food and Drug Administration).
Not all of them are scientists, but Canada can play a role in making sure that American scientists are able to continue research, scientists say on both sides of the border.
Canadian scientists anecdotally claim that they hear from American colleagues looking for opportunities to work in Canada every day.
One example: Dr. Madhukar Pai, director of McGill Global Health Programs, said CBC News that he is expecting a record number of candidates for new work in his department, opening in the coming weeks. This is a hit on the pitch, especially strong among sweeping cuts At the American International Development Agency, which cuts off programs that save life around the world, deal with diseases such as HIV and Malaria.
Scientists supervising cancer research, approval of vaccines and medicines, public health and tobacco regulations are also among 10,000 already released. Public health experts say that mass burns can have catastrophic effects on the US and the world.
“Some of the best public health experts in the world have just lost their jobs,” said former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden.
He said that without CDC more people would get infectious diseases and potentially die in the USA and around the world – including in Canada.
“There is a risk for Canada – and possibilities for Canada to increase.”
Kevin Griffis, a former CDC communication director, resigned two weeks ago after three years at the agency. He said that mass burns were widely felt and could have unexpected consequences.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine critic who committed to fight with a chronic disease, was recognized on Thursday as Secretary for Health after overcoming resistance from the medical establishment and members of the Congress with promises to limit his role in vaccination policy. Dr Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association, says that “disinformation does not respect boundaries”, adding that all disinformation is very disturbing.
If the agency had to organize a press conference today on a serious threat to public health: “There is no one who does not even know how to lead the sound. Because they released the studio team,” he said.
Cutting the financing of US research will also cause gaps in evidence, because they will be less financed and less research in general, says Kirsten Patrick, editor -in -chief of Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). That is why it is all the more important for Canada to increase research financing, he says.
“If we have a situation in which the research in the south is not as well financed as they should, and some studies are not performed, we must have a strong research system in Canada,” she said.
Provinces “Implementation of the welcome you”
Canadian provinces are suddenly trying to attract American health experts.
Manitoba “implements a welcome mat” for trained doctors, nurses and researchers of affected cuts, said health minister Asagwara in a statement for CBC.
Asagwary said that the province is currently talking to several doctors in the USA who are interested in making traffic.
They are also in the process of developing a “full recruitment campaign in the US in the coming weeks”.
British Colombia also claims that she has an eye on the latest achievements in the USA. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said in a statement that “he will ensure what support (IT) can” American colleagues so that they could continue their key work. BC also actively recruits American healthcare professionals.
At Toronto University Health Network is also to announce its strategy to attract the best scientists on Monday.
But other groups are also trying to recruit the same scientists: Frieden, the former director of CDC, has already expanded the offer to be secreted to government scientists to the non-profit organization, which he is currently conducting, decided to save his life.
Local and state governments in the US are also trying snap up Dismissed federal employees – not to mention universities around the world.
But Canada is well positioned among the competition. We are already above our weight when it comes to research, says Stephanie Michaud, general director of Biocanrx, a research network that focuses on developing immune therapy to fight cancer. He received $ 40 million for federal financing in 2015-2019 – to USD 109.5 million from others, such as industry partners, provinces and charity organizations.
“We have excellent researchers and excellent clinicians who are already working here,” she said, indicating that Canadian scientists usually publish profifically.
Where Canada could do better, he says, it involves translating discoveries into treatment through clinical trials and ultimately in practice.
“What is needed in the field of investment to get the discovery that was found, published in the Canadian laboratory and taking it to a clinical examination. It is here that Canada (has) more difficult time,” she said.
When American scientists look at other countries to continue working, this is an opportunity for Canada to deal with this weakness, listening to scientists and clinicians and investing in more research – making Canada more attractive for the best talents.
Canada finances much less research than the United States per capita, according to analysis from the Canadian Association of Neuronuki. In the years 2020–2021, Nih financed around $ 55.7 billion in research. Compared to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, they financed $ 1.44 billion. Even considering that the US population is about nine times larger than Canada, it is a 39-time difference.
“I think we have all the right ingredients, we just have to combine all the elements,” said Michaud.
Increasing research financing
Another Canada strategy: makes it easier for researchers working in Canada to keep the lights in their laboratories, says Dr. William Ghali, Vice President of Research at the University of Calgary.
In Canada, if the researcher receives a federal subsidy, the government also postpones money to cover costs, such as employing support staff, handling and maintaining laboratories or paying for computer/data servers.
But this is obtained every year to the university, this is not indefinite for individual researchers or subsidies – and ultimately there is not enough money to cover the costs of everything that allows research, according to Ghali.
Ghali claims that this is a good time for Canada to consider our approach again. He says that these indirect costs have a huge difference for scientists – and guaranteeing good indirect financing will attract the best talents from outside Canada.
This, in turn, will benefit to all Canadians, says: Scientific growth leads to economic growth.
Research partnership, has changed
But lying at the basis of a sense of possibilities, there is also regret.
But according to Ghali, scientists leaving the US because they do not feel safe or supported in their country, they are sad, who claims that it seems to be a blow against global cooperation.
Dr. Pai, director of McGill Global Health Programs, says that he feels uncomfortable because of poaching American scientists.
“American scientists deserve to work in their own country, without leaving families, feel safe in their own country, be properly financed (i) respected and awarded,” he wrote on BlueSky.
But this is a new reality that the world counts: the United States cannot be relying to play a role it has been playing for decades. It is the lesson that economists learn as a result of the “Liberation Day” tariffs. Scientists warn that the same lesson is waiting for health and medical research.
“There is an opportunity for Canada to change global partnerships, perhaps they gain closer connections with Europe, perhaps they become stronger in terms of consistency in Canada,” said Ghali.