The U.S. has been a global leader in research and innovation for decades. But recently, the federal government has directed agencies like the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, to cut funding. It also prohibited U.S. institutions from directing new or renewed grants to international partners like Canada. Scientific progress doesn’t see borders. It takes bright minds from all around the world to share knowledge and accelerate solutions to problems. That’s why these cuts will affect researchers worldwide. In Canada, the destructive effects are already reverberating through our research labs and medical institutions.  

Grants from the U.S. normally range from about $100,000 to several million dollars annually, which pays for highly skilled lab trainees and staff and the specialized equipment, chemicals and supplies needed for their experiments. They lead to breakthroughs for things like high-fatality cancers, developing new systems to test human disease and synthesizing more effective drugs.

At the University of Toronto, where I’m vice-president of research and innovation and strategic initiatives, researchers receive approximately $20 million each year from U.S. granting bodies (roughly 75 per cent comes from the NIH). It might seem like a small number compared to the university’s total research budget, but in practice........

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