ISCT believes Trump's proposed health budget cuts will be disastrous

The International Society of Cellular Therapy (ISCT) believes that the massive and unprecedented budget cuts to US governmental scientific agencies including the (National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) proposed by US President Donald Trump, if implemented, will have wide ranging and potentially life threaten in ramifications to science, clinical care and patients in the US and internationally.

ISCT president, Dr Catherine Bollard, states that the ISCT global leadership representing all stakeholders involved in cell therapy around the world believes many of the cuts proposed for the NIH by the Trump administration will directly and dangerously impact the entire international cell therapy, medical and scientific communities.

Dr Bollard highlights the example of the proposed elimination of the Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences, the NIH program promoting and funding medical research and training outside the USA. Since the late 1960s, the Center has been instrumental in bringing together the international medical and scientific communities to address global health issues such as HIV/AIDS and Ebola.